Compost Tea

Bigc29 - no it is definetly not necessary.

An "ACT", or Aerated Compost Tea utilizes either worm castings or compost as a base ingredient, plus a food source such as (a single tablespoon) of molasses for the bacteria contained in the compost. By adding the compost to a tea solution and then aerating the hell out of it, once you reach the proper levels of dissolved oxygen (DO2) in the tea solution you've created "ideal conditions" for the bacteria (microbes) to breed like crazy. Properly made (gotta hit the proper levels of DO2!) you can literally turn thousands of bacteria in a tablespoon of ACT into Billions!

This ACT is then added to your soil to ensure that you have sufficient microbe activity to properly Nutrient Cycle your soil - ie: breaking down organic matter into usable plant food.

IF you used quality humus ingredients in your soil construction, such as good quality worm castings (I'm not talking about "Wiggle Worm" from the hydro store) and good, rich, dark compost, then there is probably no need to make and apply an ACT. If you were to go out and buy commercial soil then you would probably want to add an ACT.

So - if you've made a nice soil using good stuff you probably don't need it, but if you're using commercial store bought you probably do. Either way, an ACT is a great tool for an organic garden and certainly won't hurt to apply.

For further information on this subject I would highly recommend this website -

Microbe Organics

That website is run by Tim Wilson, one of the worlds leading authorities on the subject of breeding and applying microbe teas, who has done the scientific research to back up his work.

This website is also run by the same man, who we were lucky enough to have here in our forums for a long time under the guise of "Microbeman", and contains alot of valuable information as well.

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1110985-act-aerated-compost-tea.html

Good luck with your garden.

J

 

Listen to jerry he know his shit when it comes to good old organics.

 

It's easy for me to turn somebody on to Microbeman and the massive amount of scientific research he has done with soil microbes - much can be learned by reading his website and his threads here at GC. He deserves the real credit.

But thank you.

J