Hi Roger
Boy is this feller a goose ! You have three paddocks ? The
BD area is 20 hectares , compost 10 ha and conventional 10 ha - so he
"inadvertantly" applies not only twice the amount to twice the area , he
puts it on the wrong patch as well - hope nobody paid him for the days work!
Yeah! I know you said sane and constructive but these
accidents just seem to keep happening.
Sane and Constructive ----
According to what he wrote in his lectures Alex Podolinsky was quite
prepared to allow small dressings of single superphosphate to kick start run
down soils going into BD, only on a one off basis, He said we might need to
provide a soluble feed for the first season (my wording) then rock phosphate
would take over as the microbial life got into gear, P A Yeomans - probably
Australias greatest soil man - also used small quantities of super and lime
in similar fashion once only to get things going, this guy turned some
horrid shale and slate country into wonderful pasture. OK these guys were
using less than you have had spread but there's no choice about that.
Along with the cadmium, lead, and mercury, you do get some nice
sulphur and a little available calcium coming in with the phosphorus, all of
which would probably show low on a soil test there?.
Hopefully you have plenty of photos and a written report on the
status of the plots up until the accident?
some points
1. make sure that the conventional treatment definitely got at least an
equivalent dose of super so that the comparison is still valid between BD
and it
2 . Ban the perpetrator from the site before he causes any more havoc.
3. try to do some soil and tissue tests to show the difference in
availability of nutrients between the two systems - you might be pleasantly
surprised.
4. If Glyphosphate is used on the conventional area try to leave a small
untreated test, and compare microbial indicators, tendency to crust, extra
drying of the soil surface. And if there is a reasonable amount of green
material sprayed and incorporated at seeding look very closely for reduced
germination and emergence where the greenery was thickest I guarantee you
will be unpleasantly surprised on all counts (or some of the farmers will be
anyway).
Cant think of anything else at the moment - its a shame and potentially a
waste of money and time but no going back so you may as well get something
from it.
Cheers
Lloyd Charles
1
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