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  • From: Soilsecrets@aol.com
  • To: tradingpost@riseup.net, livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Compost tea and bugs in a jug
  • Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 11:33:18 EDT

 

In recent years there has been a big jump in companies making and claiming to have soil bio liquids, liquid inoculants and Compost Tea like products. What is the efficacy of these products? 

 

As you may already know, I'm not a fan of any form of Compost Tea, if it is being touted as a microbial product.  The facts are that the bacteria that are capable of surviving and multiplying in a compost tea are only those that are water borne regardless of how aerobic you keep it.  Any Soil Amendment business that attempts to get microbial inoculants label approved in most states will find that the law is clear.  While the law states in almost every state in the U.S. that if you are making claims of benefits concerning these issues (listed below), then the microbes documented in research to provide these benefits are very specific and can only be propagated and perpetuated on the roots of plants. Therefore the manufacturing entity of these products, if they are claiming something exclusive and unique, must own a nursery with greenhouse facilities in order to grow these microorganisms!  And that facility must be properly licensed and approved by the state agency in charge of that regulatory process. 

 

Therefore here are the benefits that legal claims can be made when dealing with specific root/plant mutualistic microorganisms: 

 

-improving the health of plants

-improving the yield of crops

-improving the water uptake of plants

-improving the mineral nutrient uptake of plants

-improving the resistance of disease

-providing a root-shield or protection from root disease

-providing competitive exclusion of pathogens in the rhizosphere of plant roots

 

None of these claims can be made concerning the microorganism found in a compost tea!

 

Then the microorganisms that can legally be claimed to have those benefits and that can be defended in a court of law by demonstrating research and sound scientific methodology, can only be microbes that are mutualistic and indigenous to the root system of plants.  This type of association of microorganisms are not water borne and cannot be propagated or perpetuated in a compost tea.  It’s a myth that by keeping the leachates of compost agitated and aerated along with feeding the tea products such as molasses will increase the Species Diversity, Count and Viability for the objective of providing landscape material benefits of any of the claims listed above.  The idea of measuring the value of a compost tea by looking at squiggly things swimming around in your viewfinder of your optical microscope proves only that you have microbial action, but cannot be dependable for finding those specific microorganisms that these legal plant benefit claims can be made upon.  Species diversity tests also prove little when measuring a compost tea.  I can take a fresh dropping from my pet dog and analyze it for Species Diversity and it will blow away those measurements of the best made compost tea in the industry.  But did it prove that the product is the best product for inoculating or fertilizing your grass or crop with?

 

In my judgment the main value of a compost tea is the mineral nutrient value of the TDS (total dissolved solids) that leached into the solution from the compost.  Garbage In – Garbage Out!  If the compost was made from crummy products with little quality control and the method of making the compost was in question, the final product will be junk.  Therefore the leachate or tea extracted from this junk will also be junk. 

 

When legitimate Soil Inoculant labs make microbial products and use a liquid as the carrier then those fungi or helper bacteria are put into the liquid in a seed state and not in an active phase. They will not be squiggling around for you to see in an optical microscope.  The seed states of the mycorrhizae are called vesicles, spores and propagules while the seed states of the bacteria are called endospores.  Special care must be done to balance the chemistry of these liquid carriers so that the liquid does not cause the dormant material to degrade, corrode or simply go bad.  This is a very precise process requiring a good knowledge of Integrated Bio Chemistry and not one that someone making compost tea is going to stumble upon by accident.

 

When anecdotal evidence suggests a benefit from a treatment of compost tea occurred, I'm willing to bet the tea provided some mineral nutrients that the plant needed and not because of the microbial content of the tea.    This is not a solid foundation to stake a business ethics or success on as you will not succeed on purpose most of the time.  Success will happen only by accident every once in awhile. 

 

Dr. Michael Martin Melendrez

 

 



  • [Livingontheland] Compost tea and bugs in a jug, Soilsecrets, 05/27/2006

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