Joel Karsten podcasts references
Next thing that is marketing "oh we love it and it was so easy and we are expanding", whoever found that method did not work - that's their own fault they did not read the book they did not follow this that and the other. Basically there are happy first timers (usually from more humid climates with longer than 3 month growing seasons above 45F), folk who keep their troubles and successes to themselves, ones who are vocally unhappy. The thing is to try to convince people to try it as a weed free cheaper version of container gardening. They split into very happy, somewhat happy and really unhappy and blamed for their own failures.
And that is marketed as easy follow these 12 days steps and then plant then fertilize water and harvest.
What about the bales structure, climate, commercial fertilizer versus organic? Is that clear why organic based fertilizer takes another week longer when it supposed to have same nitrogen amount applied per bale? Why is that?
In the forums supported by gurus the answer is simple - go buy the book and read it all the answers are there. Not really. That's correct buy the correct edition, the last one,so those who have being reading at the library the previous edition of the method and have followed and still are not successful for some reason got blamed for their own not success because they did not buy the latest book edition.
Here is the contradiction in the primary marketing that seems to have place:
the author likes to talk how does the mother nature manage the system and about bacteria (after all he does start with high bacterial young composting medium), but when it comes to growing he does not operate in terms of the same life forms and sustainability of the systems, he operates in NPP (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), if that is the virgin soil and a good compost then whey does that require routine fertilizing to support the plants? What does happen with the life forms? Are we just looking at semi-jump started high lasagna beds with limited into container gardening scale volumes?
If all that is the brand new soil created by mother nature and "brand new soil created by this process contains all of the micro nutrients and trace elements as well as the Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium that were contained in the stalks" then why does this method calls for a lot of fertilizer?
Does he sell the book and fertilizers adds?
And after 24 years of making compost and inoculating soil under (I mean I hope he does not toss spent straw bales to buy new ones) why is he still buying bales and his garden is still not 100% self sustainable (or maybe not because his book sales he would have a deal with one straw vendor...what about someone who does not have that deal with the straw vendor.. they would pay, right?)...
If he relies on the mother nature...in 20-24 years he should have extremely well conditioned garden because he has introduced a lot of organic materials and with the right biology in the soil he should not be growing weeds by now, he should be on high fungal compost. He is in relatively humid climate (Roseville, MN according to his contact web site form).
At the book price 24.99 several books marketed buy him straw bales for the season. That does make perfect commercial sense. However it seems that his goal is not soil building (he would already have it after 24 years). Would that mean that his system with the barrier between the bales and his soil still leaves his plot in the state of dirt versus soil and does not make his land to work for him and the land still remains the liability and not the self sustainable asset after 24 years by 2017?
That kind of a data does make me wonder... Because here I see my own neighbor on solid clay with 1 inch of sandy top soil 25 years after in her garden, fully self sustainable and having soil as the asset. In high mountain desert. Makes me wonder why he is still doing temporary raised straw bale beds after 24 years ... unless his goal is to stay with straw and not with soil improvement. That would make sense.
Another marketing thing is how straw-bales are sold is by ability to plant the tomatoes earlier into the warm straw bale because the straw bale is hot (high bacterial) and there foe that's genius. What is genius is that home depot, lowes and other stores when they stock garden plants stock a lot more tomatoes. Suburban gardeners like to buy tomatoes, first tomatoes on the block are cool because that gardener must know something special.
Now where did the tomato come from? Did it come from bacteria dominated early succession environment? It turns out it did not, they are higher on biological succession where bacterial and fungal activity in the soils are balanced, they grow where more developed perennial plants grow and where soils can support them and also near shrubs. And people who are not successful planting tomatoes and getting stunted plants ... they get to listen how many things did they do wrong and did not follow the book.
hold on a second, the method supposed to be very easy and cheap and grow early tomatoes first gardener on the block. That kind of talk makes me wonder do I want to mess with straw bales when I already grow tomato trees in my soil anyways
Are the straw bales going to be asset or a fertilizer sucking liability I have to babysit to get them compost just right.
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