Comments on: Is Compost Tea Just a Fad?

By: Barb M.

Barb M. — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 23:15:05 +0000

Well, here it is yet another 2 years since the last comment on this post–but
wanted to put my 2 or 4 cents in. I just got led to it by a Flashback Friday post on a vermicompost harvester. I don’t think compost tea is a miracle worker or that it can provide every nutrient a plant needs, but I have proven enough to myself in outdoor and indoor use that it’s a valuable commodity! I’ve been making it since the 1980’s using everything from a 55 gal. barrel with a burlap bag of any kind of manure suspended in it, to 5 gal. buckets with or without aeration, to smaller pails with some castings in them, all just dipped out with a watering can, etc. and poured around the base of the plants. I don’t put mine on the leaves because I don’t know how “hot” it is at any given time as I continually add water to larger containers of it, and most manures can possibly burn leaves if not well rotted.

I’ve never failed to see plants respond to the stuff, all and any of it, in a favorable way. Whether it smells relatively fresh, stinks to high heaven, or was aerated or not–plants respond to it. I even use my indoor worm leachate mixed about 1/4 to 1/3 leachate to the rest of water (first left to set a couple days in an open bucket to lose the city chlorine) or rainwater, on my houseplants and orchids in the house very often when I water. There’s no odor. In some cases, no other fertilizer is applied to the plants I’ve brought into the house for the winter because they are “resting” and they still bloom all winter. I do try to give a little organic fertilizer to the orchids though and also apply castings around the base of any/all the plants occasionally.

After almost 60 years of gardening, probably 50 of them organically (the person who first taught me was a Rapid Gro blue water fan but I soon got away from that after some reading on it), I don’t need Fine Gardening or any scientific studies to tell me that compost tea of any sort is a treasure and well worth the little effort. It only takes a few minutes to set up, then it just works on it’s own. How hard is that? Thanks!

By: Tom Bergstrand

Tom Bergstrand — Tue, 31 May 2016 04:41:20 +0000

I think one of the best things about compost tea is the fact that you don’t have to have multiple bins or even a huge one. Just grab some castings, prepare the tea and return the castings into the bin to refresh the microbe population and get ready for the next batch. It would seem that the regularity of brewing is the largest concern for discussion. Some say every week, some say every month or even a different schedule relative to the time of the season. It shouldn’t take long to figure out what works for YOU and go with it. Anything is better than nothing.

By: Cody

Cody — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 12:42:12 +0000

Well, I love that this blog post has continued to have comments since 2011. This shows that compost tea is not just a fad and is still a main topic point for gardeners and growers. Thank you Red Worm Composting for the post (I originally commented back in 2011 and still here as well!).

To complement this post and prove that compost tea does really work (I know this is a link to my blog but I have some awesome pictures of the results using a vermicompost tea in Nevada) you all should take a look at a recent post I did. We make a specialty vermicompost tea that is kicking plants into growing gear: Does Compost Tea Really Work? (http://fullcirclecompost.com/does-compost-tea-really-work/)

By: Barb

Barb — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 02:35:33 +0000

I am always willing to experiment to prove for myself if something works or not. I will not just take someone’s advice or opinion as true or factual. If an experiment is not dangerous and doesn’t require hard-to-find or expensive stuff, then I will try it. I have used worm compost tea, and well, coincidentally, had great results. So to heck with the articles and the naysayers and the critics, the skeptics and the statisticians. Get your feet wet and try something new. Even if it fails you will have the satisfaction of knowing the truth, and probably learned a little extra something along the way 🙂

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 10 May 2015 13:17:09 +0000

When Harvard (The Ivy, world famous, second best university in the world ) is using compost tea for its beneficial effect on its lawn, you can believe that “some” serious research had been done. (Link below)

The lawn treated with this compost tea has root 10 inches deep
The lawn treated chemically has root 3.5 inches deep

There is an episode of the WGBH Ask This Old House series dedicated to the “Harvard Brew”
Watch the episode on Youtube, you’ll see for yourself. You’ll also hear one of the best genuine Bawston accent ever from the Roger the landscapah. 🙂

As an FYI, MIT (Best university in the world) is now also using this technique.

Enjoy,
Best regards to all
Steve.

Youtube video
https://youtu.be/Wufx9UnY9do?t=1m32s

Organic Tea recipe
http://energyandfacilities.harvard.edu/sites/energyandfacilities.harvard.edu/files/Tea%20Recipes%20Spreadsheet.pdf

Build your own
http://energyandfacilities.harvard.edu/sites/energyandfacilities.harvard.edu/files/How%20To%20Build%20A%20Brewer.pdf

