Compost Tea: How to Become a Soil Food Web Gardener
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Transcript of Compost Tea: How to Become a Soil Food Web Gardener
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Compost Tea
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Using Compost Tea to become a Soil Food Web Gardener
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You mean…do I drink it???
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3 things we’ll discuss
1. The soil food web and its components2. The 3 tools for becoming a soil food web
gardener3. Compost tea brewing and use
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Gardening all starts with the soil
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What makes up the soil food web?
• Beneficial Microorganisms– Bacteria– Fungi– Protozoa– Nematodes– Arthropods
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Bacteria
Bacteria play a major role in plant nutrition by locking up valuable nutrients in the soil
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Fungi
Fungi are the primary decay agents in the soil food web
• Ectomycorrhizal fungi• Endomycorrhizal fungi
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Nematodes
Nematodes feed on bacteria & fungi, then release previously immobilized nitrogen into the rhizosphere in ammonium
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Soil arthropods are important to the community as predators and soil aerators
Arthropods
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Soil Aggregates• Soil aggregates are “clumps” of soil particles that are
held together by organic matter, organic compounds and fungal hyphae.
• The spaces within and between soil aggregates are essential for storing water, air, microbes and nutrients.
• Bacteria produce polysaccharides that help with bonding the soil aggregates.
• Fungi grow in long threadlike structures call hyphae that also help bond soil aggregates.
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Rhizosphere & Phyllosphere
• Rhizosphere– the region of the soil immediately surrounding the
roots of a plant.
• Phyllosphere– leaf surfaces or total above-ground surfaces of a
plant as a habitat for microorganisms
Microbes in these spheres compete with pathogens for space and food
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3 tools a soil food web gardener needs
• Compost• Mulch• Compost tea
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Compost
• Inoculates beneficial microbes into the soil and around your yard
• 1 billion bacteria per teaspoon• 400-900 ft of fungal hyphae per teaspoon• 10-50k protozoa per teaspoon• 30-300 nematodes per teaspoon
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Mulch
• Standard reasons for use• Prevents seeds from germinating• Keeps soil cool when hot, warm when cold• Reduces evaporation
• “Soil Food Web Gardener” reasons for use• Provides nutrients and homes for soil food web organisms• Is distributed into the soil by worms and arthropods
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Compost Tea
• 3 types of compost tea – Passive teas (extract)
• Brewed by placing compost in water for a couple of weeks or more.
• Very little aerobic microbial life.
– Leachates• Liquid that oozes out of compost or worm bins.• Has some nutrient value but little microbial life.
– Actively aerated compost teas (AACT’s)
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– Produced by introducing oxygen and a food source to good compost over a 24-hour period and drastically multiplying the amount of organisms
– Is teaming with bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. Up to 4 billion beneficial bacteria can be found in 1 teaspoon
– Very concentrated and easy to apply to plants and soil
Actively Aerated Compost Tea (AACT)
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How to make and use Compost Tea
• Non-chlorinated water• Vermicompost• Food for microorganisms
– Bacteria: sugars– Fungi: kelps and humic acids– Minerals & fish hydrosolates
• Air
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Applications
• Apply as a soil drench– Dilute with non-chlorinated water and apply
directly to soil – 1:4 ratio compost tea to water
• Foliar applications– Apply to plant surfaces
• You can never apply too much
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Important notes
• Avoid exposure to sunlight/UV rays
• Use as soon as possible after aeration and brewing is discontinued
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Fine tuning your compost tea
• For trees, shrubs and woody perennials– Prepare a fungaly-dominated tea
• For veggies, flowers and lawns– Prepare a bacterially-dominated tea
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Healthy soil makes kittens happy !
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• Lowenfels, Jeff & Lewis, Wayne. (2006) Teaming with Microbes. Timber Press, Inc.
• http://extension.oregonstate.edu/douglas/mg/comptea
• http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/compost-tea-notes.html
• This presentation can be found on slideshare.com under the tag words “compost tea”
References and Suggested Reading
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Thank You
Jason DeneySustainable Desert Landscape MaintenanceP.O. Box 1324Bend, Or 97709541-610-7619