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Old 14-12-2007, 08:50 PM posted to aus.gardens
Jonno[_9_] Jonno[_9_] is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2007
Posts: 186
Default Some myths regarding gardens or Old Wives tales debunked. mythbusters 'R us

Yep Youre partly right. Its an item from America, which does have source.
Unfortunately I only wanted to show that the only way to be sure of
things is to check again. I had heard that fungal diseases are spread by
water on leaves, and that the "burning" is caused by other things. At
times we dont stop to think and accept folk lore as factual, due to it
being passed on from father to son etc..
It pays with gardening to find the real facts, and while the internet is
a great source of diversity, it does need to be checked against known
sources of information. This item I believe came from such a source, but
I forget where (Sorry I am also an unknown) We can be pedantic, but I
feel that now our attention has been drawn to this, other can check to
verify, as there are still others spreading the information that water
"burns" leaves. It isnt so! It affects it in other ways. I believe that
the spreading of fungal diseases with wet leaves is much more likely,
and makes more sense....

David Hare-Scott wrote:
"Jonno" wrote in message
...
EXAMPLES OF GARDEN “MYTH”-INFORMATION


..snip 9 items....

Here are some final considerations as you evaluate the vast resources of
knowledge:

* Consider the source.


Of the 9 items none quotes a specific reference and only 3 quote the
institution responsible for the information.

* Does other data support their conclusion?


None of this analysis quotes supporting evidence and most don't even specify
the primary reference.

* If there are only testimonial and no data, or appears to be more
hype than hypothesis, buyer beware!


There's much of this about!

* And lastly, make sure the data is relevant to your climate, soil,
and ecological conditions.


Quite so. Sadly this data, or qualifications relating to it, are also missing
from the quoted cases. The case refering to the use of gypsum refers to "our
foothill clay" as being significantly different but we have no idea where this
is or the nature of such clay.

OTOH there are many myths around in the world of gardening and telling people
to be wary cannot be bad. Some of the cases mentioned probably do have better
information than the myth they are setting out to debunk. Sadly the author
only goes part of the way towards doing what they set out to do.

David