Yeah, if the placebo has a result because you water more consistently it's still a positive. The problem is people banking on this without people ever realizing they could get the same placebo effect by dropping some dirt in a bucket and giving it a day or two for your brain to begin playing this trick on you.
This study investigated the chemical characteristics and microbial population during incubation of four kinds of aerated compost teas based on oriental medicinal herbs compost, vermicompost, rice straw compost, and mixtures of three composts (MOVR). It aimed to determine the effects of the aerated compost tea (ACT) based on MOVR on the growth promotion of red leaf lettuce, soybean and sweet corn. Findings showed that the pH level and EC of the compost tea slightly increased based on the incubation time except for rice straw compost tea. All compost teas except for oriental medicinal herbs and rice straw compost tea contained more NO(-) 3-N than NH(+) 4-N. Plate counts of bacteria and fungi were significantly higher than the initial compost in ACT. Microbial communities of all ACT were predominantly bacteria. The dominant bacterial genera were analyzed as Bacillus (63.0%), Ochrobactrum (13.0%), Spingomonas (6.0%) and uncultured bacterium (4.0%) by 16S rDNA analysis. The effect of four concentrations, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.8% MOVR on the growth of red leaf lettuce, soybean and sweet corn was also studied in the greenhouse. The red leaf lettuce with 0.4% MOVR had the most effective concentration on growth parameters in foliage part. However, 0.8% MOVR significantly promoted the growth of root and shoot of both soybean and sweet corn. The soybean treated with higher MOVR concentration was more effective in increasing the root nodule formation by 7.25 times than in the lower MOVR concentrations Results indicated that ACT could be used as liquid nutrient fertilizer with active microorganisms for culture of variable crops under organic farming condition. www.pubfacts.com/detail/26361474/Effect-of-Aerated-Compost-Tea-on-the-Growth-Promotion-of-Lettuce-Soybean-and-Sweet-Corn-in-Organic-C
I can't possibly convey in words how grateful I am for science based research and testing of all the hype and traditional practice plants and gardening information out there. Thank you so much for all of this effort!
After watching this video I feel I was led to, and then reading all the comments, I realized that for me, it's a relief to not HAVE to go through the hassle of making compost tea but can just let my compost mulch do the work for me. I believe in the principle of the "easy yoke and light burden." Sometimes I think we mean well but try too hard to "help" nature "get it right" and just get in the way and wear ourselves down. I'm happy for the freedom we all have to be where we are in life, doing things the way WE think is right at the time and gaining happiness and fulfillment as we do. For me, it's keeping things simple. I wish you all happiness and blessings and the continued freedom to take the approach you most believe in. And thank you, Alberta Urban, for all the work you've done and your good intent in doing it and in making this video.
Glad I could help my friend! I certainly felt the same thing just trying to help out but am relieved to just add mulch and let mother nature do her thing!
Hey man, I appreciate your research. Its just when I was in Winsconsin, I overdid it and went organic bananas. I did super compost tea where I got kelp, Azomite, yeast, and actively decaying plant matter(from a farm) and molasses. Oh, and I put in decaying wood from an arborist, actively decayed, not fresh..it was moldey. This stuff smelled and was not advised by other people and niether do I, but man, that was the biggest set of plants I EVER had. Now in NC and watch your video and stopped ACT. I did all the other stuff even had rock slag from a well dug put in my garden....nothing. The plants are so bad. I decided to go back to my disgusting tea method and keep putting in decayed wood on my soil and try to get super crops again. Just telling you from what a veiwer did. I even had to go to....Miracle grow....
Fungally dominated compost teas are great for flowering bro, bacterially dominated teas are great for veg but fungally dominated teas are the best during flower.
During a period of time, our municipal water source contained fluoride, and chloramines (really really bad stuff) During this time we used rain water for the garden. shortly there after, the municipality changed water suppliers. Try rain water, but I don't think fluoride will hurt. Chloramines are horrible.
great video. I don't fear pathogens so much but the other reasoning makes sense: why go do all this extra work of making the tea when benefits are nearly equal with just normal compost and rainwater. I think there should be proof that there is a significant difference in benefit of using compost tea (as opposed to just compost) before doing all this extra effort and recommending it to others
you put a lot of work and research into this subject and these videos are very good but i do not agree with your conclusion. in this video you said yourself that the explaination with the least amount of assumptions must be the right one. but all of your explanations for the positive results that are actually seen from the addition of aact are just assumptions. if aact claims to make your soil richer and your plants bigger and healthier and thats just what you see then there is no assumption about that. that is the proof of the claim. this study that youve done as thorough as it was isnt about whether aact works or not as much as trying to disprove the reasons why it does work. if people didnt see the results of the claim this study would hold merit. as it stands the people that do uses it do see the results of the claims. all you have proven to me is that it does work but not for reasons x y and z. also the parameters of the study were uneven. you compaired aact to a fertilizer where you should have compaired it with another microbial innoculant. aact isnt fertilizer it doesnt even claim to be. aact claims to break down fertilizer into its plant useable form faster than the soil alone. aact uses the same microbes that are found in compost the soil and the plants themselves to reinforce the cycling of nutrients from one form to another. your study didnt prove that aact doesnt do that. it proves that fertilizer is fertilizer and aact isnt. you didnt say anything about the real claims of aact to cycle your fertilizer faster. and then you tested a store bought compost tea rather than compost from your own pile. what did you expect. you even said that its mostly soluable fert disguised. why even use that when you have much better stuff to use for the study in your yard. i just dont think this study was fair enough to be accurate. where is the side by side comparison of with tea and without. these videos had alot of research but no results of any real experiment.
well said. The long term presence of beneficial microorganisms in the soil is where the magic happens, and like much of the natural cycling, it is heard to measure accurately. this video is well done but is more of a statement then thorough research. regardless, I've enjoyed the discussion around it.
I think the title of the series is incorrect: "Does compost tea work?" should really be more like, "does compost tea work for the reasons people claim it does". To answer the question "does compost tea work" you would want the side by side comparison you mentioned (I was also surprised he didn't do that given the name of these videos). But he did answer a couple of different and possibly more interesting questions: "does actively aerating compost tea really produce more bacteria?" and "are different compost tea methods comparable in nutrients to each other, or to commercial fertilizers?" "Does compost tea work" isn't an especially interesting question (to me anyway) because, like you said, it's easy to demonstrate that it does work. You do the side by side and see how big and healthy the compost tea plants get, and there's your answer. What's more interesting to me is, "should we believe that compost tea is better than simply diluting compost with water, or even using the compost itself?" We know adding nutrients to the soil makes plants happy. We know compost has those nutrients. We assume that brewing compost tea releases some of those nutrients and we get the added benefit of (hopefully beneficial) bacteria to help our plants along. Except, we don't know that going through the trouble of making compost tea and actively aerating it actually produces more bacteria or releases more nutrients than a simpler, less involved method. I know I don't want to do extra work if I don't have to. In the first video, he brewed his own compost tea with rain water and compost from his own garden. He did not test store bought compost tea. The results of the experiment were that aact did not produce more culturable bacteria than compost diluted in water or a compost extraction. The results also showed that compost extraction, aact, and compost diluted with water produced similar nutrient levels to each other, but far less than those of synthetic fertilizer. Those are real results of a real experiment, just not the experiment as indicated by the title. I think these are important things to consider, partially because I'm lazy and I don't want to do a lot of work for no additional benefit. It's not that the tea has no benefit - it does have nutrients and possibly good bacteria and that's good for plants. But if I want the most bang for my lazy buck, just using the compost itself might have *more* impact. Or if I want to thin out my compost, now I know that simply mixing it with water will extract those nutrients and the bacteria, so I don't have to go through a complicated aeration process.
His claim that compost tea does not help the structure of the soil I believe to be incorrect as more bacteria digesters in the soil means more binders in the soil, and continuously keeping the soil moist and adding some molasses or agar (Kelp products) to the soil will feed and maintain the populations of that bacteria in the soil which will help transform the dry dusty soil into more sticky water retaining soil. I agree your study is thorough but all real compost tea enthusiasts use all there own resources or use raw materials gathered from nature and use local cultures in there composts and gardens as a base and then basically scale it up or increase the bacterial population in the soil where it does not exist. This means you really only need to use compost tea when expanding to areas with dirt seemingly void of life. There is a good reason for doing everything but you are correct that puting compost on your garden and watering a lot will have similar results.. its just slower if u dont have alive dirt... It seems he has kept his head in the books too long and kept your garden to freaking clean in your spotless house , with not only no bacterial aid but no fungal as well. Dont forget your target audience should be real gardeners who dont mind getting a little dirty , you look like you have never gotten on your knees to do some real gardening in the first place and the fungal aspect bro!
Lots of questions, no question marks! Communication is more effective with grammar, e.g., punctuation. Those rules are there because they work. Your claim that CT has been proven to work is not my experience. Side by Side experiments, using controls, are non-existent. A.U.G.S.O.S. should have done that. Gary was too focused on the micro climate, probably due to his profession, microbiology. He should read "The One Straw Revolution" to cure that. It cured me.
Nubia K You are making rather broad claims regarding what aact does and I agree that this particular attempt falls short of a completely scientific study. For years, I've been trying to find evidence-based studies on aact or simply compost teas in general. I've found nothing that shows me aact or compost teas in general are of any value to home gardeners. This limited (and understandably flawed, considering the limited resources available) at least furthers information on the topic. You obviously have an expertise on this topic and I'm guessing that you actually use aact. I'd love to see you do a simple side-by-side scientific comparison in your own garden (or perhaps in cooperation with other aact devotees.
Just finished your video on using worm casting. I found it to be the best complete video available on all aspects of worm casting use. All your videos are fantastic from a scientific point of view that I appreciate. Thanks and keep up the informative work !
I have tried compost tea. But would rather just put my compost on the ground before watering. But I have heard recently about Alfalfa tea. Have you tried it and do you think that it would work? Thank you.
So...I watched both parts of the compost tea series. I have used tea before but this year, I realized, even though its a lot of work, it is a good way to spread the wealth. Since I only had a little bit of rabbit manure (manure, hay and whatever fell out of the cage), I needed to get the most out of it. I made "tea". That is, put some dried stuff in a rag, tie it off, and let it make tea in a quart jar. Dump the result into a gallon jar and water a lot of plants with a little bit. They got more than they would from just plain tap water. Another method I use is watering with plastic jugs with a pin hole. add a measure of the tea to the jug and it will water the plant or plants. I raise worms now. they already have beneficial bacteria in their systems, and inoculating the castings as they go. Same problem of how to make a little bit go farther... by making worm tea. Actually i'm collecting the drippings draining out of the bin. Since I'm still new to using this, I have no results to pass on. Maybe by the end of the summer. great answers with evidence. I like that.
I have heard that you should use worm castings instead of compost in the tea. But I don’t know if it would make a difference to your experiment since I don’t really know the scientific difference between the two. But I wish your experiment would have included a compost tea mede with worm castings and maybe even some mykos innoculant.
Results will vary depending on the compost source imo. If you are using a steer or chicken manure in your compost, then I would say you will raise your risk of pathogens and risk of E coli. Vegan sourced composts should not have these variables. The majority of AACT I brew uses humus or premium vegan fed worm castings as the base of the brew outside of carb sources. Carb sources will play a major role as well, depending what monosaccharide or polysaccharides are available to the colonies to feed on. The types of beneficial bacteria and fungus are vast and from what I have learned will have different effects from different plant types. Glomus, rhizopgon, bacillus, trichoderma, scleroderma, suillus, laccaria, pisolithus are some of the different bacteria and fungus that I would have been curious to see CFU and propagules per cc counts to see what kind of biodiversity and numbers in testing, not to mention the nematode and protozoa content. The length of brew time will shrink biodiversity but increase population size of certain colonies that are more dominant. In my experience, microbial and fungal inoculation to soil plays a big difference in taste, yield, essential oil production, nutrient uptake and plant health. These break down complex compounds for better biological assimilation, and having higher strength in numbers to fight off pathogens and unwanted bacterias and fungus in the soil. Foliar feeding produces a biofilm that protects in the same way and can hinder downy mold hypae from spreading and keep away some hard and soft bodied pests (bacillus thuringiensis "BT" that we know kills caterpillars). Steeping compost without air will produce anaerobic colonies which may have bad numbers of the wrong bacteria and I would not suggest using that method. I am no mycologist, I manage a chain of hydroponic stores and have been gardening for 10 years and I am just speaking from the experience I have.
Hi Ganga, great comment. I agree that factory farmed , lot-fed animal manures in compost are unhealthy, but manure from grass fed organic cows is full of fabulous bacteria, one in particular acts as an anti depressant on mice in studies. Vegan composts, like vegan diets, are lacking vital elements . There would be no such thing in nature. BTW the whole composting, humification process relies on the fact that big things hunt and eat littler things. There are no vegans in compost . The nematodes , flagellets, arthropods and even the earth worms are fearsome predators. Beware of a long term vegan diet, it is un natural and can be very harmful to you.
