How to sample

Compost Tea Submission

For compost samples, leaf litter or other purely organic materials

1. Mailing address – The test report will be sent here. We mail only one hard copy to one address. The fastest way to receive your test results is by email. Please include an email address.
2. Billing address – If no separate billing address is provided, the bill will be sent to the same address as the report.
3. Payment method – Must be marked or samples will not be assessed until we have payment information.
4. Sample Identifier – Every sample must have a unique identification code. If you do not provide one, we will create one for each of your samples.
5. Compost Used to make the tea - Tell us something about the compost used – was it a fungal compost, bacterial, or equal fungal to bacterial biomass pile? Still hot? Worm compost?
6. Starting Materials of the compost – What percentage high nitrogen containing materials were used and what kind of hi N material, what percent of green plant material, yard waste or produce waste was added to the compost, and what percent of the pile was woody material, such as sawdust, paper, cardboard, brown leaf, conifer needles. Was a compost starter used? What brand?
7. Recipe used for tea? – What starting materials were put into the tea? Molasses – how much? Kelp – how much? Humic acid – how much? Marigolds – a pinch or a handful? It’s amazing what people put into the tea, and it’s all interesting. If you don’t want us to tell anyone what the mix is, please indicate main ingredients, but tell us IT IS PROPRIETARY!
8. Date Sample Taken – The samples should arrive within 3 days of being taken from the original habitat. If you sample on May 5 and the samples don’t arrive at the lab until May 10, there is little reason to assess active organisms, because activity will have changed from what was going on in the compost pile.
9. Tea Brewing Cycle – when was the tea started, and when was it finished? Or just tell us it was a 12 hour, 24 hour, or 3 week tea.
10. Intended Use – Foliar or soil drench? What plant?
11. Hi Temperature Reached During Brew – Started at 60, ended at 78. Please ALSO tell us the oxygen content through the brew cycle. Pick the place in the tea maker where it is most difficult to aerate, such as in the basket, or the water in a 90 degree corner. Even small areas becoming anaerobic take a real toll on the beneficial organisms and can result in harmful bacteria growing.
12. Source of Water? Was Chlorine Degassed? Was pH checked?
13. Other Management Practices – Put on back of form.
14. Assays that you want us to perform – Select each assay you want to do. If you want to do active bacteria, total bacteria, active fungi and total fungi then there is a discount over that same set of samples run individually. The total food web, which is all 6 assays we perform on compost, is a further discount.
15. Samples arriving on a Friday cannot be tested for E. coli.