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compostteas - [Compostteas] Elaine responds to E coli

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Subject: Compost Teas: 24 hour, EM, IM, BD & fermented plant extracts

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  • From: "Tom Jaszewski" <tomj AT lvcm.com>
  • To: <compostteas AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Compostteas] Elaine responds to E coli
  • Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 17:00:58 -0700

Hi list -

So, how do you know the compost you are buying does not have human pathogens
in it?

ONE - The compost should not stink. Stink means anaerobic, and those are
the conditions where E. coli grows.

TWO - The compost should be a dark brown, rich chocolate color. NOT BLACK.
Black means anaerobic hydrogen sulfide, or ammonia have been produced. OR
it means the compost got too hot during composting and no beneficial
organisms are left, or very few. A new set of beneficial organisms has to
be added.

THREE - Texture - you should be able to see the aggregates. They should be
water-stable. Put some of the compost in water, the aggregates should
remain. If the aggregates are not real, they will break up and suspend
easily in the water, making just cloudy water. True structure will be
maintained and the aggregates will settle out, intact.

I had one compost tea machine manufacturer try to trick me on this. He
added clay to the compost material, caused the compost to ball up in little
fake aggregates, so when he added the compost to his tea maker, the material
dispersed rapidly. The aggregates were not stable.

He tried to convince me that the air bubbling action in his machine gave
good extraction because the clay went into solution rapidly. It
disappointed me that he'd try to fool me with that trick instead of working
to fix the aeration in his machine. He expected me to talk up his machine
after that, but I didn't, so he got angry and stopped talking to me. Tricks
don't work, you have to have good compost.

The aggregates have to remain intact when you add to water. But if you
agitate too much, you can break up the aggregates, so be aware of that.

Other people have tried to trick me by adding little pellets of material to
the compost. Those pellets were water-stable, and settled out quite nicely.
But when I tried to break them up, they did not break up. True aggregates
will break up with finger pressure. Ground up little bit of wood, or stone,
or pumice aren't good structure. They add fluff. Which is better than
nothing, but they aren't all the way to what you need.

Anyway, check the aggregates after they settle. I guess I need to put out a
video on this so people can see what I mean.

So, can you be assured that there will be no E. coli if all these things are
correct? I THINK so. But when I say THINK, that should be a clear
indicator that we don't have all the scientific data to be sure about it.

Do we need to do more research? Yes. We need to establish that E. coli
will not grow when aeration is correct, when the competing organisms are
correct, when the foods are correct, and extraction is right. We have
several runs of testing where we show this is the case, but not fully
replicated science. Not yet.

We need funding to do this. We need people who don't have a hidden agenda
doing the "research".

Please, write to the NOSB and object to their latest ruling on compost tea.

Elaine






  • [Compostteas] Elaine responds to E coli, Tom Jaszewski, 05/22/2002

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