Jane Sherry wrote: > Jean-Paul did not express interest, I was just lucky enough to be at the > farm, ate some wonderful farm food, and mentioned the thread at bdnow. He is > well aware of how ridiculous the USDA org regs are as regards e coli, and in > fact mentioned that there could not possibly be any e coli in a properly > made "compost" or compost tea!
Jean Paul has previously said that he looks to Will Brinton as his composting guru. Brinton, in addition to advising us as to the proper shape of cow horn for prepmaking, is also on record pointing out that there is indeed a substantial possibility that 'properly made' compost and compost tea can have E. coli in it. Look at www.woodsend.org under publications, and make sure you have Adobe Acrobat reader. I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but if you are composting in a hurry, and even following the hot composting regs, you may still end up with fecal coliforms (E.coli and a few others) in the hundreds per gram, and can still brew them up into the thousands per ml. It may not happen every time, but apparently it can happen enough to make compost tea on food crops a sort of negative lottery. For that reason, compost tea advocates across the spectrum suggest that compost tea for fresh produce crops be made from certified compost containing no E.coli, especially no E.coli 0157:H7, the pathogenic form most likely to cause problems, found in a recent USDA study in nearly half the cattle herds in the USA. Yes, in really good compost you won't find E. coli, and yes, in really good compost tea E. coli will be reduced rather than grow. Vermicomposting, which composters who have a long cycle are often doing even without knowing it, will crash E. coli pops in as little as 7-60 days, perhaps due to the presence of certain amoebae that worms carry which find E. coli to be especially tasty...and/or perhaps due to other reasons involving the commensal consortia of microorganisms associated with the earthworms. Does everyone out there have 'really good compost'? Frankly I doubt it. Do the process standards required under the NOSB, or even recommended in Dr Ingham's Compost Tea Manual, always result in 'really good compost'? No, I think they do not. Those standards are designed to produce compost which is below 1,000 MPN per gram of fecal coliforms. Compost containing 100 or less MPN of E. coli (the predominant fecal coliform) has been used in reasonable looking compost tea brewers and been made to grow E.coli following various nutrient additions. This compost is well within the accepted norm of 'properly made compost'. So, while it may be true that many or most 'properly made composts' should contain low or no E. coli and not grow them in compost tea making, it is likely also true that some, perhaps even many 'properly made composts' do contain E. coli and lack the antagonists necessary to reduce E. coli, thus allowing growth to take place when suitable nutrients are added in a compost tea situation. Dr Ingham herself accepts as reasonable the suggestion that compost for tea applications on fresh produce within 120 days of harvest be tested and certified E. coli free. I think she knows that not all 'composts' will qualify. Frank Teuton
