Compost Tea

Dr. Elaine R. Ingham

Quality is everything

Biology defines quality

www.soilfoodweb.com

info@soilfoodweb.com

What is compost tea all about?

• NOT a magical elixir;

• There is a solid, scientific reason that tea “works”

• Add organisms that are needed

• How do you know what is needed? TEST

• How do you know these organisms are in the

compost, from which you will extract the

organisms? TEST

• Is it better to apply compost? Or extract? Or tea?

• What is the purpose of application?

Aerated Compost Tea

1. AEROBIC, BREWED,

Conditions are controlled, oxygen is adequate

2. WATER EXTRACT

Water quality critical: pH, salts, temperature

Energy to extract organisms

3. of COMPOST

Compost quality is critical: NOT SMELLY

Definitions

• Compost Extract – no brewing time, all the

organisms possible

• Compost Leachate – no brewing, few organisms

removed, basically enzymes, soluble nutrients

• Plant tea – compost not involved

• Manure tea – compost not involved

– Anaerobic, pathogens present

• Put-to-sleep teas – loss of 50% of species

Compost Tea contains:

• From Compost

– Bacteria (A+T) - Fungi (A+T)

– Protozoa - Nematodes (B, F, P)

– Soluble Nutrients

• From Additives

– BENEFICAL bacterial and fungal foods

– Foliar feeds for plants

• AIR, not too much, not too little

What Kind of Tea to Make?

• WHAT DOES YOUR PLANT NEED?

• WHAT IS IN THE SOIL TO START WITH?

• Tea Fixes FOLIAR PROBLEMS but the soil may

need additional management

What Kind of Tea to Make?

Most foliar disease, insect pests and fertility

problems are messages trying to tell you that

something is really, really wrong with the soil.

Tea helps deal with the symptoms of soil problems.

But you need to fix the soil. Tea can help fix soil,

but extract or compost might work faster

A Healthy Food Web Will:

• Suppress Disease (competition, inhibition,

consumption; no more pesticides!)

• Retain Nutrients (stop run-off, leaching)

• Nutrients Available at rates plants require

(eliminate fertilizer) leading to flavor and

nutrition for animals and humans

• Decompose Toxins

• Build Soil Structure –(reduce water use,

increase water holding capacity, increase

rooting depth)

Things to think about:

• The compost: TEST IT!!!!!!!

• Water: Chlorine? Smell? Containers?

• Brewer: Compost bag? Pump? Aeration?

Ease of cleaning? Ease of transferring?

• Foods? When added?

• Organism additions?

• Spray tank: Ease of cleaning? Nozzle size?

Pump? Tubing? Previous use?

What do you test to tell if tea worked?

• ORGANISMS in soil, on leaf surfaces

• Soil compaction

• Weeds

• Foliar disease / pests

• Root disease / pests

• Water Use

• Soil “fluff”

• Flavor; nutritional quality of plant material

• Yield

• Net profit

The process of making and using tea

1. Compost – does it have the organisms?

2. Water – chlorine, chloramine, quality

3. Additional foods and / or organisms

4. Brewer - temperature, pump, cleaning

5. Application method – Watering can,

Sprayer, Irrigation

6. Monitoring

Thermal compost – Jolly Farmer,

New Brunswick, CANADA

How We Make Liquid Compost Extract

Jolly Farmer, Canada

GeoTea

Brewerbob@greater

earthorganics.com

Tea machines in

Mallanganee, NSW

Testing tea makers

at the SFI Mexico

lab

Mookesti,

South Africa

Fruit Growers,

Ceres, South Africa

Sunbow Farm, Philomath, OR

2003

What is needed in tea

Active organisms attach to leaf surfaces, grow

and protect plant surfaces

Total bacteria, fungi to assure coverage, to

compete with diseases

Maximum Diversity so growth continues

through whole season

Protozoa, nematodes consume diseases, cycle

nutrients

Soluble nutrients to feed organisms, foliage

Factors involved in making GOOD CT

• Compost (Inoculum, Nutrients)

• Aeration, Extraction (Machine)

• Temperature

• Foods

• Water

• CLEANING!

