Fw: [compost_tea] Brewer types,fish oil and DE

From: Mike Harvey <mharvey_at_westnet.com.au>
Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 22:35:32 +0800
I have re posted this message as it apears the test results got jumbled up.=
This should present the results in a readable form.

Mike Benton,
I have taken a while to reply to your post as I had sent a sample in to SF= I
Lismore Aus that had a bearing on this topic.
I use the rubber disc type diffusers in my machines and they create a
medium
size bubble of high oxygen transfer rate.
I have used fish emulsion regularly as a way of feeding fungi and keeping<= BR> the foam down The oil content seems to be the important part (for fungi) and
I have found it difficult to source high oil content fish hydrolysate. So = I
have been using cod liver oil, however it goes straight into emulsion so i= s
no good to keep the foam down however it does feed fungi incredibly well.<= BR> There is a guy in Eastern Australia who passed this info on to me - he sai= d
he had done lots of testing with it and it gave consistent results. I
believe he lurks on this site so if you are still there thanks for the
info.
I have trialed using sunflower oil as an oil to keep the foam down and thi= s
works ok (you need a fair bit though). Canola oil is fungicidal so it may<= BR> not be a good idea to use it (it is in most vegetable oils). Does anyone know if sunflower oil has any fungicidal effects?? The oil does float on the
top so it does not come into contact with all of the tea. The following test
results I got today and the recipe has 0.1% cod liver oil as well as 6% molasses, paramagnetic rock dust, 2.5% humic acid by weight, sunfower oil<= BR> (to keep foam down) and other material. (You need massive aeration to keep=
this aerobic).
It took 3 days to get to the lab so the numbers direct out of the tank
would
have been better.
This material was used as a soil drench and inoculant on strawberries.
By the way what is DE?
Regards Mike Harvey New Life Soils www.composttea.com.au

NLS-Soil food test results 20/04/05
Active bacteria      40.3 (µg/mL) in the range Total bacterial biomass  110,080(µg/mL)Excellent.
Active fungal Biomass      239 (µg/mL)Excellent.=
Total fungal Biomass      382 (µg/mL)Excellent.<= BR> Fungal hyphae diameter      3.5 Disease suppressiv= e fungi were extracted.

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mike Benton" <compost_at_mweb.co.za>
> To: <compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 12:40 PM
> Subject: RE: [compost_tea] Brewer types,fish oil and DE
>
>
> > OOPS yes Kirk I did me to say water.In my rush to get everything = done I
> had
> > a bit of brain fade :}
> > On diffussers,I also started with drilled pvc about 3 years ago a= nd with
> big
> > holes ,then I got inside the unit while it was running,goggles an= d
snorkel
> > time,luckly this was in summer..There I realised that smaller was=
> > better.This meant drilling about 2000 holes af about 1mm or 1/25&= quot;.Hmmm
> less
> > than funny.I have been interesed in waste water treatment for a w= hile.I
> > found rubber diffusers thru the net in the USA but the costs wher= e too
> > high.So I started making them locally.This allowed me to change t= he size
> of
> > the slash that let the air out.As for durabilty I have only had o= ne
> customer
> > with damage to the sleeves and he has a triple 1200 lt set ,runni= ng if
one
> > big blower and at times I suspect the his workers are putting all= the
air
> > thru one tank and stressing the sleeves to much.As for cleaning b= eing
> > difficult,I can not agree ,less than 10 minutes turn around time.=
> > Bending PVC is easy enough.Use glycerene heated up to 110/120 C i= f I
> > remember right.?Or was that210C Icant remember..
> > I did a fish oil brew and this time the oil formed an emulsion on= the
top
> of
> > the water.There was still foam ,so I added a teaspoon of cooking<= BR> > > oil.[Veg}Made great  tea even the fishy smell was reduced. > > Anyone using DE in their tea ?If so why?
> > Regards
> > Mike Benton
> > Compost Technologies
> > mike_at_composttea.co.za      mobile 082334= 5371
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>



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Received on Thu May 20 2004 - 11:59:05 EDT

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