Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

Thank you all, one heck of a discussion. I'm not a soil scientist, just a
practical grower learning more, so I'm not jumping into the middle of it
;-).

Some observations. Many methods have their uses as well as limitations.
Compost versus compost tea may never be settled among experts. Clearly,
compost tea has its uses coming as it does from compost, but methods of
preparing it vary and some are questionable.  I don't doubt for a minute
that  compost and tea carry disease supressants.

On a backyard scale, I've used some compost water on container plants,
simply because I couldn't add compost or worm castings to the soil level in
the container. But I didn't give it time to multiply the bacteria because I
just wanted some goodies from the compost that would leach into the
containers without raising the soil level too much. Now, in starting my
growing beds and wide rows I use compost - lots of compost - but trying to
make good use of it I work it into the soil instead of leaving it on top to
dry in the sun and wind.

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
listowner
---------------

The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about
it.
   - Aldo Leopold in  Round River, 1933
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 6/12/2006 at 3:44 PM Steve Diver wrote:

>Here are several more journal articles on compost teas,
>which include aqueous compost extracts.
>
>They demonstrate that compost teas possess microbial activity,
>and secondly, that they can be suppressive to plant diseases.
>
>Several papers indicate they also deliver bioactive substances
>that are disease suppressive.
>
>Compost Tea as a Container Medium Drench for Suppressing
>Seedling Damping-Off Caused by Pythium ultimum
>Steven J. Scheuerell and Walter F. Mahaffee
>Phytopathology 94:1156-1163.  2004.
>http://www.apsnet.org/phyto/search/2004/0901-01r.asp
>
>Compost and Compost Water Extract-Induced Systemic Acquired
>Resistance in Cucumber and Arabidopsis
>W. Zhang, D. Y. Han, W. A. Dick, K. R. Davis, and H. A. J. Hoitink
>Phytopathology 88:450-455.  1998.
>http://www.apsnet.org/phyto/search/1998/0316-05r.asp
>
>Suppression of Bacterial Spot of Tomato with Foliar Sprays of
>Compost Extracts Under Greenhouse and Field Conditions
>Jaber H. Al-Dahmani, Pervaiz A. Abbasi, Sally A. Miller, and Harry
>A. J. Hoitink
>Plant Dis. 87:913-919.  2003.
>http://www.apsnet.org/pd/search/2003/0528-02r.asp
>
>Harry Hoitink is the plant pathologist at Ohio State University
>who has pioneered research on disease suppressive properties
>of composts, potting mixes, and compost extracts.
>
>Steve Scheuerell at Oregon State University published
>the literature review on compost teas in the journal of
>Compost Science and Utilization.
>
>Compost Tea: Principles and Prospects for Plant Disease Control
>Steve Scheuerell and Walter Mahaffee
>Compost Science and Utilization, Autumn 2002
>Vol. 10, No. 4.  p. 313-338.
>
>Scheuerell's paper uses the terminology of aerated
>compost teas (ACT) and non-aerated compost teas
>(NCT) to describe the two broad categories.
>
>This is an important distinction because the early
>European scientific literature of Weltzein and Trankner
>and others largely refers to compost extracts and NCTs,
>whereas the modern compost tea industry in the United
>States usually refers to ACTs.   Both are employed in
>farming systems world-wide and both are examined in
>the scientific literature.
>
>Organic Eprints, the online documentation archives
>for research papers in organic agriculture, hosted by
>Danish Research Centre for Organic Farming (DARCOF)
>and the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)
>in Switzerland, contains the following helpful documentation.
>
>Litterick, Audrey; Harrier, L.; Wallace, P.; Watson, C. A.
>and Wood, M. (2003)
>Effects of composting manures and other organic wastes on
>soil processes and pest and disease interactions.
>Report, Scottish Agricultural College.
>http://orgprints.org/6694/
>
>Especially see:
>
>Objective 2
>A review of the effects of different composting processes on
>chemical and biological parameters in the finished compost
>or compost extract.
>http://orgprints.org/6694/07/Annex_Effects_of_different_composting_processe
s.pdf
>
>Objective 4
>A review of the effects of uncomposted materials, composts, manures
>and compost extracts on beneficial microorganisms, pest and disease
>incidence and severity in agricultural and horticultural crops.
>http://orgprints.org/6694/03/Annex_Effects_on_microorganisms.pdf
>
>In fact, this report was later summarized and published as
>a literature review in Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, as
>cited below.
>
>The Role of Uncomposted Materials, Composts, Manures,
>and Compost Extracts in Reducing Pest and Disease
>Incidence and Severity in Sustainable Temperate
>Agricultural and Horticultural Crop Production—A Review
>Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 23(6):453–479 (2004)
>
>Providing access to resources is one way to make this
>topic more clear.
>
>Regards,
>Steve Diver
>