I agree. We planted some citrus trees some time back and plopped them in the ground. We didn't do a thing and we got a lot of fruit over the years. Only this past year have we taken measures to take out the lawn and competing weeds and provide mulch and composted leaves/scraps and rain water from barrels with fish in it. But that's it! It's the extent of what we're gonna do! So far everything is looking amazing. And I'm certain it'll get even better going forward.
lacking essential factor for foliar fertilizers application: the ph of the broth/compost tea should not be over 6,5 due to hydrogencarbonate would block its absorption into the leaves; ph can be lowered by controlled vinagre application. sunshine also dries up moisture on te leaves fast, so applications should be given on cloudy days w/o rain or at dawn/dusk.
hi there Jeff. i take a 5 gallon pail fill a quarter of the pail with mature compost (one year for sure) add water to the top put it in a sunny spot and cover . stir it every day. on day 5 i have a strainer and strain it out to just liquid no solids into another pail. i put it in a cool spot and apply one cup to 7litres of water. your plant must always be full of water before fertilizing and do it in the morn when its cool. same rules apply like when u use any other fertilizer.. best to fertilize on a cool cloudy day or rainy day. no burning of ur plant. once a week. u can put compost in a nylon stocking teetering on the top of the pail with a stick to steep into the water so u dont have to fuss with straining too. hope that helps u. happy gardening buddy :)
I always mix compost and water before adding it into my garden, it is just so easy to compost the garden this way, additionally, the compost gets added evenly.
Hi Stephen, Here is a rather long comment on your video. In science we make progress by testing hypotheses as you point out and yes we make use of Occam’s razor. A lot of thought needs to go in to design an experiment capable of meaningfully testing a hypothesis like the use of a control to distinguish between the effects of watering versus the effects of compost, compost tea or compost extract. Of course it is important to use as much water on your control as you use in the form of compost tea (etc.) on one of your experimental plots. It is clear from your presentation that you did not use a control for straight watering. So it is not surprising that you conclude, based on Occam’s razor, that it is more likely that the plants are doing well from just regular watering than due to the extract or tea. It would have been relatively straight forward to have added a control that could distinguish the effect of watering. Even better would be to use multiple repeats of the experimental plots and controls to witness the variability of each. In your second video you mention that Elaine Ingham is the chief proponent of compost tea and extract but you seem to be relatively unfamiliar with her methods. You focus on the bacteria implying it is the key behind making successful compost products. Having taken her 4 soil foodweb courses, including the microscope training, I know that she clearly indicates that good bacteria alone do not provide the nutrients plants need. You need their predators as well that release the nutrients locked up in the bacteria in the predators waste. She emphasizes the need for the complete soil food web which includes specifically aerobic bacteria and fungi and their predators together with plant roots providing carbohydrate exudates to attract and feed these microbes. The plant is the conductor of a bartering system where the plants provide carbon compound to the microbes in return for all the other elements (nutrients) that they require. One of the big contributions Dr. Ingham made early in her career was the realization that plate counts using petrie dishes were next to useless in establishing total good guy (aerobic) bacteria in soils. They were primarily intended to grow specific pathogens (bad guys). It is not surprising that your plate counts are much the same for all your treatments. The current best way for assessing the microbe population is with an inexpensive microscope, which together with proper training, allows for a quick assessment of the microbe status. Alternatively, if you have a state of the art scientific laboratory you could do DNA analysis but this is very slow and very expensive. Finally your method for making compost extract, leaving compost to sit in a 5 gallon tub of water for 7 days is almost certain to transform good compost into an anaerobic stew that is quite toxic to plants. Dr. Ingham places about 3 cups in a compost tea bag and massages the bag in the water for 30 sec to transfer many of the microbes to the water which is very fast. It is surprising how effective this is but you need a microscope to test. You then need to check a sample of the extract under the microscope to assess its quality and see whether you need to repeat with more compost. The extract can then be placed in a watering can and applied immediately for best results. I have also produced several educational TH-cam videos on the recent revolution in soil biology and are understanding of natures’s complexity. Please check them out. The first is titled “The Magic of Soil” and is 39 minutes long. It incorporates a number of excellent short videos produced by others which I received permission to include. Here is the link th-cam.com/video/AWILIYSf5ts/w-d-xo.html The second is a shorter 17 min. version (just released). entitled "How to Solve Global Warming & Food Security in 17 Minutes." th-cam.com/video/513Pjd1LIbo/w-d-xo.html I changed the title to attract a somewhat different audience but the new title also emphasizes how relevant this new revolution in soil biology is to these two key problems facing humanity. Cheers, Phil Gregory Professor Emeritus, Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Hi Phil, thank you for your thoughtful reply and for highlighting the serious flaws of this entire attempt to “debunk” compost tea. It takes very little effort to listen to one of dr Ingham’s talks to realize that this video was inaccurate, misguided, and worse of all a source of misinformation. It makes you wonder who is behind it.
i suppose using EM would add the microbes needed for instant plant availability of organic components in & above the soil instead of waiting up to 2 years ?
Videos like this help me get the most out of my limited gardening time, I'm glad I watched it because I was going to make a great effort to brew tea next year but I'll now pass and just work on better soil amendments. I also agree on proper watering, WOW what a difference that can make, something so simple but at the same time so important to do right. I actually started using a wicking system for my seed starts indoors with half gallon containers and it works so well I can now start my peppers and tomatoes a month later because they grow so much faster given ideal watering conditions. Thanks for the work, going to watch many more of your videos over the next few weeks.
You've done a great job and I've abandoned the practice of using teas. It's not often I take to heart what someone has presented, but I do in this case. I appreciate all of your efforts. Brent
You touched on compost tea, what is the compost made of? I use Red Wiggler Worm Castings, unsulfured molasses and if city water the chlorine, I boiled the chlorine out first, which takes 4-5 hours. The actual brewing of worm castings is 24 hours. If the brew at the end out cycle smells like shit, get rid of it! It is to have a sweet smell, near to no smell at all. But then I could be all wrong, but my wife and I ain't dead yet. Excellent info Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable. Thank you
I don't know if you covered this, sorry if I missed it, but wouldn't using the tea or extraction decrease the amount of "matter" you're putting in your garden? I believe you have effectively proven your point and initially I decided right away that I wouldn't be going through the trouble of making tea or extract and would just add more compost, since there is no difference in terms of nutrients being added. But, how long does compost last until it isn't relinquishing nutrients any longer? Should we just continually add more and more compost? Maybe you proved that on a per serving basis, that extracting the nutrients from the compost is no difference than adding the compost directly to the soil, but wouldn't you be increasing the amount nutrients and bacteria by continually adding the extract over time? You used 2 cups per bucket for the extraction and tea. You proved that if you were to just add those 2 cups to the soil, you would have achieved giving the same amount of nutrients and bacteria without the hassle of making the liquid. But, if you for example, just watered the plant with the extraction once, twice, or a few times a week, wouldn't that greatly increase the amount of benefits the plant was getting compared to just stretching the use of the 2 cups of compost? It doesn't seem like a good solution to add more compost a few times a week, does it? Sorry if you addressed this in the video, I must have missed it.
+Anthony Smith generally the research suggests 3-5 cm of compost on top of your garden every year is sufficient it won't over do it but also replaces the nutrients. That said I have not done much research into maximums as for most people including myself it is hard to get enough compost to even do a 1-2cm lift each year.
Excellent video Stephen. I am really enjoying your scientific touch. I was considering trying some compost tea this year but have now decided to stick to the green tea. Keep up the great work!
Cory Allison Don’t follow this guy blindly, look up John Evans. John Evans is in record books for his organic vegetables by using compost tea. This guy acts like there is only one compost tea. There’s vegan compost tea and non vegan. So many recipes for compost tea. Please research real farmers with real life experiences and accolades regarding this topic.
First I'd like to say I very much enjoy your videos, mainly due to your approach. This video in particular is a good one. I am very new to gardening, 2 yrs now and I am absorbing much information from many sources. Last year was my first year vegetable gardening and was very successful with the vegetable yield. To the point compost tea. I watched many videos and read much info on this subject. I ordered some product from Boogie Brew, bought a dual air pump stones...and went to town brewing the tea. Can I say it made a difference? No. But there are so many variables involved. New soil, compost, amendments I used...and the tea. I fully understand the need in the soil for the biology of plant nutrient uptake and the need for microorganisms. I brewed two batches of tea and stopped last Aug., 2016. Why? I stumbled unto your video. I know it's almost a year later but the garden season has started once again and I'm still watching videos on various subjects concerning gardening and thought I'd shoot this to you and others for one reason-HARMFUL UNWANTED PATHOGENS from compost tea. To me it's not worth the risk. Home made compost and worm casting will do the trick. I added some beds this year and when I was amending last years beds and turning in the compost I added I saw many worms as I turned the soil. That is a sign surly to put a smile on a gardeners face. Thanks for the videos.
What I would like to know is whether compost tea used as a foliar spray would increase nutrient absorption and yield. (Regardless of nutrient deficiency in soil). Would a 2nd nutrient pathway boost growth even if the roots are already absorbing optimal levels of nutrients? A proper test would prove or disprove any claimed benefits. Watering with regular water as the control would eliminate claims that regular watering was the real factor.
If the soil has sufficient nutrients the addition of any additional nutrients won't improve growth or yields. That is fairly solidly supported in the literature. I look forward to doing a little more research.
+Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable - What about temperature though? Nutrient content and nutrient absorbability don't always match up. For example: "Under cool soil conditions, microorganisms are not sufficiently active to convert nutrients into forms available for roots to absorb even if the nutrients were available, the plants could grow. A nutrient spray for foliage will provide the needed nutrients to the plants immediately, allowing them to begin growth." aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/guides/texas-vegetable-growers-handbook/chapter-iii-soils-fertilizers/ Your source [3] states: "Foliar feeding is yet another agricultural practice best suited to intensive crop production under specific soil limitations rather than as a landscape management tool." That source focuses primarily on landscapes and long term perennial management. But the bulk of your audience would be more likely to practice bio-intensive vegetable production through annual crops. Fruiting crops could potentially benefit as the fruits are close enough to the leaf tissues that they could receive a boost from the nutrients. Additionally, rogue pathogens are of little concern with fruiting crops like nightshades that are so easily washed. There's research and then there's testing. Without actually testing this, I'm not really convinced. I have never even used compost tea before. But this is making me WANT to. Just to run a proper test just to see. Even if it supports your conclusion, I still want to see a real test that can substantiate it, one way or the other.
I agree a proper test would help settle this however resources and time are and issue for me. I will tell you what I will do is add this to my list to research for the foliar application video and hopefully address it there. Does that work?
I think it's a worthwhile test. Basically, this is such a popular nutrient regimen that it would merit some proper trials, just to see. Even a 5-gallon bucket (pepper or tomato) would make for a perfect, simple test subject. A control, which is sprayed with water. And then the one which is foliar fed with compost tea. The soil surface could even be covered during application to rule out nutrients dripping into the root zone. Additional buckets could be set up for any extra feed that might be tested. Setting up & maintaining 5 gallon SIPs for a single plant is easy to both maintain and control. I did a test using 3 buckets last year. It worked out well. I'm so limited on space, it's hard to decide which variable(s) to test for this upcoming year. Plus I never bought any pumps for brewing the tea. So if you were to test this in some way, it would be a significant contribution to the community. And it may serve to further prove (or disprove) the findings of your research.
Very informative videos , one thing I'd like to ask is , what about using compost tee for a hydroponic system ? I would like to do the aquaponics but my wife won't let me . Do you think enough nutrients would be there
Thanks for taking the time to do the scientific research on compost tea. I will no longer be making it. The big red flag was the fact that we may be making ourselves sick from it. You are my #1 Scientific facts utube gardening channel. Great work!
+Deborah Weisberger I am glad you enjoyed the video and found the evidence helpful in making a decision in your garden! I am honoured you find my work #1 !!
I always wondered how making compost tea could possibly release more nutrients than just using the compost. If I put the compost in and on my soil, and it breaks down, aren't I getting the effect of the tea over time anyway? There's only so many nutrients in the compost so it doesn't seem like you could get more nutrients from nothing by making tea.
I think it would have been interesting to do a controlled experiment in the garden instead of the lab. Controlled experiment comparing yield, brix testing, and flavor of plants grown with and without compost tea, particularly augmentation with foliar spraying. You hypothesize that your lab experiments mean that no benefit would be realized in the garden is not conclusive. It is possible that people are achieving superior results from compost tea, but just not for the reasons they think. Anyway, enjoyed your video.
MrTimjwilson how is it a horrible experiment? In part 1 he sent samples off to a lab. Great video i appreciate you sharing info ur time and money. I've grown indoor for the last 4 yrs using compost tea's on and off best quality materials money can but from my local hydro store. Never noticed any difference in my plant growth when using it or not using it. I've also seen a video where somebody watered half their Garden with compost tea and half without. after a month all plants look identical. your video is just the final nail in the coffin for compost teas for me thank you.
If you read my comment in Part 1 of these videos you will see my answer but basically the guy who did the experiment does not really understand the microbial nutrient cycle, the lab did incorrect testing and the method of making ACT was much less than optimal. Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm saying ACT is a miracle (although it is in certain situations) amendment. It is just another tool for natural growing.
Oh I completely understand the nutrient cycle I have a degree in microbiology. As mentioned in the videos this is a Citizen Science project for which I completely funded myself. This is not cheap work to do and as such I kept with in the limits of the questions I was trying to address. essentially what the research I have done and the peer reviewed content that is out there to date casts doubt on the efficacy of the method specifically when compared to no till mulch application. When comparing the methods I made a suggestion. The evidence is for you to evaluate for yourself and determine your own course of action. If there is newer peer reviewed literature I would be more than happy to review it and update my findings.
