pitangadiego

I just make a basin out of compost around each banana mat, and water through it, so I guess that is compost tea - in which case it works wonders.

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Velutina

Saying that Harvard, pot growers, and world-class pumpkin growers use it is just an argument to authority. I can use the argument to authority fallacy too. I have a BS in biology/botany and a doctorate in medicine, so believe me. I'm not convinced by anecdotal evidence. If your goal is growth, you'll probably get the best results with chemical fertilizers.

Chemical fertilizers have a bad name, but they work VERY well! They are proven to get better results on just about any crop. I wouldn't even consider using compost tea. It seems to be expensive, stinky, a PITA, and has shown NO benefit over conventional composting. Since your ingredients are ALREADY composted, the whole idea doesn't make sense. I see no reason to think a large aerobic bacteria population in the tea would translate to better plant growth or even better bacterial growth in the soil. Maybe i'm just too skeptical with my training in biology. IDK...

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Adam

Worm_Farmer

I prefer to just spread compost / worm castings around the root base on top of the soil before I add mulch or manure to the beds. I only make TEA when my castings are coming out WAY to wet and clumpy and I cant work with them very well. Other wise its much less work to just spread it around and let the magic of nature do its thing.

Rmplmnz

This is probably a good solution for Las Vegas....I would be hesitate to recommend chemical fertilizers universally.

For gardeners living in an area with periodic heavy rainfall the runoff from chemical fertilizers causes big problems.

We live in Tampa:

Tampa Bay, the largest open-water estuary in Florida, extends approximately 35 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico and is 5 to 10 miles wide along most of its length. Four segments make up the open-water section. Hillsborough Bay, the smallest of these segments, receives runoff from a large portion of the city of Tampa. The Hillsborough and Alafia Rivers drain into Hillsborough Bay, as do a number of smaller tributaries. Middle Tampa Bay receives runoff from the Little Manatee River and drainage from smaller tributaries along the Hillsborough and Pinellas County coastlines. Old Tampa Bay receives runoff from portions of Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and Tampa. Lower Tampa Bay, which has the largest volume of the four segments, connects the mouth of the bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The Manatee River, which receives runoff from the city of Bradenton, flows into the southern portion of this bay segment.

Four other segments constitute the drainage basins of coastal tributaries that flow directly to the bay: the Coastal Lower Tampa Bay area lies along the eastern side of Lower Tampa Bay, the Coastal Middle Tampa Bay area consists of the eastern and western shores of Middle Tampa Bay, the Coastal Hillsborough Bay area borders Hillsborough Bay to the northeast, and the Coastal Old Tampa Bay area surrounds the northern and western sides of Old Tampa Bay.

The Hillsborough, Alafia, Manatee, and Little Manatee Rivers contribute significant flows to Tampa Bay, including flows from at least three second-magnitude springs (with discharges of 6.46 to 64.6 million gallons per day): Crystal and Sulphur Springs on the Hillsborough River and Lithia Springs on the Alafia River.

Tampa Bay Watershed - Hillsborough River, Alafia River, Manatee River - Florida's Water: Ours to Protect

There are numerous other threads that have hotly debated the use of chemical fertilizers (just do a search and you will get varying opinions).

A quick google search on run-off will yields a lot of hits:

"How Fertilizers Harm Earth More Than Help Your Lawn"

Chemical runoff from residential and farm products affects rivers, streams and even the ocean

July 20, 2009 | 14

Synthetic agricultural chemicals became commonplace beginning with the s--called "Green Revolution" in the second half of the 20th century, but their benefits haven't come without environmental costs—namely the wholesale pollution of most of our streams, rivers, ponds, lakes and even coastal areas, as these synthetic chemicals run-off into the nearby waterways.
Fertilizer Runoff Overwhelms Streams and Rivers--Creating Vast "Dead Zones": Scientific American

Fertilizer Runoff Overwhelms Streams and Rivers--Creating Vast "Dead Zones"

The nation's waterways are brimming with excess nitrogen from fertilizer--and plans to boost biofuel production threaten to aggravate an already serious situation
Fertilizer Runoff Overwhelms Streams and Rivers--Creating Vast "Dead Zones": Scientific American

trebor

I think TEA and Chemical fertilizers all have there place and I feel its due to your situation. Or your soil condition as well as the type of soil you have..
Example South Florida soil is mostly sand and in some areas muck and other areas shell bed.. So in a 100 square mile area you can have 3 very different types of soil. All there can and do support plant growth. The fertilizer/compost/tea can be applied to all three different soils and all have results. Some better than others.. What happens is all of us learn from our own experience in our environment , we see results. Then we pass these result on to our friends and associates , we end up with all the different ideas floating around clouding the air! Pile on the ease and convenience of the big box store down the road and we end up with even more results .. I look at People like for example bananafarmer video
Video greenhouse, walking through,5min
and he shows me rocky soil then I see his chemical fertilizer menu posted in his photo gallery .. WAMMO success is written all over his video and still pictures of the bunch sizes . Im sure he did not photo his smallest bunch as an example
There is such a huge difference in commercial growing compared to having two nanners in your back yard its amazing . I know because my family has been in agriculture (Citrus) for over 90 years
So I guess my point is we all do it differently and Musa is a very forgiving plant ..
Now Im going to go turn over my compost pile and get my 5 gallon bucket ready for some more tea making later this month Ill stop by the Big Box Store and get me a bag of 12 5 8 .. Then later I will be out at the horse farm picking up some manure .. I might even surf the internet looking for some essential essential minerals.... All this fertilizer advice has me excited !

