10 min $10 DIY aerated compost tea ACT brewer

[Microbeman]

Hi guys/gals.

I have done one batch of tea so far with the new brewer, and boy did it appear to work well. I simply havent had the time to play with it as much as I want to yet - work, ya know.

I fed the tea on Sunday afternoon, and had to stay out of town last night for work. It will be interesting to check out the gals tonight and see how happy they are.

Its obvious to me that I am going to have to get a microscope at some point. I just feel that I'm steering blind right now with no physical proof of microbiotic life.

I had a question, tho, and was wondering if anyone wondered the same. We use compost and EWC to "start out" the tea biology, - as a basis to have something in there to breed more and more microbes. Would it help our teas to add mycorrhizae? I use the powdered VAM from BioAg. Would several scoops help to kickstart the breeding process? I use the VAM during transplant. I lightly spray the root zone with kelp/water, or just water sometimes(to help the VAM stick), and then lightly dust the roots with BioAgs VAM mycorrhizae.

So - would it help our teas to add the powdered mycorrhizae to the tea?

Thanks in advance.

jerry.

I've posted this elsewhere but forget where.

The endomycorrhizal fungi which is symbiotic with cannabis/hemp are Glomus Mosseae and Glomus Intraradices. Endomycorrhizal fungi does not sprout nor grow in compost tea. With the exception of a strictly run laboratory procedure endomycorrhizal fungi has shown only to sprout in the vicinity of live roots.

Bio Vam, as far as I know has many many more Trichoderma spores per gram than endomycorrhizal spores.

Trichoderma eats other fungi for a living. This is one reason it is so useful to fight fungal pathogens. When it is included in a product containing mycorrhizal spores, especially in larger volume, it is very likely that it will grow out and populate the root area first, possibly excluding endomycorrhizal. There are studies which have demonstrated this to be often the case. To be fair, there are other studies showing that Trich & Endo can work in unison, however I believe these latter studies were based upon inoculation with live propagules and not freeze dried or preserved spores.

In my opinion, one is better off using, either Trichoderma alone or finding a product which has only the required endomycorrhizal species. Hemp farmers on the prairies inoculate with only Glomus Intraradices, as it is grown right here in North America. They inoculate their seeds at planting time. Coating your seeds, prepped cuttings and/or roots at planting time with only these species [or one of them], is your best bet for infection (AFAIK)

It would be possible to grow out Trichoderma spores into hyphae in compost tea but there is a greater chance that it may consume the naturally occurring fungal hyphae grown out from your
[vermi]compost. These do grow out in compost tea and are usually not broken up a great deal by turbulence unless one is using a water pump for brewing. Please see videos; Brew #1 Vermicompost Free Suspension; Not mixed with Oat Flour;
http://www.microbeorganics.com/#Where_is_your_data_

Having said all that, I have a 'mild' working hypothesis that some of the fungal hyphae (fungi imperfecti) grown out in compost tea may be mycorrhizal of another sort being relatively newly researched and known as dark septate endophytes. It is likely going to be a considerable time before I'll have more understanding of this subject.

 

[Highlight]

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[rrog]

Excellent post, MM

 

[Stankie]

I used a brand which had trichoderma for the first few grows. I couldn't tell a difference for those.
Since I tracked down a brand of only endo, I can see the difference in root structure. The roots fill the soil more than if not inoculated in plastic containers. Put me down for trichoderma free.

 

[Microbeman]

I just found this video. I think maybe you guys will appreciate it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dEJg0Ob5cg

Just a few points on the video and information.
BTW, no offence to Highlight

1/ It is difficult to off gas all chlorine by just aerating for 1 hour. Better to add a little molasses, ascorbic acid or compost to neutralize the chlorine or chloramines. It is a great idea to aerate your water ahead of time regardless to boost DO2

2/ Nematodes are not typically seen in great numbers in a 24 hour ACT. They begin drowning after a few hours. In fairness to Dr. Ingham, she has now come around (on her own) to my long held position on this subject.

3/ I do not think it is a great idea to add foods prior to beginning the extraction process of microbes. The foods have a pretty immediate effect of reducing DO2. Better to get the
[vermi]compost extracting then immediately add all foodstock. In this way you also have a better opportunity to guage somewhat your humate level by the color the water turns from the [vermi]compost alone.

4/ For the small brewer a laundry bag is recommended. What? The best size mesh is going to be 400 microns but a paint strainer is better than a laundry bag.

5/ On the brewers displayed; The first one is in a squarish tank with lots of opportunity for dead areas in the bottom corners but at least it has aeration/turbulence in the bag to push the microbes out through the mesh. The model shown is a geo brewer which retails for around $3,850.00 without the tank.
The second model is a Dirt Simple brewer. The shape is good but as far as I know, no diffuser is used and there is no agitation inside the mesh bag pushing out the microbes/cysts/spores Retail $2,270.00 for a 30 gallon model

Neither of these designs comes anywhere near comparing with the efficiency of the air lift cone bottom tanks built by the members posting on this thread....not even close!

