This year at the Philadelphia Flower Show there were a few groups talking about compost tea. Meadow Brook Farm, a farm owned by the Pennsylvania State Horticultural Society is one, and another is F2, a company that provides “Scientific Soil Management”. Apparently they do things that are good for the soil, though the “method” section of their website is a little too vague for me. They also offer pictures of the results they’ve had with compost tea on a few different projects. … Continue reading this article “Pennsylvania is for…..Snake Oil?”
Tag: compost tea
Don’t be snookered
Just a short (but irritated) note about the latest fawning over compost tea. Please, people, as Jeff pointed out nearly two years ago on this blog, just because Harvard (and now Berkeley) buy snake oil it’s not transmogrified into science. Middle America would be better served by using compost as a mulch and letting nature make the tea.
Parking tickets, compost tea, and pseudoscience in the Ivory Tower
Back in November 2009, Jeff posted an educational and amusing commentary about Harvard’s use of compost tea. Much vigorous discussion followed, and we’ll return to that topic in a moment. But first, I’d like to tell you about my morning yesterday.
In September of 2010, I received a ticket for parking longer than 2 hours in a restricted zone. Now, there was no way I committed this infraction; I had hard core proof that could not be rationally challenged.… Continue reading this article “Parking tickets, compost tea, and pseudoscience in the Ivory Tower”
Compost tea…again
My not-fan Justin has emailed me again with some more substantial comments of my criticisms of compost tea. I’ve posted his email here, along with my responses in a point-counterpoint format:
1. “Compost teas do vary from batch to batch, the same way galaxies vary. Without the complexity and biodiversity present in the tea, you might as well just be using water.”
Yes, they do vary, and this is why it is so difficult to conduct replicated and repeatable studies on the efficacy of compost tea. … Continue reading this article “Compost tea…again”
Two new postings on compost tea efficacy – and safety
We just don’t have enough excitement on the blog, so I thought I’d bring up two new items that just crossed my virtual desk. The first is today’s Garden Rant posting from Susan Harris. I won’t spoil her well-written blog, but if you’ve been following the debate on the disease-control properties of compost tea, you’ll be interested in reading it.
The second was in an email from a colleague at the EPA on a new journal article. … Continue reading this article “Two new postings on compost tea efficacy – and safety”
Notice Any Similarities to Compost Tea?
Linda sent me a link to This Comic the other day. Funny stuff — and not a little bit analagous to our friends who think that compost tea is the cats meow!
Friday Can O’ Worms
I was pleased to see that at least two of you dug into the literature over the weekend to read these papers! (I can still remember the first time as a Master’s student when I was assigned a journal paper to review. I had NO idea what, exactly, I was supposed to be doing. It took a long time to figure it out.)
In any case, kudos to Jimbo and Diana for their thoughtful comments – and for zooming in on the problems. … Continue reading this article “Friday Can O’ Worms”
Friday puzzler: Opening a can of worms
Part of being a Garden Professor is evaluating, interpreting, and passing on good science to the rest of the gardening world. I was recently made aware of two articles soon to be published in Crop Protection and Pedobiologia, both peer-reviewed, scientific journals. (You can download these articles just by clicking on the highlighted journal names.)
Briefly, what one expects from a scientific article is (1) a statement of the research question (the hypothesis) to be investigated, (2) a clear description of the materials used and procedures followed, (3) a listing of the results, along with their statistical significance, and (4) a discussion of the results, including whether they supported the hypothesis.… Continue reading this article “Friday puzzler: Opening a can of worms”
Compost Tea? How About Compost Pee!
My news tab in Firefox is the BBC “latest headlines” page. It’s a great place to get pretty darn unbiased news plus the U.K. equivalent of “News of the Weird”. SO, relative to our ongoing discussion of composting…here’s a story ripped directly from the BBC headlines. Follow the link for a video (interview, that is).
Disclaimerage: I nor any of the other Garden Professors endorse this activity, nor any claims as to its usefulness, scientific relevancy, harrumph harrumph, etc,.… Continue reading this article “Compost Tea? How About Compost Pee!”
If Harvard Says That It Works Then It Works Dammit!
So back in September my department head (who is, for all intents and purposes, my boss) handed me a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/garden/24garden.html) about the grass at Harvard which is now being managed organically. We share the opinion that many organic techniques, such as compost tea, are “Voodoo Science” (that’s a term I stole from Mike Dirr) and so she thought I’d be interested in the techniques that Harvard was using. She didn’t say it explicitly, but I think she thought I’d get a laugh out of it. … Continue reading this article “If Harvard Says That It Works Then It Works Dammit!”