Brewing Aerated Compost Tea: Factors that Impact Microbial Composition in Compost Tea Sonja Peters CropHealth Advising & Research Kelowna, BC Dr. Elaine R. Ingham Soil Food Web, Inc. Corvallis, Oregon http://www.soilfoodweb.com/ 1) What is compost tea?  Non-aerated compost tea - compost extract - compost slurry - compost steepage  Aerated compost tea Aerated Compost Tea How 2) Why use compost tea? Tea and Health Benefits A cup of hot tea = A cup of good health Components of soil foodweb Fruit crop ecology and management», Michigan State University, 2002 2) Why use compost tea? Disease Suppression and Plant Health  Damping off  Botrytis mould  powdery mildew 2) Why use compost tea? 2) Why use compost tea? Picture – parts of a Bob bitti Brewing Machine Application     Foliar sprays Soil drenches Seed Treatment Aeration Comparative Brewing Trails Why did we do this testing?  Not a lot of research done by scientists.  A lot of research conducted by the compost tea brewing companies and the results are “secret”.  We think compost tea is a useful product. Presentation Objective  At the end of this presentation you will be familiar some of the factors that impact microbial numbers in compost tea.  You will be able to take the knowledge and develop a recipe to brew compost tea on your own. The “standard recipe”  Brewers Bob’s Bitti 5 US gallons, 4 brewers K.I.S. 5 US gallons, 1 brewer  Procedure 15 liters tap water, actively aerated for 1 hour, additives Actively aerated for 21 hours (compost out after 5 hours) Samples to SFI Canada (analysis 48 to 72 hours later)  Recipe (from Bob’s Brewers) Composted yard waste 485 grams (Kelowna landfill) Wormcastings 285 grams (Nurturing Nature Organics) Humic acid 30 ml (extract, Tecologic Products, AB) Seaweed 30 ml (Ascophyllum n., Logic Alliance, NS) Fish fertiliser 15 ml (North Atlantic fish, NS) Standard Recipe  Bob’s Brewers http://www.nettime.com/bobsbrew/products.html Seattle, Washington Compost tea experiments Testing at Soil FoodWeb Inc., Vulcan Alberta, 2006 Date Lab report Variation in recipe Jan 16 08-00160 Varying amounts of humic acid Jan 23 08-00161 Varying amounts of seaweed Feb 06 08-00163 Varying amounts of fish fertiliser Feb 13 08-00166 Ingredients but no compost Feb 27 08-00170 Compost with one ingredient only Mar 06 08-00171 Compost alone or worm castings alone Mar 20 08-00174 Varying duration of water aeration Mar 27 08-00179 Using different composts Apr 3 08-00182 Varying duration of compost activation Apr 7 08-00190 Varying length of brewing May 29 08-00252 Varying amounts of RootShield Compost tea experiments Testing at Soil FoodWeb Inc., Vulcan Alberta, 2007 Date Lab report Variation in recipe Feb. 26 08-00358 Using old (2006) worm castings March 5 08-00360 Using new (2007) worm castings March 12 08-00364 Using a different worm casting products April 9 08-00373 Compost activation with baby oatmeal April 16 08-00376 Varying temperature April 24 08-00381 Fermentation – Varying ratios Nov 19 08-00455 Using different water sources Compost tea experiments Testing at Soil FoodWeb Inc., Vulcan Alberta, 2008 and 2009 Date Lab report Variation in recipe Feb. 25 08-000464 Brewer size March 3 08-001078 Home made brewers March 10 08-001080 Varying amounts of juice and pulp Jan. 26 08-001369 Varying amounts of Yucca Feb. 2 08-001378 Using different water sources Feb. 16 08-001387 Activation with Yucca Results  1) Quality control  2) Impact of compost activation  3) Impact of humic acid  4) Impact of seaweed  5) Impact of fish fertiliser  6) Impact of brewing duration  7) Impact of a home made brewers Results  1) Quality control  2) Impact of compost activation  3) Impact of humic acid  4) Impact of seaweed  5) Impact of fish fertiliser  6) Impact of brewing duration  7) Impact of a home made brewers Microbial content of compost tea prepared with K.I.S. brewer and standard recipe Results from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Jan to May 2006 Date Bacteria Fungi (total, ppm) (total, ppm) Flagellate Amoeba Ciliate (# / ml) (# / ml) (# / ml) 16 Jan 23 Jan 7552 12032 20 25 13863 4606 575 8318 2 6 Feb 13 Feb 27 Feb 06 Mar 20 Mar 27 Mar 3 Apr 7168 6912 6784 8704 6272 11520 5760 34 44 39 15 25 28 27 5753 --2772 13863 31644 13863 57536 831 --831 575 57536 31644 4263 4 --0 0 4 4 4 Results  1) Quality control  2) Impact of compost activation  3) Impact of humic acid  4) Impact of seaweed  5) Impact of fish fertiliser  6) Impact of brewing duration  7) Impact of a home made brewers Pre-activation of compost Impact on fungi, results from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Feb 2006 Amount of baby oatmeal, activation 4 days, Bob’s Brewer 15 liters 250 Total fungui biomass in ppm 200 150 100 50 0 Target 0 tbsp 6 tbsp 24 tbsp 48 tbsp Results  1) Quality control  2) Impact of compost activation  3) Impact of humic acid  4) Impact of seaweed  5) Impact of fish fertiliser  6) Impact of brewing duration  7) Impact of a home made brewers About Humic Acid Article: “Effect of Humic Acids on Growth of Annual Ornamental Seedling Plugs” Evans and Li. 2003. HortTechnology “Seedlings grown on [humic acid]-treated germination papers had higher dry root weights than those grown on [deionized water] or [nutrient control] -treated