Compost clarification
A reader wrote:
Your compost tea is missing one KEY ingredient: oxygen. In the anaerobic water environment it’s most likely you’ll create something that will kill your plants as that is the best way to create harmful bacteria, fungi, etc. The key to great compost tea is aeration. I use an aeration pump/filters used in fish tanks.
Lindsay responds:
The compost tea recipe we provided was definitely the anaerobic or non-aerated version. As you can imagine we have a wide audience out there, from those who have never gardened to master gardeners! Our intent was to provide the most basic and simple recipe, hence the "bucket-fermentation method" versus what some would consider the more complicated, ‘Bucket-blubbler method" or suggesting they purchase a commercial tea brewer.
From my reseach I found that the non-aerated version also has a function in the garden and compost tea can be as complex or as simple as you want to make it. Now that we’ve got people curious about compost tea, perhaps we’ll do another ‘level 2′ video, where we talk about aeration (like the a aquarium aerater), adding nitrogen via alfalfa pellets and adding sugar, like molasses.
Again, sources I found called this ‘Level 1" compost tea or the ‘bucket fermentation method". Stay tuned, as we hope to bring people along one small step at a time. I think your suggestion of highlighting the benefits of aeration when making compost tea are definitely worth exploring. In a future issue we can elaborate on Level 2, 3 and 4 types of tea which includes aerated teas.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Hi. Please see this website from Washington State University’s Extension Department. Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott is a frequent presenter at master gardening and other horticulture-related and scientific events.
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Compost%20tea%20again.pdf
Here is Chalker-Scott’s personal website if you’d like to check out her cv:
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/
Some other “myths” are fully discussed and explored. A great website, listing the scientific studies that have been done (or have not been done) re: lots o’ stuff.
People have been making and using compost ‘tea’ for centuries, without ill effects. I’ve been writing about it for years, and practiced it myself. Of course the compost has to be well-rotted (that is to say, it can’t still look like veggies, fruit, etc.) - in other words, it almost looks like soil.
My two cents - don’t worry so much about gardening, growing food, planting flowers. It’s about being joyful and grateful for what is growing. Worrying about all the scary possibilities is probably worse for your body than possible ill-effects you could suffer from compost tea….!
September 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
And furthermore….I have ordered a review copy of a book written by Dr. Elaine Ingham about compost tea. I intend to fully explore the subject!