Well done Stephen. Mother Nature has been doing her thing since the beginning, including making compost tea. If we give her a little room and don't presume to know more than her, the results can be amazing.
That is exactly it! Mother Earth is reliable as long as we let her do her own work. Thank you for pinch hitting on the response about Dr.Ingham ! It is appreciated as I left my research at the office !
+Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable I get all excited about this kind of stuff, I’m sure it shows. Please, let me know if I over step. I love Dr. Chalker Scott’s statement: “To assume that “natural” means “safe” is erroneous and environmentally irresponsible.” Unfortunately, bad and sometimes lacking but well intended information perpetuated by marketing to capture the consumer’s dollar, skew and cloud so much of the science or lack of science behind natural processes. Dr. Chalker Scott has done a wonderful job explaining why there are so few scientific studies and so many inconclusive results behind studies of ACT or CT in general. She says, “Why is there so little published data on aerated compost tea? Part of the reason is that each microbe in compost tea needs to be isolated and identified, then tested in a scientifically acceptable method before it is deemed an effective colonizer and competitor. Each batch of compost tea contains a variety of microbes at varying concentrations. How do these microbes interact? Do combinations of microbes have the same, better, or worse effects than those isolated examples? The potential for variability is enormous, and this leads to inconclusive results during testing." As I’m sure you know, Stephen, the in-depth scientific study of soil life is in its infancy. I was very excited last year to meet with a scientist working as part of a worldwide consortium to map the DNA of soil life. As we have heard, 1 gram (a teaspoon) of soil contains over a billion organisms, imagine how long it would take to sequence the DNA of each of those little microscopic critters. One of their biggest concerns is maintaining a standardized scientific model across the board. Their biggest obstacle is funding and to seek that funding takes away from time that could be spent in the lab. The sad truth is, unless someone can see a financial gain, they are not as likely to invest research dollars.
No overstepping here! I know you know your stuff and it is appreciated! I hope that more people engage in a Garden Professors style conversation on my videos! I could not agree more. Dr. Chalker-Scott is right on the nose and her work was excellent to help outline this. I did my supporting research however just to be sure it was the most current. Marketing has financial incentives. I find it odd then the burden of proof falls on science to disprove the marketing people. If there is no financial rewards then the research won't get done and the myths keep circling!
I wanted to hear what you had to say because I have seen such mixed reviews on this subject. Thank you for your feed back on compost tea. I felt it was still lacking some info or balance.Personally, I am still on the fence and I believe the mixed reviews are a result of the soil composition and nutrient content. I know I will do much more research to figure this out and I believe we need to understand soil composition and friendly bacteria more. I do not believe we should simply believe in time all the bacteria and worms will be naturally there. How much time? I am on pure beach sand. So finally, I have built garden beds with around 50% of this sand (actually, I have been adding compost, manure, mulched wood and mulched hay to it for 3 years) I have added rotting wood as the base, also, hay, compost, peatmoss, mulched wood chips from our land plus nutrients such as bloodmeal, bonemeal, microbes, epsom salt, calcium from lime as well as egg shells( ground very fine) wood ash etc. I have tested the beds for the NPK and PH level. Yet the beds that are 2 years old still have no worms. As to aeration in compost tea it creates an environment that would kill off bacteria that thrives in an anerobic environment. So can that be a benefit or not? For me the point of any compost tea is simply to draw out nutrients and create a water soluble source for your garden. When just building a new bed many nutrients are slow release. Water soluable allows for a quick uptake of nutrients. Plants can grow very well with NPK and a balance ph but we need more. The reason the tea did not have as much minerals in your experiment was because the source grew with a lack of those nutrients in the soil. So yes, synthetic would show more nutrients. Today, most soils do not have the nutrients we need. So, yes compost tea may not be the answer just by using a source lacking in nutrients. BUT if we add natural sources loaded with the micronutrients to our soil and create a tea from all those nutrients I believe it will give the boost to our plants from the get-go until the soil finally catches up. Yes, creating harmful bacteria is a concern or at least you make it seem that is a real possibility. Is that a scare tactic, establish fear or is it a real issue? I will experiment this year and over the next few years on a few plants to see if they end up diseased due to the use of compost tea or if they actually thrive. To recap, balanced soil with all the micronutrients we actually need and bacteria to allow proper uptake by the plants should result in a healthy nutrient dense plant/vegetable and compost tea should not be needed but until that is the case, compost tea is a means to create a water soluable natural source to give to our plants quickly. At least for now that is how I see it.
You are grossly under educated regarding the nutrient cycle, as is Linda Chalker Scott. You do have some valid points but have no way to validate them. Please see my comment on your first video,
Thank you for this. Question: is there merit to a liquid fertilizer made by letting, say, potash, manure, and coffee grounds be soaked in a mixing or aerated water? Would this accelerate root uptake by making add such soluble minerals into the water? I ask this because (1) I want a rapid burst of fertilization at times, and (2) may lack sufficient space in my potted plants to add a new layer of compost.
Thank you for going through the trouble to set up and monitor these methods. I'm just starting and have reviewed a number of videos. Your findings are the same as some other permaculture folks who post videos here. They use compost, but have given up on compost tea as their field trials haven't supported the work that goes into brewing the tea vs. using compost.
hmmm. ive used compost teas for 20yrs, i did an experiment once . 2 of the same plants side by side, one with compost on top one without. both received the same watering and when i gave one tea i gave the other water. so the watering was the same. the one with compost tea grew 400 times bigger. im still a fan of it. never got sick but i sure appreciate the extensive information on this. id never go as far as brewing. waste of time. keep it simple i say. awesome information you have provided. thank you :)
Sherry this is why I do this work! Simply to question the claims and provide the evidence! It is great to hear you have done some trials and saw results! That is at the core what I hope to promote here!
fill a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full with water. put about an icecream pail full of compost in cheesecloth or a nylon tied off at on end and the other end to a stick in the middle that can be put over the bucket to dangle in the water so it steeps. put in a real sunny place for bout 3 or 4 days stirring every day. itll be smelly as expected. remove bag of compost but throw it back in ur pile or dirt. tea is ready to use. make sure it isnt strictly compost tea all summer u give your plant or like any fertilizer it will burn this method works for me. i grew an 80lb.pumpkin this year with little effort hope this helps. good growing budd :) just a hint tho. dirt greens and wood in good compost just sayin lol
Interesting experiment. Thanks for doing this. I guess it depends on your goal. Adding compost directly to your flower/vegetable garden and frequently watering certainly seems like less effort for the same beneficial results. But if you want green grass, adding compost to your grass and watering is more difficult. I would suggest compost tea and watering the grass with the tea would be the way to go. Just my observation.
Two years ago, I had the pleasure to meet dr Elaine Ingham, a fascinating women! And I agree with you Stephen, she teaches that to be safe and efficient the compost tea has to be examine under a microscope and micro organism identified!!! Since then I've been mulching with my compost and letting nature take care of it for me ;-)
Well, this scientific method of analyzing everything is also a lot of work. And most farmer I know do not have a chemistry degree. Their success is the result of experimentation and learning from those before them. Every gardener will tell you that gardening ALWAYS involves a certain level of experimentation, which is tantamount to guess work. But the scientific method is also highly experimental. So, what's the big advantage? Also, if you do not control all the factors of your scientific method, your results are likely to be skewed. For example, in this video, we see clips of aerated compost tea (ACT) generously applied to the roots of plants. The bacteria of ACT are aerobic bacteria. But, from what I understand, most of the bacteria around the roots of plants are anaerobic. So, of course, introducing aerobic bacteria where anaerobic bacteria are needed won't produce much results. Plus, if the solution, instead of using ACT, is to import organic matter from your neighborhood, unless you test every batch of what you bring in, you're also risking importing stuff that can be hazardous to your health. So, to me, this guy is not clarifying what's best for everyone to do as much as what he, a science nerd, feel inclined to do.
Great Steven! I also stopped using compost tea last year. My concerns were Ecoli. It really scares me when i read posts by new vermicompost gardeners asking how much manure to add. I don't use manure for that same reason. Besides if we could brew up the best bacteria, and apply it to the soil, theres no guarantee it would survive.
Exactly it. We may be going to a lot of effort to kill the bacteria. I think manure is fine as long as it is composted. I would not apply raw manure directly to the garden.
It seems the majority of people here, including the presenter, have forgotten about humic acid which would be present in a freshly made compost tea. What about the nutrients already made soluble by the microorganisms in the compost? What if you are supplying easy food (dead or plentiful living) microorganisms to the larger ones? I think if what you're saying about Occam's Razor is true, then the simplest explanation would be that the compost tea produced results. Personally, I don't agree with trying to mesh the philosophy with the hypothesis as it seems to have skewed your thinking toward your preferred outcome. Please revisit this when you have done more research.
I am sorta bummed. I have access to a steady supply of animal protein,(left-over sausage and eggs) that I do not put in my composter. I was hoping to include them in a '"fetid swamp water" production along with spent coffee grounds and some weeds. Maybe if I let things decay for a long time, produce a "fetid swamp sludge" and use it help reconstitute spent potting soil?
Answered a lot of my questions and I thank you. So many of us gardeners want the very best for our families ans often times get excited from new ideas that come down the road without researching everything out. This being one of them. That seems to be human nature. The same goes with new things that come into the church. It excites people and they think "oh, that must be of God, when in all actuality, it is not from Him at all. Thanks my friend for all your time doing the research and sharing with us.
This was a great video. I've never used compost tea, but was wondering if it was worth it. You answered all of my questions and suspicions. What's next?? This will be a hard one to top. Might I suggest diatomaceous earth? It's seems like a solid, logical, and practical product. Keep the videos coming please :)
I knock off one large one like this a year ! It takes nearly all year to get them ready! DE is something I would like to investigate! Thank you! As for topping this me there is always some new marketed product I can look into.
I can't say whether you're right or wrong about using compost tea, but I'm wondering, if the tea doesn't increase good bacteria, then how could it increase harmful bacteria, as you suggested? Also, I'd like to see this test done with straight worm castings.
The point is that you just don't know what kind of bacteria you're getting. He's saying it's a huge gamble. That's the point. It's a gamble you don't have to take.
I think the flaw in your test is the fact that you did the brew in the winter. Ive noticed a huge difference in foaming because of temp. Need to repeat during the hottest time of year.
in both videos, the temperature of the environment in which the comp. tea was made in was not mentioned. temperature is a crucial variable when examining bacteria in general, and growth in particular. since i've seen snow in your test area, i have a lot of concerns regarding the test and conclusions. adding sugar and air to water will always result in rapid bacterial growth in an appropriate temperature. in a too cold environment, no growth will occur. that will explain the bacterial count results better than your comparison. you said it yourself, the simplest explanation must be chosen. i like the method and effort, but not so much the execution and analysis. i will very much appreciate your comment on this.
You are right temperature is important and it was logged during the experiment however it was an oversight that I neglected to mention it. I just went back to my notes it was 18.5 and ranged up to 21.5. Those temperatures are representative of the warmer end for soil temperatures which should be the optimal ranges for the bacteria we were trying to culture. I did however not control for it as most home compost tea would be made without temperature control. With all of that said you are right the temperature could have been an issue that caused the results. With out more controls on the temperature there is no way to know. You have offered an alternative explanation that explains the results. With that in mind your point brings up an even large flaw in the compost tea methodology. if there is a sweet spot for bacterial culturing most home gardeners are not going to know or would have no way to control for it. Hence the future rate to achieve bacterial growth would be extremely high negating the whole method. The dude you have me thinking now ;)
if you live in warm climate there's no problem growing bacteria. not everyone on earth live where you live. second, you're missing a big part of the point! soil temperature has nothing to do with compost tea. moreover, if bacteria could have grown in soil temperature in that way, compost tea would be pointless as the soil would hold bacterial flora to the max at all times (with only regular compost use needed only). the point of aact is inserting bacteria regularly with compost extract enriching the soil constantly.
Liked your approach, but honestly the simplest explanation for increased yield in your garden after adding compost tea, is because you added compost tea that is full water soluble nutrients.
Great video's. Thank you. Just compost your leafs and grass clipping for the following season. Use rain water. Can't get much simpler than that. I guess the only thing I could think of adding is some high quality worm castings. Then let nature take it's course instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. I appreciate all your hard work and thanks again. Peace Out!!!!!
In this video industrial farmers have experimented with compost tea on a very large cereal crop and the results are the opposite of yours... Knowing that the analyses were made in laboratory. Here are the comparative results 2 years later between the control plot that received nothing (between 2018 and 2021) and the plot sprayed with compost tea: Organic matter rate on the control plot: 4% | Organic matter rate in the compost tea treated plot: 5.2% | Organic nitrogen rate in the control plot: 35.7% | Organic nitrogen rate in the compost tea treated plot: 72.5% ❗❗ | Labile carbon rate in the control plot: 149 (ppm) | Labile carbon rate in the compost tea treated plot: 261 (ppm) ❗❗ | Biological activity (breathing) in the control plot: 28.5 (ppm co2) | Biological activity (breathing) in the compost tea plot: 67.8 (ppm co2) ❗❗ This is such e huge difference in only 2 years ! The video : @
I agree with this video. I've tried comparisons with straight compost vs teas. If earth worms are present, my plants do exceptional without adding much of anything. Last year, my vegetable garden cost me $40. Mostly because I did not spend money on any snake oil treatments or gimmicks. The most erroneous results I have seen are coming from peoples perceptions as to what qualifies as 'finished' compost. Much of what I see being used really isn't finished. I raise red worms and compost. My finished compost is not far off of what the worm castings look/feel, or even smell like.
