Re: [compost_tea] Plant Teas Experiment

From: Robert Norsen <bnbrew_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 21:11:43 -0800 (PST)

Hey Scott- have you ever considered taking treatment to get past your gambling habit?
Me neither. What would be the fun them? But I would suggest less trash in the water or more air so it stays aerobic.. I like to win. Bob

Scott Alexander <daylily_at_bigpond.com> wrote:
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 cup 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 was 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 of 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 could this affect the microbes in some way?
4 fifths of a 50 gallon drum of weeds probably won't have significant amounts of minerals BUT could they be in a readily available form for the microbes and plants?
If this is done on a monthly basis my guess is that plant teas combined with 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.


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Received on Tue Jan 06 2004 - 04:29:14 EST

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