• Timing

• Sprayer

• Application factors (Soil, Foliar)

The Process

Select compost

Maximum diversity of ALL beneficial foodweb organisms: bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes

Maximize kinds of foods to feed desired organisms,

Proper chemistry needed, EC acceptable, no heavy metals,

No pathogens (heat or passage through worm)

No loss of N, P, S, no low pH organic acids, no stink

Ask to see DATA on what is present

Beneficial Fungi Thick strands, not fuzzy

Color can be variable – pink, orange, brown, tan, white

Thick fungal strands are desired

Regulations deal with human pathogens

• Check the COMPOST for pathogens.

• Check the extract / tea for pathogens

• E. coli standards vary state-to-state

– Generally require less than 800 CFU E. coli per gram

– Post-production contamination not recognized,

mythology of “re-growth” in finished piles

• If you SELL compost, extract or tea, then testing

will probably be required

• USDA 90 / 180 day rule on potentially contaminated

materials

Compost Standards

• Measured in fresh compost, expressed per gram dry compost

• 15 to 30 or more µg active bacteria /g dry weight compost

• 150 µg (fungal compost) to 300 or more µg (bacterial compost) total bacteria /g dry weight compost

• 2 to 10 µg or more active fungi /g dry weight compost

• 150 (bacterial compost) to 500 or more (fungal compost) µg total fungal biomass/g dry weight compost

• Hyphal diameters on average 2.5 micrometers or greater

• 50,000 or more protozoa per gram dry weight compost25,000 or more flagellates25,000 or more amoebae50 - 100 ciliates. Higher numbers indicate anaerobic conditions

resulting from compaction, water-logging, discontinuities in soil

• 20 to 100 BENEFICIAL nematodes per gram dry weight of compost

Organisms that can be added to compost or tea

Fungi:

- Beauvaria,

- Trichoderma, Gliocladium,

- Mycorrhizal fungi

Bacteria:

– Pseudomonads

– Bacillus

– Azotobacter, Rhizobium

Nematodes: Steinernema, Heterorhabditis

The Process

Aerobic brewing process

Maximum amount of foods to feed desired organisms

without driving brew anaerobic

Balance between aeration and feeding

Ask to see DATA on recipe to use

Growing the Organisms – Aerobically!

0

2

4

6

8

10

0 3 7 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47

Hours

Ox

yg

en

(p

pm

)

Ac

tivity (u

g/m

l)

Activity

O2

Aeration ended

The Process

Temperature (water or air)

Q10 effects – slower growth when colder (longer

lag period), faster growth when warmer

Use foods faster when temperature is higher, use

foods less rapidly when cooler

Use up oxygen faster when higher temperature,

no problem using up oxygen when cool

Growing the Organisms – Lower temperature

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0 3 7 11 15 19 23 27 31 35 39 43 47

Hours

Ox

yg

en (p

pm

)

Ac

tivity (u

g/m

l)

Activity

O2

68 F instead of 72 F; fewer foods

The Process

Foods

Balance foods and growth rates of organisms

Fungal foods – humic acids, complex proteins,

oatmeal, bran, fish hydrolysate, wide C:N ratio foods

Bacterial foods – molasses, sugars, simple amino

acids, simple proteins, simple carbohydrates

Dilute the tea if you add too much food

The Process

Water

Temperature – not too cold, not too hot

Lots of oxygen

Chlorine, sulfur gas – aeration to de-gas

Chloramine, salts – add humic acid to complex

Add aerated water if oxygen is getting limited

The Process

Select a good machine

Aeration

Can machine keep brew aerobic?

Extraction

Water movement through compost which will rip organisms from surfaces into the water

Ask to see DATA on organisms the machine can extract and grow

Extraction Possible?

Desired Ranges

Active Total Bacteria Active Total Fungi

10-150 150 - 300 2 – 10 5 - 20

Compost Tea (using manufacturer’s directions)

ETB 35 6,700 23 30.1

KIS 53 4,050 11 23.5

AG 12 1,445 3.4 11.9

EW 435 15,096 4.7 14.3

JS 46 266 2.6 17.7

Bacterial tea

SS 2 1,500 0.00 0.00

GSI 16 4,300 0.5 1.79

The Process

Cleaning the Machine

Bio-films!

Hidden surfaces are bad news

LOOK inside the machine before you buy it!

How easy is it to clean the machine?