I am glad to hear you are getting great value from your garden. My garden did not cost me much at all but yielded huge volumes of food. If you check out my latest video I take a year cycle approach to my compost. It takes more time but is worth it ;)
Also when I make drinking tea I don't add molasses and let it steep for days with a fish tank pump in it that's crazy. Easiest, quickest, safest, compost tea is simply to add compost to small bag and steep in a bucket of water for about an hour, then add to plants just like you would make drinking tea
great information, it was my understanding that as the brew matures over a few days it's the number of beneficial bacteria that increases, rather than just total number. I would love to see some results that supported out refuted this. also if as you say the number of bacteria didn't increase, how can applying compost directly to the garden then watering be any safer with regards to pathogens?
+Lee Brenton that is likely the safest option to simply apply the compost to the mulch (or top layer) of the soil and water. no need to fuss with anything else.
Based on your data it's not likely to be safer though, just even. (With no difference in microbe numbers - which seems very counter-intuitive). I agree with the sentiment of no fuss!!, but the reason I care is I am searching for information for an aeroponics (nutrient rich water sprayed directly on the roots) system. But again, great information indeed, thank you.
aeroponics is quite different. In that case you can grow organically however you will need a stable nutrient and should not need to rely on bacteria like a soil garden.
Love your videos! I don't intentionally make compost tea, but a dark liquid drips from my drum composter and I add this liquid to my garden. Should I be concerned about harmful bacteria/pathogens in the liquid that drips from my drum composter?
+Wendy Fjelstad I just would not apply it near crops you are planning to harvest in the next few days. That should be no risk at all. Glad you enjoyed the video!
Great info as usual Stephen. I have used compost tea on a few occasions, but have stopped as I am somewhat lazy and consider it kind of a pain. I am not a man of science, but the way I think about it is a good soil system with lots of organic matter and mulch will already have a high density of bacteria and other beneficial life. I think about it in terms of population density. The population of bacteria in a healthy soil should be at about its maximum depending on factors such as organic matter, space, temperature etc. In my opinion, adding additional bacteria to your soil may increase their populations for a short time, but they will likely "re-stabilize" at its previous density. I don't know if this is true, but it makes sense in my head :) Always great to hear good information from someone who is not trying to sell you anything. Thanks Stephen.
+Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable - A book is a great idea Stephen. Not everyone who gardens has an in depth knowledge of science, so its great when someone with a good background wants to share their info and experience with others. Let me know how the book goes and i will have to pick it up. Take care.
I certainly will my friend! I think a book is a great way to summarize all the work I have done and reach an audience that prefers to read over view! That helps my mission which is to help others grow more food!
Stephen, are you aware that compost robs nitrogen and oxygen below the soil line and that it should only be placed on top? now id like to ask you this, would compost tea work for plants grown in straight course sand? i would just put compost on top of the pots like you say, but ive tried this and it seems to just block out oxygen and rot things, compost is great in summer as a mulch but its scary in winter in a wet greenhouse and with plants outside that like dry winters and cant handle staying wet, im only getting 300ppm readings on the compost tea, about the same as soil, but if its 300ppm fed every single day would that make it alright? are organic nutrients even measurable by ppm? id think so
This video is more about theory jargon than actual gardening. One can establish a million theories as to why this and that "won't work" but actual trial and error provides "the science" you seek.
I didn't detect any conformational bias because Gary had no bias. The problem is in the complexity of the subject. Not many (less than 1/1000) probably want to know why CT works or not on a microbiological level enough to spend the years of study. I don't and I have a strong scientific bias. Every since I read "The One Straw Revolution" in 1983 I have expanded my thinking to include the "big picture" in everything.
Roosters crow when the sun comes up. This is what you observe. Conclusion based on trial and error, as opposed to science is “roosters crowing makes the sun come up”. VIK, you just don’t understand the process of scientific investigation; you know, the one that provides things like computers and the internet.
I thought as well that you should treat your entire garden soil like a giant compost tea and inoculate with compost and water. Question: there is also a belief that when adding worm compost that you should protect the beneficial bacteria from the suns rays and from drying out with mulch or they may die and have a soil that does not have as much healthy bacteria, at least on the surface where the compost was added, what are your thoughts on this?
The wonderful thing about bacteria in the soil is its resilient and effective. If you put worm castings under the mulch or even just on the surface the bacteria will die releasing the nutrients in their cells to the plants. The works will move spreading more bacteria, plant growth hormone and further breaking down organic material releasing again more nutrients. You can keep things simple and let nature do what nature is best at !
Your hypothesis are very interesting, but the investigation is a little light in terms of the amount of information collected. There's a considerable amount of scientific literature sustaining the efficacy of compost tea microbial-mediated plant health benefits of compost tea and other microbial (not only bacteria!) solutions. Obviously, with some exeptions that do not seem to be the rule. This is reviewed by B.J. Jacobsen in (chapters 9 and 11) a peer reviewed book called "Microbial Ecology of Aerial Plant Surfaces" published by CAB International in 2006. If you read this, you can understand that though the likelihood of getting a plant disease might not be that big, especially when compared to the probability of inoculating effective levels of plant-protective microorganisms. Indeed, there are several well established mechanisms through which (applied and native) microorganisms enhance plant health as well as pathogen resistance. I'm not saying that the universality of compost tea efficacy is widely proven. I just think that its inefficacy can surly not be affirmed only based on the evidence and assumptions you make. It's a very complex subject still subject to debate :)
What about people that don't have space for a compost pit? And compost is expensive. They sell little tubs of compost tea powder that mix with water. Easier/cheaper
Thanks again for debunking myths. I seek to simplify and practice "do nothing gardening", i.e., think first to act more intelligently, more efficiently, more aware of the consequences. By my nature I question everything, every expert, every claim and when the answer is not clear, highly controversial, I keep analyzing, thinking, evaluating from all angles to arrive at a conclusion, knowing it will be open to further input which may modify my conclusion or refute it.
I'm considering getting a rolling barrow composer as I don't have a lot of space for a traditional pile & it seems more convenient, any major disadvantage of using this method?
Fascinating studies, but all involve using non-chlorinated rainwater and simple composted leaf or other organic matter. For those of us for whom rainwater is an unrealistic expectation, would not using the aeration process to air-off the chlorine give better results than using chlorinated water? Also, is there a difference between using processed worm castings rather than simple unprocessed organic matter. Maybe those contribute to the posited positive value of the AACT process from worm castings people.
I am going to ask a question if I can. I want to build hydriponic by using NFT Technics .When I use vermicompost tea, how often should I repeat it. For example if I use it on nutrition solution, Shold I add vermicompost tea daily or once a week ?
I'm going to make some compost tea and start drinking it in the morning and afternoon. I surmise I will be stronger, better looking and will run faster and jump higher then everybody else. Thank God for another miracle from the internet. I will update everybody when I start drinking all my cow manure, chicken droppings and my grass clippings in a blended smoothie. Yummie!
I decided to start a garden recently, dug down a foot deep all over my garden to sift out all the rocks that a previous owner had put on/in the soil. back breaking work, but i am pretty sure i have bad soil. did not come accross a single worm or bug in any of the dirt at all. lol. did my best to fix it, will see how it goes.
Why I might suggest is building raised beds and if you wish I can show you how to build them simply. As for building good soil you can do it for free. Here is a playlist outlining the resources I use and they are all free. th-cam.com/play/PL5mfR-r4BXH2W285QZm4mdsdKo6l98zRK.html Let me know if you have questions.
Interesting video. What do you think of aact as a pest control product? Also I know from experience if your root development isn't perfect it helps the plant with deficiencies and getting established.
I brewed compost tea, mushroom compost, molasses, seaweed, fish fertilizer, water, air pump, then did a test for ph, N, potash, phosphorus with tea out of the bucket, the ph was 5.5, no reading for Nitrogen, surplus of potash and phosphorus. What benefit does it have besides a surplus k, p what do I do to get nitrogen, do you recommend a better organic fertilizer
Congratulations Stephen, You just made my gardening easier by NOT using compost tea. I do have some Alaska fish fertilizer (liquid). What is the opinion on this? Great job again. Steve
+Steve Gillespie most products made from waste like fish fertilizers are very effective. I just would not go out of my way to use them when I have so many free things around me that do such a great job!
1)Hi I have a question can I replace the plants with organic foods & liquids ? The reason is that my garden has bought store liquids from my local store area and I want to know if I can replace it with organic liquids?also will it harm any of my plants like my roses,fruit trees ,&other plants from my garden. 2)will the organic foods or liquids will accept any type of drug plants out of curiosity like weed or cocaine just for future questioning from comments in TH-cam &for the people.
You should try looking into and testing boogie brews 2 part compost tea! It's a very highly praised product where I'm and I haven't heard 1 negative comment about it. I use it myself and I've definitely noticed a difference in my products just using it once a week! Great videos btw!
+GeTsmAckeD15 I certainly have most of the promoted products on my list and in time I am sure I will get to them :) I however use free and local stuff I produce at home to get the same results for free :)
The easiest thing to do that will benefit your plant is to apply it as a mulch. Even a thin layer would work if you do not have enough to spread around.
Permaculture Homestead Thank you. I realize it is not a strong fertilizer. I use it to just 'beef up' my soil. I use the LASAGNA METHOD of building soil fertility and the NO TILL METHOD. Inexpensive and gives me rich soil.
Yes, mulching with worm castings is great. I also have A LOT OF COMFREY and use it in the CHOP & DROP method. Thank you so much Stephen for doing all this research for us. Much appreciated my friend.*****
Good morning Stephen. The window greens look very good. Saying Compost Tea--is also saying caffeine. Which if accompanied (partnered) with a sugar will attract insects--bugs. That's about all I know. ===The outside garden will become a fragrance--area for infestation--or just bumble bee's. Should you be lucky--with stimulating your compost. I watched the video once...some nice information as always. Have a great day.
I'm curious about the use of blended dandelion greens along with other weeds for organic nitrogen fert. I think the long taproots would draw up lots of minerals to the plant, so I blend them with water and blackstrap molasses, and add it to a 30 gallon pail and aerate that. I did notice a difference between one control container with lettuce and the container of lettuce I used the brew in. The control lagged behind in growth.
For us farmers. A hands on practical experiment is more important than a lab experiment
Got to agree ,try it if it works use it.
Yeah, if the placebo has a result because you water more consistently it's still a positive. The problem is people banking on this without people ever realizing they could get the same placebo effect by dropping some dirt in a bucket and giving it a day or two for your brain to begin playing this trick on you.
This study investigated the chemical characteristics and microbial population during incubation of four kinds of aerated compost teas based on oriental medicinal herbs compost, vermicompost, rice straw compost, and mixtures of three composts (MOVR). It aimed to determine the effects of the aerated compost tea (ACT) based on MOVR on the growth promotion of red leaf lettuce, soybean and sweet corn. Findings showed that the pH level and EC of the compost tea slightly increased based on the incubation time except for rice straw compost tea. All compost teas except for oriental medicinal herbs and rice straw compost tea contained more NO(-) 3-N than NH(+) 4-N. Plate counts of bacteria and fungi were significantly higher than the initial compost in ACT. Microbial communities of all ACT were predominantly bacteria. The dominant bacterial genera were analyzed as Bacillus (63.0%), Ochrobactrum (13.0%), Spingomonas (6.0%) and uncultured bacterium (4.0%) by 16S rDNA analysis. The effect of four concentrations, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.8% MOVR on the growth of red leaf lettuce, soybean and sweet corn was also studied in the greenhouse. The red leaf lettuce with 0.4% MOVR had the most effective concentration on growth parameters in foliage part. However, 0.8% MOVR significantly promoted the growth of root and shoot of both soybean and sweet corn. The soybean treated with higher MOVR concentration was more effective in increasing the root nodule formation by 7.25 times than in the lower MOVR concentrations Results indicated that ACT could be used as liquid nutrient fertilizer with active microorganisms for culture of variable crops under organic farming condition.
www.pubfacts.com/detail/26361474/Effect-of-Aerated-Compost-Tea-on-the-Growth-Promotion-of-Lettuce-Soybean-and-Sweet-Corn-in-Organic-C
maddhatter1219 I see he didn’t reply to this excellent comment. Well done sir.
Yes he seems to be trying to refute all the evidence with a lot of words without any evidence. Great comment
Looks kinda like the guy who owns shares in big fertilizer Corp 😂😂😂
I can't possibly convey in words how grateful I am for science based research and testing of all the hype and traditional practice plants and gardening information out there. Thank you so much for all of this effort!
After watching this video I feel I was led to, and then reading all the comments, I realized that for me, it's a relief to not HAVE to go through the hassle of making compost tea but can just let my compost mulch do the work for me. I believe in the principle of the "easy yoke and light burden." Sometimes I think we mean well but try too hard to "help" nature "get it right" and just get in the way and wear ourselves down.
I'm happy for the freedom we all have to be where we are in life, doing things the way WE think is right at the time and gaining happiness and fulfillment as we do. For me, it's keeping things simple. I wish you all happiness and blessings and the continued freedom to take the approach you most believe in. And thank you, Alberta Urban, for all the work you've done and your good intent in doing it and in making this video.
