So here is the deal I have been inundated lately with questions about compost "tea". I have some opinions on it but there are many grey areas here. So firstly I want to reiterate that the leachate that some time is present in vermicompost beds is not worm "tea". That liquid has not gone through the gut of the worm and is usually full of pathogens. eeeewwwww, now will it make things grow? Maybe ... probably, but would I feed that produce to my family ... nope! I am sure there are ways to clean up the leachate but why? There are way easier ways to introduce biology to soil than that, and honestly I am pretty lazy, so I want the path of least effort to amend things. At TRAD we do both aerated and passive casting extracts. For large applications we use a large bubbler that introduces O2 and let that sit for 24 hr but for our personal garden and flowers we use passive. Dr. Norman Arancon is an expert on castings and has written many papers. One that I have read probably 20 times is "Tea Time in the Tropics" and it has extensively researched and documented casting extracts and their benefits. Read it if you have time. lol I took his paper to a conference where he was the keynote speaker and .... wait for it ... he signed it for me. Swoon... ok it was more like double swoon, I was so excited lol. Trent just shook his head and walked away!
Any whooo.... Happy Monday and every day this week!!!
Roxanne
