Author Topic: Compost tea?  (Read 5165 times)

MicrobeMan

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #20 on: April 07, 2011, 10:20:40 »
yes, thats why worm poo works so well. QED.

indeed! it's all about the micobes  ;D

and i managed to add nine pics to my gallery, for those who aren't squeemish!

enjoy!
"Gentlemen, it is the microbes who will have the last word."
— Louis Pasteur

Interested in microbiology for improving your organic growing regime?my new blog is here!and a new website too!

Stevens706

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #21 on: April 07, 2011, 12:25:19 »
Thank you MicrobeMan great post and very interesting, I would be interested in learning more. I have a wormery and read about the liquid in the sump and you get different opinions some say it's great for the plants once diluted while another say it's not. What is your opinion?

MicrobeMan

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #22 on: April 07, 2011, 14:00:33 »
I have a wormery and read about the liquid in the sump and you get different opinions some say it's great for the plants once diluted while another say it's not. What is your opinion?

it rather depends, is the straight response, but it *should* be ok for your plants, provided that it's stabilized - that it's a product of a healthy wormery, with plenty of energetic worms. 

if the worm population is looking decidely lazy, if their numbers have dwindled (as it's getting colder, for example) then i understand why some might say it's not a good idea to use the juice, as it may just be the waste food "juice" dribbling through the layers and collecting at the bottom.  not a problem, if you have a healthy worm population, as it'll be steeped in lots of friendly bacteria - humus forming bacteria and thus will be ok.  BUT, if there aren't many worms or the worms are sluggish, then the liquid will have less "friendly" bacteria and indeed could be a vector for pathogens, a food for "unfriendly" bacteria.

Wormeries are great, but worms can be picky - bannana skins need to be wel shredded and aged a little before they'll munch them and citrus they simply don't like - too much of one type of food waste can upset their constitutions, for example. Spraying compost wines/teas on a wormery (or a conventional black plastic council-provided composter) will help with their digestion and encourage reproduction.

fermenting your compost and putting it in the ground will work better, as you can include all those food wastes that you wouldn't normally dare to put in a compost bin or classic wormery (including cooked foods and meat wastes).  I'm overdue in redesigning an area of my website to explain how to make really good fermented compost (to make worm nests - see previous post and gallery pics) with a series of "howto" videos at www.sustainable.org.uk/bugs/ but i'm a little camera shy  ::)

but, in answer to your question and  with the above caveats, you should be ok to use it as a feed - make sure you dillute with rainwater or tap water which has been stood for a week or so, so the chlorine can vent off, otherwise the chlorine (even in trace quantaties) will retard/kill off the microbes you want to add to the soil of your plants.  You can use it neat as a drain conditioner, if you don't want to risk it on your plants - useful in the summer months.

hope this helps
"Gentlemen, it is the microbes who will have the last word."
— Louis Pasteur

Interested in microbiology for improving your organic growing regime?my new blog is here!and a new website too!

Stevens706

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #23 on: April 07, 2011, 14:04:54 »
Thanks for the quick reply MicrobeMan

Nigel B

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #24 on: June 16, 2011, 18:12:42 »


Well anyway.....
This thread did pique my interest somewhat, so I disappeared off into the ether  for a while to have a read. Unfortunately, due mainly to strong medication, I tend to read much, but retain little, as it were, so it took a while...
After that, here's what I did.... I took a builders bucket (with his permission;)) and three-quarters filled it with water from the garden pond. (It just seemed that water that had things already living in it would be preferable, as opposed to tap water which, when the Chlorine has evaporated, is sterile to all intents and purposes) and added an air-stone attached to a tube attached to the air-pump so the water fairly fizzed with bubbles.
Then, I added a spade-full of home-made compost from the compost heap we keep in the chicken pen. We add all sorts of kitchen-waste to it (Chickens love mashed potato :D), paper, cardboard, weeds, veggie scrapings, dead cuttings and seedlings, grass.... anything that will rot down really. The chickens then get to eat what they will and poop on the rest... It works wonderfully.... Meanwhile, back at the bucket, I gave the water/compost mix a good stir and added a guesstimated ounce of organic plant food (Biobizz). It smells just like molasses (And probably is) .... Let the whole thing bubble for two days, strained it into the watering-can and used it on a couple of plants that needed a boost.
I can confirm the plants picked up really well and turned a vibrant green within the week.....

