Hi, I am somewhat dissapointed today,,,,, I got my compost delivered and generally the quality seems fine. Inside of the 10 tons pile its really warm. When I showel it into my wheelbarrow it´s steaming. It smells as well "good". BUT,,,,,,, I have a problem with bringig it to my lawn,,,,,, there is pieces of roots, wood, bark in the compost which are apparentely still worked by bacteria and fungi. Those pieces are warm as well and feel soft. But if I bring this on my lawn , the wood-pieces will stay on top of the turf and only smallest pieces sink onto the soil. Even if I brush it in different directions, back and forward..... What can I do? Leave the compost on a pile until the wood decomposes further ? Or "filter" the bigger pieces from the smaller ones (lots of work probably). My father in law opts for anyhow throwing the compost to the lawn,,,,,,,,, but its not him that is going to ruin his new lawn-mower cutting bark, wood and roots with the next lawnmowing.... Any info welcome,,,, Thanks & a nice weekend,,,,,

What was you compost made of? Compost consisting of animal manures might have the disease pathogens that cause E-Coli, Listeria, Salmonella, and several others and if that undigested compost is used to make compost tea those disease pathogens can be present. All of the produce from your garden will need to be washed very well before using, especially if they are to be eaten raw.

My garden is going really slow this year due to NO SPRING in California and a cool summer! Compost can't help that problem.

I would not try it in the tea unless you had some way of determining its affect on the microbes. If it a diet soda then it has chemical sweeteners in it. I would not put that in my tea - period. I don't know what effect, if an, the CO2 would have on the tea. I don't think it would have any appreciable impact on the compost - as long as the pile is not drenched in it. The tea on the other hand is more fragile and suseptible to minor changes in its environment. In a decent sized compost pile the volume of coke to the rest of the pile is really small. However, in a 5 gal bucket I think the volume ratio could be more of a factor. In the end I think the old addage for a compost pile or tea holds true: if it did not come from the earth it should not go into the compost pile (or tea). Just my way of thinking about it. tom