Multifaceted Study Shows Compost Tea Really Does a lot of Good

Agronomic impacts of chemically and microbiologically characterized compost tea in Mediterranean volcanic soils
February 2025
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      In a groundbreaking study performed in a collaborative effort between Italian, Moroccan, and Saudi Arabian agricultural scientists, the many virtues of compost tea have been extolled once again!!!
This rag-tag group wanted to know if compost tea would help onions, beets, and lettuce grow better, and whether or not tea would reduce some common pest and disease damage.  They planted fields and greenhouses with the 3 crops and randomly selected blocks of plants to take measurement of.  The plants were either just given fertilizer and water (that's the control group), or give an tea spray/drench (the tea was made with about 4 pounds of compost aerated in 25 gallons of water, that's just about the same as our standard recipe indicates to use), or given a 1:10 dilution of the full strength tea.   The crops were grown through two harvest cycles.  Yields and pest damage were measured at the end of each harvest. 
      And it's no surprise if you have been paying attention...the actively aerated compost tea did it again:  higher yields and lower pest damage.  21% more lettuce.  58% more onion.  110% more chard.  Slug damaged reduce.  Shelf life increased.  The researchers state "compost tea is strongly linked to an active microbial community capable of performing its functions in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere".   Basically, the microbes make it happen.  You can make it happen in your garden too!   

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