Question
I actually have heard of compost "tea". However, I do not have a compost pile. What do you suggest instead? Is it correct to assume you will not be recommending any fungicidal products whatsoever?

I'm sorry, but I have trouble believing that "good" fungus is going to obliterate "bad" fungus. All fungus is bad as far as I can see it. I'm sorry to sound skeptical. It just does not make any sense to me. I want to understand but you are right, it does sound like hocus pocus witchcraft voodoo LSD tripping, not modern science. You are so gung ho about this it just makes me want to understand what you are talking about. Please try to explain it to me and remember that I am not a scientist.
-------------------------------------------
The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I understand that reducing the use of pesticides is good for the earth but I know I have a fungus problem. Maybe more than one fungus problem is involved and I need to find one that will attack these. It is winter here but in the spring I want to be ready as this is when they show up first. What do you recommend, preferably an all purpose brand that will also do some fertilizing?  I see your very anti-Scotts but what others would you prefer?
-----Answer-----
Woe is me, Carol.  Woe is me.  Because no matter what Fungus you are running away from, any Fungicide, all-purpose or specific, will wreak all kinds of damage to your soil.  That's bad for your grass, your trees, your garden and YOU!

Years of advertising have basically brainwashed everybody into thinking they are "purifying" and "cleaning" their soil with all these smelly powders and liquids.  Even the ones with a skull and bones on them don't seem to faze people about how bad they really, really are.

Your soil outside NEEDS Fungi to be healthy.  It also needs Bacteria and Microbes.  They're part of that "circle of life" as Disney called it.

A bit of science here: Bacteria, Fungi and Microbes are "Soil Decomposers".   Your soil COUNTS on them for nutrient retention; your grass COUNTS on them for good soil.  If you wipe out ANY of those Soil Decomposers, you wipe out the nutrients with them.  They are like little factories making Minerals and Food Molecules for your grass.  YOU NEED THEM.

I know you're blinking here and I must sound crazy, but that's the honest truth.  Something else:  The best way to get rid of a bad Fungus is with a good Fungus, as well as a Fungus predator.

I always tell people that you need healthy soil to build healthy grass.  The secret to healthy soil is to stay away from things that are bad for it.  Not even ONCE should you sprinkle anything bad down on your lawn.  It will hurt your grass and your soil.  If you put your ear down to the ground and listen real careful, you will hear it crying out in pain.

Take good care of your soil.  And to erase the bad Fungus you are getting, put down some of the good Fungus - in the form of Compost and Compost Tea.  Let me know if you need a recipe.  Don't drink it, just pour it on the lawn and wait.

Then brink out the Kleenexes and wipe those little grass eyes.

Answer
As I've said before, Carol, there are about as many recipes for Compost Tea as for Apple Pie.  My preferred recipe is an exotic concoction dreamed up by garden writer and organic master gardenering authority Marion Owen.  Marion sells Alaska Humus-based Compost Teabags on her website (http://plantea.com/).  You can also order your own Alaska Humus online from several the gardeners/entrepreneurs.

Real Alaska Humus is supercharged with an estimated 35,000 species of Bacteria and 5000 species of Fungi.  You can use another Humus, even one from a local garden center, but you will get different microbes.

INGREDIENTS:

1. 1 shovel of Alaska Humus

2. Option #1: 2-3 tablespoons of sugar (Molasses, Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup or another simple sugar)

3. Option #2: A few cups of:

(a) fresh fruit,
(b) corn meal,
(c) Epsom salts,
(d) green weeds,
(e) a can of fish,
(f) garden or woods soil,
(g) apple cider vinegar (1-2 Tablespoons only), and/or
(h) alfalfa meal.

DIRECTIONS:

Put Humus in a 5-gallon bucket of Water, preferably rainwater.

If desired, add Molasses, Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup or other simple sugar.  Add optional fruit, cornmeal, etc.

Let Humus/Water mixture sit outdoors for a week.  Stir daily.

Micropopulations LOVE Carbon.  Molasses also usually contains Sulfur, and Suffur is a mild natural fungicide.

Compost Tea is ready to use when you can see foam floating on the surface.

Pour or spray straight or diluted.

This formula is the best possible fertilizer you can put on a lawn.

If you have any interest in seeing what these microscopic animalcules look like, Sarah, SoilFoodweb has color photos on the internet at their website (http//www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/microscope_pics.html).

Unconvinced?  See what Cornell professor Dr. Eric B. Nelson has to say about Compost Tea:

"Whereas the short-term magnitude of turfgrass disease control using compost-amended topdressings may not match that typically achieved with fungicide applications, the longer-term level of control often equals or exceeds that
attainable with fungicide applications.?br>
Let抯 read that again: 揈QUALS OR EXCEEDS THAT ATTAINABLE WITH FUNGICIDE APPLICATIONS.?br>
See what I mean?

Here抯 more:  "This is, in part, related to the ability of composted topdressing amendments to gradually reduce populations of some pathogens in turfgrass soils, an effect not realized with fungicide applications.?

See that?  慉N EFFECT NOT REALIZED WITH FUNGICIDE...?br>
The Cornell Phd also says: "The level of turfgrass quality is also greatly enhanced over what one would typically achieve with fungicide applications."

I'm impressed.  How about you?

And if everybody did things this way, the Scotts Companies would either go out of business, or start selling Alaska Humus.  Which would be a very good thing.

For now, it would not hurt to apply a few bags of ordinary Humus over your soil for the winter.  The earthworms will love you for it.  So will your grass.