Glad I could help my friend! I certainly felt the same thing just trying to help out but am relieved to just add mulch and let mother nature do her thing!
Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable I so agree!
Hey man, I appreciate your research. Its just when I was in Winsconsin, I overdid it and went organic bananas. I did super compost tea where I got kelp, Azomite, yeast, and actively decaying plant matter(from a farm) and molasses. Oh, and I put in decaying wood from an arborist, actively decayed, not fresh..it was moldey. This stuff smelled and was not advised by other people and niether do I, but man, that was the biggest set of plants I EVER had. Now in NC and watch your video and stopped ACT. I did all the other stuff even had rock slag from a well dug put in my garden....nothing. The plants are so bad. I decided to go back to my disgusting tea method and keep putting in decayed wood on my soil and try to get super crops again. Just telling you from what a veiwer did. I even had to go to....Miracle grow....
Fungally dominated compost teas are great for flowering bro, bacterially dominated teas are great for veg but fungally dominated teas are the best during flower.
So basically well watered and composted gardens work. Cheap simple effective. Well done!
Yes sir ! Easy and effective !
I don't think we were meant to put so much thinking into the process. Overthinking is how we got ourselves where we are today
would you please investigate the effects of fluoride ?
And plants got this far without chemicals in their water.
During a period of time, our municipal water source contained fluoride, and chloramines (really really bad stuff) During this time we used rain water for the garden. shortly there after, the municipality changed water suppliers. Try rain water, but I don't think fluoride will hurt. Chloramines are horrible.
great video. I don't fear pathogens so much but the other reasoning makes sense: why go do all this extra work of making the tea when benefits are nearly equal with just normal compost and rainwater. I think there should be proof that there is a significant difference in benefit of using compost tea (as opposed to just compost) before doing all this extra effort and recommending it to others
Damn! Are any of the 'wives tales' true? You're breaking my heart!
Whoever thought of making compost tea might be cringing while watching this video.. Very informative indeed. Many thanks.
I was thinking about it, and I'm def glad I looked it up.
you put a lot of work and research into this subject and these videos are very good but i do not agree with your conclusion. in this video you said yourself that the explaination with the least amount of assumptions must be the right one. but all of your explanations for the positive results that are actually seen from the addition of aact are just assumptions. if aact claims to make your soil richer and your plants bigger and healthier and thats just what you see then there is no assumption about that. that is the proof of the claim. this study that youve done as thorough as it was isnt about whether aact works or not as much as trying to disprove the reasons why it does work. if people didnt see the results of the claim this study would hold merit. as it stands the people that do uses it do see the results of the claims. all you have proven to me is that it does work but not for reasons x y and z. also the parameters of the study were uneven. you compaired aact to a fertilizer where you should have compaired it with another microbial innoculant. aact isnt fertilizer it doesnt even claim to be. aact claims to break down fertilizer into its plant useable form faster than the soil alone. aact uses the same microbes that are found in compost the soil and the plants themselves to reinforce the cycling of nutrients from one form to another. your study didnt prove that aact doesnt do that. it proves that fertilizer is fertilizer and aact isnt. you didnt say anything about the real claims of aact to cycle your fertilizer faster. and then you tested a store bought compost tea rather than compost from your own pile. what did you expect. you even said that its mostly soluable fert disguised. why even use that when you have much better stuff to use for the study in your yard. i just dont think this study was fair enough to be accurate. where is the side by side comparison of with tea and without. these videos had alot of research but no results of any real experiment.
well said. The long term presence of beneficial microorganisms in the soil is where the magic happens, and like much of the natural cycling, it is heard to measure accurately.
this video is well done but is more of a statement then thorough research.
regardless, I've enjoyed the discussion around it.
I think the title of the series is incorrect: "Does compost tea work?" should really be more like, "does compost tea work for the reasons people claim it does". To answer the question "does compost tea work" you would want the side by side comparison you mentioned (I was also surprised he didn't do that given the name of these videos). But he did answer a couple of different and possibly more interesting questions: "does actively aerating compost tea really produce more bacteria?" and "are different compost tea methods comparable in nutrients to each other, or to commercial fertilizers?"
"Does compost tea work" isn't an especially interesting question (to me anyway) because, like you said, it's easy to demonstrate that it does work. You do the side by side and see how big and healthy the compost tea plants get, and there's your answer.
What's more interesting to me is, "should we believe that compost tea is better than simply diluting compost with water, or even using the compost itself?" We know adding nutrients to the soil makes plants happy. We know compost has those nutrients. We assume that brewing compost tea releases some of those nutrients and we get the added benefit of (hopefully beneficial) bacteria to help our plants along. Except, we don't know that going through the trouble of making compost tea and actively aerating it actually produces more bacteria or releases more nutrients than a simpler, less involved method. I know I don't want to do extra work if I don't have to.
In the first video, he brewed his own compost tea with rain water and compost from his own garden. He did not test store bought compost tea. The results of the experiment were that aact did not produce more culturable bacteria than compost diluted in water or a compost extraction. The results also showed that compost extraction, aact, and compost diluted with water produced similar nutrient levels to each other, but far less than those of synthetic fertilizer. Those are real results of a real experiment, just not the experiment as indicated by the title.
I think these are important things to consider, partially because I'm lazy and I don't want to do a lot of work for no additional benefit. It's not that the tea has no benefit - it does have nutrients and possibly good bacteria and that's good for plants. But if I want the most bang for my lazy buck, just using the compost itself might have *more* impact. Or if I want to thin out my compost, now I know that simply mixing it with water will extract those nutrients and the bacteria, so I don't have to go through a complicated aeration process.
His claim that compost tea does not help the structure of the soil I believe to be incorrect as more bacteria digesters in the soil means more binders in the soil, and continuously keeping the soil moist and adding some molasses or agar (Kelp products) to the soil will feed and maintain the populations of that bacteria in the soil which will help transform the dry dusty soil into more sticky water retaining soil. I agree your study is thorough but all real compost tea enthusiasts use all there own resources or use raw materials gathered from nature and use local cultures in there composts and gardens as a base and then basically scale it up or increase the bacterial population in the soil where it does not exist. This means you really only need to use compost tea when expanding to areas with dirt seemingly void of life. There is a good reason for doing everything but you are correct that puting compost on your garden and watering a lot will have similar results.. its just slower if u dont have alive dirt... It seems he has kept his head in the books too long and kept your garden to freaking clean in your spotless house , with not only no bacterial aid but no fungal as well. Dont forget your target audience should be real gardeners who dont mind getting a little dirty , you look like you have never gotten on your knees to do some real gardening in the first place and the fungal aspect bro!
Lots of questions, no question marks! Communication is more effective with grammar, e.g., punctuation. Those rules are there because they work.
Your claim that CT has been proven to work is not my experience. Side by Side experiments, using controls, are non-existent. A.U.G.S.O.S. should have done that. Gary was too focused on the micro climate, probably due to his profession, microbiology. He should read "The One Straw Revolution" to cure that. It cured me.
Nubia K You are making rather broad claims regarding what aact does and I agree that this particular attempt falls short of a completely scientific study. For years, I've been trying to find evidence-based studies on aact or simply compost teas in general. I've found nothing that shows me aact or compost teas in general are of any value to home gardeners. This limited (and understandably flawed, considering the limited resources available) at least furthers information on the topic.
You obviously have an expertise on this topic and I'm guessing that you actually use aact. I'd love to see you do a simple side-by-side scientific comparison in your own garden (or perhaps in cooperation with other aact devotees.
Finally someone on youtube educating gardeners to think smart about "compost tea".
Just finished your video on using worm casting. I found it to be the best complete video available on all aspects of worm casting use. All your videos are fantastic from a scientific point of view that I appreciate. Thanks and keep up the informative work !
I am so very glad you enjoy the work I do. It is a labour of love !
I have tried compost tea. But would rather just put my compost on the ground before watering. But I have heard recently about Alfalfa tea. Have you tried it and do you think that it would work? Thank you.
So...I watched both parts of the compost tea series. I have used tea before but this year, I realized, even though its a lot of work, it is a good way to spread the wealth. Since I only had a little bit of rabbit manure (manure, hay and whatever fell out of the cage), I needed to get the most out of it. I made "tea". That is, put some dried stuff in a rag, tie it off, and let it make tea in a quart jar. Dump the result into a gallon jar and water a lot of plants with a little bit. They got more than they would from just plain tap water. Another method I use is watering with plastic jugs with a pin hole. add a measure of the tea to the jug and it will water the plant or plants.
I raise worms now. they already have beneficial bacteria in their systems, and inoculating the castings as they go. Same problem of how to make a little bit go farther... by making worm tea. Actually i'm collecting the drippings draining out of the bin. Since I'm still new to using this, I have no results to pass on. Maybe by the end of the summer.
great answers with evidence. I like that.
I have heard that you should use worm castings instead of compost in the tea. But I don’t know if it would make a difference to your experiment since I don’t really know the scientific difference between the two. But I wish your experiment would have included a compost tea mede with worm castings and maybe even some mykos innoculant.
Results will vary depending on the compost source imo. If you are using a steer or chicken manure in your compost, then I would say you will raise your risk of pathogens and risk of E coli. Vegan sourced composts should not have these variables. The majority of AACT I brew uses humus or premium vegan fed worm castings as the base of the brew outside of carb sources. Carb sources will play a major role as well, depending what monosaccharide or polysaccharides are available to the colonies to feed on. The types of beneficial bacteria and fungus are vast and from what I have learned will have different effects from different plant types. Glomus, rhizopgon, bacillus, trichoderma, scleroderma, suillus, laccaria, pisolithus are some of the different bacteria and fungus that I would have been curious to see CFU and propagules per cc counts to see what kind of biodiversity and numbers in testing, not to mention the nematode and protozoa content. The length of brew time will shrink biodiversity but increase population size of certain colonies that are more dominant. In my experience, microbial and fungal inoculation to soil plays a big difference in taste, yield, essential oil production, nutrient uptake and plant health. These break down complex compounds for better biological assimilation, and having higher strength in numbers to fight off pathogens and unwanted bacterias and fungus in the soil. Foliar feeding produces a biofilm that protects in the same way and can hinder downy mold hypae from spreading and keep away some hard and soft bodied pests (bacillus thuringiensis "BT" that we know kills caterpillars). Steeping compost without air will produce anaerobic colonies which may have bad numbers of the wrong bacteria and I would not suggest using that method. I am no mycologist, I manage a chain of hydroponic stores and have been gardening for 10 years and I am just speaking from the experience I have.
Hi Ganga, great comment. I agree that factory farmed , lot-fed animal manures in compost are unhealthy, but manure from grass fed organic cows is full of fabulous bacteria, one in particular acts as an anti depressant on mice in studies. Vegan composts, like vegan diets, are lacking vital elements . There would be no such thing in nature. BTW the whole composting, humification process relies on the fact that big things hunt and eat littler things. There are no vegans in compost . The nematodes , flagellets, arthropods and even the earth worms are fearsome predators. Beware of a long term vegan diet, it is un natural and can be very harmful to you.
I agree. We planted some citrus trees some time back and plopped them in the ground. We didn't do a thing and we got a lot of fruit over the years. Only this past year have we taken measures to take out the lawn and competing weeds and provide mulch and composted leaves/scraps and rain water from barrels with fish in it. But that's it! It's the extent of what we're gonna do! So far everything is looking amazing. And I'm certain it'll get even better going forward.
It certainly a wonder and most of my garden takes care of itself !
In video #1, only 1 table spoon of molasses was added. That would not make a large amount of bacteria - no matter what compost or aeration used.
lacking essential factor for foliar fertilizers application: the ph of the broth/compost tea should not be over 6,5 due to hydrogencarbonate would block its absorption into the leaves; ph can be lowered by controlled vinagre application. sunshine also dries up moisture on te leaves fast, so applications should be given on cloudy days w/o rain or at dawn/dusk.
hi there Jeff. i take a 5 gallon pail fill a quarter of the pail with mature compost (one year for sure) add water to the top put it in a sunny spot and cover . stir it every day. on day 5 i have a strainer and strain it out to just liquid no solids into another pail. i put it in a cool spot and apply one cup to 7litres of water. your plant must always be full of water before fertilizing and do it in the morn when its cool. same rules apply like when u use any other fertilizer.. best to fertilize on a cool cloudy day or rainy day. no burning of ur plant. once a week. u can put compost in a nylon stocking teetering on the top of the pail with a stick to steep into the water so u dont have to fuss with straining too. hope that helps u. happy gardening buddy :)
Generally speaking it would be easier to apply the composted manure to the soil as mulch :)
I always mix compost and water before adding it into my garden, it is just so easy to compost the garden this way, additionally, the compost gets added evenly.
Hi Stephen,
Here is a rather long comment on your video. In science we make progress by testing hypotheses as you point out and yes we make use of Occam’s razor. A lot of thought needs to go in to design an experiment capable of meaningfully testing a hypothesis like the use of a control to distinguish between the effects of watering versus the effects of compost, compost tea or compost extract. Of course it is important to use as much water on your control as you use in the form of compost tea (etc.) on one of your experimental plots. It is clear from your presentation that you did not use a control for straight watering. So it is not surprising that you conclude, based on Occam’s razor, that it is more likely that the plants are doing well from just regular watering than due to the extract or tea. It would have been relatively straight forward to have added a control that could distinguish the effect of watering. Even better would be to use multiple repeats of the experimental plots and controls to witness the variability of each.