Works for me.....
Any advice to improve my method (provided it costs nowt or as near as ;)) would be most welcome.
"Carry on therefore with your good work.  Do not rest on your spades, except for those brief periods which are every gardeners privilege."

MicrobeMan

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #25 on: June 17, 2011, 12:56:11 »

This thread did pique my interest somewhat, so I disappeared off into the ether  for a while to have a read.

Let the whole thing bubble for two days, strained it into the watering-can and used it on a couple of plants that needed a boost.

I can confirm the plants picked up really well and turned a vibrant green within the week.....

Works for me.....
Any advice to improve my method (provided it costs nowt or as near as ;)) would be most welcome.

well, Nigel B, i'd say you've got the method "down" as they say  ;D

i would bubble the compost mixture for a bit longer - say a week or two, depending on where it's sited and whether it's in the sunlight (less time if it gets really hot) and i'd add some topsoil, too, just to get some of those soil bacteria and fungi in there (and the nematodes of course)...

if you have any seeweed extract type fertilizer add a bit of that too, as algae are a useful component to the cooperative synergy.

btw sorry to hear you were ill - i have been ill too for about 3 weeks, so i sympathise  :-\.

but i've been busy behind the scenes working on putting together a new blog and website to address the importance of microbes in growing.  my blog (only just started) is at this link and the new website i'm in the throes of putting together is at http://www.muckandmagic.info, which i hope will build into a detailed resource for those interested in the subject.

and for those wishing to give my microbe brew a try, please email me offlist (pm??) and let me know where to send out to...

in the mean time, Kudos to you Nigel B for starting your own experiments!
« Last Edit: June 17, 2011, 13:00:32 by MicrobeMan »
"Gentlemen, it is the microbes who will have the last word."
— Louis Pasteur

Interested in microbiology for improving your organic growing regime?my new blog is here!and a new website too!

ceres

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #26 on: June 17, 2011, 13:03:51 »
MicrobeMan
Your links don't work.. I think these are correct?

http://www.plant-alchemy.blogspot.com
http://www.muckandmagic.info

If you put the links in your signature, you won't have to keep typing them out, they'll appear in all your posts.

MicrobeMan

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #27 on: June 17, 2011, 13:05:43 »
MicrobeMan
Your links don't work.. I think these are correct?

http://www.plant-alchemy.blogspot.com
http://www.muckandmagic.info

If you put the links in your signature, you won't have to keep typing them out, they'll appear in all your posts.

yes, thanks ceres i messed up with the url tab thingy, but sorted it out in the re-edit - thanks!
i will put those links in my signature, once i work out how best to do it {faceplam}
"Gentlemen, it is the microbes who will have the last word."
— Louis Pasteur

Interested in microbiology for improving your organic growing regime?my new blog is here!and a new website too!

Digeroo

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Re: Compost tea?
« Reply #28 on: June 17, 2011, 15:53:59 »
The Henry DoubledayResearch Assoc now Garden Organic have been into compost teas, comfrey and nettle in particular for many years.  Those of us who were into the old All muck and magic programme on TV in the 80s have bee  going down that route for years.  Bob Flowersdewwith his pig tail was young then.
 
Garden Organic have a members experience this year concerning growing in pots and giving them compost teas.  I did not go in for that one because if I grow in pots sooner or later I forget to water them.

Sounds as if RHS are now jumping on the bandwagon. 

I remember going to the agricultural research station north of london while at school in the 60s and seeing the experients with fertilizers.  Round the experimental plots which contained wheat the farm manager used manure.  It has always stuck with me that the wheat grown on the manure was noticeably superior and remember them saying that they were always striving to get somewhere near to those results artificially.

My aunt too used to have amazing blackcurrants growing on the outwashings from the cow sheds.

So those new to it welcome to the smelly world of those of us with buckets of compost tea brewing in the garden.


 

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