The small design is, I believe an Australian rip-off of the KIS 5 gallon brewer designed right in good ole Washington State. As so often occurs one is purchased and then copied. Correct me if I'm mistaken.

As for getting tea tested at SFI; if you ship your tea for testing it will be changed once it arrives and then who knows how long it sits on someone's bench before it is examined. Beside this potential, SFI cultures out, [plate culture] to count for protozoa and in my opinion, this gives innaccurate results pertaining to compost tea.

 

[rrog]

I used a brand which had trichoderma for the first few grows. I couldn't tell a difference for those.
Since I tracked down a brand of only endo, I can see the difference in root structure. The roots fill the soil more than if not inoculated in plastic containers. Put me down for trichoderma free.

Where did you find this??

 

[jaykush]

someone gave me a box of this. its pretty good stuff. i did not put it in water like the box says, i added it to the seedling mix that goes in small cells. this gets them inoculated early.

http://www.nature-technologies.com/Mycorrhizae.html

 

[CT Guy]

someone gave me a box of this. its pretty good stuff. i did not put it in water like the box says, i added it to the seedling mix that goes in small cells. this gets them inoculated early.

http://www.nature-technologies.com/Mycorrhizae.html

Ahhhh.....good old "Doctor" Carole Rollins company (she never tells anyone that her doctorate was in sociology I think, but certainly nothing related to horticulture). It's probably decent, but her knowledge is rather limited. I'm still not too excited about their "tea in a box" that you buy off the shelf.

I've been wanting to try BioAg's myco product.

 

[Microbeman]

someone gave me a box of this. its pretty good stuff. i did not put it in water like the box says, i added it to the seedling mix that goes in small cells. this gets them inoculated early.

http://www.nature-technologies.com/Mycorrhizae.html

At least no trichoderma...good. The water soluble myc thing makes me chuckle. Ya and I've got some water soluble cannabis seeds.

 

[jaykush]

her knowledge may be limited but for what i got and the price (even though i got it free), its far better than most of the crap i see out there. stuff was simple and to the point.

when i read to apply with water i had to chuckle though.

though now after building soil up ive got enough myco in my soil now ill never have to inoculate again. buy it once, do it right, and your good as long as you use that soil or at least a portion of that soil.

 

[jerry111165]

Where did you find this??

Ditto on what Rrog said - what brand are you using?

Does anyone have thoughts - pros and cons on BioAgs VAM?

MM - Great response. Makes perfect sense!

Scrappy - Thank you for your response as well, and of course the rest of you. This is a great thread with unbelievable amounts of very good info from the people who actually do it.

Btw - pretty sure it was the tea I mad and watered with on Sunday - checked on the ladies last night and was very, very pleased at thier response. Theres obviously some goodness in the brewer, but I'm still going to get a microscope at some point when I can afford it. At least it shows me now that I am definetly doing some good by using this brewer.

Thanks guys and gals.

jerry.

 

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[Bueno Time]

Heres my little ghetto brewer. Using 1" pvc and a Tetra Whisper Air Pump dual outlet for 60gal fish tank. Plenty of bubbling and water flow action for just over 1 gallon of tea brewing goodness.

I remember glancing at this thread months ago and thinking it was hard to build or I would need a water pump. Didnt realize how easy it was and that I had everything but the pvc laying around already until I actually read the thread and looked at the pics.

Actually works quite well. Thanks for the thread Heady!

 

[Microbeman]

Bueno; nice

 

[jaykush]

agreed nice one!

 

[heady blunts]

HELL YES. that thing rocks. way to go BT!

 

[Rednick]

Tits! Great for that Lone Ranger in a field of hydro.

 

[jerry111165]

Bueno - theres SO much to be said for simplicity. Great job! I bet it works just fine for your needs.

Good luck.

jerry.

 

[StrapAssassin42]

hey guys...just getting into ACT and considering using seabird guano vs. bat guano.

Seabird guano is cheaper and the stuff im looking at is a 12/11/2 vs. two different bat guanos, one hi N and the other hi P.

This is the recipe i plan to use:

-3oz's "Roots Organics, Trinity" as an activator
-4 cups worm castings
-2 cups nitro bat guano
-2 cups high phos bat guano
-3 tbls soluble kelp
-1/2 cup azomite
-1/2 cup glacial rock dust

any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated...thanks!

 

[Microbeman]

When you use guano, this is not really ACT, which stands for aerated compost tea. Guano is [usually] not compost. If you use guanos there is no need to brew longterm [AFAIK] You did not state your volume of water but if 5 gallons, your rates are high. I believe there are recipes in the thread.