Compost Tea Confusion

**"Jeff Ball" j*@starband.net**

----I know that compost tea works because I've read enough about its success
in the northwest to know it works and Nancy and I have used it for two years
and have been pleased with the results for the most part.  So here we have a
wonderful new breakthrough product that will do miracles for the average
gardener, and I was at a loss as to how to communicate in an orderly and
clear fashion what is going on and how to take advantage of this new wonder.
As a profession, I think we will be sorely tested in the coming years to
help ordinary folks, gardeners and yardeners alike, to make the shift to
this new technology.  There is too much data and it is much much too
confusing for translation into a language we can use in a newspaper column
or magazine article.  I think the confusion is going to prevent garden
writers from venturing forth into this new world and the confusion will
certainly prevent normal folks from jumping in.

Here is what I mean by confusion.

To understand the benefits of compost tea I need to learn about the "soil
food web"; an exciting but very complex topic that is yet to be simplified
in my view; but I believe it will be simplified within the next year.

"Compost Tea" is used as a generic term to cover aerated tea made with
compost, aerated tea made with worm castings, and aerated tea made with
microbes suspended in powder.  I would think it would be better to say
"compost tea", "Castings tea", and "Microbial Tea"; then we would know what
the writer is talking about in terms of the ingredients.  The difference in
ingredients is confusing.

Then we get the Dr. Inghrams who know a great deal about the very complex
technical facts and concepts throwing out the fact that we need to worry
about making the right tea for the right plants.  There is fungal dominated
tea which is made in a certain way and only should be used on certain
plants.  Then there is bacteria dominated tea which is made in a different
way and should be used only on plants using a bacteria dominent tea.

Then we hear that all tea areators are not equal. Some use an impeller to
mix the tea around and others use air to mix the tea around.  The air people
say that the air stones found in the goldfish section of the pet store are
not sufficient in power to make aerated tea.

What a bunch of confusion in my eyes.

But I think I have found the solution:
I have learned that garden centers in the northwest are making their own tea
and selling it to the public at a reasonable and fair price and it is
selling very well.

It seems to me that the best approach to bringing the general public into
this new growing system is to simply wait until the garden centers in our
particular area are selling compost tea, and then start writing about the
soil food web and how compost tea is good for it.  I assume the garden
centers will have a fungal tea for plants on a list liking fungal tea, and a
batch of bacterial tea and another bacteria loving plant list, so we don't
make any mistakes.

Since very few people make active compost any more because of the time it
takes for the modest return in volume, I predict that very few people will
make their own aerated compost tea when they can buy it at the local garden
center and not have to learn all that complicated technical stuff that few
folks can completely agree on.  The garden writers don't have to get into
all the politics and desention around the production of compost tea.  They
simply find a way to help people understand how soil works (soil food web)
and how in simple terms compost tea makes that soil better; making the
plants happy.

I rest my case and now patiently wait the two years it will take Michigan's
garden centers to buy into the idea of selling compost tea that they make
themselves.

Jeff Ball

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
"Organic-Gardening" <organic-gardening@lists.ibiblio.org>

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters