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Re: Regulation of compost teas (was: NOSB loses its head)



Greg,

>> I guess what you are really saying is that compost tea does not
>> work unless one adds sugar, or something like it, to the juice
>> before application.  Is that true?

> Alcohol ( diluted ) is a soluble carbon source, but, I don't see it
> as adding to microbial activity, and it is easier for plants ( the
> ones that can use it ) to up take it as a carbon source when high
> temps are involved.

I thought they were talking mainly about adding food sources for
microorganisms.  Alcohol can be a food for some microbes, but sugar is
better in general.  The idea behind addition of soluble food and
aeration is to induce multiplication of the (presumably) beneficial
microbes in the tea.  These would then be more effective at colonizing
and displacing pathogenic organisms from the plant surface, and/or
inducing systemic acquired resistance in the plant.

Back to my question. Is it really true that compost tea only works when
it is spiked with a food source and aerated before application?

If that is really how it works, a safer approach might be to get a
little culture tube of the right bacteria and use that to inoculate a
batch of sugar water and inorganic salts, aerate it and grow up a
tremendous crop of exactly the species you want.  I have done this with
biocontrol bacteria and it is very easy to do.

Dale

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