Compost Tea

Looking for the Greenest of the Greens?  At Northwest Tree Specialists, our aerated Compost tea is a 100% organic.

IT IS SAFE FOR YOUR FAMILY, PETS AND LANDSCAPE.

How does it work?

What does compost tea do?                                                                                                                                        Our Compost Tea Brewer

What is Compost Tea?                                                                                                                         

What's in it?

Is it harmful to my family, pets and landscape?

So, why use compost tea?

Will I see immediate results?

What about weather?

If I'm using conventional pesticides and fertilizers, is it hard to switch to tea?

Want a free consultation?

What is compost tea you ask?  It is basically a liquid slurry of vegetative compost which contains and promotes beneficial organisms, active and dormant, that exists, or used to exist, in your landscape.

         Good Healthy Compost

How does it work?  All soils and foliage have beneficial and detrimental organisms living on or in it.  Before your home was built the soil was active and teaming with life.  Unfortunately, when your home was built the soils were disturbed, compacted and possibly removed.  This left a depleted soil food web.  Conventional pesticides, fertilizers, pollution and poor drainage also destroy beneficials.  Compost tea adds the beneficials, the  "good guys", back in to your soil.

  Compost tea promotes plant health.  Simply, when sprayed on leaves or drenched on to the soil, the tea rebuilds the beneficial populations.  In turn, they attack or feed on harmful pests, makes nutrients readily available, helps in breaking down organic matter, increases worm activity, helps reduce drought stress and helps promote and rebuild the soil health.  Compost tea has even been shown to reduce compaction over time.

So, what's in compost tea?  Our tea is a blend of composted vegetation, kelp, yeast, fish fertilizer and other "foods" and biological agents.  We add these ingredients to water and aerate the brew for 24 hours. This extracts the beneficial microorganisms, those good guys, living in the composted soil we use.  During this time they grow and multiply.   The last 16 hours of the brewing process we super saturate the tea with oxygen.  Then, about an hour before we decant it in to the spray tank, we add some more "food" for the little guys to take on their trip to your landscape.  A "bag lunch" so to speak.  This ensures they are active and healthy when they arrive.

                                                                                                                                                                        Compost Tea Brewer in Action

Is compost tea harmful?  Our Compost Tea is 100% organic.  To our knowledge we've never heard of someone being being sensitive to it.  Of course, there can always be an exception to the rule.  It's safe for your family, pets and landscape.  In fact, compost tea has been used on cows to deter flies and on dogs to prevent flea problems.  And many, many people use it on their gardens and farms (I even use it in my Koi pond).

Why use compost tea?  It's organic.  It's sustainable.  It's safe for you and the environment.  It's part of our Green Options© program.  And, it works!

 How long does it take to work?  That depends on what we are trying to achieve and the severity of your problems.  Most disease issues tend to clear up after a few treatments.  Insects generally take a  few days to go away because they die slower than if conventional insecticides are used.  Insects are actually parasatized, forced to stop eating or can not molt.  After a few applications, plants tend to react to better nutrient uptake.  If your landscape has drainage or compaction issues, has been poorly maintained or has a severe disease problem, then it could take months or years to turn it around.  Remember, we are working with living organisms that are improving the health of your soil.  They need to establish a comfortable home and get to work. In some cases their "to do" list is as long as yours.  Sometimes, it just takes time.  But in the end, its time well spent.

           A Microscopic View of a Drop of Compost Tea

What about the weather?  Unless its too hot or too cold, we can spray rain or shine.  Above 90 degrees F, sprays tend to evaporate too quickly and we do not get good coverage.  Soil temperatures in the low 40's tend to keep the "good guys" dormant and sleepy.  We want to deliver high quality tea so we wait until mid-March or April to start and go through October/November.  Contrary to some opinions out there, the biology does not die in adverse conditions.  If that was the case then we'd have no life on our planet.

Is it easy to switch to tea?  Not at all.  If you've over used conventional pesticides and fertilizers it may take a little longer for the microbiology to build back up.  But once you start using tea you should avoid using other man made products where tea is applied.  Organic products are great and will not harm the tea.

A Look Inside Our Compost Tea Brewer(Note the Bubbler and Air Stones).

 Interested?  Compost tea has been used for centuries and has made a big come back recently with modern brewers and readily available natural additives.  Our Production Manager is an expert on the making and application of compost tea, having attended the Sustainable Studies Institute and creating a compost tea program for another tree company.  Contact him at phc@nwtreespecialists.com with any questions. 

Contact us today for a free estimate and consultation from our fully trained specialists.