Re: [compost_tea] compost tea and biodynamics

From: rlbct <rlbct_at_clear.net.nz>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 11:40:21 +1200

Hi Elaine -
(Sorry to have missed you in NZ recently)
I'm not an expert in BD, but may be able to contribute something to this
topic.
(BTW, I am more inclined to think of the preps as innoculant, tho I can't
rule out other effects).
"Stirring"
There are two basic methods of stirring, each of which has a distictive
"look":
1. stirring the circumference - this produces a wide, low V (called a
crater by some).
2. stirring the center - this produces a deep vortex (like an inverted
tornado). I have read that such vortices charge the water electrically -
positively for one direction of stir, negatively for the opposite. (I don't
know if method 1 above charges the water to any extent).

There is also the length of time spent stirring in a direction before
reversing direction. This could affect the oxygen uptake? since the
reversal causes lots of bubbles (and eddies/vortices).
And there is the speed at which the water is stirred.

It might be that the stir is required to "wake up" organisms - I don't know.
Who knows what effect electrical charging might have on them?

"Spraying"
generally BD preps are splashed around in droplets, and are meant to affect
the soil, except for one that is meant to be sprayed in a fine mist on the
vegetation.

I must emphasise that this is my take on it.

I'm impressed with the effect of the flowform, because the water seems to
stay in the chamber for only a brief time. It would be very interesting to
compare the rate of oxygenation with a flowform (what sizes?) with that of
CT brewers, and BD stirring...

Lynton
---Original Message -----
From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
To: <compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2003 2:17 AM
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] compost tea and biodynamics


> Hi Gail -
>
> Allan Balliet is the better person to answer some of your questions, since
he is an expert in biodynamics and does biodynamic farming.
>
> But, let me put ny two cents worth in :-)
>
> > Where can I get information on the Malcolm Rae machine.
> > Or any other device to create an alternate left spin,
> > right spin water vortex.
>
> The Malcolm Rae machine is a small device that is supposed to impart
energy into materials from a distance. Hugh Lovell is the person to contact
about that device. Radionic machines are available from various sources,
but you have to be very careful in the US not to run into legal problems
when using them. The medical community has basically outlawed them, and you
cannot use them for anything related to cures for human diseases or
conditions. For agriculture, the legal situation is more nebulous.
>
> The idea with htese machines is to detect substances using the frequency
wavelengths that are unique signals of any particular material or grouping
of cells. These frequencies do exist, as the quantum physicists have shown.
The ability to detect those signals reliably is the not-well-documented
situation here. Each person can get very different readings for any item
being measured. So, needs more work, huh?
>
> For stirring BD preps and keeping them aerobic, which I think would serve
to make the preps more consistent from batch to batch, you would need a
compost tea machine like the ones from KIS or EPM or Alaska Giant, or
WormGold, or Norsen.
>
> So BD preps are meant to go anaerobic for a while, however, I believe.
Again, data are lacking on this, but in the case of the horsetail preps, I
think the effective material in helping against weeds is actually an
anerobic product - but is it a product of fermentative anaerobic conditions
or putrefactive anaerobic organisms? So, some work to do here.
>
> The flow forms are aerator units. In the data we have, unfortunately only
replicated one time so not publishable from a scientific point of view, each
time the water went through a single flow form, the increase in oxygen in
the water was 0.5 mg/L. If you knew the oxygen demand of your prep, you
could then figure out the number of flow forms needed to keep the prep
aerobic.
>
> But remember that the preps are just ADDED to your compost or teas, as I
understand. The preps are INOCULA that you use to add the right biology to
your compost or compost tea as you are making the tea. Please realize that
no biodynamic grower would use my terminology to explain what they are
doing. They don't think of preps as inocula. That's a microbiologist
adding their two cents worth in here. The preps are inocula, but BD
practitioners don't think of them that way.
>
> But where I was getting to is, that a BD prep is not sprayed out the way
you spray out a compost tea. You add the prep to the compost or the tea.
Is that right Allan?
>
> > As regards what biodynamic preps would
> > add to compost tea, would a bovis rating
> > of any value.
>
> What is a bovis rating? I'm sure I'm just being slow here, but it isn't
making sense to me what you are asking. Can you clarify please?
>
> Elaine Ingham
> President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
> SFI Corvallis, OR
> SFI Port Jefferson, NY
> SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
> SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
> SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
> www.soilfoodweb.com
>
>
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>
>
>
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>
>


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Received on Wed Sep 17 2003 - 20:19:20 EDT

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