What is a Living Solution?

Simply put, compost tea is a living solution. It is growing microorganisms in the presence of oxygen and a food source. Some claim to produce “living solutions” that are not “compost teas”, but this is merely rhetorical gymnastics. A living compost tea solution is a double-edged samurai sword to the maladies of your environment, being both a means of inoculating vital, reproductive biology into your soil and onto the foliage of your plants, and a way to distribute plant-available nutrients to the foliage and soil in order to feed the organisms and associated plants and bring balance to ecosystems.

A plant growing environment- whether it is in a soil or soilless situation- is much more than merely a plant and fertilizer. For instance, up to 70% of the energy produced by photosynthesis in plants is sent down to the roots and delivered to the rhizosphere as food for microorganisms. These exudates, as they are called, are a clear indication of the importance of the symbiotic relationship between micro-biology and a growing plant. The same is true for our bodies, such as the symbiotic work accomplished by microorganisms in the intestines, which help our bodies’ process and synthesize food into a form that is proper for bodily nourishment. In the exact same way, a compost tea acts to reinforce the intestine of your landscape, garden, or farm by allowing for the cycling of nutrients, in a way designed by nature over billions of years for health and proper nourishment.

With this in mind, it is plain to see how the same environmentally nourishing properties cannot be attributed to man-made synthetic artificial materials. These “technologies”, as they are deemed, are merely manifestations of taking the path of cheap least resistance, or, they have a bottom line in mind, not vitality. Further, we don’t just eat minerals in our diets, we eat amino acids, enzymes, vitamins, etc.- termed ‘bio-catalysts’- in the foodstuff we ingest, especially in raw food. The same is true for a plant. These bio-catalysts are not found in processed synthetic industrial by-products sold as ‘fertilizers’. However, they are found in natural products and within vital systems, where living life assumes its natural role of nutrient cycling and symbiosis.

Many of the products manufactured in the “hydroponics” industry are geered towards exactly these concepts. They are derived of isolated and concentrated biological products, such as amino acids and enzymes, in order to use them in a controlled clean-slate soilless scenario. The idea is that these beneficial compounds are not found in only water and a simple mineral hydroponic solution. We get these beneficial compounds, albeit not in such a concentrated manner, for free from a living solution. For example, a grower utilizing a soilless mix, such as Pro-mix, is vulnerable to a root pathogen in that there is no beneficial biology present to ‘check’ the potential bad biology that may be introduced from a water source, improper sanitation, or simply by chance. We have reversed many root dis-ease infestations in soilless media with a simple addition of a living solution from a Vortex Brewer. Biology acts as a middleman and bodyguard for plants, helping the plant eat its food and acting to protect the growing plant from potential pathogens and pests. In a nutshell, compost teas, or living solutions, are a concentrated form of nature, allowing you to bring the outdoors inside or to re-vitalize a dead soil, making it impossible to use too much.

Article: Understanding Compost Tea

A living compost tea solution can allow a homeowner, farmer, or grower the flexibility to stay away from dangerous agricultural chemicals to maintain their operations and allow theri plants to thrive. We like to say, "You can roll around in it!" For ways to utilize the potentials of the Vortex Brewer in your realm please refer to the Applications section of this website.