By: lawrence cox

lawrence cox — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 15:11:15 +0000

i gotta start with saying i love your site its my go to for anything worm related. sorry for the long one but this will be worth reading. now, i started brewing compost tea about 5 years ago. just from good compost alone at first. i had a few foul smelling batches years ago but i used them either way and didnt notice as much death from a bad batch of compost tea/ too much compost tea compared to chemical fertilizer so i would say it isnt very “harmful” as far as burning foliage even in a sour batch. i have since got my recipe down to what i feel a perfect fool proof way to make perfect worm tea every time havnt made a sour smelling batch for 2 years! just nice earthy sweet forest/pondy smells. i have gotten the tea down to a science and i now use it once a week in the growing season! i use compost tea when i water, yes once a week and for tucson, az in the middle of the desert with 115 temps and dry as a bone in the summer my friends dont understand how i can still get away with watering once a week i cant explain it either but that how it works. THIS BREWED TEA IS THE ONLY THING I USE! at all. seriously. i mean i do use lots of E.W.C., and compost in the yard but thats once or twice a year and i only use about 2 or 3 cubic yards compost on my 100 by 40 foot garden that about one or two inches across the top i would guess. the biggest thing tho is i apply liberal amounts of straw ALWAYS even once a month in the heat of the summer as a food source for the micro organisms because a few years back i noticed some problems when using compost tea on a regular basis. the organisms would consume all my organic matter in one month! and the balance would be thrown off the plants would naturally loose their leaves to make up for the loss of nitrogen and my garden wouldnt grow properly again for 3 months to a year for some plants. the TRICK is to always have 2 to 4 inches of STRAW (or leaves or other fast breaking down material but not so much wood chips). with the huge jump in organism numbers and without this food source your organisms will run out of food and eat each other just like we would! ok not exactly but you see my point. the last year i started not thinking about when to fertilize my trees and thought more on what/when to feed my organisms and native worms. i wish i could show you the results, the smells in my roses the green in my trees from NOT using conventional fertilizer at all anymore. who would have thought?

i also heard people saying “ohh never ever spray that tea on your leaves” and guess what i have the complete opposite of bad. ive been combating powdery mildew in my yard and black spots on the leave of my rose and orange trees for about 3 years or more. at least that when i noticed the problem. well i went to the store and bought a few different things like neem, copper fungicide etc a few different times and the spots always came back from using these, but when i sprayed a heavy dose of worm casting tea on my orange trees leaves i couldnt believe it. they shoot out new growth they havnt in years and they just dropped every single leaf with black spots! i raked them all up and havnt seen a black spot in 6 months! i dont understand what happened here but i asume the tree got a healthy enough drink (from the leaves) to eat, that it had the energy to shed its leaves properly. out with the old in with the new. and removing the bad leaves out was important. again no conventional products. all natural earthly material all made by yours truly.

want to talk about my special worm tea recipe email me.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 17:07:11 +0000

For all you compost tea keeners (especially those with an interest in aquanponics) still tuning in, I’d love to get your input on some questions I posted here:
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-tea/using-aquaponics-water-for-wormcompost-tea/
😎

By: kellie

kellie — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 03:31:19 +0000

There have been heaps of interest in leachate in the past couple of years with more and more people taking on worm farming and just recently huge interest in the brewed worm tea. Type it up in Google and you will find heaps and heaps of pages on people advocating vc and worm tea compared to negativity about it. That’s gotta tell us something! !! I also want to say that not everyone’s vc or tea is the same- you could be the type to put cow manure in yours, lawn clippings or alfalfa pellets or you put none if those! ! But if you find that it works for you, don’t worry about what everyone else thinks. Just keep using it! ! Works for me wanting to be an organic gardener, I save heaps and there’s never a day when I actually run out! There will always be some vc in my bin do just do what works for you and omit or change what doesn’t.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 02 May 2014 15:35:05 +0000

I am new to vermicomposting but not new to the world of publishing, having been a journalist for 20 years. Could be the article was a direct attempt to boost chemical fertilizer sales. It only makes sense that the compost tea is going to be beneficial. To what degree is dependent on a number of variables but of course so are manufactured fertilizers. It’s the natural process that is the point. Thanks so much for your site. It’s my go to for information in my worm wrangling (as my husband calls it)

By: Michael Settles

Michael Settles — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 22:50:03 +0000

First of all, a huge thanks to Bentley on starting this great dialog! I am a Vermiculturalist & have been for many years. They’re are so many good comments I don’t know where to begin. One thing I think is relevant to the novice as well as the experienced Vermiculturalist that wasn’t mentioned is the deleterious impact Chlorine has on all things organic. I have always used rain water in my thermophyllic and mesophyllic bins. Living 25 mi southeast of Seattle affords me a lot of rain water. During the dryer months I use city water but I actively aerate each 55g barrel ( have 7 all linked together ) for a minimum of 48 hrs. I have always had excellent results with my vegetables & flowers. For those who use Chlorine, avoid it at all cost. The anecdotal v scientific dilemma is problematic but not insurmountable. I have attended 3 of the 14 vermicomposting conferences at NCSU, spearheaded by Dr.Rhonda Sherman. I will continue at least every other year because I enjoy the ” science ” behind the process. If you can afford it, I highly recommend attending when you can. It is beyond worthwhile.