Re: [compost_tea] Defining what is compost tea exactly

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2003 12:28:11 -0400

This question of "what exactly is CT", versus things that may have been called compost tea in the past, but should be separated out with a different name is part of the problem with the USDA - NOP program.

Compost tea should, by definition, have to include the components of compost. If the liquid produced does not contain the major constituents of compost, then it should not be called compost tea. Wouldn't everyone agree on that?

True compost does not contain human pathogens. Temperature or, passage through the worm gut, and/or contact with worm surfaces, and/or competition with aerobic critters in compost or in tea, and/or consumption by predators are all mechanisms that we can document in compost and tea. There is no evidence for antibiotic production or toxic chemical production being important in reducing human pathogens in real world conditions, although it remains a possible mechanism.

The take-home message is that biology manages to remove the pathgens, if the condition are aerobic so the organisms are active and performing their function.

Therefore, compost tea must contain the active ingredients that give the benefits of compost. If those active ingredients are not present, then the material is not compost tea.

With me so far?

Actively aerated compost tea contains all the major sets of critters. If no food resrouces are put into a compost tea, then active aeration MAY not be required. Oxygen would have to be monitored to know whether the compost contained enough food resources to activate the biology, get that biology growing, and result in an oxygen demand that would drop oxygen levels below that needed to have the aerobic organisms survive.

The aerobic fungi do not survive conditions where anaerobic bacteria start growing. There are different communities of anaeorbic bacteria, however, and we need to understand which sets of anaerobic bacteria take out the fungi, and which sets do not. Some work yet to do.

But, when liquid goes anaeorbic, and the fungi, protozoa and nematodes are killed, then the liquid cannot be called compost tea.

Without the beneficial fungi, protozoa and nematodes, you cannot get the benefits that I talk about from a compost tea. Or compsot for that matter. Putrefying anything is not beneficial.

So, anaerobic liquids cannot be called compost tea. It will not contain the necessary organisms.

Anaerobic teas should be called just that. But they should not be called compost tea.

Can we all agree to that terminology?

We then need to differentiate between compost tea, anaerobic tea, plant tea, and manure tea.

Manure is not compost. Don't confuse the two. If the organic matter is putrefying, then the liquid produced should be called putrefying tea. OK?

If the only thing added to the water is plant material, then the tea should be called by the name of the plant material. Marigold tea, for example. Aerobic marigold tea, versus putrfying marigold tea.

The situation then when lactic acid bacteria, or fermentative yeasts, or bacteria take over, and put the aeroic critters to sleep, but do not kill the aerobic critters, is an interesting situation. Would those still be compost teas? The tea still has the aerobic critters, they can be resuscitated and recover. So, then, yes. It is compost tea.

If we define compost tea by what is in the tea, then it is easy to measure what is tea, and what is not.

If you do not have soluble nutrients in the liquid, then it isn't compost tea. But soluble nutrients alone are not adequate to call something a tea. The organisms must be present. If the tea has gone anaerobic and the beneficial fungi are gone, it is not compsot tea.

OK?

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
www.soilfoodweb.com

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Received on Sat Jun 07 2003 - 13:18:49 EDT

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