[compost_tea] Re: Def'n of good tea WAS: Hi Dr. E / nice thing to do!!! :< ))))
> >
> > Let's go through definitions of good tea -
> >
> > When the tea has no biology to speak of (maybe just a few
bacteria
> per field of view), that's BAD tea. Really, it's not tea. Guess
> which tea brewer often gives you that result?
> >
> > If you see:
> > - 25 to 500 bacteria per field of view at 100 total
magnification,
<>>>Dr. Ingham, Did you mean 1000 total magnification instead of 100?
Dennis
> > - no fungi even in 10 to 20 fields of view,
> > - no protozoa,
> > - no nematodes,
> > that's POOR tea. At least you have a decent amount of bacteria,
> but that's it. It's poor tea, because you only have bacteria, and
> they are probably anaerobic, or the fungi, protozoa and nematodes
> would be there. Guess which tea brewer usually gives this kind of
> result? And you can check this for yourself with the little
> microscope.
> >
> > If you see:
> > - over 500 bacteria per field of view,
> > - at least one strand of fungus in 10 to 20 fields,
> > - a couple flagellates and/or amoebae, or a FEW ciliates
> (flagellates, amoebae and ciliates are all kinds of protozoa),
> > - maybe a nematode or more om 10 to 20 fields of view
> > then you have ADEQUATE tea. This often happens when you add too
> much food for the aeration level you have. Or the water was too
> cold, still had chlorine residue in it, had some toxic something in
> your recipe, the tea machine wasn't cleaned properly. If you have
> only adequate tea, you need to be careful with the amount of tea
you
> spray out - you may want to double or triple the dose. Make it 15
> gal per acre for a foliar, not just 5 gal per ac.
> >
> > If you see:
> > - lots of bacteria per field (more than 500),
> > - a fungal strand in the first 5 fields you look at,
> > - all of the groups of protozoa in that first 5 fields
> > - maybe some nematodes in those 5 fields,
> > you have VERY GOOD tea. Use the 5 gal per ac amount for foliar
> sprays.
> >
> > If you see:
> > - huge numbers, thousands, of bacteria in EVERY field,
> > - a fungal strand in each field of view,
> > - many flagellates and/or amoebae in EVERY field,
> > - a nematode or two in the sample,
> > then do a dance! This is EXCELLENT tea. This can be applied at
> less than 5 gal per ac. This tea can be "diluted".
> >
> > Guess which tea machines give us these kinds of results? KIS,
> Nature Tech, EPM, Bob-O-Laters, WormGold, Charlie Clark, Alaska
> Bounty, and many home-made brewers. In Australia, many folks have
> good machines, but you need to ask the Australia lab for that
info.
> >
> > So, every one selling tea should get a little microscope, get
> trained to identify the critters, and take pictures of each tea
brew,
> to be able to document what is in the tea brew. You still need to
> confirm activity and quantify biomass, so twice a year, have a tea
> checked by SFI to let you know you are getting the levels of active
> organisms that you need.
> >
> > Those of you buying tea, you should ASK the seller for this kind
of
> information. Where is their proof that they are selling good
stuff?
> >
> > Doing the little microscope approach takes about 30 seconds to
put
> the sample on the slide and observe it. It can be done EVERY
batch.
> You can even take a sample at say, 15 hours, and figure out if you
> need to do something to improve the tea, so it is EXCELLENT tea by
> the time you get to 24 hours.
> >
> > Any questions? Come take a class......
> >
> > 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
> > SFI Culiacan, Mexico
> > SFI Jerome, Idaho
> > http://www.soilfoodweb.com
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Received on Fri Jun 11 2004 - 19:39:12 EDT
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: Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:15:21 EST