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			Literature Citations about Wormcastings and Compost Tea
		Quotes about Compost Tea from The IPM Practitioner Volume XXIII, Number 9, September 2001 Published by the Bio-Integral Resource center (BIRC), a non-profit corporation undertaking research and education in integrated pest management P.O. Box 7414, Berkeley, CA 94707 How Compost Teas Work “Compost tea contains millions of bacterial, fungi and other micro-organisms that work to keep garden plants, turf, and economic crops free of disease.” page1 “It is now well established that composts can help suppress soilborne pathogens when added to container media or field soil (Hoitink and Fahy 1986: see Quarles 2001a; Quarles and Grossman” 1995; Quarles 2000) “When applied to soil, beneficial microbes and the nutrients in composts can also make plants stronger and more resistant to foliar pathogens” (Trankner 1992). “Since foliar sprays of compost teas contain plant nutrients and beneficial microbes, they combine some of the best features of foliar feeding (Alexander 1986) and microbial biocontrol” (Cook and Baker 1983). “When applied to foliage, beneficial microbes in the compost extract can compete with pathogens on the leaf surface for available space and nutrients. Some of the applied microbes are antagonists such as Pseudomonas sp. or Trichoderma sp. That directly attack leaf pathogens” (Cook and Baker 1983; Ingham 2001) Aerobic teas better than anaerobic extracts ­ “no bad odors, lack of phytotoxic metabolites, greater numbers of microbe, and better quality control over the brewing process” (Ingham 2001; ATTRA 2001; Merrill and McKeon 2001). Specific Diseases Suppressed Through Compost Tea Applications “Water extracts of properly prepared aerobic compost are suppressive to disease. Effects are probably due to a combination of added nutrients and microbials” (Riggle 1996; Ingham 2001). “Extracts of compost effectively suppressed gray mold. Botrytis sp., on beans and strawberries and blight of tomatoes and potatoes caused by Phytophthora infestans. Addition of selected biocontrol microbes to the extracts improved their efficacy” (Weltzien 1990; Stindt and Weltzien 1988).