Re: [compost_tea] oxygen

From: David Anderson <squtch_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 10:54:22 -0800
On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:53:35 -0500, jim allAn <jallan6977_at_earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>    I know I have asked before but please understand I had a problem
> with my system and lost all probable responses.

I think that I was the only one that responded. You could go to the
message archive at the yahoo groups site to find it.

>    Not that I am seriously considering it,  but would it be possible
> or practical to add Hydrogen Peroxide to a tea brew one expects is
> going anaerobic.

You could add it, and it would almost certainly stop it from going
anaerobic by quickly killing many of your microorganisms. Not to
mention that you suggested using a version with preservatives in it
instead of food grade. What are preservatives supposed to do?

Just think about what they sell H2O2 for. You use it to help clean and
sterilize wounds and equipment. they sell it to kill the critters.

>  I am sure you all know that h2o2 is no more than
> oxygen and water.

Actually, I know that is absolutely incorrect.

H2O2 is a highly reactive and unstable material. When it reacts with
another H2O2 molecule it will in fact make H2O + O2. But 3% is rather
dilute to start with, and adding it to a large bucket of water will
drop that way down.

To create O2, the H2O2 molecule would have to find another of it's
own. In the mean time there are many other molecules that it can react
with, and your tea will have several orders of magnitude more of
those.

>  Adding it would increase the oxygen content of the
> brew.

But would it? Are you counting the oxygen atoms or the oxygen molecules.

>  Sure it is known to kill pathogens, but that is due to oxygen
> allowing the good critter to keep the bad ones from multiplying.

Where do you get this?

It is my understanding that it has a lot more to do with how robust
the cell is, not whether it can stand up to oxygen, and a few simple
searches on the web seems to show this.

Everything reputable that I have read seems to relate to its oxidative
capacity, not that it creates O2.

> shouldn't hurt anything else.

If you have access to a microscope, I suggest giving it a try. While I
don't think that you will kill everything,  I suspect that you will
greatly reduce the diversity that you are trying to maintain.

Dave


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Received on Fri Jan 14 2005 - 23:15:08 EST

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