Re: [compost_tea] Re: winter nearly 1/2 over

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 16:50:30 EST

Perry Lab is the one you are looking for in Missouri. They have a website,
so I assume you can find it with some combination of perry and lab.com

Compost tea is allowed as long as manure is not used to make the tea.

The compost tea task force has had a bit of a fire lit under them, and
suddenly, they appear to be closing in on a set of recommendations. I thank those
of you applying pressure to get the task force going. It worked.

While there is still controversy within the group over use of molasses - as
if that grows E coli or something - the compost definitions are reasonable. As
long as the compost is pathogen-free, the recommendation ought to end up that
the compost is useable to make compost tea. Exactly how to document
pathogen-free is under discussion, in my opinion. Manure and other non-tested, or
non-documented composts will not be acceptable, of course, so some sanity has
crept in here.

But there has not been enough work, or not enough published in scientific
journals, on proper aeration selecting against human pathogens, so that will
likely remain a topic to be researched. At least not ignored in this set of
recommendations, I hope.

Please do not take my comments here to represent any official position by the
task force, however.

Elaine





Received on Sat Feb 07 2004 - 17:49:13 EST

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