This thread seems very vague - somebody's anaerobic tea made somehow
containing some kind of organisms.
"Compost teas" contains active organisms, inactive organisms, enzymes,
vitamins, hormones, minerals, humic acids, sugars, amino acids,
proteins and no doubt other biochemicals. Do we know why it works? It
depends on what you mean by 'works'. It does seem reasonable that
implanting diverse organisms and supplying diverse nutrients other than
just NPK can activate plants and the soil ecology to a substantial
degree. I don't think that anyone knows the full repercussions of all
the constituents individually or in combination.
If one applies 20 gals of CT to an acre of soil, one is applying
something on the order of 1 or 2 ounces of active microbes (20 gal = 75
l, 500 ugms/ml or 0.5g/l) or about 1 gm per 1000 square feet. Total
microbe weight would be something like several ounces per acre.
Can that much living material from CT transform an acre of soil? In a
conversation with Brinton, he told me that he thought not and he was
concerned that people were going through a lot of gyrations and expense
for little in return (my summation). I told him that in my experience
and that of others I know well that the effort was well worth it.
If the organisms in the compost or CT are anaerobes, what is going to
happen when they hit decent dirt? Since the upper inches of the soil
are aerobic they are going to go to sleep. Probably not much value
except as food for protozoa.
Teas made with specific plant materials, in addition to the typical
ingredients, are going to be rich in chemicals that that plant
accumulated or created such as certain trace minerals or biochemicals
with hormonal effects. Certain biochemicals maybe digested to the point
of destruction during the full length brewing of a typical aerated
compost tea. Try adding such materials nearer the end of the cycle.
Facilitative tea digestion might be gentler. Is it better? Seems like
one could do a lot of testing to figure out the details regarding the
handling of just one material.
There are endless variations on CT ingredients and brew cycles. It has
been expressed before that one should keep it simple. I think that is
great for the casual gardener that wants to make compost tea but I
guess I've been thinking (or hoping) that a fair percentage of this
group wants to or is going beyond that notion. There are some exciting
discoveries to be made and I'll bet that is why some stay with this
list despite the downside of this type of forum.
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Received on Mon Jan 10 2005 - 16:53:37 EST