Re: [compost_tea] Hay hay

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2003 16:02:35 EST

If you use hay that has not been treated with a pesticide (VERY important to
know that), then the protozoa like to hang out and go-to-sleep on the surfaces
of the hay.

So, brown stuff, right? The plants went senescent (dormant) in the field,
and were harvested. That material usually has lots and lots of protozoa on the
stems and crowns.

So, take hay, add just enough water to cover the hay, let it set for 3 days,
and the water will have hundereds of thousands of protozoa. If the bacteria
on the hay stems grows really fast, you get mostly ciliates because ciliates do
best when the water gets oxygen limited. the more fastidious flagellates and
amoebae do better when really aerobic conditions remain in place.

So, for most diversity, put the hay into the compost bag, and let the
protozoa be extracted from the hay surface, and get into the tea. The protozoa will
not excyst in the tea and start growing, but they will be put out into your
soil, or onto the leaf surfaces.

What is it that protozoa do for you? Why do you care that they are there?
Testing to see if you all know the answer........

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 Sun Dec 07 2003 - 16:39:48 EST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:14:55 EST