I just finished brewing a tea by air-pump aeration of ewc, kelp meal, em-1, rain water and a little unsulphured molasses. Aerated for 18 hours. I applied some immediately to a few selected seedlings, clones, bonsai mothers and a plant far into flowering. I still have a lot. I plan to add this or some similar aact to some soil that's been anaerobically composting with bokashi/em-1 for a month. My question is: how should I store the solution, if at all? use it all right away? if not, leave it open to the air? probable shelf life? I also am in day 3 of brewing chopped bamboo shoots, rain water and em-1 with some unsulphured molasses using a typical wild fermentation setup. Any advice on shelf life/storage/usage of that (after it goes for another week or two and assuming it gets down to pH 3.x) also appreciated. I have read some of the stickies from Patriotfarmer, with the info and links from LD, but the info is overwhelming me...many of the links open out into entire books. So as a beginner at the BIM/FPE/tea usage methods, please advise on any simple rules of thumb...things to do or not do. I think I understand the usage as foliar spray and soil innoculation and I will experiment with control plants, but I would love to increase my odds of not screwing up anything, like my recycled soil and plants, that are basically in good shape without any additives. thanks
Marapa I know of no way to store AACT brews. The few bottled products that were tested by TW at MicrobeOrganics.com showed that almost all of the colonies were DOA right out of the bottle. One product (I think it was TerraCycle?) was able to produce reasonable bacteria colonies but that was after aerating for 36 hours - seems to defeat the whole concept of a bottled compost tea. As as storing FPE I think that you'll find you have the best results by using these extracts within 7 - 10 days after it's done fermenting. The reason for that is while you have removed the original plant material, the fermentation process continues to a degree. It's in that extended fermentation cycle that the compounds you are extracting will begin to breakdown and you'll end up with all of the 'elements' but they won't be bound as before greatly reducing their effectiveness. This particularly true on plant materials you may choose for their ability to kill insects or anaerobic fungi, for example. HTH LD
Thanks LD...it's as I suspected. I'll put that tea to use right away....by the way, when you make an activated EM solution, is it also true that you need to use it right away or lose it? I seem to recall the EM-1 commercial product claims at least a several week shelf life after opening...
Marapa I try to use the AEM within a month after it hits the right pH numbers. I don't remember why I got stuck on this method - I believe it was from Vinny Pinto's web site but I'm not sure. I'll check with my EM guru up North and I'll post his answer. LD
I picked up the book Compost Tea Making by Marc Remillard awhile back. It's copyright 2010 and has images supplied by Tim Wilson. In the last chapter he discusses EM-1 and makes a claim that adding EM-1 to finished AACT can extend the shelf life. "The combined products are highly recommended, and will add a bit more shelf life to it than plain compost tea. Apply the combined product within 24 hours after the brewing process has been completed." Plausible or Busted?
I had put some AEM solution in a water bottle and forgot about it for a couple months. Now I know what rotten AEM smells like. Not good.