[compost_tea] Re: Defining what is compost tea exactly - clarification

From: Kirk Leonard <kirk_at_oregonatural.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 10:42:30 -0700

Before I get hammered:-), my post yesterday needs clarification. I said I'd
suggested a new structure and then in re-reading it today, realized I hadn't
been clear about that.

Three kinds of tea: Aerated, Stirred, Steeped, all made with compost and
water, for different purposes and with different properties. Microbial and
nutrient are just two ways to push tea, i.e., AACT can be a nutrient tea,
too, which is what I see happening with the addition of classic foliar
nutrients to AACT, but is usually microbial-oriented. A stirred tea could
push microbial content with the addition of some of the nutrients now
emerging with AACT progress (not sugars...beyond what's in the compost), but
is usually nutrient-oriented. I would not use a stirred tea on a plant,
also, only soil. (Thanks, Gram, I think you were right on that.:-)

Another thing I've mentioned but not said is why/how I believe stirred teas
are aerobic. Stirring (creating a pressure differential) releases air in
water, which you can observe at your kitchen sink with a bowl of water and a
brisk stir with a fat wooden fork. And water holds oxygen per temperature
and elevation. The key to me is hold time. I now take no more than an hour
to make a stirred tea, stirring several times, and I think a half-hour is
enough. Unless there is significant anaerobic content in the compost (in my
case almost always vermicompost now - very low chance) going in, I believe
there is not enough time for anaerobes to emerge, especially when you're
stirring up the oxygen during the process. Someone with a DO meter could
check this. If I'm wrong, well, I'm wrong, and I will stand corrected yet
again (sigh). DO might drop some but I doubt it'll get to anaerobic levels
unless the compost is bad or there's been an unwise use of other nutrients.

Also, I don't think flow forms could get to the level of aeration a
bob-o-lator can, so flow form AACT? Not without some kind of air pump
boost, methinks.

Kirk




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Received on Tue Jun 17 2003 - 15:38:34 EDT

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