I agree with Rmplmnz post as it relates to caution needed where fertilizer is used

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If ya can't eat it, it ain't growing in my back yard !

Kostas

Results do can be obtained with all types of fertilizers,that cant be argued. But since results can be used with eco friendly ways,why use environment polluting ones? Leafs,manure,tree chippings,are all things considered as byproducts and thrash many times(though wrongly),so using them as a means of fertilization is the best way these can be ''disposed'',plus you get all the benefits On the other hand,animal farms dont always dispose or use their byproducts in a correct manner and thus they also end up polluting lakes,streams and the environment. So using these fertilizer sources both benefits the environment and your plants and soil. Dont we all want to maximize benefits?
Organic fertilization also benefits the soil microorganisms and thus,the soil's properties are also improved along with its nutritional content,and pathogen and pest counts decrease as the food chain is not disrupted,unlike with chemical fertilizers which negatively affect beneficial soil microorganisms(and thus soil texture is not improved by the natural action of fungi/bacteria and macroorganisms,only getting worse as a result of rain and stepping on it)and leave open ground for the pathogenic ones. I dont say that plants cannot be successfully be cultivated with chemical fertilizers but you just put yourself in a never ending chain of doing everything yourself when nature can do those things for you if you just dont negatively affect its processes,like it does in forests and things grow more than just successfully there! Like Adam,i have excelled in my Botany and Pharmaceutical Botany classes and have worked alongside with our Forest Research Institute and know the natural processes involved and disrupted by chemical fertilizer toxicity on soil organisms Letting nature take care of most of the plants's needs is quite convenient and works very well too! You just have to plan things correctly in order to avoid disrupting something from the system while adding what the system cant (yet)provide for the plants you are growing and let it be transformed towards their needs.

I am not a believer of the need or extra properties found in compost tea either as its just another laborious way of using manure,compost and other organic fertilizers than can just be spread on the soil,under the mulch,and work equally well that way,without using air pumps that work on electricity or extra labor. Its cheaper and uses these natural resources at their fullest instead of just a water wash of them. The rain falling has the same effect on them but they get the chance to eventually completely decompose and be incorporated in the soil instead of thrown away after making the tea The tea only contains most of the water soluble substances found in the ingredients used plus some more from the brief action of the bacteria but there are more useful ingredients that will only become available after many weeks or months of these organic substances decomposing. The bacteria themselves could help the plants only if the right kind and surely substances from the tea will feed and give a boost to soil bacteria but all that would happen anyway if the original ingredients used to make the tea were just spread on the soil around the plants. It would be a little slower process but the benefits would be larger and the material use fuller.

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Snookie

Hummmm I'll put Mr. Kostas down as a Nay! LOL

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Rmplmnz

Ha ha..exactly..oops..threads tend to take some twists and turns (did I take this thread off topic?).

Hmmnnn "Compost Tea Yea or Nay".

I would say "Nay" from my standpoint just from a time (efficiency) perspective.

We do everything on a large scale (for a single family home lot), the Forrest Floor works well for us from an irrigation and plant feeding perspective.

If you are willing to put forth the level of effort required to produce and utilize Compost Tea you may want to look in to Worm Castings. I know many members have had excellent results with Worm Castings/Tea. We have a Worm Bin.

Pete ("Lagniappe"), Kat ("Dreamingofthetropics") and other members use Worm Composting on a large scale.

Snookie

10-4

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oakshadows

With manure from 4 head of cattle there is an abundant supply of manure. I don't like to turn compost so I let the worms do the work. Chris has good growing with the Forrest floor way and we are close but not that intense. You get out what you put in. Commercial is a lot easier but more expensive in the long run. With a good fondation of organically improved soils one can expect to achieve a very good harvest with very good taste, at least we do.
Snookie, who is Dora?

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Snookie

I don't know me !

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MSmith

I'm not interested in growing huge fruit ( 24 inch bananas ) or veggies but that biofilm on the leaves that supposed to resist bugs and disease that John Evans said interests me.

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LadyNana

I'm learning lots already here! I didn't know about compost tea, but I always break open my used tea bags and add the leaves to the compost. My preferred brand is PG Tips.
All my plants seem to appreciate a cuppa!!! No milk or sugar tho'!!!
LOL

Snookie

Hummmmm Black is OK by me:}

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