Compost Almanac

Here's what SoilSoup customers are saying...

Ocean Sky Farm

This new technology for an ancient technique has demonstrated phenomenal results on my urban farm. I have tested compost tea brewers and recipes for two years. The SoilSoup Bio-Blender has prevented and arrested downy and powdery mildew of squash plants, late blight of potatoes and tomatoes, botrytis of grapes and basil, leaf curl of peach and plum trees, anthracnose of beans and black spot of roses. The folks at SoilSoup have provided excellent advice on tailor making my compost tea to treat specific plant diseases.

I used to have a major problem with buttercup infestation due to my tight clay soils. Applying compost tea to my soil once a month has caused an increase in tilth and significant decrease in buttercup presence on my fields. No herbicide, just compost tea. I also use it to inoculate my cover crop seed in the fall.

The summer of 1999 was unusually cool and damp for western Washington State. I still managed to get my bean and corn crops to market by using compost tea as a foliar spray and as part of my fertilization program. Several local growers lost all of their bean crops to anthracnose. I was able to supply my 75 family CSA with two pounds of beans a week and still have 40 - 60 pounds to take to the farmers market. Although my corn ears were small due to the lack of BTUs they did fill out and were very sweet because I ran compost tea through a Syphonex coupling in front of my drip irrigation manifold.

The points I consider when making a compost tea methodology choice are the cost of equipment and microbe feed stock, ease of production, time lapse between batches and volume of tea produced. Furthermore, the technical assistance that I have received form the folks at SoilSoup has taught me to use different composted materials depending on the pathogen targeted. The most versatile compost is my vermicompost. But it can't do it all. Sometimes I need cattle manure compost or mushroom compost to arrest and then prevent a plant pathogen infestation. SoilSoup provided the researched recommendations I needed to bring in a good crop. It is not only affordable, I make it myself.

I find compost tea to be a safe and appropriate technology that builds tilth while preventing plant disease. I believe we are only beginning to recognize and appreciate the life force beneath our feet and in our compost piles. As the organic movement swells in response to concerns about genetically modified organisms (GMO) the production and supply of finished nontoxic compost will be far less than the demand. This new technology will be a major factor in providing food choices for Americans.

Art Biggert
Ocean Sky Farm
Bainbridge Island, Washington