Re: [compost_tea] Re: newpaper article
----- Original Message -----
From: Linda
To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 3:10 PM
Subject: [compost_tea] Re: newpaper article
Butch,
Some authors and lecturers in agriculture might respond by saying,
Monsanto or GE or ADM are simply better business persons. I'd like
you to point out the fallacies in the text you pasted. Conspiratorial
ranting is counterproductive, especially when the quoted text has
valid points.
As I mentioned before, I found the article reasonable. One thing he leaves=
out is adequate testing. Example: One of the vinyards I work with sprays =
tea as a preventative using locally made high-quality compost. They also u=
se compost in their vinyard. So I asked them do to the following tests in=
their lab which is the most extensive winery lab I have seen to date. The=
y are not in San Luis Obispo County (I have a client in SLO who also has a =
nice lab but they are rigorous about testing protocols.) and use tea as par=
t of a preventative program and also to increase brix. Three-fifths of the=
vinyard is grown with sustainable practices and two-fifths are grown conve=
ntially due to the location of the vines. I know it seems weird but that's =
all I can say. The conventional vines provide for a nice control of brix a=
nd yield but are useless for pesticide tests because they are preventativel=
y sprayed with pesticide.
1. Test the compost and the soil
2. Take leaf assays
3. Consider any pesticide overspray before analyzing results.
4. Test the indicator plants (Roses in this case) at the same time the vine=
s are tested.
5. If you are going to try anything new with the tea, keep a control area s=
o you can see if the change does what you expect and it isn't just a global=
effect.
6. Keep all your test results even if you do a spot field test for brix. =
7. Keep a log of everthing you do. (I know this seems stupid to say for a p=
lace with a $300K lab but I was surprised at how little logging actually we=
nt on at this facility. They were using this huge lab to see trends only. =
Since they have started logging EVERYTHING, they found all kinds of ways th=
ey can save money. It made for a happy client.)
Anyway, the follow-up article hit some points exactly and thank you Linda f=
or including it.
Ted Peterson
SOE
Received on Sun Jan 09 2005 - 10:58:04 EST
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