It feels like every day we are learning something new about the world of compost and compost tea, and it’s amazing effect on the world around us.
Barry Krull, our founder, was speaking with some local farmers about the benefits of compost tea when one farmer spoke up… He said that he was originally from California and that they used to use compost tea in their vineyards to eradicate fungal and mildew outbreaks. He said it worked beautifully and that he just hadn’t found anyone in the area making it yet.
Of course, we wanted to put ours to the test, and he gladly did so! We are very eager to hear his results at the end of the growing season!
In the mean time, we did a bit of our own research. What did the experts say about the effects of Compost Tea on fungal and mildew build up? Did we stumble upon yet another benefit of compost tea that we hadn’t yet known?
Sure enough, the more we dug, the more testimonies we found…
Shepard Smith from Soil Food Web, tested compost tea on his grapes to see how it would have an effect on various diseases, mildew and fungi that effect grapes in Oregon. They found that the “use of foliar applications of compost tea to control mildew and botrytis was successful in reducing fungicide applications by 85% to 93% in both 2001 and 2002.”
Control of Botrytis by Compost Tea Applications on Grapes in Oregon Vineyards
For the full Study, click here.
A review from the European Journal of Plant Pathology and their study of the: Effect of aerated compost tea on grapevine powdery mildew, botrytis bunch rot and microbial abundance on leaves, said that “The researchers saw that compost tea reduced the severity of infection (area of leaf surface or grape bunch affected) to less than 1%. Non-treated plants had severity levels of 15-77%. This is huge. Compost tea was able to prevent virtually any incidence of PM or Botrytis.” Absolutely amazing! Making sure the compost tea is aerated is of the upmost importance.
For the full study, click here
The International Journal of Pest management did a study on the effects that different types of compost tea had on the presence of powdery mildew. ”The test included three factors, namely the different types of compost tea (aerated and non-aerated compost tea, aerated and non-aerated vermicompost tea), the dosage (1:8 and 1:16, compost:water), and the number of spray applications (once and twice per week)…. Based on the experimental results, the optimum treatment combination for controlling rose powdery mildew was found to be aerated compost tea with 1:8 dilution with an application of twice per week.”
For the full study, click here.
At Krull’s Compost, we make an aerated Compost Tea using both regular compost and verma compost, and we do not dilute it at all. From our personal research, we have found that using the full strength compost can be applied far less times, just once every 2-3 weeks, instead of multiple times a week.
For best results, use the compost tea with in 2-3 days of being brewed, and apply with a sprayer, both on top of and under the leaves. This allows for the microorganisms to enter into the gas exchange pores of the leaves of the plant where they can then help to protect and heal the plant from the inside out.
Though Compost Tea is relatively new in the world of agriculture, farmers and crops of all kinds, shapes and sizes are discovering the benefits of Aerated compost tea! And we have to say… we know ours can withstand the test of quality, strength, and doing what it should do best… using microbes to make our macro world a greener place!