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Seattle, WA

Was going through and deleting some old emails and thought some people might find this one handy in regards to recipes and such. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

~Tad


Re: Beginner's Guide to Compost Tea
Posted by: "soilfoodweb@aol.com" soilfoodweb@aol.com soilfoodweb
Fri May 9, 2008 8:56 am (PDT)
I like the KIS brewer alot for small size brewers.? Tad
is really good about helping getting you started.?

But, the general outline for getting started is:

(1) In a five gallon bucket (which you get from a local restaurant
or grocery store for example, or just buy one from a box store),

(2) you would typically fill up about 3/4 full with water,

(3) put your aeration gear in the bottom of the tank (you want
to see a roiling bubbling action on the water surface)

7/25/2008 4:57:10 PM

Seattle, WA

(4) aerate until the chlorine, or any other?smell is gone?
(add a teaspoon of humic acid if the smell isn't going
away pretty fast, as in 20 to 30 minutes)

(5) add a teaspoon of fish hydrolysate, or humic acid to help
feed fungi, possibly a little (maybe a teaspoon) oatmeal,
corn gluten, and/or kelp.? You can experiment with the foods,
but typically you want to make sure you add foods to feed
beneficial fungi.? What is lacking in house plants, in the garden,
and in office plants is that fungal biomass.? If you have ever used
an inorganic fertilizer on those plants, or used a pesticide
application, then the fungi suffered more than anything else,
most likely.? Therefore, what you need to fix is the lack of
"good guy" fungi.

Other foods you could think about:
- citric acid, or ascorbic acid, especially if you have really
ugly water, i.e.?high salts or strong odors
- oils which are typically fungal foods.? Just make sure they
have no preservatives which kill microorganisms.?
- ground grain, especially grains with the seed coat included in
the grinding.? This would be "Whole Wheat" types of flours.
- chitin, ground up insects (dry the insects first, then grind
them up).? The external skeleton of insects contains a great
deal of chitin, which is a great fungal food to encourage the
beneficial fungi.? Just try to make sure you ARE NOT adding the
internal digestive system of the insect along with the skeletons,
because the internal contents of the insect growth way too many
bacteria.?

I'm sure others could add to the list here, especially if they
have experiences showing that these different foods grow fungi
better than bacteria.?

7/25/2008 4:57:57 PM

Seattle, WA

(6) find a fairly fine mesh, but stiff fabric, laundry bag or paint
strainer bag and put about 1 pound of compost in the bag.
The KIS brewer comes with a nifty little bag that is sewn
so that the bag does not easily twist and result in compaction
of the compost while brewing.? If the fabric is not stiff enough
to prevent twisting and compaction of the compost while brewing
(look in the brewer when the tea is brewing, and check the
compost - is it tumbling and floating around, or is it in a lump
at the bottom of the bag?),?then put something in the bag to
prevent it from being able to?twist and compact.? Some?
people actually put another little length of small diameter
pvc pipe with holes in it (about an inch apart, stoppers on open ends)
Just?make sure you clean that "bag-holder-opener" or small aerator
after each brew).

Mesh size on the bag needs to be a little smaller than the nozzle size
on your sprayer.? See below about sprayers.?

Some people choose to brew by putting the compost free in the
water.? That works, EXCEPT you then have chunks in the tea which
will clog the?sprayer.??

If you put the tea in a watering can to apply, then don't worry,?no
bag for the compost is needed.? But if you use a back-pack sprayer,?
or a hand spritzer unit, you need to make sure the mesh of your compost?
bag is smaller than your?sprayer, so you don't clog your sprayer.??

DO NOT strain your tea, because the fungi (a huge part of the reason
we make tea) will be lost on and in the stuff that stays behind on the strainer.??
The only way to strain and not lose the fungi is to CONSTANTLY shake
the strainer so the fungi are not passing through a layer of organic?
matter, and thus being held in that layer instead of remaining in the water.?

7/25/2008 4:58:55 PM

Seattle, WA

?(7) Put the brewer in a place where it will experience the same
temperatures as the plants you are going to put the tea on.? Typically,
this means outside some place, or your gardening area, or your
greenhouse, or the garage, or..........just think about what you are trying to
do, and make sure it matches.?

We want the same shifts in temperature to happen to the tea as
will happen to your plants.? The means, organisms were growing and
increasing in number at all those temperatures, so that you
are growing the most effective set of protective organisms.

(8)? In order to make sure that just the best organisms are growing,
you need to make sure the brew stays fully oxygenated, or aerobic,
through the whole brew.?

