Haven't heard of brix

but veggies that big tell me "massiv (over)fertilizing"

compost tea is mostly benefical for undeveloped soil

it can contain large amounts of nitrate

using molasses seems like a waste of food, you would raise the amount of bacteria

in your tea

here is a link to some papers on compost tea (and other garden lore-themes)

which explaines the benefits and risks

and yes, you can spread too much fert by compost tea

garden myths (by Linda Chalker Scott

(edited because the link was broken, and yes, we found that great person from different directions ;-). )

"The science on compost tea is pretty sketchy ."

And that sums it up very nicely :-)

Bountea is a product of Alaska. It's not necessarily this product that is responsible for extra large vegetables. Alaska has a short growing season, but it has extra long days—up to 20 hours of sunshine. That day length is what is most responsible for giant vegetable growth.

Soil is the remnant of degraded rock, and the basic fertility is determined by the rock that yielded the soil. If your soil is missing some element(s) important to plant growth then plants won't grow as well as they otherwise might. There are 17 elements considered essential for Plant Nutrition. If you decide to have a soil test, it may be worth having a complete test done.

Organic matter is probably the best additive for a garden. It helps sandy soil hold water, and it helps clay soil let in air, and it increases soil bacteria. One thing to note is that in the northern half of the U.S. organic matter is easily increased by yearly additions of compost. In the southern half organic matter is consumed readily by microbes and a yearly addition of compost may be necessary to just maintain soil parameters.

Molasses primarily increases microbial activity in soil as a drench before planting. Unsulphured blackstrap molasses contains significant calcium, magnesiaum, iron, and potassium, along with sulfur and other micronutrients. However, diluted further, it can also be used as a foliar fertilizer as the nutrients it contains pass directly into the leaves.

I think sketchy is the wrong word to use here. It almost sounds like the compost tea is a bad thing. It's true we don't know everything about compost tea and I don't think we ever will because all compost tea is a little bit different, but until someone tells me that it's bad I will continue to believe in the power of compost tea. I've heard that if the compost tea is extremely high in nitrogen (like if it's made from composted manure for instance), that kind of tea can burn your plants if you add too much, but other than that I think compost tea is a very good thing.

'Sketchy' is an excellent word to describe compost tea!! And that is because there is little science behind any of the claims......most experience is just anecdotal. Peer reviewed publictions of any scientific studies or trials using compost tea are almost nonexistant. It is not bad at all.....any more than using compost is bad......but it does not have any of the magical properties often assigned to it such as making plants grow bigger, taste better or become more disease or pest resistant after application any more than using straight compost does.

That 'high nitrogen' comment is one that often crops up that really requires some consideration. Compost itself is not high in nitrogen - in fact, it is quite low in any plant nutrients, which is why it is considered a soil amendent rather than a fertilizer. So why would what is essentially diluted or watered down compost be any higher afa N is concerned? Same with composted manures - low nutrient vaues and the composting or aging process removes the uric acid that can cause nitrogen burn. And then this is further diluted. So chances of 'burning' plants with compost tea are pretty low :-)

The 'power' of compost tea is that of any dilute organic fertilizer, nothing more. Aerated compost tea (ATC) does encourage large microbial populations and that can be helpful if your soil lacks biological life. But unless that soil contains sufficient organic matter already, those microbes will not live very long to provide any benefit. They need to eat to live and multiply and that requires a supply of organic matter. So theoretically, you can skip the tea brewing step and apply just the compost and get virtually identical results.

If one is interested in the science - or lack if it - behind the efficacy of compost teas, Linda Chalker-Scott, a horticultural PhD, extension service specialist and professor of plant physiology, has written several articles on the topic that can be accessed here. (scroll down to section headed 'pesticides').

Jeff Gillman discusses compost tea in his book "Decoding Gardening Advice". He echos what GardenGal said and adds that making it with excessive sugars (like molasses) can encourage Escherichia coli to colonize the tea. His recommendation is to simply use compost and skip the tea.

Just an FYI but Dr. Chalker-Scott and Jeff Gillman co-author a science based gardening blog, The Garden Professors.

Hi perennialfan,

gardengal has a very good point about the effect.

you can get a higher concentration of microbes in airsted tea, but they won't survive for long in the soil if conditions ate not right.

if you are curious just go ahead and brew some, the equippment can't be thatbexpensive

but considering how much effort it takes to make airated (ahm, with a bubble-thing like for a fish tank) compost tea you could just use well groomed or fed compost and pay attention to carefull watering, your veggies would love that.

IMO it is almost like a fashion or gardening it-thing that is interesrting but not the silver bullet or miracle cure some make it sound like...

do feed your soil& its microbes which will give you good crops in the long run

People who compete in things tend to not give out all their information on how they win competitions. It doesn't matter what that competition is. The guy doesn't specifiy what his micronutrients are or how much he is using. He doesn't mention any other fertilizers that he may be applying. He doesn't say how he grows what he does other than saying he uses compost tea. He doesn't say how he preps his soil, when he starts his plants, how he starts his plants, what varieties he is planting (extremely important). He doesn't say what kind of "compost" he is using for the tea....

Brix measures solids in a solution, the main solid being sugar. I notice that the video doesn't say which vegetables were hitting 20 brix. I could maybe see a beet under super ideal conditions hitting 20 but things like onions, celery, swiss chard? Very doubtful. And a vegetable that hits 20 brix would taste sickeningly sweet. Think about the sweetest peach you have eaten and then add some more sweetness to it. That would be 20 brix.

I like the narrator Paul James and loved his show (Gardening By The Yard) when it was still on but this is just not going to help anyone much at all. Fantastic claims were made but many people use compost tea and do not see anywhere near the growth that this guy, John Evans, in Alaska is getting.

Rodney

I found the link below when I did a search of "Alaska Bounty soil stimulant system", which was pictured on a jug in the video.

This is a paragraph from the link:

"Alaska Bounty Soil Stimulant System combined with BioVam, and a broad spectrum of minerals (Planters II), and composted organic material or Biosol Organic Fertilizer, can make that goal a reality."

If "Biosol organic fertilizer" is being used in conjunction with all these other ingredients then these plants are being fed with a high nitrogen fertilizer weekly. I looked up Biosol and got NPK's of 6-1-1 and 7-2-1 depending on the formula.

Rodney

http://www.ibiblio.org/london/agriculture/composting/composttealist-2002-2004/msg00757.html

A hybrid between scam and woo. For the gullible. Homeopathy for plants only slightly more feasible than biodynamic farming...a truly deranged cult of theosophists, nutters and crazed German mystics - still ludicrously defended despite witchy overtones - eye of newt, tongue of bat, buried by the light of a full moon in a cows horn...OK, the newt and bat bits are a lie,,,but burying secret formulas in bits of cow are true.

now that the esoterics‘ ideas are spread by blurbs on facebook no one knows the wild people behind them. Compost tea sounds suspicious to me, wouldn’t it be the same thing as putting compost on the ground next to your plant and then pouring water?

Nah - compost tea is OK...just not some miracle additive...but yeah, I don't bother (with bubblers, molasses and all that guff...although I LOVE my compost heaps