Re: [compost_tea] The chemical world

From: David Anderson <squtch_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2005 13:45:56 -0800
I certainly have no great knowledge about the effect of CT on pests.
Half a season of playing with it on a piece of land where I only had
minimal problems before using it certainly would not be the best test
sample. The only two problems on my land that it could possibly affect
are cutworms and canadian thistles.

Whether it actually kills any of the pests, I cannot say. What I can
say from past experience is that when I switched to organic methods in
the garden as a child, the plants were a lot healthier and the bugs
seemed to avoid them and head to the neighbors chemically grown
plants.

They *needed* to spray pesticides to save any of their crop. I lost
some of my crop but it was a small percentage. Why kill the pest when
it isn't being a pest?

As for the marketing making claims about ACT, I'm a firm believer that
underselling is a far better way to go. Let the neighbors talking over
the fence make the experiential claims. Those with a professional
monetary interest need to avoid putting themselves in the snakeoil
salesmen category.

Instead of making claims (even headlines) about ACT taking 30 minutes,
emphasize the process and the effects that switching to ACT will have
on that lawn over time.

Don't concentrate on the thatch, concentrate on the roots going
deeper, and then just mention at what point thatch is no longer a
problem because the roots are now going deeper which is because the
soil is healthier.

Don't tell them that ACT will kill bug X, even if there is some
evidence that it does. Emphasize that a healthier lawn can survive a
certain amount of these critters without showing the damage and that
those critters prefer a less heathy environment where they are better
able to compete.

Concentrate on the health building aspects. If you sell it as a
pesticide, it damn well better perform as a pesticide, and if it
doesn't, then you are doing ACT more harm than good by selling your
product in that fashion.

Dave

On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 11:27:52 -0800, Ted Peterson <ted.peterson_at_tcsn.net> wrote:
> This does not answer the numbers of people out there making incredible
> claims to people.  I have just run into another person who called and wanted
> to spray some CT as a pesticide because someone who made brewers told them
> it would work repelling aphids and as a side benefit control the spread of
> snails and slugs.  I had to dispel this disinformation.  Luckily, I will get
> a customer but the numbers of "ites" who are out there spreading rumor and
> inuendo based on what they "hope" CT will do is legion in comparison to
> those who are not.


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Received on Fri Jan 21 2005 - 17:20:35 EST

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