Transitioning to Organic Growing with Inocucor’s Garden Solution with Compost Tea

March 11th, 2015

by Ananda Fitzsimmons

Last summer I had the opportunity to do a farm trial using our Garden Solution® with compost tea. My friend and neighbor, Philippe, who had been growing conventional rotations of corn and soy on a 17-acre patch of his farm for many years, wanted to switch to organic.

He decided to try organic hemp. His neighbor had also been doing the corn and soy rotations, and he had exactly the same idea. Philippe wanted to do everything possible to kick-start his soil biology after years of using herbicide and conventional fertilizers. He asked me to help him make a big batch of compost tea.

Both farms applied composted pig manure to their fields in preparation for planting. The day before planting, Philippe and I made a 250-gallon tank of aerated compost tea using some very mature compost containing plenty of fungal matter. After aeration, we added 2.5 gallons of Garden Solution. Then Philippe treated all but a half-acre section of his fields with a 4x dilution of the mixture.

The half-acre was to be the control. As it turned out the neighbor’s fields were the real control. Philippe seeded the hemp the day after inoculating his fields. The neighbor also plowed, spread manure and seeded, but did not inoculate.

The difference between the two farms was astonishing. The germination rate in the treated parts of Philippe’s field was close to 100%, whereas in the control part and in the neighbor’s field it was 50% or less. The hemp in the control section and in the neighbor’s field was short, sparse and spindly. In Philippe’s treated sections, plants were tall and lush.

We know that good compost tea stimulates plant growth and yield. We have demonstrated that Garden Solution also has a significant effect on plant growth and yield. We don’t know from this trial what part of the amazing result was because of Garden Solution and what part was from the compost tea.

Philippe was not too interested in knowing; he was just concerned with giving his soil the greatest boost he could. Perhaps another time we can do a trial comparing a control, Garden Solution alone, compost tea alone and Garden Solution and compost tea together. If you want to try it yourself, I’d love to know how it works out!