Soil Food Web Gardening with Compost Teas

BookMarked!!

Question about nettles, I've read where people let leaves and stems soak in non areated water left outside to break down outside where it becomes anaerobic and really smelly and you have to dilute it to use it.

So my thinking why not avoid the risk of bringing in harmful bacteria to the soil which could disrupt fungi balance and possible lower levels of aerobic bacteria by breaking down the leaves and stems in aerated water bucket.

After two days I have some slight foam on top very little and a wonderful smelling lightly greenish yellow water that appears to have the bio activators or the appearance of due to how the water color has changed I can't help but think the biology in the plant matter is now in the water and I don't have to wait two weeks and it does not smell. I can just keep adding water and leaves when water color lightens to continue to bring these dynamic bio activators to my soil when watering correct?

Anywise I should probably do a side by one with out the aerated nettle water, one with the anaerobic diluted form and one plain h20.

Unless someone has experience using their nettles this way I'd like to know.

DankSwag

My gals been loving
1/2 cup EWC
1 cup Humisoil or Compost
1 tsp Molasses
1 tbsp Alfafa Meal
1 tbsp Kelp Meal- all per gal, brewed for 24 hours.

Brix, Terpene, and Flavanoid profiles are always on the rise with diverse brews!!

Thought I share a little gem with you all

http://oregonbd.org/Class/accum.htm

DankSwag

Thanks for the Dank Swag DANKSWAG!

trichmasta said:

My gals been loving
1/2 cup EWC
1 cup Humisoil or Compost
1 tsp Molasses
1 tbsp Alfafa Meal
1 tbsp Kelp Meal- all per gal, brewed for 24 hours.

Brix, Terpene, and Flavanoid profiles are always on the rise with diverse brews!!

Click to expand...

I'm surprised you're brewing for only 24 hours. i was under the impression kelp delayed/retarded microbial activity for about the first 18-24 hours, thereby requiring brews that include kelp to go for around 36-48 hours. have you scoped your brew before use? I'd love to know what kind of water and what water temp your brewing at right now, as well, because if i could get a tea together with kelp in less than 48 hours that'd be huge!
be easy,
Dr.J

DANKSWAG said:

Thought I share a little gem with you all

http://oregonbd.org/Class/accum.htm

DankSwag

Click to expand...

thanks dank! i need to get me some watercress!

Dr.J20 said:

I'm surprised you're brewing for only 24 hours. i was under the impression kelp delayed/retarded microbial activity for about the first 18-24 hours, thereby requiring brews that include kelp to go for around 36-48 hours. have you scoped your brew before use? I'd love to know what kind of water and what water temp your brewing at right now, as well, because if i could get a tea together with kelp in less than 48 hours that'd be huge!
be easy,
Dr.J

Click to expand...

Huh... Never heard that about kelp. I brew with a commercial air 1 pump, micropore ring, in a 5 gal bucket and brew 3-5 gallons at a time. Teas brew in my garage that is in the 60's, bucket is insulates with r3 insulation sleeve; at feeding brew is tepid and prolly in the upper 60 degree range.
My gals have never looked better or been as vigorous in both stages with this brew. Brew times at max are 30 hours.
Thanks the tip! Good looking out.

What are the top recommended brewers I can buy, I'm guessing the vortex is one of them?

I've been looking at these, hear they are exceptional for compost tea making.

http://www.kisfarm.com/product-category/indoor-gardening-equipment-and-soil/compost-tea-brewing-systems/

DawgSwag

Are the vortex really good or just good at marketing? I might save up money if they are the top dog.

IMO building your own is both cheaper and more satisfying RE: the brewer.

I noticed the book teaming with microbes mention the ratios of fungal to bacterial in the soil, sorry if I missed it in the previous pages, but do different strains prefer different ratios at different times? what's the aim in ratios here? I notice he mentions bacterial dominated for annuals but there's so much geared towards fungi in this community I'm guessing it's a balance?

I think it is bacteria with acidic environment for growth and fungus with basic environment for flowering.

Mohican said:

I think it is bacteria with acidic environment for growth and fungus with basic environment for flowering.

Click to expand...

So to bring it back to gardening with teas, in my understanding, brewing a balanced tea can be a pretty safe bet because the domination (bacterial v. fungal) will take place according to the exudates produced by the plant at the particular stage in the plant's life when the tea is applied. It is reasonable, then, to conclude that using a balanced brew recipe every time would not be harmful, but it may take longer for the particular microbial proportions to arrive at the optimum symbiotic balance. Also, it would seem that the recipe itself doesn't actually need to change, per se, but rather the brewing time: as we all know, more brewing time = more fungally dominated tea.
sound about right?

Sounds reasonable.

I thought the bacteria dominated the mycorhizal and therefore not to add to brew till the end or do a separate myco tea on its own?
Have I been fed bad information?

Scroga said:

I thought the bacteria dominated the mycorhizal and therefore not to add to brew till the end or do a separate myco tea on its own?
Have I been fed bad information?

Click to expand...

I'm going to need a more thorough explanation of what you mean by this before I can respond intelligently

This link is full of great tea info:

http://www.microbeorganics.com/#What_is_Compost_Tea


I am still reading it




Cheers,
Mo

it was said that the longer the brew time, the more the mycos will flourish and dominate the aerobic beneficial bacteria in the tea (assuming that its the balanced recipe that was mentioned?)
I was under the impression that the bacteria suppressed mycorhizal products therefore it was best not to add fungi products to teas until just prior to application...