On Nov 21, 12:13 am, Tad wrote:
On Nov 20, 7:46 pm, wrote:





This is a good time to practice as, at least in the northern hemisphere, where the ground is cooling down and you can't expect too much growth from your plants anyway.

Billy, that raises another question -- we're just now getting down to
the upper 30's at night. Will cold temperatures affect the brewing?

Wow, Tad, thanks for the in-depth response! You're obviously a well-
versedteabrewer.

This means that when I turn on the aeration, the water level is raised up over 2 inches higher from the bubbles.

Oh man, my current setup, which includes *two* aquarium pumps, barely
gets the surface of the water moving. So what you're saying is that
the water should be roiling like crazy, not just bubbling a bit?

You may want to consider adding anothercompost, but all you need is maybe 2 cups total or 1 lbs. worth.

Really, that little? One website I found said to fill a 5-gallon
bucket half full withcompost! I probably used about five or six cups
in my first batch.

Do you have any humic acid or liquid kelp?

I'm afraid not. I always look for liquid kelp but all I can ever find
is fish emulsion around here. Would that be of any benefit?

Air stones can be problematic.

Great advice to clean the air stones. I would have never thought of
that.

Wow, two weeks brewing????

Yeah Jeff, I'm nothing if not tenacious, not to mention a little
nuts. :P

Thanks so much for the info here folks. I've got a few days off for
the Thanksgiving holiday and will try my hand at another batch of
composttea.

Best regards!

I have say, I am impressed with your tenacity! We'll get you making
qualitycompostteaI'm sure! I'm in agreement with Jeff about
starting over and brewing for somewhere between 24-36 hours. And less
is more when it comes to adding addition foods for the microbes in
yourtea. Too much molasses and yourteacan go anaerobic in a matter
of minutes, even if you're pushing a lot of air into your bucket.

Homemade recipes I've seen from Dr. Ingham called for some humic acid
and liquid kelp and maybe a little molasses. I can dig up the recipe
if you'd like.

As for optimum temps., you want to brew at the ambient temperature
you'll be applying theteaat. It makes sense really, you're
selecting for the organisms that are most successful at that
particular water temperature in yourtea, so you want it to match the
temps that you're applying at. Optimum temps are 70-85 degrees F.,
though you can brew at up to 95 degrees (though you will need to cut
back on your foods). From 50-60 degrees F., you may need to increase
your brewing time and also add more foods, as the organisms will be
slower to reproduce.

As for filtering, I haven't seen any data relating to the use of
cheese cloth. Jeff, maybe you can help here. I know Jeff recommends
the use of large-size nylons (I can't remember the specific size that
fits over the bucket). I assume that would be larger than 400 microns
when stretched, so any fungi and protozoa should be able to make it
through the filter. You don't want the filter to be catching your
larger beneficials though, so make sure you're not straining it too
finely.

I know in Florida this time of year, many people are using thetea.
Here in Seattle, we're done spraying for the year. We typically try
to get one last application down on the leaves that have fallen and
been mulched to speed up their decomposition over the winter and
increase the organic matter in our soil come spring time.

By the way, I don't mean for my posts to be discouraging in any way.
I think it's great that you're giving it a shot in making thetea. I
really am talking about optimal conditions with everything I'm
listing. You may not be maximizing the extraction and replication of
these organisms in your brewer, but that doesn't mean it won't be
beneficial. I say go for it and experiement. Try a few different
recipes on the similar plants or patches of your yard and see how it
responds. If you want to get really scientific, you can send in a
sample to Soil Food Web or look at yourteaunder a microscope. Where
are you located? If you're close to Seattle, you can send me a sample
and I can take a peek at it for you.

~Tad- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Here's that recipe I was talking about from Dr. Ingham:

5 gallon brewer
1 lb. of compost (I tend to prefer volume, as weights will vary with
moisture)
1/2 cup of humic acid
1 to 3 T. of kelp
1 teaspoon of non-sulfured, blackstrap molasses

Check biology when you are done. If fungi are too low, up the humic
acid or lower the molasses

Bacteria and fungi compete for food. High bacteria mean low fungi,
unless you get the right balance of foods for them to both do well.