Hi! Allan, I have a question on the use of compost tea as a folia spray.
We have had two serious cases of bacterial poisoning that has been traced back to Organic growers. The first concerned orange juice made from a mixture of organic and conventional fruit. Many people were poisoned and a major national brand nearly ruined by it. When it was traced back to the grower, it was an organic grower, who was using irrigation in an area with almost no rainfall and thus the folia spray had not washed off the fruit when it was processed, resulting in the bacteria getting into the fresh juice. (The whole orange is crushed, so anything on the skin can be mixed in with the juice.) The other was only a few days ago and from the early report it seems to be very high bacteria counts in salad vegetables. This occurred in a very up market establishment and may cause them to stop using organic product. Is there a protocol for with holding and possibly seeing that there is some over head watering, particularly for those in areas with little or no rain during the growing period? In some parts of Oz, as good as no rain may fall during the whole time some salad vegetables are in the garden. Should we make sure these are given one or more over head waterings, between applying compost tea and harvest? Allan Balliett wrote: > Are there some tests that ag univeristies can or would do on compost > teas that would give a farmer some feed back on how well his brewing > is going? > > How expensive is equipment like the Oxygen sensors that Cheryl has mentioned. > > I, for one, really crave immediate feedback on how tea is progressing > and when it is as 'brewed' as it's going to get. > > I realize that none of these suggestions are a replacement for > regular testing at SFI. > > -Allan
