should be ok, smell the tea, if its smells like sewer, its bad, if it smells like fresh forest/compost, your good.
I do add kelp 1 hr before it finishes. I don't add molasses because then your microbes feed on it and are full on food by the time you water it into the soil and they aren't as active. Better to to use molasses on its own in your feeding regimen. But my question anyway was whether nutrients from the ingredients leach into the water? Which im sure is a little but wondering if its significant.
you got that a little wrong man, they need a sugar in order to reproduce, if you brew it for that long with no food, whats the point? You are close, but no molasses is a missing link, and an essential one. I hate to break it to you, but you probably don't have much microbial life in there with no food.
Dr. Elaine Ingham the who is probably most world renowned compost tea expert in the game, you should do some more research dude. www.soilfoodweb.com
alright, don't add molasses or any sugars to your AACTs, I don't mind either way.
my response there was definitely a little dickheadish, lol, I apologize for that and I do appreciate your replies. the basic recipe Im using is one she told me when I did a farm up in trinity county and went to one of her seminars up there and asked what a really cheap way to make tea was and that's what she told me I could do. She says not to use molasses and I don't remember her exact explanation, but my buddy that does teas up there said when he would check the activity of the tea using a microscope he noticed when you use molasses the microbes weren't nearly as active when the tea was done and acted like they were full on food. and his thoughts were that you want the microbes to be starving when you put them in the soil so they get to work breaking down the stuff in the soil faster. My next thought would be that maybe I do need some sort of food to help them reproduce like you stated, but I thought the worm castings, compost and hummus was that food source?
no prob, man, you won't get any aggressive behavior from me, i'm a firm believer in all of us working together, no worries.
"And consider the issue of food for microbes. If you don't use microbe food in the water to make tea, then chances are the microbes won't reproduce much, and you may be breeding the 'bad guys'. Food recipes for composting and/or tea brewing should select for beneficial microbes."
Specifically to figure out the best food sources to put in my tea. Im under the impression that the microbes will form on the compost, feed from the castings and hummus, but need to be shaken so they separate from the tea bag into the water where they can reproduce. Definitely have a lot to learn still lol
Actually the castings and hummus just breed different beneficial bacterias and fungis. so I still need a food source lol"And consider the issue of food for microbes. If you don't use microbe food in the water to make tea, then chances are the microbes won't reproduce much, and you may be breeding the 'bad guys'. Food recipes for composting and/or tea brewing should select for beneficial microbes."
"There is still a lot of misinformation about using molasses in compost and tea. Molasses is almost pure carbon. Sugar is an energy food, and has very little value in exponential microbial reproduction which requires nitrogen in PROTEIN form." These are from www.thesoilguy.com who has studied under Dr. Elaine Ingham. So youre definitely right about needing a food source, looks like I have much more research to do
nah, screw shaking the bag, ya gotta get a beefy air pump, ecoplus, hydrofarm etc. Spend a good 50-60 bucks on one, and you are set, don't get the crappy aquarium ones, they aren't enough"And consider the issue of food for microbes. If you don't use microbe food in the water to make tea, then chances are the microbes won't reproduce much, and you may be breeding the 'bad guys'. Food recipes for composting and/or tea brewing should select for beneficial microbes."
"There is still a lot of misinformation about using molasses in compost and tea. Molasses is almost pure carbon. Sugar is an energy food, and has very little value in exponential microbial reproduction which requires nitrogen in PROTEIN form." These are from www.thesoilguy.com who has studied under Dr. Elaine Ingham. So youre definitely right about needing a food source, looks like I have much more research to do
interesting.......im just starting to make the beenie tea and the 'starving the bennies' thing makes sense .......but it sounds like one of those eternal arguements of 'do i dont i' .
I agree, I have 2 eco air 4's with 4 airstones in each 5 gallon bucket that I brew. I put 2 cups of compost, 1 1/4 cups earthworm castings, and 1 cup Alaskan hummus in the strainer bags. I only gently shake them a few times throughout the brew time
gonna order some food sources today and a 400x microscope. On that soilfoodweb.com theirs a microscope tab and you can get a 400x microscope with led light and 2 megapixel camera built in for like $380. Then I can really know what im breeding
I know some people that do it like that, honestly I don't use a bag, I dump it all in my 22 gallon drum, and fill her halfway, and the pump churns the tea like crazy.
That's a good point, a stronger microbe you would think could do more work.
NICE, yeah I haven't gone that route just yet... but in the future.
yeah I wonder if there is tester of some sort that can test my oxygen levels in the bucket. Cause youre supposed to stay above 6ppm oxygen. I wonder what im at
But from what I've read it's not about them being "full" they don't reproduce without food, its not about feeding them, per se, its about getting them to reproduce