Today's conventional land care programs are dependent on the use of synthetic soluable salt fertilizers and harsh chemical pesticides.  These materials destroy beneficial soil microorganisms and rob life from the soil.  If your lawn or landscape has been treated with these materials, applications of compost tea are the fastest and most effective way to restore life to your soil.

Compost tea is a brewed, water extract of compost made by placing finished compost into aerated water, which extracts the microorganisms from the compost and causes them to multiply.  Applying this solution to the soil restores the microorganisms that have been depleted through conventional practices.  When compost tea is applied to the leaves of plants, it helps to prevent and control insect and disease problems.

Microorganisms in soil are able to break down the organic matter in the soil into useable forms for the plant to pick up.  This eliminates the need to constantly add water-soluable, high-nitrogen fertilizers which leach out of soils into our waterways.  The activity of this mircroscopic life also aides in the aeration of soil, which has many benefts for plants.  Restoring and maintaining this unseen ecosystem is essential to maintaining your landscape in a sustainable manner.

Some of the benefits of compost tea are:

• Stimluates soil biological activity and adds beneficial micro-organisms, which is especially helpful in soils where past pesticide use has reduced the soil's biological life
• Enhances plant vigor and health
• Thickens turf, which reduces weeds
• Causes lawns and plants to need less fertilizer
• Stimulates and strengthens root and shoot growth, resulting in a deeper root system and more efficient water usage, which can reduce the need for irrigation
• Application on leaves provides nutrition and beneficial microorganisms that colonize on the leaf surface, reducing the plant's susceptibility to disease and pests 

The study of compost tea and its benefits is a fascinating topic.  Our soil specialists attended a soil food web conference with Dr. Elaine Ingham, the world's leading scientist on the use of compost tea to restore life to soil.  For more information on the benefits of compost tea, please visit Dr. Ingham's website (http://www.soilfoodweb.com/).