Re: [compost_tea] Snails Day 4

From: Ted Peterson <ted.peterson_at_tcsn.net>
Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 10:23:39 -0700

---- Original Message -----
  From: soilfoodweb_at_aol.com
  To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Monday, May 17, 2004 9:38 AM
  Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Snails Day 4


  First things first - do you have beneficial fungi in your compost? Can't=
 get slug protection if you don't have the good guys present to do the job.=
  

  OK?



Ok. I thought actinomycetes were kind of a cross between bacteria and fung=
i. Didn't mycologists put them into a separate class? I did some research=
 and there appear to be about 40,000 species of these things. Well that ma=
y be an exageration but there are a lot of them. I am brewing new tea now =
and I will start sampling and take photos.

My son did a science project on compost tea and I had a video camera lookin=
g into the microscope eyepiece. He then moved the slide around and showed =
the kids and parents different things on a monitor. It was really cool and=
 he won 1st place. For the experiment we had four buckets.

1. Compost in water no air
2. Compost in water with air
3. Compost in water with air and nutrients
4. Anaerobic tea.

We also had a bucket of water to clean with.

During the presentation, he was taking samples and showing them to the crow=
d. He was taking samples and talking and he was really good. He held ever=
ybody's attention and even had other exhibitors circled around him. So he'=
s talkng and sampling and making slides and he happens to inadvertantly tak=
e a sample from the bucket with just water in it. I don't say a thing. He=
 thinks it's anaerobic tea and he wants to show some anaerobic critters. S=
o he makes the slide puts the cover slip on and starts talking about critte=
rs he is going to find. Of course, he finds none. So he looks at me with =
the look of a teenage girl who has just found out she is pregnant. I tell =
him that he has sampled from the bucket with just water in it. He didn't d=
rop a step and said: "Oops, I actually wanted to sample from water to show =
the lack of bacteria and fungi in normal water." The kid's got a future in=
 politics.

Anyway I also took a bunch of digital photos. I will take some from the ne=
xt batch and send them. You mentioned that you will change for photo analy=
sis if I don't test with you more than twice a year and I think that is fai=
r. So tell me what the charge is and I will send it.

Ted Peterson
EW/SOE




Received on Mon May 17 2004 - 14:39:32 EDT

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