Enjoy:

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/how-to/articles/brewing-compost-tea.aspx?nterms=74866

Well, brewing compost by air-blubbers

Sorry, but I often thought to be mad, but that's realy funny.
I do not use compost, because fungal spores, like Phytophthora, won't be killed by blubbering that compost stew! So I won't use it, because most fungal spores are very resistant, so I do not want to use it.

But I spray my plants. I use: Beer!
Yes, you read it: Beer

I often go around to several bartenders, and pub-owners. They know my and I get the left overs. Also the 'sludge beer' what's dripping out of the barrel conected tapping cock, or the first stream, which should not given to the guest, will be saved in special glases, and saved for me.
So also what's left in the glasses of the guests will be saved for me, and I get it, for free.
But if you want to try, you can simply use any beer you can get. German beers are favorite, because having a purification law, only containing malt, hop and water, and some special brewmasters yeast.
I prefer strong beers and the typical 'Pilsener' brew, this light, but very high hop containing beer do fine.

I use such beer, because the carbonoxide in the beer is missing in the left-overs, so the beer will be very good sprayable. If you use fresh beer, fill it in a bottle and shake or stir it well, to remove the carbon oxide from the liquid, and now you can store it cold and dark for about two month.
I mix one quarter-gallon beer with one gallon of water annd spray it onto the leaves.
My plants like it. The vitamines of the yeast, the phytohormones of the hop, the minerals and aminoacids from the malt work like a cure for the plant. The hormones stimulate the plant, the minerals, aminoacids and vitamins are readily taken up for the leaves.

So that's for me much better than compost tea. So the gardner will having a beer, why not his plants, too?
So my plants having a beer, in spring and in fall, and if I feel so, also in good summer nights.
And they like it, I think.

And beer is brewed, with temperatures above any critical limit, and so harmfull fungal spores died by temperature and alcohol content, so it's free and only the benefical microorganisms of the yeast survive, and the micronutrients, vitamines and minerals survive.... So it's a very benefical source for health and extra nutrition.

So I spend my plants beer! And you?

Over here, where phytophtora is damaging avocado and citrus orchards, composted manure is recommended by UC to kill off the pathogens. There are many beneficial microbes in the composted steer manure to kill off many pathogens.

Could not find the online UC annual report about success of some farms using it on citruses and avocadoes (must have read a pamphlet or hardcopy newsletter somewhere), but here are others I found online:

Scientific evidences of phytophtora and fusarium suppersion by compost tea: http://orgprints.org/3079/01/Study_and_assessment_of_compost_of_different_organic_mixtures_and_effects_of_organic_compost_tea_on_plant_diseases.pdf
http://plantpath.osu.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty/leonpaperfinalhajh1.pdf
http://www.mag.go.cr/congreso_agronomico_X/a50-2388-II_047.pdf

long term studies:
http://www.ykta.com/files/do-1090-doc.pdf
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/Arun/Long%20term%20experiment%20sweden.pdf

even books:
http://books.google.com/books?id=dXdOO3DQ8ngC&pg=PA1094&lpg=PA1094&dq=composted+manure+phytophtora&source=web&ots=4H64h34sLE&sig=QEeBU7FBcHXGpRogx4S5e6UiUnU

others:
http://www.newfarm.org/depts/talking_shop/0804/ca_bio.shtml
http://www.eap.mcgill.ca/Publications/EAP73.htm

Joe,
if you want to try, well, you can use it.
I just wanted to give my doupts.
Because there are many long term studies about some 'effective microorganisms' here in Germany and Asia. It's nothing else, as a homemade silage, and anarobic decomposing of green stuff, which should be more benefical than normal compost....
But compareable studies are simply missing, and those existing simply indicate, that common compost is same effective than those 'effective microorganism mud'.... But here belives will crash head on head...

