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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Compost tea and bugs in a jug

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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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  • From: Steve Diver <steved@ipa.net>
  • To: Soilsecrets@aol.com, livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Compost tea and bugs in a jug
  • Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 10:50:07 -0500 (GMT-05:00)

Michael -

Alas, I had crafted a long response but my computer crashed.

At this point let me share two citations.

Edwards, Clive A., Norman Q. Arancon, and Scott Greytalk.
2006. Effects of vermicompost teas on plant growth and
disease. BioCycle. May. p. 28, 30-31.

Grape Marc Compost Tea Suppressiveness to Plant Pathogenic Fungi:
Role of Siderophores
F. Diánez, M. Santos, A. Boix, M. d Cara, I. Trillas, M. Avilés, J.C. Tello
Compost Science & Utilization, Winter 2006, Vol. 14 Issue 1, p. 48-53.


They support my statements that compost teas provide a spectrum
of beneficial microbes, microbial activity, and microbial metabolites
as well as soluble nutrients and bioactive substances like humic
and fulvic acid, plant growth hormones, and related plant growth
promoting substances.

Will send you a few more citations as time allows.

Fyi, hundreds of thousands of sustainable farmers, scientists,
agricultural specialists, and non-profit organizations have rejected
the notion that "peer-reviewed" scientfic literature is the bellwether
for decision making by farmers and land managers.

Instead, they place value on the horizontal flow of information
as an alternative to the old heirarchical model.

In the horizontal model on-farm research and even farmer-practitioner
observations and experience are valued along with "peer-reviewed"
research. People can place "weight" on the source of information,
accordingly.

At the same time, the horizontal model -- informally adopted by
sustainable agriculture -- likewise supports the value of research
published in scientific literature. The streams and sources of
information are placed together in balance, thus expanding the
collective knowledgebase that help us see things more holistically
in a complex world.

Best regards,

Steve Diver


-----Original Message-----
>From: Soilsecrets@aol.com
>Sent: Jun 8, 2006 8:02 AM
>To: steved@ipa.net, livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Compost tea and bugs in a jug
>
>
>Hi Steve,
>
>Concerning the benefits of Compost Teas I'll stand by my remarks until
>legitimate and published studies in peer review journals can be produced
>that show
>reliable and dependable benefits of compost tea as far as the benefits
>coming from the indigenous microbial community of the tea. If you can site
>such
>studies then please pass them on to me, as I've been searching for this
>information for a long time. I'll review this information and if I feel it
>to be
>worthy of using, I'll pass it on to my clients.
>
>
>Having authored the paper ?Soil Ecology and the Soil Food Web? in 1974,
>which was perhaps the first time the phrase ?soil food web? was ever used,
>I
>was an early advocate of the use of natural and organic methods of restoring
>
>the natural biology of soils. Compost teas, manure teas and compost were
>the
>methods of choice, and have been used for thousands of years by many
>cultures.
>One could say that trial and error have proven and justified the cause and
>effect of what we do. But are teas and compost a safe and effective way of
>restoring the natural ecology of the soil?
>In recent years the sophisticated knowledge of soil microbiology has grown
>to the level where with DNA Extraction we can now identify which microbes
>play
>a vital role in this soil food web. Some bacteria fix nitrogen, others
>along
>with fungi help prevent disease, others are harmful. The question is, how
>do we know which microbes are being cultured in our soils, composts and
>compost teas? Are we succeeding in our quest to grow healthier soils and
>more
>healthful landscapes by using these products?
>A search on the Internet, as well as the various science indices in which
>published research is catalogued, has revealed research that backs up my
>statements concerning compost teas and their lack of effectiveness as far
>as the
>microbial content is concerned. I've searched for real research that had
>passed the muster of peer review scrutiny, and was published in
>professional
>journals. An article that is published in a peer-reviewed journal has
>methods,
>results, and conclusions that are found to be scientifically viable by
>objective outside scientists. If a study was not publishable, using sound
>scientific methods with statistical significance, it was not considered for
>publication. All life science-related databases such as Agricola, Water
>Resources,
>Biosis, Science Citation Index, etc. were used in her search. Keywords used
>included compost tea, tea, leachate, extract, compost extracts, disease
>suppression and disease.
>Dr. Michael Martin Melendrez
>
>







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