Two interesting articles: How to brew compost teas by Laura Ingram The Jury is Still Out on Compost Tea by Lee Reich
That second article is foolish. No one ever said that AACTs were a complete replacement for soil ammendment, but he treats them as if they were. . .
I put it in for contrast, it's linked on her article page and the title caught my eye. If I got the right bio, he's considered an expert. In syndication with the proper education and professional experience. The ability to use existing mechanized field sprayers verses spreading and/or working in compost for the same purpose is just a fad, I'm sure. The simple brewer she did her article on, for a first time user of ACT teas such as myself, answered my questions on how to construct what I need to do it, the KISS principle.
In my experience, a slight poop smell means the tea is starting to go anaerobic. I have removed the "tea bag" and had it smell like poop, but the tea smelled fresh and earthy. If the tea smells good after removing the compost bag/filter, you're good to go. If the tea is starting to go anaerobic it's either run out of food for the microbes and they're dying off, or there isn't enough o2 getting into the tea. Try adding some molasses to the tea (1-2 tsp/ga) and further oxygenate the brew, if the smell disappears, you can use the tea, otherwise, I'd start over. You might want to add other food sources to your tea besides molasses. Fish hydrolysate, kelp meal/ liquid kelp, agave nectar (organic) humic-fulvic acid, rock dust powders are examples of food sources that feed different bacterias and fungi. HTH chunk
How long can these teas remain aerobic in a jug or bottle? If one were to brew at home, would they survive an hour or so trip in a sealed container? Or better yet, could they be added to a soil mix before it was even brought to the plot? Also, I'm having trouble finding a concrete answer, but it would seem to me that this is not a replacement for fertilization. Is this wrong? or does it somehow affect the schedule/volume/type of fertilizers being used? Sorry for all the questions. I search as much as I can but sometimes I just can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for.
mostnonymouse-many compost teas can survive upwards of 4 hours after aeration has ceased. a tip to help you out is to pour your tea into a container about halfway and leave a nice, big air gap at the top. the extra O2 at the top of the container should last your microbes a couple of hours until you can dilute and apply your tea. most aact's only provide minimal nutrition as far as n-p-k ratings go. what they are able to do is 'fix" certain nutrients in the soil so that they are more readily available to be taken up by the plant. they may also provide an increased ability for the plants to absorb and use the nutrients that were already present in the soil. so while they're not directly providing the macro's like other types of food, these teas enable the plants to make full use of what's around them. in a nutshell... hope this helps! blue skies
It absolutely does! Thanks for the clarification. I still have a lot to learn but I'm sure I'll have all the soil/nute info that I'll need after a couple more weeks of research.
it kinda has that lake water fishy smell. its 4gals & im using a paint strainer bag w/ a 10-20gal air pump w/ 3" round air stone. ive added molasses, kelp meal, ocean meal, fish meal, liquid seaweed, kinda been following LD ACT recipe, except i cant find humic acid, & just picked up some Garrett Juice which has The simple but powerful formula of compost tea, apple cider vinegar, molasses and seaweed has been made even more powerful with the addition of hydrolyzed fish in it. & do i need to ph my water & or ACT?
If your tea has gone anaerobic, your gag reflex will tell you whether or not it's good . Sounds like it's more of the earthy smell I described. I'll see if I can't source you some humic acid. Take care bro, chunk