So if someone will try compost tea, well, he can do.
But reading your PDF files, it's indicating that the compost tea will help against some fungal infections, but: The effects are not simply given, the are not that steady as for other solutions and the effects shown will differ from basic compost dressing to another compost dressing.
Also: The most PDFs simly tell about compost as fertilizer, and not about compost tea against fungal diseases or how benefical those 'brews' are for the plant.
So I can agree: Organic fertilisation is very benefical four our environment, and the expanding use in biodynamic agriculture is very good for us all.
But: Compare studies of the effects of 'compost tea' to algae extract sprays, and other spray methodes are simply missing.
So long term studies about compost tea are missing, and doubts must be allowed.

So in my opinion: Be carefull, from which compost you brew your compost tea. Because doubts about containing spores of some fungal pathogens in such self made 'brews' are well in my mind, all the time when I read such abstracts about something with extraordinary 'biological power'.
Undisputed: Compost is benefical, but I just express my doubts about 'compost tea', as the effects of this spray is not realy well observed and studied.
Undisputed: Other stuff, like my preffered beer spray are also not realy observed in studies or long term examinations, but from the experience of many orchid gardners and orangerie gardeners I tried and found it, for my culture not harmfull for citrus, and my subjective guess is: WEll, the plant do well with it.
So evenly undisputed: If you use compost tea, and found it also promising, well, use it and feel free to talk about your experiences.

I simply want to express my doubts about, and doubts are the basic of discussion.
And discussion simply express the different belief of the "expressionist", and often there is no black or white, not left or right, not wrong or right.... often both ways exhibit a possibility, but the discussion about both ways is very interssting and some kind of knowledge exchange.


So, I read about compost tea, have doubts and provided my own knowledge of another way...

Good exchange. I may try the beer in one of the science projects of some kids.

The major drawback of beer when applied on citruses is that it would surely attract tremendous amount of snails and slugs which in turn will eat the citrus leaves.

We use beer as bait to attract snails and slugs into sunken pan that they will drown or cannot climb out after falling in. Snails and slugs are a big problem with citruses.

But I am more of a wine drinker rather than beer drinker, so any unopened beer left behind by guests during the party, I'd use them as snail and slug bait for my traps.

I am a wine maker, makes about 80 to 100 gallons of wine of various fruits each year. Sometimes I have spent mush or pomace that I experiment with plants, and it sickened citruses and my bananas, while others are okay with it. Particularly anything with yeasts in them seem to damage the lawn and the plants that I water it on.

I will try to spray the beer when it is very dry and the slugs and snails are hibernating.

While must and sludge from making beer and wine would have active yeast, actually finished beer and wine should have very little if any whole yeast cells. It may contain some vitamins and carbohydrates, and it should be relatively sterile.

It depends if you have very good filtration and you use it properly.

Wine with ABV of 10.8% is the empirical biological limit that has been found out to kill off 99.999% of pathogens in a sealed container.

Beer will often have ABV of less than the biological limit, and can easily be spoiled or contaminated than wine. Thus wine with ABV more than the biological limit are a lot more stable than those with less than that.

The trick to making good wine even if your kitchen is less than sterile, is to achieve the biological ABV limit in the shortest time possible.

Technically, the must that has just been fermented is called beer.

Different yeasts have different ABV tolerance at various temperature. The higher the temperature, the lower is the tolerance of yeast to alcohol.

When the ABV is beyond the tolerance of yeast, the yeast becomes inactive and settle at the bottom. Later than that, the yeasts could die or go into lysis, that is why you rack off the wine before the yeast go into lysis and give off-flavors to the wine. Some yeasts could linger in the wine, inactive or not. Filtering the wine with less than 1 micron filters will often yeast-free wine.

This reminds me of another topic I have posted earlier... A much better fungicide than beer, and it naturally comes free after drinking beer:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1983-03-01/A-Safe-No-Cost-Fruit-and-Berry-Fungicide.aspx

Quote:

