In article , X-No-Archive: yes
wrote:

Paggers, I sent you the .pdf titled 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

Did you receive it?

I got that & wrote you back a long commentary at the time, sorry if you
didn't get it. I saved that pdf file because while there is nothing
actually new in it, & it is not original research in & of itself, it is
the best all-in-one-place overview of peer-reviewed data I've seen, & I
thanked you for sending it at the time. There was only one thing in it
that I had not already read elsewhe that aerobic teas are more likely
than non-aerobic to bare harmful human pathogens. Even with my
science-induced negative opinion of a wholly fraudulant industry, that one
took me by surprise.

As an interesting overview of past research, the piece by & large ends up
dismissing the value of compost teas, but also weaves into the overview a
few "best case" scenarios (which ain't that good but not entirely awful)
which will be the parts vendors will like while ignoroing the great bulk
of the information, since nearly all the claims of tea vendors are
contradicted in the overview. For examples:

Vendor claim: compost teas increase beneficial nematode population & deter
harmful nematode populations. Factoid from overview: "No products of
compost decomposition have been shown to have an immediate effect on
nematode population." None, zip, nada.

Vendor claim: Aerated teas used as foliar spray prevent plant diseases,
but non-aerated teas may contain plant pathogens & human pathogens (those
two claims are to convince tea users they need the expensive aeration
equipment to be both effective & personally safe when spraying teas).
Factoid from overview: "The authors of this review are not aware of any
published evidence to prove either of these claims."

(Indeed, the "best case" studies for sprayed teas controlling pathogens
are for the non-aerated teas only, but the outcomes even for non-aerated
are too unpredictable to be taken seriously for practical applicability.
And the "best" pathogen control is reportedly for powdery mildew, but even
spitting on that would have some positive effect, & if anyone wants REAL
control of mildew they will use dilute milk. The "best case" for something
like tomato blight is that aerated teas had zero effect, non-aerated an
unpredictable or limited benefit occasionally -- so even the best case
outcomes do not support selling all that gawdawful expensive aeration
equipment & special-recipe teabags which are across the board hokum. The
occasional minor or unpredictably positive values of compost teas are all
set against other methods that are predictable & significant, with
composted & uncomposted plant materials still the sensible & effective
choice vs the fad & the fraud of compost tea).

Every vendor claim item by item is either debunked in this overview or
shown to be of minor signifiance compared to other soil enhancement
methods, or unpredictable for reproducible results hence of no practical
value. As teas do have a few tepid or unpredictable values wildly
exaggerated by vendors, there a few statements in the overview vendors
will hail, but it boils down to being a weak & minor fertilizer certainly
unworthy of financial investment in special equipment.

Anyone who wants to use soil teas anyway would learn from the overview of
peer-reviewed research that the cheapest no-energy non-aeration method is
NOT improved upon with aeration vats & equipment, & in fact the tepid
value of teas is more environmentally friendly by cost-free energy-free
non-aerobic methods. So even if the minor positives are inflated in order
to praise teas, the industry promoting teas remains fraudulent. The higher
claims for aerobic teas, as the overview states, are strictly anecdotal,
not scientific, & retold for the sake of promoting private companies, not
to be regarded as verifiable data. The authors do not rule out the
possibility of greater value being discovered but so far the peer-review
science shows that the anecdotal & business-motivated claims are proving
very, very hard to substantiate in reality.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden
people maintaining a free civil government." -Thomas Jefferson