Compost Tea Book Recommendations

I am starting a green business that would involve applying compost teas to residential landscapes. What books (if any) would you recommend to start researching this topic?

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Sep 24, 2011
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Without a Doubt…
by: Compost Junkie Dave

We’d recommend you start by reading the two books we have advertised on our homepage, they are…

Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition

as well as…

The Compost Tea Brewing Manual

We’ll be posting our reviews of these books in the very near future.

An additional suggestion is to get in touch with a landscaper in a completely different geographically area than yourself (avoids them thinking your competition) who is doing what you want to do, and ask them all the specific details of incorporating compost tea into their business.

If you have any other compost tea related questions, please ask away.

CJD

Oct 04, 2011
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Compost Tea – aerated or not.
by: Elizabeth

The recommended books are great for info about the soil. However, they both insist that aerated compost tea is the only way to go.
The Co-operative Extensions of Maine, New York and Washington disagree. Their reasons are that non-aerated tea works just as well so why go to all the trouble and expense, and it lasts several months as against the very few hours for the aerated stuff.
It seems that aeration leads to a sort of super-saturated solution of microbes. As soon as the aeration stops, the oxygen in the water is quickly used up by this vast population and they begin to die off.
Furthermore, if you add molasses to the aerated mix, there is the danger that you will encourage the growth of pathogenic bacteria as well.

May 14, 2015
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hi
by: Anonymous

nice recommendations

Jun 15, 2015
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Above comment
by: Anonymous

I have to completely disagree and point out that the beneficial microbes need oxygen to survive. They feed on minerals/trace elements etc in the soil and secrete readily available plant food. Without these teams of microbes flourishing it would take a significantly longer period of time before plants would have access to their food. Aerating your brew is most definitely the most efficient way to go. Aneorobic bacteria would flourish without nitrogen, this type of bacteria secretes alcohol which creates an unhealthy environment for plants roots

Jul 01, 2015
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Above comment cont..
by: Anonymous

Whoops, meant to type oxygen instead of nitrogen at the end of the last post

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