Re: [compost_tea] downside to N in tea

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 01:44:17 -0500

You need to make certain that nitrogen (N) is added as an organic form, not as nitrate (which is present in high concentration in most manures that have aged a bit), or as ammonium (fresh manure), or as ammonia (anaerobic, reduced form of N).

The best form of N to add to compost or tea is organic forms, such as the organisms, or proteins. Fish hydrolysate is great material to add to get N in the tea. Corn gluten with added N (typically was added as urea, which usually is converted to nitrate, which can give a real benefit to the pathogens and weeds if you don't make sure the biology is added too!)

Be careful of adding any inorganic N if you have N fixers or desire N fixation to occur. N in inorganic forms shuts N fixation right down.

Come to the SFI compost class to learn about how to deal with these materials. We also go through the N cycle so you can see how these different compounds are used by the biology, and the transformations that different organisms perform.

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


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Received on Tue Mar 23 2004 - 02:40:36 EST

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