germination papers.” Humic acid in compost tea Impact on total fungi, results from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Jan 2006 Tecologic Multi-dynamic Humic extract in Bob’s Brewer 15 liters Total fungi biomass in ppm 100 50 0 Target No humic Humic 15 ml Humic 30 ml Standard Humic 120 ml Humic acid in compost tea Impact on total fungi, resuls from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Jan 2006 Tecologic Multi-dynamic Humic extract in Bob’s Brewer 15 liters Treatment Bacteria Fungi Flagellate Amoeba Ciliates (total, ppm) (total, ppm) (# / ml) (# / ml) (# / ml) 0 ml 8576 23 5753 831 0 15 ml 10752 19 5753 1386 0 30 ml 8960 72 5753 575 0 120 ml 9344 15 5753 3570 0 Humic acid in compost tea Impact on total fungi, results from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Jan 2006 Tecologic Multi-dynamic Humic extract in Bob’s Brewer 15 liters Treatment Bacteria Fungi Flagellate Amoeba Ciliates Standard tea recipe Humic acid only (total, ppm) (total, ppm) (# / ml) (# / ml) (# / ml) 8448 25 --- --- --- 25 0 --- --- --- Results  1) Quality control  2) Impact of compost activation  3) Impact of humic acid  4) Impact of seaweed  5) Impact of fish fertiliser  6) Impact of brewing duration  7) Impact of a home made brewers About Seaweed Article: “Identification of Auxins in a Commercial Seaweed Concentrate” Crouch et al. 1992. J Plant Physiology “It is well documented that commercial seaweed preparations improve plant growth. Many of these effects have been attributed to the presence of growth substances, particularly the cytokinins …” Seaweed in compost tea Impact on total fungi, results from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Jan 2006 Turbo SE 0-4-4 (Ascophyllum n.) in Bob’s Brewer 15 liters Total fungi biomass in ppm 100 50 0 Target No kelp Kelp 15 ml Kelp 30 ml Standard Kelp 120 ml Results  1) Quality control  2) Impact of compost activation  3) Impact of humic acid  4) Impact of seaweed  5) Impact of fish fertiliser  6) Impact of brewing duration  7) Impact of a home made brewers About Fish Emulsion Article: “Suppression of Rhizoctonia and Pythium damping-off of radish and cucumber seedlings by addition of fish emulsion to peat mix or soil” Abbasi, Conn, Lazarovits 2004. Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology “These results suggest that fish emulsion has both nutritive value for plant growth as well as disease suppressive properties.” Fish fertiliser in compost tea Impact on total fungi, results from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Jan 2006 Turbo SE 0-4-4 (Ascophyllum n.) in Bob’s Brewer 15 liters Total fungi biomass in ppm 100 50 0 Target No fish Fish 7.5 ml Fish 15 ml Standard Fish 60 ml Fish fertiliser in compost tea In-house EC testing with Hannah digital pens, January 2006 Nutrifish SE 2-3-1 (Ascophyllum n.) in Bob’s Brewer 15 liters Electrical Conductivity value 1 0.5 0 Water only No fish Fish 7.5 ml Fish 15 ml Standard Fish 60 ml Compost tea: nutrient quality K.I.S. 5-gallon brewer + K.I.S compost and ingredients Testing at Griffin Laboratories, Kelowna, 2004 Analysis Tap water Compost tea (City of Kelowna) (K.I.S. commercial tea) pH 7.6 5.6 Conductivity 0.20 2.70 Nitrogen (ppm) 0 118.0 Phosphorus (ppm) 1.1 10.3 Potassium (ppm) 7.9 418.6 Results  1) Quality control  2) Impact of compost activation  3) Impact of humic acid  4) Impact of seaweed  5) Impact of fish fertiliser  6) Impact of brewing duration  7) Impact of a home made brewers Duration of compost tea brewing Impact on flagellates, results from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Feb 2006 Standard recipe, samples collected at intervals, stored in a refrigerator Number of flagellates / ml solution 150000 100000 50000 0 1 hour 5 hours 12 hours 21 hours 48 hours 70 hours Standard Components of soil foodweb Fruit crop ecology and management», Michigan State University, 2002 Results  1) Quality control  2) Impact of compost activation  3) Impact of humic acid  4) Impact of seaweed  5) Impact of fish fertiliser  6) Impact of brewing duration  7) Impact of a home made brewers http://www.dep.state.pa.us/ dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/r ecycle/Tea/tea1.htm Home Made Brewers Impact on total fungi, results from Soil FoodWeb Canada, Jan 2006 Different 5 gallon brewer Total fungi biomass in ppm 25 20 15 10 5 0 Target Bob's Bitti Standard Pen. State Teaming Jaybee http://www.simplici-tea.com/ http://www.composttea.com/ Summary of Results  1) Compost quality is important. Quality of tea varies from each brew.  2) Activation of compost increases fungi.  3) Humic acid increases total fungi.  4) Kelp (seaweed) increases total fungi. Has EC.  5) Fish emulsion increases total fungi.  6) The longer the duration the more protozoa.  7) Home made brewers work, however, results vary. Overall Summary  1) There are many factors that impact a specific microbe in compost tea.  2) Knowing which factor increases, for example, fungi or protozoa, allows us to create different recipes, depending on what microbe that is needed. What’s next  Application trials  Where is the application of compost tea useful? Thank you Sonja Peters CropHealth Advising & Research Kelowna, BC sonja@crophealth.com http://www.crophealth.com/