Is Compost Tea a Good Way to Add Nutrients and Microbes to Soil?
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- Published: 3 weeks ago on February 1, 2021
- By: Kathy Voth
- Last Modified: February 1, 2021 @ 8:45 am
- Filed Under: Pasture Health, Soil
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Thank you for the article. I don’t make compost tea, but use lots of compost. I wonder, however, if there is another factor to consider: personal experiences. If a person uses compost tea and sees the results desired, perhaps there is something unique about that person’s soil, weather patterns, compost preparation, skills in application, observations of the crop, etc. So . . . I don’t make compost tea, but “if it works for you, use it.”
I think there are a variety of reasons a person might see the results desired. First, someone going to all this trouble is likely to do other beneficial practices that are providing good results and so their observations are confounded. Second, long, and recent experience demonstrate that people are good at seeing what they want to see, no matter what information they are presented. In fact, research demonstrates that presenting them contrary facts can actually make them dig in further and be less likely to change.
And of course, there is always the possibility that I’m wrong and someone will bring me some peer-reviewed published research that demonstrates something different than what this article says. And in that case, I’ll be back right away with an update.