A while back I picked up this newsletter about composting. In it there was an article about Jack Cacciato of Jensen Landscape Contractors who is experimenting with compost tea. He says compost teas are ideal for plants to maximize growth and ward off disease carrying pathogens. The tea is brewed in tanks with water, vermi-compost and catalyst added—kelp nutrients, humic acids and rock dust. Compost aerated in water promotes growth and enhances the diversity of beneficial organisms.
Elaine Ingram of Soil Food Web Inc. says pathogens grow best in anaerobic conditions but in fully aerobic conditions, pathogens are weakened because they cannot obtain food and do not survive. Aeration extends the brewing process to maximize growth and the diversity of organisms as well as enabling the tea to soak up the beneficial minerals and nutrients while preventing the process from going aerobic. After brewing it then can be applied to plants and soils increasing retention and cycling of nutrients making them more accessible in plant available forms increasing growth and increasing immunity to disease.
Compost teas also increase micro-biotic diversity and this helps to suppress diseases nutrient retention. Production of plant available nutrients Aerator hoses can be used to perturb the water in the tanks or water can be injected through nozzles over the compost enclosed in a straining material over the tank. Tea is applied with sprayer and can be supplemented with sugars which promotes bacteria growth, rock dust, soluble kelp and humic acid which promotes growth of fungi Best time to apply is in evening when stomata of leaves are open and Ultra Violet rays are low (From the Ground Up Aug 2002)
Another interesting approach is that taken by Doctors Michael Martin Melenderez and Michael Karr. Their company Soil Secrets of New Mexico claims that their products as part of a complementary process done along with soil restoration therapy can built an inch of soil in 5 years.
Proliferation of beneficial bacteria
Reduction of water use by 50% in five years
History
The gardens in the past have been intermittently fertilized with compost or manure tea. produced in our specially designed dispenser towers. In 2010 we moved the compost tea systems up the hill to the High Tunnel Greenhouses.
How it works
By leaching out the nutrients of the substrate into water, we can provide the plant with essential elements in a soluable form, which can be more quickly assimilated.
Systems and Infrastructure
We have two compost tea dispensers one of which has been cut down to a shorter length for mounting at a high level above the High Tunnel Greenhouse on the retaining wall below the pool.
Neither is currently active although that may change in the future.
Compost Tea Directions
The stages for the development of compost tea are basic.
Fill 55 gal bucket that is the main compost tea housing with water
Add soil to the smaller 5 gal bucket.
Lower bucket into Barrel
Water will cause souble elements of soil to mix with what
The soil triggers biological reactions in the water to create compost tea.
Compost tea should be either use within about a week or a aerator should be added
Compost tea can be applied to the plants using a liquid applicator/sprayer or by simply using a bucket.
It worth noting that variants on Compost Tea include the use of Worm juice or liquid from Worm Casts in a Vermiculture System. Manure can also be used.
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