In your second video you mention that Elaine Ingham is the chief proponent of compost tea and extract but you seem to be relatively unfamiliar with her methods. You focus on the bacteria implying it is the key behind making successful compost products. Having taken her 4 soil foodweb courses, including the microscope training, I know that she clearly indicates that good bacteria alone do not provide the nutrients plants need. You need their predators as well that release the nutrients locked up in the bacteria in the predators waste. She emphasizes the need for the complete soil food web which includes specifically aerobic bacteria and fungi and their predators together with plant roots providing carbohydrate exudates to attract and feed these microbes. The plant is the conductor of a bartering system where the plants provide carbon compound to the microbes in return for all the other elements (nutrients) that they require.
One of the big contributions Dr. Ingham made early in her career was the realization that plate counts using petrie dishes were next to useless in establishing total good guy (aerobic) bacteria in soils. They were primarily intended to grow specific pathogens (bad guys). It is not surprising that your plate counts are much the same for all your treatments. The current best way for assessing the microbe population is with an inexpensive microscope, which together with proper training, allows for a quick assessment of the microbe status. Alternatively, if you have a state of the art scientific laboratory you could do DNA analysis but this is very slow and very expensive.
Finally your method for making compost extract, leaving compost to sit in a 5 gallon tub of water for 7 days is almost certain to transform good compost into an anaerobic stew that is quite toxic to plants. Dr. Ingham places about 3 cups in a compost tea bag and massages the bag in the water for 30 sec to transfer many of the microbes to the water which is very fast. It is surprising how effective this is but you need a microscope to test. You then need to check a sample of the extract under the microscope to assess its quality and see whether you need to repeat with more compost. The extract can then be placed in a watering can and applied immediately for best results.
I have also produced several educational TH-cam videos on the recent revolution in soil biology and are understanding of natures’s complexity. Please check them out. The first is titled “The Magic of Soil” and is 39 minutes long. It incorporates a number of excellent short videos produced by others which I received permission to include. Here is the link
th-cam.com/video/AWILIYSf5ts/w-d-xo.html
The second is a shorter 17 min. version (just released).
entitled "How to Solve Global Warming & Food Security in 17 Minutes."
th-cam.com/video/513Pjd1LIbo/w-d-xo.html
I changed the title to attract a somewhat different audience but the new title also emphasizes how relevant this new revolution in soil biology is to these two key problems facing humanity.
Cheers,
Phil Gregory
Professor Emeritus, Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Hi Phil, thank you for your thoughtful reply and for highlighting the serious flaws of this entire attempt to “debunk” compost tea. It takes very little effort to listen to one of dr Ingham’s talks to realize that this video was inaccurate, misguided, and worse of all a source of misinformation. It makes you wonder who is behind it.
i suppose using EM would add the microbes needed for instant plant availability of organic components in & above the soil instead of waiting up to 2 years ?
Videos like this help me get the most out of my limited gardening time, I'm glad I watched it because I was going to make a great effort to brew tea next year but I'll now pass and just work on better soil amendments. I also agree on proper watering, WOW what a difference that can make, something so simple but at the same time so important to do right. I actually started using a wicking system for my seed starts indoors with half gallon containers and it works so well I can now start my peppers and tomatoes a month later because they grow so much faster given ideal watering conditions. Thanks for the work, going to watch many more of your videos over the next few weeks.
Glad I could be of help. It is amazing how simple easy methods tend to be the best !
Let me know if you have any questions !
You've done a great job and I've abandoned the practice of using teas. It's not often I take to heart what someone has presented, but I do in this case. I appreciate all of your efforts.
Brent
+C3 Voyage I am glad you would take the work I do to heart!!
🤣🤣🤣
I gave up on the compost tea fad after the first cup, it tasted terrible. Thanks for the great videos.
+axe609 lol I never liked the taste either.... too earthy
You probably forgot to add molasses
Closing the Loop yup they must have lol
You touched on compost tea, what is the compost made of? I use Red Wiggler Worm Castings, unsulfured molasses and if city water the chlorine, I boiled the chlorine out first, which takes 4-5 hours. The actual brewing of worm castings is 24 hours. If the brew at the end out cycle smells like shit, get rid of it! It is to have a sweet smell, near to no smell at all. But then I could be all wrong, but my wife and I ain't dead yet. Excellent info Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable. Thank you
I think the idea he was trying to put forward, was that you can just put the castings right in as mulch. Less effort, less danger, same results.
I don't know if you covered this, sorry if I missed it, but wouldn't using the tea or extraction decrease the amount of "matter" you're putting in your garden? I believe you have effectively proven your point and initially I decided right away that I wouldn't be going through the trouble of making tea or extract and would just add more compost, since there is no difference in terms of nutrients being added. But, how long does compost last until it isn't relinquishing nutrients any longer? Should we just continually add more and more compost? Maybe you proved that on a per serving basis, that extracting the nutrients from the compost is no difference than adding the compost directly to the soil, but wouldn't you be increasing the amount nutrients and bacteria by continually adding the extract over time?
You used 2 cups per bucket for the extraction and tea. You proved that if you were to just add those 2 cups to the soil, you would have achieved giving the same amount of nutrients and bacteria without the hassle of making the liquid. But, if you for example, just watered the plant with the extraction once, twice, or a few times a week, wouldn't that greatly increase the amount of benefits the plant was getting compared to just stretching the use of the 2 cups of compost? It doesn't seem like a good solution to add more compost a few times a week, does it?
Sorry if you addressed this in the video, I must have missed it.
+Anthony Smith generally the research suggests 3-5 cm of compost on top of your garden every year is sufficient it won't over do it but also replaces the nutrients. That said I have not done much research into maximums as for most people including myself it is hard to get enough compost to even do a 1-2cm lift each year.
Excellent video Stephen. I am really enjoying your scientific touch. I was considering trying some compost tea this year but have now decided to stick to the green tea. Keep up the great work!
+Cory Allison green tea tastes a whole lot better and the leaves are great for the mulch layer ;)
I am really glad you enjoyed the video my friend!
Cory Allison Don’t follow this guy blindly, look up John Evans. John Evans is in record books for his organic vegetables by using compost tea. This guy acts like there is only one compost tea. There’s vegan compost tea and non vegan. So many recipes for compost tea. Please research real farmers with real life experiences and accolades regarding this topic.
First I'd like to say I very much enjoy your videos, mainly due to your approach. This video in particular is a good one. I am very new to gardening, 2 yrs now and I am absorbing much information from many sources. Last year was my first year vegetable gardening and was very successful with the vegetable yield. To the point compost tea. I watched many videos and read much info on this subject. I ordered some product from Boogie Brew, bought a dual air pump stones...and went to town brewing the tea. Can I say it made a difference? No. But there are so many variables involved. New soil, compost, amendments I used...and the tea. I fully understand the need in the soil for the biology of plant nutrient uptake and the need for microorganisms. I brewed two batches of tea and stopped last Aug., 2016. Why? I stumbled unto your video. I know it's almost a year later but the garden season has started once again and I'm still watching videos on various subjects concerning gardening and thought I'd shoot this to you and others for one reason-HARMFUL UNWANTED PATHOGENS from compost tea. To me it's not worth the risk. Home made compost and worm casting will do the trick. I added some beds this year and when I was amending last years beds and turning in the compost I added I saw many worms as I turned the soil. That is a sign surly to put a smile on a gardeners face. Thanks for the videos.
What I would like to know is whether compost tea used as a foliar spray would increase nutrient absorption and yield. (Regardless of nutrient deficiency in soil). Would a 2nd nutrient pathway boost growth even if the roots are already absorbing optimal levels of nutrients? A proper test would prove or disprove any claimed benefits. Watering with regular water as the control would eliminate claims that regular watering was the real factor.
If the soil has sufficient nutrients the addition of any additional nutrients won't improve growth or yields. That is fairly solidly supported in the literature.
I look forward to doing a little more research.
+Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable - What about temperature though? Nutrient content and nutrient absorbability don't always match up.
For example: "Under cool soil conditions, microorganisms are not sufficiently active to convert nutrients into forms available for roots to absorb even if the nutrients were available, the plants could grow. A nutrient spray for foliage will provide the needed nutrients to the plants immediately, allowing them to begin growth."
aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/guides/texas-vegetable-growers-handbook/chapter-iii-soils-fertilizers/
Your source [3] states: "Foliar feeding is yet another agricultural practice best suited to intensive crop production under specific soil limitations rather than as a landscape management tool."
That source focuses primarily on landscapes and long term perennial management. But the bulk of your audience would be more likely to practice bio-intensive vegetable production through annual crops. Fruiting crops could potentially benefit as the fruits are close enough to the leaf tissues that they could receive a boost from the nutrients.
Additionally, rogue pathogens are of little concern with fruiting crops like nightshades that are so easily washed.
There's research and then there's testing. Without actually testing this, I'm not really convinced. I have never even used compost tea before. But this is making me WANT to. Just to run a proper test just to see. Even if it supports your conclusion, I still want to see a real test that can substantiate it, one way or the other.
I agree a proper test would help settle this however resources and time are and issue for me.
I will tell you what I will do is add this to my list to research for the foliar application video and hopefully address it there. Does that work?
I think it's a worthwhile test. Basically, this is such a popular nutrient regimen that it would merit some proper trials, just to see.
Even a 5-gallon bucket (pepper or tomato) would make for a perfect, simple test subject. A control, which is sprayed with water. And then the one which is foliar fed with compost tea. The soil surface could even be covered during application to rule out nutrients dripping into the root zone.
Additional buckets could be set up for any extra feed that might be tested. Setting up & maintaining 5 gallon SIPs for a single plant is easy to both maintain and control. I did a test using 3 buckets last year. It worked out well. I'm so limited on space, it's hard to decide which variable(s) to test for this upcoming year. Plus I never bought any pumps for brewing the tea.
So if you were to test this in some way, it would be a significant contribution to the community. And it may serve to further prove (or disprove) the findings of your research.
I agree! I will put it on my list and see what I can do! so much to do so little time!
Very informative videos , one thing I'd like to ask is , what about using compost tee for a hydroponic system ? I would like to do the aquaponics but my wife won't let me . Do you think enough nutrients would be there
Thanks for taking the time to do the scientific research on compost tea. I will no longer be making it. The big red flag was the fact that we may be making ourselves sick from it. You are my #1 Scientific facts utube gardening channel. Great work!
+Deborah Weisberger I am glad you enjoyed the video and found the evidence helpful in making a decision in your garden!
I am honoured you find my work #1 !!
I always wondered how making compost tea could possibly release more nutrients than just using the compost. If I put the compost in and on my soil, and it breaks down, aren't I getting the effect of the tea over time anyway? There's only so many nutrients in the compost so it doesn't seem like you could get more nutrients from nothing by making tea.
I think it would have been interesting to do a controlled experiment in the garden instead of the lab. Controlled experiment comparing yield, brix testing, and flavor of plants grown with and without compost tea, particularly augmentation with foliar spraying. You hypothesize that your lab experiments mean that no benefit would be realized in the garden is not conclusive. It is possible that people are achieving superior results from compost tea, but just not for the reasons they think. Anyway, enjoyed your video.
I agree more research is required in order address all of the angles but that would take time and resources I don't have at the moment.
Correct! The very reason why you should not have posted a horribly carried out experiment.
MrTimjwilson how is it a horrible experiment? In part 1 he sent samples off to a lab. Great video i appreciate you sharing info ur time and money. I've grown indoor for the last 4 yrs using compost tea's on and off best quality materials money can but from my local hydro store. Never noticed any difference in my plant growth when using it or not using it. I've also seen a video where somebody watered half their Garden with compost tea and half without. after a month all plants look identical. your video is just the final nail in the coffin for compost teas for me thank you.
If you read my comment in Part 1 of these videos you will see my answer but basically the guy who did the experiment does not really understand the microbial nutrient cycle, the lab did incorrect testing and the method of making ACT was much less than optimal. Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm saying ACT is a miracle (although it is in certain situations) amendment. It is just another tool for natural growing.
Oh I completely understand the nutrient cycle I have a degree in microbiology. As mentioned in the videos this is a Citizen Science project for which I completely funded myself. This is not cheap work to do and as such I kept with in the limits of the questions I was trying to address.
essentially what the research I have done and the peer reviewed content that is out there to date casts doubt on the efficacy of the method specifically when compared to no till mulch application. When comparing the methods I made a suggestion. The evidence is for you to evaluate for yourself and determine your own course of action.
If there is newer peer reviewed literature I would be more than happy to review it and update my findings.
Well done Stephen. Mother Nature has been doing her thing since the beginning, including making compost tea. If we give her a little room and don't presume to know more than her, the results can be amazing.
That is exactly it! Mother Earth is reliable as long as we let her do her own work.
Thank you for pinch hitting on the response about Dr.Ingham ! It is appreciated as I left my research at the office !
+Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable I get all excited about this kind of stuff, I’m sure it shows. Please, let me know if I over step.
I love Dr. Chalker Scott’s statement: “To assume that “natural” means “safe” is erroneous and environmentally irresponsible.”
Unfortunately, bad and sometimes lacking but well intended information perpetuated by marketing to capture the consumer’s dollar, skew and cloud so much of the science or lack of science behind natural processes.
