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C
CT Guy
I typically use it straight (around a quart per pot) and then follow up with watering over the top. It doesn't really matter though as long as you stick to appropriate application rates and the water you use to mix with is dechlorinated.
CT guy - Would you agree this isn't a microbial tea? It seems like more of a compost tea. I am going back to microbeman's recipe.
Really a compost tea is a microbial tea. What one is doing is actively extracting microorganisms and spores from the compost into a liquid environment where they are provided food and dissolved oxygen which encourages the division of bacteria/archaea (b/a) and the growth of fungal hyphae.
In an efficient brewer the b/a begin dividing and fungal hyphae grows rapidly in the first 16 to 24 hours of the brew.
The b/a can double every 20 minutes so one can have billions within 24 hrs. At around the 24 hour period the flagellates (usually but sometimes naked amoebae) begin to divide in response to the b/a.
These can divide every 2 hours so say you start with 1000/ml at 24 hours (visually this would be approximately 1 every 13 fields of view at 200X magnification), a very small number, then by 36 hours they turn into 64,000 (a good number) but if you run until 42 hours then that turns into 512,000 flagellates per ml. Depending upon your purposes you can decide to stop and apply at the appropriate time.
The advantage to tweaking a recipe beyond just a basic food like molasses is that one can select for a wider range of species of b/a or in some cases perhaps fungi. Whether this subsequently triggers more diverse protozoan species and results in a wider range of nutrients cycled is an unknown but it could be the case.
If one complicates the recipe too much, this could result in insufficient dissolved oxygen and lower numbers of aerobic b/a.
MM. I have been checking my Tea with my nose. At 24 hours starts to smell like wet grain. At 36 hours starts to get a little tang to the smell with a hint of sweet.
One time I had a Tea that smelled like hell after 48 hrs so it got tossed.
This happened when I dropped my measure cup in the brewer and stuck my arm in there so maybe my sweat did somthing bad?
No problems with ACT with clean bucket and p-trap
One time I had a Tea that smelled like hell after 48 hrs so it got tossed.
This happened when I dropped my measure cup in the brewer and stuck my arm in there so maybe my sweat did somthing bad?
No problems with ACT with clean bucket and p-trap
M
MrSterling
First "tea" is now bubbling. I only had a couple small air pumps, so I'm brewing a small batch and keeping it simply botanical. I don't believe I have enough air to keep things aerobic if I add compost. Ingredients are molasses, aloe vera concentrate, kelp meal, mint, lavender, and rosemary. Barely understanding what I'm doing, need to read more, but feeling on the right track.
Maybe you brewed a culture of your epithelial (is that the right word?) bacteria?
singingcrow
Member
Just popping my curly head in here to say thanks to so many of uou for continually teaching me here. This is, by far, the most important thread in the throw forums. Everytime I return, I learn something new. Thanks for making me laugh scrappy!
*she runs out the door*
*she runs out the door*
singingcrow
Member
Oh, and I have two morbid questions: 1) what would happen if you drank a cup of CT? Would it act like taking a probiotic? Not planning on it..just curious 2) what happens to the tea if you let it bubble and evaporate for 2 weeks while on vacation. Will the flaggelates grow up to become frogs and jump out of my brewer by then?
Told you they were morbid.
Told you they were morbid.
C
CT Guy
1. Nothing would probably happen, maybe some indigestion. It's comparable to eating a bunch of soil from a microbial perspective (provided everything stayed aerobic). I know a few people who have tasted it. It's not the same as a probiotic, which are microbes specific to the human intestinal and digestive system.
2. You're confusing flagellates and tadpoles. Flagellates are microscopic and don't "grow up" into any larger form or creature. They would probably just die if the liquid was left to evaporate, though other microbes are able to encyst or form biofilms to protect themselves until conditions became appropriate for them to become active again.
2. You're confusing flagellates and tadpoles. Flagellates are microscopic and don't "grow up" into any larger form or creature. They would probably just die if the liquid was left to evaporate, though other microbes are able to encyst or form biofilms to protect themselves until conditions became appropriate for them to become active again.
is there any correlation between the physical structure of the foam on a compost tea and its level of microbial activity?
is there any reason the foams bubble size and density would change given that the same ingredients/brewing conditions?
That foam is ussually caused by saponins somewhere in the mix, but if oils are released during the brew that could stop or change foam. You can stop foaming in compost teas with a little fish oil. Changes in air pressure in the atmosphere or in the brew tank air pump could change foam density too.
Did this help? I'm not sure where your going with this.....scrappy
yes,it did help.
my last batch of tea had much larger bubbles than normal was why i asked,typically the foam is a lot like good cappuccino foam,sort of a "dry" foam that can push up into an almost foot tall "head". this last batch was big bubbles and very "wet".
S
SeaMaiden
Ah, the foam, the foam! The foam you're observing is, in my opinion, much more likely dissolved organic compounds (aka DOCs). This foaming action occurs because these compounds have a hydrophilic (water loving) and a hydrophobic (water hating) end, aka polarity. What happens is the hydrophobic end sticks to the air bubbles, and then travels up with them.
This process is harnessed and has been being harnessed as one of the oldest forms of chemical filtration called foam fractionation, or protein skimming in aquatics. It is used specifically to pull these water column-polluting compounds out of the water, where they can be drained away out of the collection cup.
The goal for a properly functioning protein skimmer is a very dry foam.
To get an idea of how this works in nature, imagine those sea or lake shores on windy days when you get those foam blobs on the shoreline. That's foam fractionation at work in nature.
Forgot to add that the finer the bubbles the better (and more likely) the foaming action. Venturi inlets usually are the most reliable for creating the superfine bubbles required for best foam fractionation action, but wood blocks may also be used to create those bubbles. So, if you create LARGE bubbles you should observe very little foaming.
This process is harnessed and has been being harnessed as one of the oldest forms of chemical filtration called foam fractionation, or protein skimming in aquatics. It is used specifically to pull these water column-polluting compounds out of the water, where they can be drained away out of the collection cup.
The goal for a properly functioning protein skimmer is a very dry foam.
To get an idea of how this works in nature, imagine those sea or lake shores on windy days when you get those foam blobs on the shoreline. That's foam fractionation at work in nature.
Forgot to add that the finer the bubbles the better (and more likely) the foaming action. Venturi inlets usually are the most reliable for creating the superfine bubbles required for best foam fractionation action, but wood blocks may also be used to create those bubbles. So, if you create LARGE bubbles you should observe very little foaming.
in this case the foam managed to push past the fountain and made a big mess! the batch at work even managed to push the lid off the brewer yesterday!
S
SeaMaiden
Yeah, I've read my share of protein skimmer skimmate horror stories. A lot of people don't care for the smell, but I do. It *is* a bit of a mess.
what? people dont care for the smell of sweaty donkey butt? lol i like the smell of a well brewed tea,and its quite remarkable to see its effects on all the different plant species i deal with.i have seen prudent applications of tea take plants hovering on the brink of death back to lush green growth in very short periods of time.