A SAFE, NO-COST FRUIT AND BERRY FUNGICIDE by Celine Caron People who live in wet climates are often all too familiar with the effects of mildew on such plants as gooseberries, currants, raspberries, grapes, phlox, and roses ... and if the same individuals keep fruit trees, they're probably acquainted with apple or pear scab (Venturia inaequalis) as well. Many commonly used wholistic controls aren't terribly effective against these fungi ... while more potent fungicides—including lime sulfur—do indeed destroy mildew and scab but, unfortunately, also kill Anthocoris musculus, a valuable predator of mites and aphids. The dilemma does have a resolution, though ... and it came about through the work of an English entomologist, Dr. Peggy Ellis. Since commercial fruit growers commonly spray a 5% solution of synthetic urea on fallen leaves to control apple and pear scab, Dr. Ellis reasoned that human urine—which contains 2 to 4% urea, depending on the diet—could serve the same purpose. The entomologist first tested her theory on a backyard gooseberry patch ... and was pleased to find that the urine was extremely effective in combating a mildew problem that had afflicted the plants. Encouraged by this success, she reported her discovery to the members of the Henry Doubleday Research Association in the fall of 1978. As a result of her report, I soon became aware of this breakthrough in wholistic fungus control. And since my own currant crop was plagued with a severe mildew problem at the time, I was able to test the remedy immediately ... and my results were every bit as good as those that Dr. Ellis had observed. More work has been done—on both a formal and an informal grower-to-grower level—over the past few years, and the success record is impressive enough to make me want to pass the news of this technique along to MOTHER's fruit-growing readers. UREA . . . I'LL NEVERSTOP SAYING UREA Thanks to the research completed thus far, it's possible to outline both preventive and curative urine treatments. In either case, though, be aware that undiluted urine will sometimes scorch leaves and could kill foliage, so the substance should generally be used in its pure form only on dormant wood. PREVENTIVE TREATMENT Step 1: Spray straight urine on trees and shrubs just before the leaves fall in the autumn ... or soon thereafter (in this case, of course, leaf burn won't be a problem). Make sure, too, that the ground beneath the plants—out to the drip line—is well covered with the liquid ... as this precautionary measure will destroy any spores present on the fallen leaves. Step 2: Treat the trees and shrubs with undiluted urine again in the spring, before the buds open. Be sure to spray the earth beneath the plants, as well. Step 3: Three weeks after the buds have opened, treat the patch or orchard with a solution of four parts water to one part urine. This procedure should be repeated whenever you notice signs of a developing infection. CURATIVE TREATMENT Spray the affected bushes or trees with a four-to-one solution of water and urine as soon as signs of fungal attack appear. (In critical cases, I've used a two-to-one solution, and achieved excellent results with no evident burning of leaves.) Urine can be stored in plastic pails or tanks. When it's kept in such containers over a period of time, occasional stirring will render the liquid all but odorless. Some of the nitrogen in the urine will escape during storage, unless you add a small quantity of material that's rich in carbon content (two excellent candidates are dry leaves and chopped straw) to the pail before any fermentation takes place. In short, human urine (which, if from a healthy individual, is pretty much sterile) should be of real value to backyard fruit and berry growers. To quote the Henry Double day Research Association Newsletter, "This easiest of all remedies ... should attack only the types of fungi which produce ascospores or conidia, but it is worth using it freely and observing results. . . ." There's a readily accessible and effective solution to the problems of orchard mildew and scab. Celine Caron is the coauthor, with lean Richard, of Fruits et petits fruits: Guide pratique de production agriculture ecologique, a fruit— and berry growing manual that was published in Quebec, Canada in 1981.

Steve, You have some really different beer there! If I ever get to Europe, I'll have to try some of them. Most of our beer here in the US is filtered clear of any yeast, but even then it probably would not hurt the tree to try it. Of course, there is not usually much left in my Corona bottles but a lime peel.

I would add one bit of information. Citrus trees do not and cannot use vitamins that are applied externally either as a foliar spray or applied through the root system, with the possible exception of Vitamin B. Even the possibility of a citrus actually utilizing Vitamin B when applied by the grower is in serious doubt by some of the experts. This vitamin question came up a couple years ago on GW, and was settled by Dr. Malcolm Manners. Perhaps Joe Real Remember the discussion. Any vitamins that a citrus tree requires are internally manufactured by the tree it self. Therefore, the application of vitamins is a waste of time. However, any benefit to a tree by the foliar spray of beer could be, of course, from the other ingredients in beer, I would not know as I have never sprayed beer on a citrus tree. - Millet