Dr. Chalker Scott has done a wonderful job explaining why there are so few scientific studies and so many inconclusive results behind studies of ACT or CT in general. She says, “Why is there so little published data on aerated compost tea? Part of the reason is that each microbe in compost tea needs to be isolated and identified, then tested in a scientifically acceptable method before it is deemed an effective colonizer and competitor. Each batch of compost tea contains a variety of microbes at varying concentrations. How do these microbes interact? Do combinations of microbes have the same, better, or worse effects than those isolated examples? The potential for variability is enormous, and this leads to inconclusive results during testing."
As I’m sure you know, Stephen, the in-depth scientific study of soil life is in its infancy. I was very excited last year to meet with a scientist working as part of a worldwide consortium to map the DNA of soil life. As we have heard, 1 gram (a teaspoon) of soil contains over a billion organisms, imagine how long it would take to sequence the DNA of each of those little microscopic critters. One of their biggest concerns is maintaining a standardized scientific model across the board. Their biggest obstacle is funding and to seek that funding takes away from time that could be spent in the lab. The sad truth is, unless someone can see a financial gain, they are not as likely to invest research dollars.
No overstepping here! I know you know your stuff and it is appreciated! I hope that more people engage in a Garden Professors style conversation on my videos!
I could not agree more. Dr. Chalker-Scott is right on the nose and her work was excellent to help outline this. I did my supporting research however just to be sure it was the most current.
Marketing has financial incentives. I find it odd then the burden of proof falls on science to disprove the marketing people. If there is no financial rewards then the research won't get done and the myths keep circling!
I wanted to hear what you had to say because I have seen such mixed reviews on this subject. Thank you for your feed back on compost tea. I felt it was still lacking some info or balance.Personally, I am still on the fence and I believe the mixed reviews are a result of the soil composition and nutrient content. I know I will do much more research to figure this out and I believe we need to understand soil composition and friendly bacteria more. I do not believe we should simply believe in time all the bacteria and worms will be naturally there. How much time? I am on pure beach sand. So finally, I have built garden beds with around 50% of this sand (actually, I have been adding compost, manure, mulched wood and mulched hay to it for 3 years) I have added rotting wood as the base, also, hay, compost, peatmoss, mulched wood chips from our land plus nutrients such as bloodmeal, bonemeal, microbes, epsom salt, calcium from lime as well as egg shells( ground very fine) wood ash etc. I have tested the beds for the NPK and PH level. Yet the beds that are 2 years old still have no worms. As to aeration in compost tea it creates an environment that would kill off bacteria that thrives in an anerobic environment. So can that be a benefit or not? For me the point of any compost tea is simply to draw out nutrients and create a water soluble source for your garden. When just building a new bed many nutrients are slow release. Water soluable allows for a quick uptake of nutrients. Plants can grow very well with NPK and a balance ph but we need more. The reason the tea did not have as much minerals in your experiment was because the source grew with a lack of those nutrients in the soil. So yes, synthetic would show more nutrients. Today, most soils do not have the nutrients we need. So, yes compost tea may not be the answer just by using a source lacking in nutrients. BUT if we add natural sources loaded with the micronutrients to our soil and create a tea from all those nutrients I believe it will give the boost to our plants from the get-go until the soil finally catches up. Yes, creating harmful bacteria is a concern or at least you make it seem that is a real possibility. Is that a scare tactic, establish fear or is it a real issue? I will experiment this year and over the next few years on a few plants to see if they end up diseased due to the use of compost tea or if they actually thrive. To recap, balanced soil with all the micronutrients we actually need and bacteria to allow proper uptake by the plants should result in a healthy nutrient dense plant/vegetable and compost tea should not be needed but until that is the case, compost tea is a means to create a water soluable natural source to give to our plants quickly. At least for now that is how I see it.
You are grossly under educated regarding the nutrient cycle, as is Linda Chalker Scott. You do have some valid points but have no way to validate them. Please see my comment on your first video,
Thank you for this. Question: is there merit to a liquid fertilizer made by letting, say, potash, manure, and coffee grounds be soaked in a mixing or aerated water? Would this accelerate root uptake by making add such soluble minerals into the water? I ask this because (1) I want a rapid burst of fertilization at times, and (2) may lack sufficient space in my potted plants to add a new layer of compost.
Note to self: sitting in a collared shirt whilst talking in a calm voice, add a bookshelf and a most definitely a coffee mug = FACTS!
Thank you for going through the trouble to set up and monitor these methods. I'm just starting and have reviewed a number of videos. Your findings are the same as some other permaculture folks who post videos here. They use compost, but have given up on compost tea as their field trials haven't supported the work that goes into brewing the tea vs. using compost.
hmmm. ive used compost teas for 20yrs, i did an experiment once . 2 of the same plants side by side, one with compost on top one without. both received the same watering and when i gave one tea i gave the other water. so the watering was the same. the one with compost tea grew 400 times bigger. im still a fan of it. never got sick but i sure appreciate the extensive information on this. id never go as far as brewing. waste of time. keep it simple i say. awesome information you have provided. thank you :)
Sherry this is why I do this work! Simply to question the claims and provide the evidence! It is great to hear you have done some trials and saw results! That is at the core what I hope to promote here!
im telling u it works for a quick boost. doesnt burn pllants either i love it
Sherry Braz what method you use for making the compost tea? Please share.
fill a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full with water. put about an icecream pail full of compost in cheesecloth or a nylon tied off at on end and the other end to a stick in the middle that can be put over the bucket to dangle in the water so it steeps. put in a real sunny place for bout 3 or 4 days stirring every day. itll be smelly as expected. remove bag of compost but throw it back in ur pile or dirt. tea is ready to use. make sure it isnt strictly compost tea all summer u give your plant or like any fertilizer it will burn this method works for me. i grew an 80lb.pumpkin this year with little effort hope this helps. good growing budd :) just a hint tho. dirt greens and wood in good compost just sayin lol
Thanks a lot, dear.
Great video! Thank you for saving me the time & expense of doing something that isn't really necessary. :)
+Raven Song86 I am glad I could help my friend!
+Raven Song86
AMEN !!!
Interesting experiment. Thanks for doing this. I guess it depends on your goal. Adding compost directly to your flower/vegetable garden and frequently watering certainly seems like less effort for the same beneficial results. But if you want green grass, adding compost to your grass and watering is more difficult. I would suggest compost tea and watering the grass with the tea would be the way to go. Just my observation.
Interesting findings. Let's me know to stick with what I am already doing and not be concerned with the need to do more.
+Across The Pond I am glad I could help my friend!
Two years ago, I had the pleasure to meet dr Elaine Ingham, a fascinating women! And I agree with you Stephen, she teaches that to be safe and efficient the compost tea has to be examine under a microscope and micro organism identified!!! Since then I've been mulching with my compost and letting nature take care of it for me ;-)
+Elyse Joseph it is so simple and effective! no need to be complex!!
Dr. Ingham has done some great work for sure!
Well, this scientific method of analyzing everything is also a lot of work. And most farmer I know do not have a chemistry degree. Their success is the result of experimentation and learning from those before them. Every gardener will tell you that gardening ALWAYS involves a certain level of experimentation, which is tantamount to guess work. But the scientific method is also highly experimental. So, what's the big advantage?
Also, if you do not control all the factors of your scientific method, your results are likely to be skewed. For example, in this video, we see clips of aerated compost tea (ACT) generously applied to the roots of plants. The bacteria of ACT are aerobic bacteria. But, from what I understand, most of the bacteria around the roots of plants are anaerobic. So, of course, introducing aerobic bacteria where anaerobic bacteria are needed won't produce much results.
Plus, if the solution, instead of using ACT, is to import organic matter from your neighborhood, unless you test every batch of what you bring in, you're also risking importing stuff that can be hazardous to your health.
So, to me, this guy is not clarifying what's best for everyone to do as much as what he, a science nerd, feel inclined to do.
Great Steven! I also stopped using compost tea last year. My concerns were Ecoli. It really scares me when i read posts by new vermicompost gardeners asking how much manure to add. I don't use manure for that same reason. Besides if we could brew up the best bacteria, and apply it to the soil, theres no guarantee it would survive.
Exactly it. We may be going to a lot of effort to kill the bacteria.
I think manure is fine as long as it is composted. I would not apply raw manure directly to the garden.
Thank you for this video. It's hard to find some good old science for the gardening questions we have.
I usually take my finished vermicompost - 2 cups to a 5 gallon pail , mix and water it in that way.
It seems the majority of people here, including the presenter, have forgotten about humic acid which would be present in a freshly made compost tea. What about the nutrients already made soluble by the microorganisms in the compost? What if you are supplying easy food (dead or plentiful living) microorganisms to the larger ones? I think if what you're saying about Occam's Razor is true, then the simplest explanation would be that the compost tea produced results. Personally, I don't agree with trying to mesh the philosophy with the hypothesis as it seems to have skewed your thinking toward your preferred outcome. Please revisit this when you have done more research.
BINGO. I agree with you. Always appreciate your approach.
I am glad you enjoy the work I do. This method has some benefits but they are well over stated.
I am sorta bummed. I have access to a steady supply of animal protein,(left-over sausage and eggs) that I do not put in my composter. I was hoping to include them in a '"fetid swamp water" production along with spent coffee grounds and some weeds. Maybe if I let things decay for a long time, produce a "fetid swamp sludge" and use it help reconstitute spent potting soil?
Answered a lot of my questions and I thank you. So many of us gardeners want the very best for our families ans often times get excited from new ideas that come down the road without researching everything out. This being one of them. That seems to be human nature. The same goes with new things that come into the church. It excites people and they think "oh, that must be of God, when in all actuality, it is not from Him at all.
Thanks my friend for all your time doing the research and sharing with us.
You are more than welcome ! I could not agree more. We want the best and some times go a little too far :)
This was a great video. I've never used compost tea, but was wondering if it was worth it. You answered all of my questions and suspicions. What's next?? This will be a hard one to top. Might I suggest diatomaceous earth? It's seems like a solid, logical, and practical product. Keep the videos coming please :)
I knock off one large one like this a year ! It takes nearly all year to get them ready!
DE is something I would like to investigate! Thank you!
As for topping this me there is always some new marketed product I can look into.
Inaccurate assumptions. See my comments above.
I can't say whether you're right or wrong about using compost tea, but I'm wondering, if the tea doesn't increase good bacteria, then how could it increase harmful bacteria, as you suggested? Also, I'd like to see this test done with straight worm castings.
The point is that you just don't know what kind of bacteria you're getting. He's saying it's a huge gamble. That's the point. It's a gamble you don't have to take.
I think the flaw in your test is the fact that you did the brew in the winter. Ive noticed a huge difference in foaming because of temp. Need to repeat during the hottest time of year.
This video should be required reading/viewing for Home Gardening 101!
That would be fun to put together :)
in both videos, the temperature of the environment in which the comp. tea was made in was not mentioned. temperature is a crucial variable when examining bacteria in general, and growth in particular. since i've seen snow in your test area, i have a lot of concerns regarding the test and conclusions. adding sugar and air to water will always result in rapid bacterial growth in an appropriate temperature. in a too cold environment, no growth will occur. that will explain the bacterial count results better than your comparison. you said it yourself, the simplest explanation must be chosen. i like the method and effort, but not so much the execution and analysis.
i will very much appreciate your comment on this.
You are right temperature is important and it was logged during the experiment however it was an oversight that I neglected to mention it. I just went back to my notes it was 18.5 and ranged up to 21.5. Those temperatures are representative of the warmer end for soil temperatures which should be the optimal ranges for the bacteria we were trying to culture. I did however not control for it as most home compost tea would be made without temperature control.
With all of that said you are right the temperature could have been an issue that caused the results. With out more controls on the temperature there is no way to know. You have offered an alternative explanation that explains the results.
With that in mind your point brings up an even large flaw in the compost tea methodology. if there is a sweet spot for bacterial culturing most home gardeners are not going to know or would have no way to control for it. Hence the future rate to achieve bacterial growth would be extremely high negating the whole method.
The dude you have me thinking now ;)
if you live in warm climate there's no problem growing bacteria. not everyone on earth live where you live. second, you're missing a big part of the point! soil temperature has nothing to do with compost tea. moreover, if bacteria could have grown in soil temperature in that way, compost tea would be pointless as the soil would hold bacterial flora to the max at all times (with only regular compost use needed only). the point of aact is inserting bacteria regularly with compost extract enriching the soil constantly.
Liked your approach, but honestly the simplest explanation for increased yield in your garden after adding compost tea, is because you added compost tea that is full water soluble nutrients.
Great video's. Thank you. Just compost your leafs and grass clipping for the following season. Use rain water. Can't get much simpler than that. I guess the only thing I could think of adding is some high quality worm castings. Then let nature take it's course instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. I appreciate all your hard work and thanks again. Peace Out!!!!!
I am glad you enjoyed the video! Yup Mother Nature is fairly smart and effective ! Peace my friend !
