Shadegardener said:If one does not use chemical fertilizers either in the soil or to spray on foliage, is compost or compost tea a decent alternative for anyone not wanting to over-fertilize?
As long as you don't need LOTS of nutrients added to remedy infertile soil or soil that can't hold nutrients (low "Cation Exchange Capacity") , adding several inches of compost several times per year ought to be enough to maintain soil fertility, though almost every vendor of vegetable seeds advises adding chemical fertilizer to increase yield.
I think that many organic gardeners will advise strongly that compost can always suffice and that chemicals are never necessary. It might be a matter of opinion ... I don't recall ever hearing anyone CHANGE their opinion about that.
However, since five gallons of compost might have at most a cup or so of compost in it, I think that compost tea can't directly add enough nutrients to make any difference unless you are flood-irrigating with strong compost tea very frequently.
Note that I said "can't
directly add enough nutrients". Various things can improve a plant's ability to take up existing nutrients, including pH changes, improved soil aeration, presence of suitable MR, and other soil microbe diversity.
Thus gallons and gallons of compost tea might not ADD enough nutrients to support a crop of heavy-feeding Brassicas, but it might repair some truly awful soil enough to get a small crop instead of almost no crop.
Several inches of compost, top-dressed and prevented from packing down into anaerobic sludge, ought to add at least as many nutrients as the amount of compost tea you could make from that much compost!
