Question
Sarah here, Thanks for the great advice! yes, please send me the recipe for compost tea.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I live in the bayarea of florida and I have St. Augustine grass tha is about a year old. I have grubs and brown patch with a section under my oak tree that is yellowing and thin. Please help,my yard is a mess.
-----Answer-----
Grubs?  Brown Patch?  Yellowing St Augustine Grass?

Next thing you'll be wanting to know is, What about the Chinchbugs?

You know what's the matter here, Sarah?  You have Chemicals Disease.

Because Organic Lawns don't get these things.

Chemically treated lawns ALWAYS get these things.  Scott's likes it that way.  It's good for business.

Let's start with your Oak Tree-Grass Competition.  When the Lord made Oak Trees, He did not want us to grow grass under them.  Oaks and other trees need groundcovers and mulch.  Not grass.

Anything you plant under them, right up to the drip line, maybe further, will be competing with the Oak Trees for nutrients, water, air and light.  Any vitamins and minerals you give your grass under there will be used by the Oak Tree.  No grass stands a chance.

Show me an Oak Tree with thick, green grass at its base and I'll show you a can of green paint in the garage.

Grow something else there.  And don't forget the Bird Feeder and the Birdbath.

Next, let's look at the rest of the lawn.

Grubs?  Brown Patch?  Tsk, tsk, Sarah.  Someone has upset the balance of Nature.  Someone has destroyed the beneficial microbes that keep Fungus from going on a rampage in your lawn.  And now you have symptoms of Brown Patch.

What's more, it sounds like Someone has turned away the Birds in your Oak Tree who eat those tasty little Grubs for breakfast.  Tsk, tsk, tsk!

Why?

Because when you Chemically treat your lawn, when you create a Toxic Waste Dump around your house, you don't just kill Grubs and Fungus and Weeds.

You destroy Butterflies.  And Beneficial Bacteria.  And Earthworms.  And Crickets.  You hurt the Birds who need them to survive.  All the things that make great soil and beautiful gardens... gone.

What to do now?

Hmmm....

Funny thing, but look around your neighborhood - have you ever noticed that there are always a few houses where nobody seems to care about their lawn?

Sure, they mow once in a while.  But they don't fertilize.  They don't treat their lawns to Grubkiller or Weedkiller or Chinchbugkiller.

Yet, the grass around their house looks OK.  A few weeds here and there, but it never gets sick.  No Brown Patch, no Red Thread, no nothin'!  Weird, huh?

But the Lord works in mysterious ways....

Which means that instead of "purifying" your lawn with those products that make Scotts closing stock prices go up, you can build up your soil, instead.

Don't put any more Agent Orange on your grass.  You want more Microbes.

Soil Microbes were destroyed while you were making the Scotts Family stockholders rich.  And now they are just what the doctor ordered.

As for Brown Patch, well, Fungi are ALWAYS present in soil everywhere.  They keep each other in check.  Birds eat bugs.  Unless you kill the birds and/or destroy enough bugs that the birds get tired of foraging for food and head someplace more bird-friendly.  That's the deal, plain and simple, Sarah.

When people ask about Fungus Killer, I point out that there is no need to apply Fungus Killer in your house.  You don't need it in your lawn, either.

You don't run around your house spraying Mildew Killer all over the living room, do you?  Of course not!  Even though we KNOW Mildew is everywhere, ready to sprout and bloom.  But it needs certain things to grow.  Without them, no Mildew problem.

Ditto Fungus.  Get rid of those certain things and the Fungus will just go away.  Compost Tea will help.

What is Compost Tea?

It's a highly saturated liquid teeming with microorganisms that are GREAT for your soil... therefore, GREAT for your St Augustine grass.

So if you want a recipe, let me know.

You do not drink Compost Tea, by the way.  And you do not buy it from Scotts.

It works because Grubs are only a problem when you don't have birds.  Or if you have destroyed the predatory fungi and good bacteria and protozoa in the soil that keep their populations under control.  Tell that to the salesperson at Home Depot and see if they have any clue what you're talking about.

So if you are a St Augustine Grasslover who has adoringly mowed, fertilized and weed-killered/grub-killered etc your St Augustine lawn, STOP!

Think over your options.  Don't be fooled into applying Fungus Killer, stay away from the Weed Killer, and don't buy any Grub Killer.  Don't even fertilize!  After all, the Good Lord did not give any of this stuff to Adam.  If they didn't need it in the Garden of Eden, you don't need it in Florida.

Lots of stuff to digest here.  Any questions?

Answer
There are as many recipes for Compost Tea as there are recipes for Apple Pie, Sarah.  Here's one using Alaska Humus, which is special because it brings to the table 35,000 species of Bacteria and 5000 species of Fungi - a VERY good thing.  You can buy it online (http://www.alaskahumus.com/more_info.htm).  You can use another Humus, even one from a local garden center, but you will get different microbes.  Excuse the expression, but the price difference is a drop in the bucket compared with what Scotts charges for its Weed N Feed and other unChristian Chemicals.  Me, I prefer doing things once, and doing them right...  But there's nothing wrong with doing things the Easy way - if it works, who cares?

1. Put 1 shovel of Alaska Humus in a 5-gallon bucket of
Water, preferably rainwater.

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

3. Optional: Add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar: Molasses, Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup or another simple sugar.

4. To this you can add 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.

Stirring occasionally adds Oxygen.

Although the sweetener Step 3 is optional, you should know that sugar products are mostly Carbon.  The micropopulation LOVES Carbon.

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

The Compost Tea is ready to use when foam begins to float 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).

And with respect to the scientific community's opinion of Compost Tea, have a look at what Cornell professor Dr. Eric B. Nelson has to say:

"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>
I am impressed!

This Carbon and Nitrogen Cycle, the Natural Balance, Nature's Way - things really do come together in a beautiful way if you let them.  It's amazing.

Because 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.

The Cornell Phd also says: "The level of turfgrass quality is also greatly enhanced over what one would typically achieve with fungicide applications."

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.

Keep in touch and we'll talk again later.  Peace,