In this video industrial farmers have experimented with compost tea on a very large cereal crop and the results are the opposite of yours... Knowing that the analyses were made in laboratory. Here are the comparative results 2 years later between the control plot that received nothing (between 2018 and 2021) and the plot sprayed with compost tea: Organic matter rate on the control plot: 4% | Organic matter rate in the compost tea treated plot: 5.2% | Organic nitrogen rate in the control plot: 35.7% | Organic nitrogen rate in the compost tea treated plot: 72.5% ❗❗ | Labile carbon rate in the control plot: 149 (ppm) | Labile carbon rate in the compost tea treated plot: 261 (ppm) ❗❗ | Biological activity (breathing) in the control plot: 28.5 (ppm co2) | Biological activity (breathing) in the compost tea plot: 67.8 (ppm co2) ❗❗
This is such e huge difference in only 2 years ! The video : @
I agree with this video. I've tried comparisons with straight compost vs teas. If earth worms are present, my plants do exceptional without adding much of anything. Last year, my vegetable garden cost me $40. Mostly because I did not spend money on any snake oil treatments or gimmicks. The most erroneous results I have seen are coming from peoples perceptions as to what qualifies as 'finished' compost. Much of what I see being used really isn't finished. I raise red worms and compost. My finished compost is not far off of what the worm castings look/feel, or even smell like.
I am glad to hear you are getting great value from your garden. My garden did not cost me much at all but yielded huge volumes of food.
If you check out my latest video I take a year cycle approach to my compost. It takes more time but is worth it ;)
Also when I make drinking tea I don't add molasses and let it steep for days with a fish tank pump in it that's crazy. Easiest, quickest, safest, compost tea is simply to add compost to small bag and steep in a bucket of water for about an hour, then add to plants just like you would make drinking tea
great information, it was my understanding that as the brew matures over a few days it's the number of beneficial bacteria that increases, rather than just total number. I would love to see some results that supported out refuted this.
also if as you say the number of bacteria didn't increase, how can applying compost directly to the garden then watering be any safer with regards to pathogens?
+Lee Brenton that is likely the safest option to simply apply the compost to the mulch (or top layer) of the soil and water. no need to fuss with anything else.
Based on your data it's not likely to be safer though, just even. (With no difference in microbe numbers - which seems very counter-intuitive). I agree with the sentiment of no fuss!!, but the reason I care is I am searching for information for an aeroponics (nutrient rich water sprayed directly on the roots) system. But again, great information indeed, thank you.
aeroponics is quite different. In that case you can grow organically however you will need a stable nutrient and should not need to rely on bacteria like a soil garden.
Love your videos!
I don't intentionally make compost tea, but a dark liquid drips from my drum composter and I add this liquid to my garden. Should I be concerned about harmful bacteria/pathogens in the liquid that drips from my drum composter?
+Wendy Fjelstad I just would not apply it near crops you are planning to harvest in the next few days. That should be no risk at all.
Glad you enjoyed the video!
I personally think compost tea should be brewed an-aerobically, but i have yet to apply this hypothesis
Hi, I live in California. I have aloe Vera growing in my yard. Can you do a video on aloe Vera as a foliar spray or drinch benefits?
Another GREAT episode AND great aurora photo behind you! Stunning!
I am glad you enjoyed the video! The Aurora is a photo from my brother! I love it!
*****
I'm an astronomy nut so I caught that right away!
That is excellent.! It is hanging right above my computer and it reminds me a lot of home ;)
I can pick up on some bias from this lol. We're avoiding indoor grows. There's no risk with tea. Unless you create one.
Great info as usual Stephen. I have used compost tea on a few occasions, but have stopped as I am somewhat lazy and consider it kind of a pain. I am not a man of science, but the way I think about it is a good soil system with lots of organic matter and mulch will already have a high density of bacteria and other beneficial life. I think about it in terms of population density. The population of bacteria in a healthy soil should be at about its maximum depending on factors such as organic matter, space, temperature etc. In my opinion, adding additional bacteria to your soil may increase their populations for a short time, but they will likely "re-stabilize" at its previous density. I don't know if this is true, but it makes sense in my head :) Always great to hear good information from someone who is not trying to sell you anything. Thanks Stephen.
+Bryan Wickizer you are right the bacterial populations will reestablish their baseline.
Products no but one day I hope to have a book :)
+Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable - A book is a great idea Stephen. Not everyone who gardens has an in depth knowledge of science, so its great when someone with a good background wants to share their info and experience with others. Let me know how the book goes and i will have to pick it up. Take care.
I certainly will my friend! I think a book is a great way to summarize all the work I have done and reach an audience that prefers to read over view! That helps my mission which is to help others grow more food!
You make a lot of sense. Awesome information. Thank you!
+Daniel Novotny Art glad I could help
Stephen, are you aware that compost robs nitrogen and oxygen below the soil line and that it should only be placed on top? now id like to ask you this, would compost tea work for plants grown in straight course sand? i would just put compost on top of the pots like you say, but ive tried this and it seems to just block out oxygen and rot things, compost is great in summer as a mulch but its scary in winter in a wet greenhouse and with plants outside that like dry winters and cant handle staying wet, im only getting 300ppm readings on the compost tea, about the same as soil, but if its 300ppm fed every single day would that make it alright? are organic nutrients even measurable by ppm? id think so
Not enough THUMBS UP for this video. Honest and excellent.
+Matthew Writt Thank you my friend!
This video is more about theory jargon than actual gardening. One can establish a million theories as to why this and that "won't work" but actual trial and error provides "the science" you seek.
Absolutley.
i.e. confirmation bias
The science that one seeks isn't science by definition.
I didn't detect any conformational bias because Gary had no bias. The problem is in the complexity of the subject. Not many (less than 1/1000) probably want to know why CT works or not on a microbiological level enough to spend the years of study. I don't and I have a strong scientific bias. Every since I read "The One Straw Revolution" in 1983 I have expanded my thinking to include the "big picture" in everything.
Roosters crow when the sun comes up. This is what you observe. Conclusion based on trial and error, as opposed to science is “roosters crowing makes the sun come up”. VIK, you just don’t understand the process of scientific investigation; you know, the one that provides things like computers and the internet.
Awesome. You just saved me a lot of time next summer! I've really enjoyed this series :)
I am so very glad I could help you my friend !
I thought as well that you should treat your entire garden soil like a giant compost tea and inoculate with compost and water. Question: there is also a belief that when adding worm compost that you should protect the beneficial bacteria from the suns rays and from drying out with mulch or they may die and have a soil that does not have as much healthy bacteria, at least on the surface where the compost was added, what are your thoughts on this?
The wonderful thing about bacteria in the soil is its resilient and effective. If you put worm castings under the mulch or even just on the surface the bacteria will die releasing the nutrients in their cells to the plants. The works will move spreading more bacteria, plant growth hormone and further breaking down organic material releasing again more nutrients.
You can keep things simple and let nature do what nature is best at !
watching who writes comments... watching, watching..
Anything good? I just started writing back!
Your hypothesis are very interesting, but the investigation is a little
light in terms of the amount of information collected. There's a
considerable amount of scientific literature sustaining the efficacy of
compost tea microbial-mediated plant health benefits of compost tea and
other microbial (not only bacteria!) solutions. Obviously, with some
exeptions that do not seem to be the rule. This is reviewed by B.J.
Jacobsen in (chapters 9 and 11) a peer reviewed book called "Microbial
Ecology of Aerial Plant Surfaces" published by CAB International in
2006. If you read this, you can understand that though the likelihood of
getting a plant disease might not be that big, especially when compared
to the probability of inoculating effective levels of plant-protective
microorganisms. Indeed, there are several well established mechanisms
through which (applied and native) microorganisms enhance plant health
as well as pathogen resistance.
I'm not saying that the universality
of compost tea efficacy is widely proven. I just think that its
inefficacy can surly not be affirmed only based on the evidence and
assumptions you make. It's a very complex subject still subject to
debate :)
What about people that don't have space for a compost pit? And compost is expensive. They sell little tubs of compost tea powder that mix with water. Easier/cheaper
Thanks again for debunking myths. I seek to simplify and practice "do nothing gardening", i.e., think first to act more intelligently, more efficiently, more aware of the consequences. By my nature I question everything, every expert, every claim and when the answer is not clear, highly controversial, I keep analyzing, thinking, evaluating from all angles to arrive at a conclusion, knowing it will be open to further input which may modify my conclusion or refute it.
I'm considering getting a rolling barrow composer as I don't have a lot of space for a traditional pile & it seems more convenient, any major disadvantage of using this method?
Fascinating studies, but all involve using non-chlorinated rainwater and simple composted leaf or other organic matter. For those of us for whom rainwater is an unrealistic expectation, would not using the aeration process to air-off the chlorine give better results than using chlorinated water? Also, is there a difference between using processed worm castings rather than simple unprocessed organic matter. Maybe those contribute to the posited positive value of the AACT process from worm castings people.
Cutting the bullshit like a hot knife cuts through the Butter .. 😂🤣 .. loved your explanation man .. thanks for saving me a ton of time .. 🤟
I am going to ask a question if I can. I want to build hydriponic by using NFT Technics .When I use vermicompost tea, how often should I repeat it. For example if I use it on nutrition solution, Shold I add vermicompost tea daily or once a week ?
Have you done an experiment on weed tea to evaluate its value?
I'm going to make some compost tea and start drinking it in the morning and afternoon. I surmise I will be stronger, better looking and will run faster and jump higher then everybody else. Thank God for another miracle from the internet.
I will update everybody when I start drinking all my cow manure, chicken droppings and my grass clippings in a blended smoothie. Yummie!
I decided to start a garden recently, dug down a foot deep all over my garden to sift out all the rocks that a previous owner had put on/in the soil. back breaking work, but i am pretty sure i have bad soil. did not come accross a single worm or bug in any of the dirt at all. lol. did my best to fix it, will see how it goes.
Why I might suggest is building raised beds and if you wish I can show you how to build them simply.
As for building good soil you can do it for free. Here is a playlist outlining the resources I use and they are all free.
th-cam.com/play/PL5mfR-r4BXH2W285QZm4mdsdKo6l98zRK.html
Let me know if you have questions.
Interesting video.
What do you think of aact as a pest control product?
Also I know from experience if your root development isn't perfect it helps the plant with deficiencies and getting established.
There is limited positive research indicating that AACT is effective at pest management. Sorry my friend.
You got one thing correct. The rest is mostly inaccurate.
I brewed compost tea, mushroom compost, molasses, seaweed, fish fertilizer, water, air pump, then did a test for ph, N, potash, phosphorus with tea out of the bucket, the ph was 5.5, no reading for Nitrogen, surplus of potash and phosphorus. What benefit does it have besides a surplus k, p what do I do to get nitrogen, do you recommend a better organic fertilizer
Congratulations Stephen,
You just made my gardening easier by NOT using compost tea. I do have some Alaska fish fertilizer (liquid). What is the opinion on this? Great job again.
Steve
+Steve Gillespie most products made from waste like fish fertilizers are very effective. I just would not go out of my way to use them when I have so many free things around me that do such a great job!
thanks for the support. You are a great free resource. LOL
lol I am glad to help and be associated with such super stars!
What about the Johnson su bioreactor, for creating fertilizer?
And, their method of distribution?
1)Hi I have a question can I replace the plants with organic foods & liquids ? The reason is that my garden has bought store liquids from my local store area and I want to know if I can replace it with organic liquids?also will it harm any of my plants like my roses,fruit trees ,&other plants from my garden.
2)will the organic foods or liquids will accept any type of drug plants out of curiosity like weed or cocaine just for future questioning from comments in TH-cam &for the people.
You should try looking into and testing boogie brews 2 part compost tea! It's a very highly praised product where I'm and I haven't heard 1 negative comment about it. I use it myself and I've definitely noticed a difference in my products just using it once a week! Great videos btw!
+GeTsmAckeD15 he sure likes big words. and dumping on the man from Nevada.
+GeTsmAckeD15 I certainly have most of the promoted products on my list and in time I am sure I will get to them :)
I however use free and local stuff I produce at home to get the same results for free :)
Stephen, how about an analysis of aspirin and the benefit on tomato plants?
+DIY Home & Garden Projects I have that on my list and plan to get to it ASA... :)
Hi I like the video. Just wondering how about worm casting compost tea for hydroponics? Is this good or not?
Thank you for your knowledge and sharing. Is 'worm tea' beneficial? Just stirred not brewed?
+LARK'S GARDENS worm tea adds to overall health of plant by enriching soil, its just not a strong fertilizer though
The easiest thing to do that will benefit your plant is to apply it as a mulch. Even a thin layer would work if you do not have enough to spread around.
Permaculture Homestead
Thank you. I realize it is not a strong fertilizer. I use it to just 'beef up' my soil. I use the LASAGNA METHOD of building soil fertility and the NO TILL METHOD. Inexpensive and gives me rich soil.
Yes, mulching with worm castings is great. I also have A LOT OF COMFREY and use it in the CHOP & DROP method. Thank you so much Stephen for doing all this research for us. Much appreciated my friend.*****
I am glad I could help!
so what was the results i fell a sleep
😂 lol
me too.
Here: Skip the tea. Just mulch compost.
Good morning Stephen. The window greens look very good. Saying Compost Tea--is also saying caffeine. Which if accompanied (partnered) with a sugar will attract insects--bugs. That's about all I know. ===The outside garden will become a fragrance--area for infestation--or just bumble bee's. Should you be lucky--with stimulating your compost. I watched the video once...some nice information as always. Have a great day.
+Mark SM I am glad you enjoyed the video my friend! soon ill have lots of bees in my garden :)
I'm curious about the use of blended dandelion greens along with other weeds for organic nitrogen fert. I think the long taproots would draw up lots of minerals to the plant, so I blend them with water and blackstrap molasses, and add it to a 30 gallon pail and aerate that. I did notice a difference between one control container with lettuce and the container of lettuce I used the brew in. The control lagged behind in growth.
There are so many variables it is hard to say.