Composting Recycled Paper Helps Fight Plant Diseases
Compost made from recycled paper apparently has the extraordinary ability to help your plants fight off diseases. Or so says new research by the University of Warwick. A team of researchers working under Professor Ralph Noble has done some interesting experiments recently that give organic gardeners and those who compost a big boost. Ok, my first question is: where the heck is the University of Warwick? In the U.K. Oh, Okey-Dokey. Like all good Americas, I pride myself on my ignorance of other countries. Anyway, back to the compost! Biology New Net reports:
“…..Professor Ralph Noble has recently shown that the use of composts can reduce the incidence of some important plant diseases by as much as 72%. That research, funded by the UK government’s Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP), found that the replacement of around 20% of the volume of soil or peat by compost gave major disease control benefits. Professor Ralph Noble’s latest research appears to add another ecological benefit. Early results from trials with conifers using compost made from paper waste shows that it is providing much the same disease suppressing effect as green compost made from plant waste. This provides an obvious additional commercial use for the vast amount of paper waste generated by offices and homes. “
