Re: Compost Tea Recipe

OhioGardener 9/4/2018, 9:57 am

has55 wrote:OG, have you notice any other reduction in specific insect pest or disease besides powdery mildew since you started applying compost tea?
How long have you been applying compost tea?
I did not put down any compost tea or compost this year and noticed a significant attack of disease on my cucumbers and watermelons. They were wipe out. I was able to save the peppers with actinovate organic fungicide. Last year I had a great abundance of food. I'm starting the compost tea prep for the fall and winter garden hopefully later on this week. Too many projects, here and on the new business adventure in staffing healthcare.

I have been using compost since the 70's, but have only been using compost tea for about 3 years. This year is the first time I have used foliar spray, having only used soil drenching up until recently. We were gone for month-long road trip mid-summer to see our first grandbaby, and when we returned home in mid-July the gardens were a mess. Lots of damage to plants from flea beetles, cucumber beetles, and cabbage worms. I remembered some videos I had watched on growing your greens youtube about compost tea and decided to research it. At that time I just had a 5 gallon bucket with an air stone for a tea brewer, but I made batch of tea and did a foliar spray with it. A week later I repeated the process, and I noticed a dramatic decrease in the number of flea beetles and squash powdery mildew. Most of the cucumbers were pretty much destroyed when we got home, and I had already removed the plants.

I have since built a new and more effective 15 gallon tea brewer, and have continued the foliar spray every two weeks. The growth and production of the vegetables since then has been amazing. I am making the compost tea with worm castings, molasses, kelp, and fish fertilizer. I decided to use worm castings rather than my own compost to make the tea so that it might add different microbes than I already have.

has55 9/11/2018, 10:24 am

put the items together yesterday. Will put tea on the beds today.

the empty holes where worm bucket was located

vermicomposting bucket out of ground waiting to be harvested

worm poop in bucket

water in composting tea can

harvesting worm poop

composting tea bubbling

taking the vermicompost bucket back to the holes using handle

compost tea setup. The brewing is on.

OhioGardener 9/11/2018, 11:10 am

Looking good, Has55! I noticed you have the air pump sitting on the ground - I put mine up higher than the brewer so there is no chance of the water running backwards in the tube and into the pump in case the electric power goes off, is that a concern?

I have another batch brewing, and about ready to go into the gardens.

No_Such_Reality 9/11/2018, 2:37 pm

Has55, is that the 2 gal Lowe's bucket or a 5 gallon, looks short, so assuming the 2G.

Did you screen in the holes or just leave the big holes open for easy critter access? Or basically is it just a 2G pail with a bunch of 2 inch holes drilled in it, stuffed in the ground and covered with a 10 inch irrigation cover?

I need to migrate to these as every summer I have huge die offs in my vermicompost towers during the heat waves.

has55 9/11/2018, 6:56 pm

No_Such_Reality wrote:Has55, is that the 2 gal Lowe's bucket or a 5 gallon, looks short, so assuming the 2G. -YES

Did you screen in the holes or just leave the big holes open for easy critter access? HOLES ARE OPEN.
Or basically is it just a 2G pail with a bunch of 2 inch holes drilled in it, stuffed in the ground and covered with a 10 inch irrigation cover? YES, YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD. This way they can get away in the summer or winter. Easy in or easy out.
they are working quite well in all the beds. you can easily see the contents and put your hand in to harvest.
I love the ones in the waist high beds because I don't have to bend over to feed them. easy for transport too. I fill the containers to the top, the worms are able to handle it.

**sanderson** 9/12/2018, 4:48 am

OhioGardener wrote:Looking good, Has55! I noticed you have the air pump sitting on the ground - I put mine up higher than the brewer so there is no chance of the water running backwards in the tube and into the pump in case the electric power goes off, is that a concern?]

My husband told me to to make sure that I set the air pump higher than the bucket to prevent tea from being siphoned back into the pump. Just a precaution.

**trolleydriver** 9/12/2018, 10:14 am

sanderson wrote:
OhioGardener wrote:Looking good, Has55! I noticed you have the air pump sitting on the ground - I put mine up higher than the brewer so there is no chance of the water running backwards in the tube and into the pump in case the electric power goes off, is that a concern?]
My husband told me to to make sure that I set the air pump higher than the bucket to prevent tea from being siphoned back into the pump. Just a precaution.

I expect the reason for keeping the pump higher is to prevent siphoning of the compost tea out of the bucket if the pump stops working.

has55 9/17/2018, 3:42 am

trolleydriver wrote:
sanderson wrote:
OhioGardener wrote:Looking good, Has55! I noticed you have the air pump sitting on the ground - I put mine up higher than the brewer so there is no chance of the water running backwards in the tube and into the pump in case the electric power goes off, is that a concern?]
My husband told me to to make sure that I set the air pump higher than the bucket to prevent tea from being siphoned back into the pump. Just a precaution.
I expect the reason for keeping the pump higher is to prevent siphoning of the compost tea out of the bucket if the pump stops working.

make sense to me.

OhioGardener 3/17/2019, 10:38 am

I need to get a heater that I can put in my 10-gallon Compost Tea Brewer in order to heat the well water to the 65° to 70° temperature range. Anyone with experience with doing this that can recommend the best type of heater?

