Re: [compost_tea] Simple CT maker and CT recipe

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 18:39:40 EDT

The Taunton article is a simple tea maker, and IF YOU PUT TOO MUCH FOOD in
the tea, it goes anaerobic. CAREFUL!

That's why I like the commercial brewers better - they have worked out
amounts of food relative to the aeration in their brewer.

Or should I say, most tea makers have worked that out. There are two
companies that make "brewers" that have no clue what the right amount of food
is to make good tea, because their machines don't make compost tea.

Otherwise, the food amounts being added are right, relative to the machine,
based on data. So, how do you mimic?

Consider the weight or volume going into the machine for each batch. If you
add a similar amount of food resource, you'll be about right, given that you
think about what you are doing.

Try this for a possible mix:

For a 5 gal brew, make a mix of a small amount of simple sugar (a teaspoon of
molasses or other complex sugar like honey), about a third of the weight or
volume of the mix then should be kelp and micronutrients, about a third
should be a strong fungal food (humic acid) and the last third should be a
protein mix like soybean meal, fish hydrolysate, or fulvic acid.

Try different mixes of these materials to see what works best for your
micro-climate, soils, and plants.

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com
SFI Oregon, USA
SFI Australia
SFI New York
SFI Europe
SFI New Zealand

"Hope is not a feeling. It is not the belief that things will turn out well,
but the conviction that what we are doing makes sense, no matter how things
turn out." -- Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic





Received on Mon May 05 2003 - 19:03:30 EDT

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