Compost Tea May Protect Plants

As summer temperatures continue to boil, more and more people will reach for cool glasses of iced tea to beat the heat. Flowers and other plants in your garden might enjoy a sip of tea too, although of an entirely different brew.

Tea made from compost may be a natural weapon capable of defending rhododendrons, azaleas, viburnums, and oak saplings from diseases like ramorum blight, also known as sudden oak death, according to Robert Linderman, a plant pathologist for the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

Phytophthora ramorum, a fungus-like organism, is responsible for causing diseases like ramorum blight, which has already spread to at least 20 states. This spring more than 500,000 greenhouse plants have been destroyed to prevent spreading the disease.