Compost Tea
Why Use Compost Tea?

By NANCY ESSEX
October 2008

We know that adding good compost to a lawn, garden, or potted plant is valuable.

The decomposed organic matter present in compost improves soil quality and provides nutrients for the plants. But it is the living components of compost, the billions of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and other micro and macro soil organisms, that perform the work of building soil and unlocking the nutrients and mineral that plants need to thrive.

Flowerfield Compost Tea will help:

• Protect plants from disease-causing organisms
• Improve nutrient retention in the soil
  
• Decompose harmful chemicals, pesticides and other toxins
• Transform compacted soil into healthy soil
• Reduce water usage
• Decrease run-off and leaching
• Leave lawns and sports fields a safe place to play
• Increase the nutritive value and flavor of the fruits and vegetables grown

Compost tea is used for two reasons: 1) When used to coat the leaves of plants the compost tea organisms stick to the leaf surfaces and this action does not allow disease causing organisms to attach to the plant. 2) When used to drench the soil the organisms attach to the roots of the plants and as they process nutrients readily available in the soil they provide the plant with these nutrients.

The use of compost tea is suggested any time the organisms in the soil or on the plants are not at optimum levels.

Chemical-based pesticides, fumigants, herbicides and some synthetic fertilizers kill a range of the beneficial microorganisms that encourage plant growth, while compost tea improves the life in the soil and on plant surfaces. This high quality compost tea will inoculate the leaf surface and soil with beneficial microorganisms, instead of destroying them.

Compost tea is not a weed-killer, rather it makes the desirable plants stronger to out-compete weeds. We are returning to the soil organisms that were present before they were destroyed by harsh chemicals and unnatural soil maintenance programs. Forests and prairies did not need to be fertilized to be extremely successful eco-systems. Imagine returning to soil practices where it is safe for children and pets to play, simply by restoring the natural balance to the soil.

Compost tea is a liquid produces by stripping and extracting bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes from high quality compost. This is a brewing process of agitation and aeration of a small amount of compost in water. After this extraction process bacterial and fungal foods are added to the liquid. The high oxygen content of the water and this extra food causes the populations of organisms to increase dramatically, producing a magnified liquid version of the original compost. Compost tea can then be applied through hoses or sprayers to the soil or plant foliage making the benefits of good compost go much farther and with a great reduction in intensive labor. Samples of each batch of tea are viewed through a microscope assuring a high quality product.

Mary Appelhof spent over 30 years researching and developing worm composting systems for processing organic wastes. She founded Flowerfield Enterprises in 1972 to market worms and worm bins and to publish books and videos. At the time of her death in 2005 Mary was doing PowerPoint presentations on compost tea. She said this

“Gardeners, organic growers, and large-scale farmers alike are finding that spraying compost tea as a foliar spray and as a soil drench improves crop yields at the same time it reduces or eliminates fertilizer and pesticide use.

A common belief in the twentieth century was that all bugs and bad. That’s not true. The majority of bacteria and protozoa, fungi and nematodes are beneficial. We want them in our soil. Compost teas are the best way to get these microorganisms back into the soil where they can make nitrogen available and release other nutrients plants require as they need them.”

The staff of Flowerfield Enterprises has all had the privilege of studying with Dr. Elaine Ingham in Corvallis, OR. Dr. Ingham has acquired a wealth of knowledge gained from years of intensive research into the organisms that make up the soil food web. Elaine not only understands the soil food web, she has knowledge on how to ensure a healthy food web to promote plant growth and reduce reliance on inorganic chemicals.

While truly an academic, Elaine is also passionate about sharing her knowledge and research findings with those at the grass roots level of working with soils. That includes not just farmers who grow crops, but also those who graze cattle, sheep and other livestock, fruit and vegetable growers, greens keepers, parks and gardens workers, nursery operators – anyone who grows plant life, including just an attractive lawn.

Elaine offers a way forward for sustainable farming, a way of improving the soils we work with now and keeping soils in the healthier state without damaging neighboring eco-systems.

Attendance at Elaine’s courses is always full with a broad cross-section of people taking advantage of her knowledge sharing. It is exciting that a speaker with such a depth of knowledge and dynamic presentation style, who is respected the world over as a leader in research of the soil food web is willing to share this information with us. Flowerfield continues to rely on Dr. Ingham’s expertise while we adapt the techniques and biology to Midwestern soils. Dr. Ingham and her students are leading the shift from a dependence on harsh chemicals and fertilizers to a more organic and earth-friendly soil maintenance program taking place all over the world.

For instance, research is being performed using compost tea to control milfoil in lakes. Any runoff produced by the use of a healthy, natural product such as compost tea would improve, rather than further damage, local lakes and streams, including the Great Lakes and oceans.

Flowerfield Compost Tea

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