Begging to differ with Howard, but compost tea is not a fertilizer. It is a way to wash microbes out of compost, keep them alive and maybe breed some more, and spray them onto plants and into the soil. On the other hand, real organic fertilizer provides protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. Inasmuch as the bodies of the microbes in tea contain food value, they can only bring an infinitesimal amount of fertilizer to the garden.
Real organic fertilizers are made from pure corn, soybeans, alfalfa, cottonseed, fish meal, seaweed, feather meal, and sometimes slaughterhouse byproducts. 50 pounds of soybeans, for example, at 48% protein, brings 24 pounds of protein. 50 pounds of compost tea is mostly water and has almost no protein.
The big advantage of tea is that you can spray it on plant leaves and stems. There is no other way to deliver microbes directly onto plant surfaces.
_________________ David Hall Moderator Dirt Doctor Lawns Forum
|