Microb-Brewer

PVC tubing was not originally on this machine; 90 turns are big

problems

a

Earth Tea Brewer from EPM

www.composttea.com

The Process

Application

Need to cover surfaces with bacteria and fungi so diseases cannot get to foliage, or roots

How often, how much food to feed organisms once sprayed?

Ask to see DATA on sprayer and coverage ability

Application Methods

Sprayers, pivots, drip, helicopter, planes

Nozzle sizes – match compost bag mesh with nozzle opening

Time of day - Not important as long as water-drop size is

greater than 1 mm. Evidence? Pivots

Water source – same considerations as for the brewer

Pressure – not pressure, exactly but impact on surface

With Compost

Tea

Without

Compost Tea

100% of grape leaf covered by compost tea

70% covered by Botrytis cinerea

100% of grape leaf

covered by compost tea

70% covered by Botrytis

cinerea

70% compost tea

70% Botrytis cinerea

50% of grape leaf covered by

compost tea

50% of grape leaf covered by compost tea

70% covered by Botrytis cinerea

10% of grape leaf covered by compost tea

70% covered by Botrytis cinerea

The Process

Assessing Whether Compost Tea Works

What is the effect on plants?

Disease-suppression or not?

What method to assess?

What method to predict?

Ask to see DATA from field trials

Tea lacking Tea Capable

Suppressiveness of Suppressing Disease

Plate Methods (MPN or CFU) mean, (standard deviation)

TSA 1.6 (0.5) X 108 1.6 (0.7) X 108

King’s B 5.0 (1.4) X 103 1.2 (0.2) X 103

Cellulose 35 (12) 210 (43)

Spore-formers 7.9 (0.4) X 102 0.3 (0.1) X 102

Direct Microscopy (ug per ml)

Active Bacteria 8.0 (2.6) 12.7 (5.0)

Total Bacteria 25.1 (1.0) 245 (34)

Active Fungi 0.00 3.76 (1.00)

Total Fungi 0.35 (0.12) 11.1 (2.33)

Leaf Coverage (%)

Bacterial 27 (4.7) 86.9 (9.7)

Fungal 0 5.1 (0.6)

Disease All died None died

(5 plants) of blight

The Process

When to apply

Soil Drench (20 gal/ac) spring and harvest OR 0.5 to 1 ton compost/ac

On seed

Crops – 1st true leaf, pre-, post-blossom

Perennials – Bud swell, monthly until no disease danger, weekly if disease pressure high

Control – treatment DATA good idea in first year

Treatment schedule and coverage

Date Treatment Coverage of foliage by B and F

Before After

June 25 1st tea B 47 F 1 B 68 F 3

June 30 2nd tea B 21 F 0 B 93 F 1

July 4 3rd tea

July 9 4th tea B 80 F 6 B 92 F 7

July 18 5th tea

Lots of rain – fields wet

July 30 Foods B 76 F 1 B 97 F 4

Aug 7 6th tea B 60 F 1 B 89 F 4

Lots of rain – fields wet

Aug 13 Foods B 65 F 1 B 90 F 6

Aug 19 7th tea B 90 F 4 B 96 F 8

Aug 27 Foods B 85 F 3 B 89 F 7

Sept 3 8th tea B 63 F 3 B 88 F 7

Sept 10 Foods B F B 91 F 7

Sept 24 Foods B 60 F 6 B F

Measures of Success in the Real World

• Document that the organisms were in the tea

– Qualitative test, Quantitative test

• Measure root depth this year, and then end of season

next year

• Measure soil compaction with penetrometer, clod

hardness, aggregates presence, visible pores

• Visible fungal strands, microarthropods

• Water drop test

• Speed of plant residue disappearance

Compost Tea Application

Sept 7, 2003

Compost Tea Application

Sept 7, 2003

Grass Seed, Willamette Valley, 2003

The Compost Tea

Company

2000 L Tea Maker

www.compost-

tea.com.au

www.treewise.com

The Important Points about Making Tea

• Can the machine keep the whole tank aerobic?

• How much food, at what temperature, will result in

too rapid organisms growth, and anaerobic

conditions?

• CLEANING – easy?

• Tea can only do the benefits we’ve talked about

• Add organisms into the environment

– Diversity - Biomass

• Do the organisms survive? Did they grow?

Monitor!!!!!