[compost_tea] Re: detrimentals not beneficials
Dave,
I've found that when a group of similar plants are well establsihed
and the soil food web is as close, as we understand the ideal is for
that plant, weeds do not flourish. That closer our SFW gets to ideal
in turf grasses, the fewer weeds we have. As a matter of fact we no
longer have ANY weed invasions in our turf. It's actually exciting to
see taht poor lonely single dendelion pop up, flower, go to seed and
wither away. The seeds never germinate! Not an herbicide but proof
for me of Dr. E's theory of outcompeting!
This has also been the case around pines and palms!!!! We now look
for companion plants with the same or similar bacterial/fungal
domination.
Sure would be nice to have a vlome of references for companion
planting. Imagine what kind of landscapes that would produce!
tomj
--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, David Anderson <squtch@g...>
wrote:
> Well Butch, we all have to concentrate on what interests us. We have
> to scratch our own itch.
>
> I just don't think that you are going to find many people that will
> get sidetracked into working on herbicidal tea when they are trying
to
> work on tea for plant growth.
>
> While asking here is a good start, I think you will need to start
> advancing some research on your own before you will get much
interest
> from others to check out their "bad tea". It is certainly an
> interesting possibility, bit it is your itch to scratch.
>
> Dave
>
>
> On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 21:20:19 -0700 (PDT), butch ragland
> <wilddog_202_at_y...> wrote:
> >
> > Elaine the first paragraph is one of the zealot, hear
> > that word carefully, I'm not criticizing. I admire
> > your work very much but there is as much knowledge to
> > be gleaned from what goes wrong as well as what goes
> > right. All knowledge has a value and can be used in
> > some positive way. Unless your throw the knowledge out
> > with the bad tea. Tea can be defined in any way that
> > can be replicated. Who knows the value of a bad batch
> > that can be replicated and where or how that value can
> > be applied. Out of my imagination, say an oil spill
> > clean up. AND I'm not trying to change the direction
> > of you or anyone else's focus and work.
> >
> > Your last paragraph is one of a thinker it begins to
> > answer my question.
> >
> >
> >
> > --- soilfoodweb_at_a... wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Butch -
> > >
> > > No one will, or should, claim compost tea as an
> > > herbicide. We have not
> > > defined the conditions which will result in the tea
> > > containing compounds that could
> > > kill plants.
> > >
> > > However, if you brew compost tea that you
> > > purposefully make anaerobic, we
> > > know that SOMETIMES, materials will be produced that
> > > can, and do, kill plants.
> > > I've done it a few times when we were first playing
> > > with compost tea. Rather
> > > disconcerting.
> > >
> > > However, it is hard to control all the factors that
> > > need to be controlled to
> > > make an herbicide brew, consistently.
> > >
> > > So, I prefer to use simpler approaches, such as
> > > adding so much carbon to the
> > > soil that the bacteria and fungi grow rapidly, take
> > > up all the excess nitrate,
> > > which is what weed species require to germinate and
> > > out-compete the more
> > > desired crop or grass species. Much more reliable.
> > >
> > > The key is excess carbon, AND the organisms to use
> > > that carbon. The carbon
> > > can be molasses, for example, orange oil, as another
> > > choice, or lots of woody
> > > material, with just a touch of high nitrogen
> > > contaiing material to get the
> > > bacteria and fungi going. All of these can do a
> > > good job of killing plants you
> > > don't want, and enhancing the plants you do want.
> > >
> > > Be careful though - too much of any of these, and
> > > you can kill all the
> > > plants. We've done that too, and actually a
> > > graduate student of Mark Wilson's
> > > published that information some years ago as part of
> > > a study on conditions that
> > > allow native plants to grow.
> > >
> > > Best way to approach this is to test the proper
> > > concentration of molasses or
> > > other high carbon materials by adding to plots at
> > > higher and higher
> > > concentrations. The concentration that kills the
> > > weed without killing the crop plants
> > > is the one you want to apply over a larger area.
> > >
> > > OK?
> > >
> > > Elaine R. Ingham
> > > Soil Foodweb Inc., Corvallis, Oregon
> > > Soil Foodweb Inc., Port Jefferson, New York
> > > Soil Foodweb Institute, Lismore Australia
> > > Soil Foodweb Institute Cambridge, New Zealand
> > > Laboratorios de Soil Foodweb, Culiacan, Mexico
> > > Soil Foodweb Inc., Jerome, Idaho
> > > Soil Foodweb Inc., South Africa
> > >
> >
> > =====
> > Butch Ragland
> > Conflict is as addictive as
> > cocaine, alcohol, cigarettes,etc
> > I'm sorry to report that
> > cooperation is not
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish.
> > http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor |
ADVERTISEMENT
 | |
 |
Yahoo! Groups Links
Received on Fri Oct 29 2004 - 18:55:42 EDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0
: Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:33 EST