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R E S E A R C H H IG H L IG H T S

V E R M IC O M P O S T T E A AND PLANT GROW T

Ohio State research finds that aeratin g vermicompost tea durin brewing g results in significant growth responses, even at the lowest concentration tested. Part]
N orm anQ .Arancon , Clive A . Ewards, d R ichard Dck an dL in da i Dick
SE of ve nnicomposts, produced through interactions between earthworms and m icroorganisms, promote the germination growth, flowering and yields of a range o f greenhouse and f ield horticultura l crops inc luding tomatoes , peppe rs, strawber ries, raspber ries, grapes , marigolds and petunias . Ver micompost use has become a we ll-estab lished practice ove r the last 10 years, in pa rt due to the wo rk of sc ientists in the Soil Ecology Laboratory at The Oh io State U niversity. Our research has demonst rated the cons iderable potentia l of ve rmicompos ts produced f rom a w ide range of organic wastes, part icularly cattle, p ig, paper and food wastes - in s uppressing p lant dis eases , such as Pythium, Rhizoctonia, Pleetosporium and Vertieillium; plant parasitic nematodes , such as soybean cyst nema todes Heterodera and root knot nematodes Meloidogyne hapla; as wel l as a rthropod pests, such as cabbage white caterpillars, cucumber beet les, tomato hornwo rms, mea ly bugs, spide r mites and aphids. Dur ing the last t wo to three years, many organic and other g rowers wanting to min imize fe rtilizer and pesticide use have been experimenting with produc ing and using aqueous extracts of both the rmophilic com posts and vermicomposts , These liquids, termed "teas ," are much easie r to transpo rt and apply to c rops t han the sol id materials . Aqueous extracts from vermicomposts are produced using a wide array of produc tion methods. It is assumed that microbia l biomass act ivity and plant nutrients can be transferred from vermi composts into the teas. While a var iety of methods a re used to make teas , all start b y mixing so lid vermi compost with water. The ratio of so lids to water used can range from 1:3 (33%) to 1:200 (0.5 %). Some processes are aerated and others a re not; sometimes, supplemen tal nutrient sou rces, including molasses , algal powders or yeast extracts , are added to the teas in the expectation that they wil l increase their m icrobia l activity and effects . Extract ion o f teas f rom vermicomposts can take anywhere from 12 hours to as long as three weeks. Some growe rs produce teas in homemade equ ipment , but a w ide range of "brewing" equ ipment o f different capac ities and eff iciencies a re ava ilable and be coming used incr easing ly. Although ve rmicompost (and compost) teas are prod uced in very large quantities across the U.S. and e lsewhe re, there have been few we ll-deve loped research studies F ig u re E ffe c ts o f a e ra tio n o n m icb io m a s s 1. . ro b ia l in fo o d w a s te v e rm ic o m p o s ts
25 0 20 0 150 100 50

CD
M icrobial biom ass (m glkg) N

N o naerate d

A erated_

5%

10% V e rm ico m po st te as

20 %

published in scient ific literature relati ng to the best methods of production, their effects on p lant growth, pests or diseases, o r possi ble side e ffects. These comments app ly equa lly to teas produced from thermophi lic composts or ve nnicomposts. The suppres sion of plant parasitic nematodes and arth ropod pests by verm icompost teas wil l appear in the Decembe r 2007 issue of Biotiycle.

M E T H O D S O F T E A P R O D U C T IO N
Beginning in 2003, we began prel imina ry research at ou r Ohio State labo ratory into the prepa ration, uses and op timal app lication rates and methods of storage of teas produced form vermieomposts. Greenhouse plant growth t rials soon established that the vermicompost teas had significant ef fects, not only on p lant germina tion and g rowth, but also on the incidence of plant d iseases , plant parasitic nematodes and arth ropod pests. Th is research began by testing various ways o f preparing ve rmicompos t teas, a iming to de fine the optima l equipment , ratios a nd di lutions. In pa rticu't

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B Io C y C L E
A D A N OG C OPM S l lN G , O R G AREC YS IN A N V N O N IC CL G D RE N A L EE N R G EW B E Y

4 1 9 S te f e nA v e& n m e u s , 8P04 9 3 0 9 7 ue , A 1 6 10 9 67-4 1 3 W i/W c y d e .n e t 5 .bio

B roCYCLE

NOVEMBER 2007

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