Re: [compost_tea] same recipe - compost free in water

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 02:28:42 -0500

Hi Ted -

OK, so we have it down to:

1. need to test your pump to know for certain what it is doing to your organisms.

2. It is important to recognize that organisms need the tea environment. Too great a dilution can be a problem, causing osmotic disruption, unless you have humic acids, kelp, and other soluble materials from the compost. Good points there.
Tea needs those materials we add.

3. These smaller parts still amounted to roughtly the same mass just in a different form.

Yes, but as long as the remaining material is still active, the bits can grow out. So, again, making sure you know somethign about the pumps is a necessary thing. The person selling the tea brewer ought to check this to make sure the pump doesn't destroy the fungal biomass, protozoa or other orgnaisms.

4. People doing spraying need to tea their machines. If you get adequate coverage with bacteria and fungi, then the fact you may have lost some critters to get there doesn't matter.

5. The critical part is how much tea per area, regardless of how much water is used. If you put the same amount of liquid on each time, but more or less tea in that liquid, there might be a problem with not enough organisms getting on the soil or plant surfaces.

> >>> Could be dust, heat or lack of food. My reading and the people testing (a very good lab on the vinyard) seemed to think it was UV and they had some tests to prove it when I cried foul. There might be pesticide drift but unlikely since none was sprayed anywhere near where we were working.

How far down wind can pesticide effects be detected? 15 miles. I bet there is every possibility that something was sprayed within that 15 mile upwind distance.

The UV experiments are typically done in lab conditions, or with leaves in special containers, were UV dose is controlled. Without any foods for the orgnaisms to grow, and make the glue layers.

A drop of 1 mm or greater is large enough to attenuate UV. If the organisms have a chance to grow on the leaf, usually about 20 minutes, if food is provided in the tea, or the plant provides the food, the bacteria and fungi are protected.


>>>>>It seemed to occur vinyard wide but we had them on a three day cycle anyway so the program worked. My reading seems to indicate that UV is bad for microbes. Am I reading something wrong? The microbiology texts I have read indicate that UV is the best antibacterial there is. What am I misinterpreting?

Unprotected cells are disrupted by UV, no doubt about that. But in the enviroment, cells have the ability to protect themselves. Look at a picture of the leaf surface with the microbes on it. Glue everywhere.


> >>> Ok. I'm dying to know. On a leaf, how is the plant feeding the bacteria/fungi?

The leaf produces exudates, just like the roots. Sugars, protecins and carbohydrates are released from the cells, and that feeds the set of organisms around the surfaces. The plant does that to develop the protective layer of beneficial organisms.

>>>>test at the beginning, I see few and I see more after about 24 hours. Maybe it's that they are moving out of the compost looking for food or that as the bacteria grow and send out enzymes to feed, the nematodes respond.

That is the mechanism, as far as I'm aware. It takes time for the nematodes to extract from the compost.

  
> >>> Yeah, I finally figured it out. What I was pointing out was that their bodies withstood the process but they did not live generally. I was unsure what exactly killed them in the process.

I think they drown.
  
> >>> I may be off here but I have pumped tons of air into my tea and these stalked cilliates grow like crazy if they are there. They look like Greek urns on a string and every once in a while spring back. Around their mouths is an eddy of
> circulating water. They are cool to watch.

Stalked ciliates are cool to watch. If the conditions have been anaerobic, which selects for the growth of these critters, the competing flagellates and amoebae have been reduced significantly and the so the ciliates can continue their bloom without anything "getting in the way". Takes about 3 to 7 days after air returns to have hte flagellates and amoebae finally get back to normal.

I love watching the biology in tea. Sounds like you enjoy it too!

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
http://www.soilfoodweb.com


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/0PSxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/compost_tea/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     compost_tea-unsubscribe_at_yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



Received on Thu Mar 18 2004 - 03:14:25 EST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:09 EST