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On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

How many of you that use ACT actually believe it did anything? If you put a bunch of new bacteria in the soil, how long will they last in the garden out of their aerated environment? A day? The food they loved and thrived on and the oxygen in high concentration is gone. The soil population quickly drops back to what it was and what the soil can support. Welcome to the real world. Tell me I am wrong and if you disagree give me more than a testimonial.

10/25/2018 4:41:08 PM

central Nc

I keep trying to convince myself to do it, but the effort just doesn't make sense to me. I'll just keep using my compost...on the ground.

10/25/2018 6:16:26 PM

Oak Grove, Mn

I tried it for the first time this year. I did not apply very often but I did have my best year ever. Was it the compost tea or the 50 cu yds of mixed soil that i added to the garden. Gardens are aerated...there is oxygen in the soil. I think a five gallon batch spread once during the season over thousands of square feet is probably not going to make a difference. 50 gallons spread over 1000 sq ft weekly could make a big difference. Even more so if could fine tune the brewing ingredients to match the conditions that you wish to modify. I am a believer in the potential benefit of a routine that utilizes compost teas. I am far from discovering the true potential of it though.

10/25/2018 7:36:47 PM

Grittyville, WA

Uh... shaking things up I love it. I really messed some plants up with it but I did use it extensively. Some eating tomatoes and peppers reacted like there was too much nitrogen and potassium they got blossom end rot badly despite being in calcium rich soil.

10/25/2018 8:15:32 PM

Grittyville, WA

Maybe it was an acidity issue. The stuff can have wild swings in acidity when the yeasts get going it can really drop. I dont think its necessary I dont think it was a significant factor for any of my plants. Balanced soil with lots of humic and sufficient nutrients was the most important factor for us.

10/25/2018 8:21:32 PM

Grittyville, WA

And for me and Anna the domingos really performed... the rest were average. Sorry for always making multiple posts just phone doesnt like to enter a lot at once. Done now.

10/25/2018 8:30:42 PM

Oak Grove, Mn

You had a good year Brandon, and you tried compost teas. I used it and grew my best year ever. Weird Wint used it and grew the California state record his first year out. I know that Dan S utilizes compost teas. I don't think it is something we should rule out as potentially beneficial. Yes, it is more work, potentially smelly, attracts flies etc...but is it worth it?

Brandon...you said BER even with high Calcium. I am wondering if you know what your Boron level is at?

Out of 500 tomatoes..I had BER on only about 6 tomatoes this year. Best year ever for me with BER in my outdoor garden.

10/25/2018 8:30:52 PM

central Nc

Yeahhhhh, that's not convincing though. Good growers are good growers. Why don't you guys do a side by side comparison this year? Compost tea on half plants, top dress the same ingredients on the other half?

10/25/2018 8:44:34 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

No one has convinced me yet.

10/25/2018 8:54:36 PM

Oak Grove, Mn

Marv...I am wondering if when compost tea goes from the brewer...where there are billions of micro-organisms in a small container of oxygenated water to being spread on the garden if the might not have more access to oxygen in the garden. It would be like a small room filled with people elbow to elbow and then moving them to open air. I know that I have read about the dissolved oxygen content going down the longer the brew as more organisms are competing for the oxygen. I think the biggest mistake people make with compost teas is not using large enough air pump or brewing too long.
Oooops...i just thought about my aeroponic winter grow..and came up with an idea of how to increase the oxygen of the compost brew...that might be a subject for another time.
My 8 competition tomatoes received the majority of my compost tea this summer. The were significantly bigger than my seed plants. Not a fair side by side comparison..they had pruning.

I think I agree...we need to set up a fair test side by side to test the act effect.

10/25/2018 9:16:30 PM

Grittyville, WA

Well it could be better than water... but only if its not messing up your nutrients or ph. If its gonna mess up your nutrients or ph... then its worse than water. I think a ppm and ph tester may be necessary. Also I think adding some calcium? I used it for the purpose of adding nutrients but I became very hesitant after some negative results. I think it has potential. What does Dan use? Pine mulch on calcium with manure tea? We dont know so we cant write it off completely...

10/25/2018 11:24:46 PM

Grittyville, WA

Boron was on target near 2.0 ppm I think? I messed up the ph or the nitrogen ppm the four plants given the most tea were not normal. My tea was not very dilute always above 500 ppm. Anyhow, yes, side by side comparisons would possibly be helpful.

10/26/2018 12:01:33 AM

Hot West Tennessee

To me it is another tool in the tool box. Never expected a fix all super wonder drug. I think everything else has to be in good standings from ph to om and all else. In the end it is all a guess. We can try just to make it a better guess and go with what works. The tea is only as good as the compost! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x8wTknVu3A&t=1683s

10/26/2018 11:21:46 AM