From Soil Foodweb Oregon, we read that there have been excellent results with the use of compost tea on corn production in Mexico.
Doug Weatherbee, a Certified Soil Foodweb Advisor, used compost tea, as well as permaculture techniques, to achieve much higher corn production levels than traditionally farmed land (i.e. crops with chemical fertiliser treatment). The crops sprayed with compost tea also achieved far higher levels of overall biomass.
The results were especially important as they were achieved during a severe drought period.
The trial encompassed two blocks of around 1 hectare (2.5 acres). One received sprays of compost tea at planting, halfway through the growing season, and just prior to harvest. The other plot was treated with chemical fertiliser.
A small section was selected at random from each field and all the plant material was harvested and analysed. The following graphs show the greatly improved results achieved with the compost tea approach.
Doug Weatherbee says that by improving the structure of the soils, the biological approach enabled those soils to better absorb and retain moisture and this assisted the plants to use the limited amount of moisture available during the drought.
Doug’s own website has a number of interesting stories