[compost_tea] Plant Teas Experiment

From: Scott Alexander <daylily_at_bigpond.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2004 12:44:23 +1000

After reading lots of information about plant teas (thanks to Steve Diver) =
I decided to experiment.

Eight days ago I harvested lots of our common weeds (plus some comfrey) and=
 stuffed them into a 50 gallon drum and filled this with water. I added a c=
up of molasses and two cups of vermicompost and began aerating with a 2 cfm=
 air pump.

Due to lots of wet weather and laziness through Xmas/New Year I didn't get =
around to checking it until yesterday. The D O reading was 0.9 ppm and it w=
as very smelly. Today the D O reading has gone up to 3 ppm and there is now=
 a much more pleasant smell coming from the mixture. Maybe tomorrow the D O=
 reading will improve and hit the 6.5 ppm mark?

If the mixture was aerobic I had intended to add the plant tea at the end o=
f the 48-hour, 200 gallon compost tea I'm presently brewing, and distribute=
 it over 6 acres tomorrow night (full moon) through the irrigation system.=
 

Any comments about this would be appreciated.
If the plant tea doesn't reach an aerobic state and I add it to the CT cou=
ld this affect the microbes in some way?
4 fifths of a 50 gallon drum of weeds probably won't have significant amoun=
ts of minerals BUT could they be in a readily available form for the microb=
es and plants?
If this is done on a monthly basis my guess is that plant teas combined wit=
h CT's could be very beneficial to the plants and soil life.

For those interested - my CT recipe this time was:-
200 gallon water
10 kg compost (highly fungal)
1.5 litres Humic acid
1 litre liquid fish
2 litre liquid seaweed
armful of old grass clippings
No molasses in this brew because of the high temperatures but I will add a =
gallon just before fertigation.
Temp. 27 C
pH 7.3
D O at start 8.3ppm
D O at 18 hours 6.4ppm

Scott Alexander
Maleny
Queensland.




Received on Mon Jan 05 2004 - 22:36:33 EST

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