Re: [compost_tea] Searching for basic instructions on compost tea brewing

From: jim allAn <jallan6977_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 11:54:57 -0500
   You are definitely right.  I have,though, never had a bad tasting
oops smelling batch of tea.  Mine steeps overnight then flows down to
a fiftyfive gallon drum that never seems to get full:>)  The slow
siphon seems to remove a lot of sediment and draining from a stand-
pipe 3 inches doesn't pick up much of what is left.  It doesn't
compare with act but it helps.  Someday I will get aeration hooked up
to it.

On 16 Nov 2004 at 21:09, Robert Norsen wrote:

> OK Jim and Stephan, I agree that the compost sounds good but years of serious testing says that method used to make tea, or as suggested below, leachate, may do a job - whatever anaerobic does, probably damage that non-aerated steeped compost in water will do.  Test it.  Does the "tea" smell fresh and good when you are ready to use it?   Aerated Compost Tea  ACT, will have a clean fresh smell.  It will be safe.  Effective. Have good bacteria and good fungi and a good effect on your plants. Your anaerobic bag
in a barrel can be very dangerously loaded with pathogens you don't want to expose your self or your food to.

> A bag of compost hung in a barrel of water?  Little if any aeration?  Probably not safe, not an advantage over using the compost and watering your garden.  AERATION is not done to make life more complicated.  Didn't develope because of guess work by many researchers.  Send for Dr Elaine's basic Aerated Compost TEA manual.   Bob  
>
> jim allAn <jallan6977_at_earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> Most here would say that is not tea but leachate. The compost
> sounds good to me for leachate. It should do a job.
>
> On 15 Nov 2004 at 22:13, Stephen wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am a newcomer to this direction of making compost tea. I have been
> > making hot compost for a period of about 4 years now.
> >
> > My compost is primarily a manure compost using goat manure, and
> > browned alfalfa stems, coffee grounds, and kitchen fruit and
> > vegetable scraps. The manure/dried alfalfa blend is 80 - 90% of the
> > mix, the coffee grounds are 5 - 15% and the remaining scraps fill the
> > remainder. My typical compost cycles are that the pile hits a 140 -
> > 150 degree F for a period of 4 days then cools to 120 - 130 then I
> > remix and let it heat up again for a period of 1 week, then mix every
> > week for about 4 weeks until the pile does not reheat above 80
> > degrees anymore (Usually 5 - 6 weeks). At that time I sift the
> > compost through hardware cloth or expanded metal.
> >
> > This weekend for the first time I attempted to make the compost tea.
> > I had some rainwater that had settled in barrels and I placed a
> > burlap bag filled with compost into the water for a period of about
> > 1 - 2 hours until the water was a deep brown.
> >
> > Am I going about this in a reasonable strategy? How many times can I
> > reuse this bag of compost until I should empty the contents and
> > refill it with fresh compost? If I use municipal water - can I
> > assume that the chlorine is evaporating sufficiently while the
> > compost tea is brewing or should I let the chlorine evaporate (and
> > for how long) before adding the bag?
> >
> > What are the advantages / disadvantages to using compost tea over
> > straight compost on the plants?
> >
> > I average about 4 - 5 cubic yards of compost every 6 weeks so I am
> > just trying to calculate the best allocation for my recources.
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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Received on Wed Nov 17 2004 - 13:09:50 EST

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