East Texan encourages use of composted products

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

During the recent demonstration, the compost 'tea' mixture is applied to a meadow. The product is processed through the new Compost Tea Extractor at Jerry Guinn's StillMeadow Farm. -- Staff photos by Montgomery

Nov. 11, 2004 - "Getting your lawn and pastures off drugs" is the message being sent from an East Texas man who is a firm believer in composting.

Jerry Guinn of Pittsburg realized four years ago that the application of chemicals was "destroying the land that everybody is trying to survive off of.

"I don't want my kids and grandkids to have to deal with this," he added.

This sentiment is likely the reasoning behind the increasing popularity of using compost, which provides added valuable nutrients to the soil.

Even the Texas Legislature is working with citizens' sentiments. They directed the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (now the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) to create a program capable of diverting 15 percent of the waste disposed of in Texas through composting, according to a TCEQ website. The website stated, "Yard trimmings alone make up over 15 percent of this waste, and another 20 percent of this waste is food scraps, clean wood material, unrecyclable paper, and other easily composted materials."

Since that time, four years ago, Guinn has begun two composting companies. Organic Compost Solutions, which composts waste streams and then feeds the compost to worms to produce high quality vermi-compost and castings. The company also "offers composting/vermi-composting systems designed to process large amounts of livestock, food and other organic waste with a minimal amount of investment and daily personnel time." Jet Compost Products manufacturers composting equipment, screening equipment and tea machines.

Recently, Guinn's StillMeadow Farm near Pittsburg was the site for a compost tea extractor demonstration performed by the extractor's inventor Dennis Hronek of Nebraska. The extractor is one of only three in the United States. The goal of the demonstration was to the show citizens the benefits of the machine.

Hronek informed the audience he had experimented with the tea extractor for years but something just wasn't working correctly.

Four or five years ago, Hronek attended a meeting where Dr. Elaine Ingram, "the Queen of Compost" was speaking and she made a statement that hit home with Hronek ... "You must give them oxygen and feed them."

It was like a light bulb, Hronek knew where all the previous extractors had gone wrong.

The new Compost Tea Extractor, distributed by Natural Earth Solutions of Holdrege, Neb., will be "great for us," according to Guinn and others who attended the October meeting.

As a device to create a marketable product, the extractor is worth a review.

Comparisons between a compost tea brewing machine and the compost tea extractor shows big differences. In a 24-hour period, the brewing machine outputs 500 gallons, which when applying 60 gallons/acre, nets to eight maximum acres/day. The revenue for that day at $1.75/gallon would be $875, meaning $36/hour of operation. On the other hand, the tea extractor in a 10-hour operation period will output 20,000 gallons, and using the 60 gallons/acre numbers, nets 333 acres. The revenue for the time period is $3,500.

"You would need 40 500-gallon brewing machines to equal the revenue from one tea extractor," a Natural Earth Solutions representative stated.

In the long run, you are trying to get the same results.

Many already use compost tea to provide additional benefits to the plant and soil. Literature, given at the meeting, stated "when the tea solution is poured on the soil base of plants or on the leaves of plants, good microbes protect the plant from the bad microbes, reducing the risk of disease."

Guinn stated his concept for using compost tea "is safe for children and pets. The chemical companies (after applying fertilizers) have to put up a sign stating to keep children and pets off lawns for 24 hours. With this, you don't. It is safe."

For more information about composting or the Compost Tea Extractor, call Guinn at 903-856-0427 or e-mail jguinn@ev1.net.