If in doubt, reduce the amount of food you add.? Use a half teaspoon of
each added food instead of a teaspoon.? It is better to add a little of a?
number of foods than to add just one food.?

Smell is important here again.? If you start to smell bad odors, the tea
is bad, and has been bad, for some time.? The beneficial organisms you
wanted?are long gone.? Put a stinky tea on the compost pile, or put it
on your weed patch.? Be careful with it, as some less than desirable
organisms may have been grown.?

(9)? Aerate, allowing organisms to grow, for 24 hours if the temperature
is around 70 to 72 F.? If cooler, then let the brewing go on a little longer, for
example, 36 hours when brewing at 50 F.? If hotter, then brewing times can
be reduced, to say 20 hours when the temperature is around 85 to 90 F.

Again, a little testing might be a good idea here, if you know anyone with
a microscope who can look at these things for you.? A few qualitative
samples sent to the closest SFI lab might be wise, just to check your
first two or three brews.? We try to keep the cost low on the sampling
if you are doing only general information and you don't need to publish
the data.

7/25/2008 4:59:22 PM

Seattle, WA

(10) At about 6 to 8 hours into the brewing, remove the compost bag.
The organisms that can be extracted have been extracted, so reduce the
oxygen demand in the brew and remove the compost bag.?
Add that compost residue back into your compost pile.

(11) Finish the brew cycle.? Pour the tea out BEFORE turning off the
aeration, so you don't get tea inside your aerators.?

(12)? Look at the tea brewer insides as you drain the tea, or pour the tea, out.
Any "stuff" left behind?? Could you rinse the insides out (swirl the tea as it
goes out, splash the tea around a bit to rinse residues off the side of the
brewer)??

If there is still oil on the water surface, you are adding too much
food for the organisms, and consider reducing the amount of fish oil, or
hydrolysate.? If the tea has the odor of one of the foods you added, the
organisms aren't using up that food during the tea brew.? Either you
want to activate the organisms in the compost more, so they will use
up all the food, or you want to reduce the amount of food you add.?

7/25/2008 4:59:41 PM

Seattle, WA

(13)? Put the tea in your sprayer.? Spray.? You only have a few hours
before the organisms growing in that tea will use up all the oxygen
and start some really un-pleasant processes that make wastes that you
don't want to put on your plants.? Tea is a "make it, and use it", sort of process,
unless you can put aerators into the sprayer tank.

If you maintain aeration, then the tea can stay fine for 3 to 4 days more.?

(14)? Make sure you cover as much of the top AND BOTTOM of the leaf surfaces
when you apply compost tea.

(15)? If you are applying to the soil, there is no need to BREW.? Just use your
tea brewer to extract the organisms, and apply straight to the soil.?

I hope this helps.? Please consider a little consulting time with the folks at
SFI if you have more questions.? Look at the phone number of the lab closest
to you, and e-mail to set up a consulting phone call to answer any more of
your questions.? The people at the SFI lab in Oregon are pretty good about
knowing most of the?permutations of doing this, but we don't know EVERYthing!?

So, sending an e-mail (info@soilfoodweb.com) and setting up a time for the
consult is usually best.? Our phones can get a little clogged right at 9 am
and at noon.? Patience is a virtue, and I apologize in advance for any slowness
in our response, but please, remember, we aren't that big a company, and we try
to keep costs to growers down to the bare minimum.?

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Roxburgh, New Zealand
SFI Culiacan, Mexico
SFI Canada West, Vulcan
SFI South Africa, Polokwane
SFI England, Laverstoke Park
SFI Canada East, Halifax
http://www.soilfoodweb.com

7/25/2008 4:59:48 PM

South East

thanks tad, good info.

7/31/2008 8:34:37 AM

Denver, CO

Good overview post tad12, thanks alot!

8/1/2008 11:17:10 AM

Midwest

This is wonderful detail... just what I needed to get me going! Tad. Thanks, I have a microscope that we use for school. What do I look for for a good tea? Thank you again for posting this information!
Greg

8/14/2008 1:57:50 PM

Seattle, WA

Greg,

That's wonderful you have a microscope. What you're looking for on a slide is fungal hyphae, protozoa, and bacteria. Check out www.microbeorganics.com He's got a dvd that helps in identification and would be useful if you've got a microscope. Other resources are Dr. Ingham's microscope guide, but it only has a couple of pictures in it, whereas video is much easier since you're looking at organisms that will be moving all around your field of view.

8/14/2008 6:30:19 PM

Midwest

Well, everything may look like fuzzy dots but I'll give it a try... I may even post some pics if I can capture the images on the PC. Thank you for this info!
Greg

8/15/2008 1:21:18 AM