I found some hydroponic reservoir heaters that are pretty economically priced and thermostatically controlled. Wonder if these would be reliable in the bubbling water? Here are some I found on-line, but are also sold in a local hydroponic store:

https://www.hydroponics.net/i/136585

has55 3/20/2019, 2:36 am

the heater prices are fair.

**sanderson** 3/21/2019, 4:07 am

Compost tea does best at 65-70*F? I never thought of the temperature. Summers reach in the 100s here.

No_Such_Reality 3/21/2019, 12:22 pm

For a ten gallon setup those are too big. A 10-20 gal setup that is intended to heat about 10 degrees above ambient average room temp should only take about 50W heater. A ten gallon can often do a 25w heater. If you have a resevoir and bubbler and not sprayers, smaller may work better.

Bigger isn't better as its like trying to simmmer on the stove by flipping the burner between max and off.

If the well water is coming out closer to 52F you might be better let it sit to warm up. Even then a 50W should be fine as after initial heat, it just needs to maintain ambiant air heat loss.

OhioGardener 5/29/2019, 8:39 pm

Today I built a new airlift-type compost tea brewer as an upgrade to my smaller air infused brewer. This one is built using a free 35-gallon brine tank from a local water softener dealer. The food grade plastic tank is 18" diameter by 34" tall. I installed a 3/4" ball valve drain at the bottom of the tank to make draining the tea easy. The airlift design is based on the plans developed by Mr. Tim Wilson, which were developed for a 50-gallon tank. With the airlift brewer, I can brew up to 30 gallons of compost tea each time. Last year I applied compost tea to all of the gardens on a monthly schedule, which was very successful and will be repeated this year.

has55 5/30/2019, 12:19 am

Your airlift looks great. Does that motor get hot?

I built an airlift yesterday, but the floor got wet from the splatter. so I had to stop it. How deep is outlet port beneath the rim? I probably had the outlet tube to high and above the 5-gallon bucket. I will look at it again. I have been corresponding with Tim the last few days about making the protozoan soup tea. He gave me some ideas.

OhioGardener 5/30/2019, 8:34 am

The pump motor gets very warm, but not so hot that I cannot keep my hand on it. Outlet port is 4" below the rim of the tank, and there is very little splatter of the liquid - there is an occasional drop that splashes out, but very little and not enough to see on the floor. The water is low enough below the rim that I could put a 1" extender tube in the down elbow to increase the discharge to 5" below the rim without a problem.
What has Tim recommended for increasing protozoa activity? I have been using his recipe for compost tea, and the microscope shows a very good mix. For the 10 gallon brewer I was using, I used this recipe (now have to adjust for 30 gallon):

4 cups Compost
½ Cup Black Strap Molasses (Unsulphured)
½ Cup Fish Hydrolysate
1 Cup Alfalfa Meal

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has55 5/31/2019, 2:32 am

OhioGardener wrote:The pump motor gets very warm, but not so hot that I cannot keep my hand on it. Outlet port is 4" below the rim of the tank, and there is very little splatter of the liquid - there is an occasional drop that splashes out, but very little and not enough to see on the floor. The water is low enough below the rim that I could put a 1" extender tube in the down elbow to increase the discharge to 5" below the rim without a problem.
What has Tim recommended for increasing protozoa activity? I have been using his recipe for compost tea, and the microscope shows a very good mix. For the 10 gallon brewer I was using, I used this recipe (now have to adjust for 30 gallon):

4 cups Compost
½ Cup Black Strap Molasses (Unsulphured)
½ Cup Fish Hydrolysate
1 Cup Alfalfa Meal

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he prefers a tea made up of a divsere community of microbes. So it basically the same recipe with the fish hydrolysate.
from Tim," I believe in rearing protozoa together with the other organisms. The types you want are flagellates and naked amoebae. I would use some alfalfa meal ( cheap at livestock supply) with a bit of compost and molasses and aerate."
Where did you get your alfalfa meal, I can only find pellets?

OhioGardener 5/31/2019, 8:21 am

has55 wrote:Where did you get your alfalfa meal, I can only find pellets?

I bought it at True Value - they don't stock it in the store, but I can order it on-line with free shipping to the local store. It is only 5#, but it is Down to Earth brand. The local hydroponics shop also sells it, but they are a lot more expensive than True Value is. Come to think about it, I need to order another box.....

https://www.truevalue.com/alfalfa-meal-5-lbs

The local grain elevator and feed store also sells the alfalfa meal that they use to mix with animal feeds, but they only sell it in 50# bags and they do not think it is organic.

OhioGardener 5/31/2019, 12:50 pm

has55 wrote:Your airlift looks great. Does that motor get hot?

Today I used the infrared temperature gun to measure the temp of the air pump after it had been running for 14 hours. The temp gun showed the pump to be 104ºF.

OhioGardener 5/31/2019, 2:50 pm

Started a 25 gallon batch of compost tea last evening, and this morning I took a sample of it to look at with the microscope (the sample was taken at the 14-hour point). It is looking good, and smelling really sweet. I will take another sample at the 24-hour point, before applying the compost tea to the gardens.

Here is a short video of the brewing process:

has55 5/31/2019, 6:38 pm

it looks great. went back to look at those peppers you revived with the compost tea on page1 I believe. Do you know the bacteria to fungal ratio yet? I thought I put the numbers/ratio up from dr. Elaine Ingham youtube video or webinar on this posting, but I don't see it. Do you recall or anyone else where I posted it? It would be great to see the ratio you are seeing. I know it set up per five viewing/slides when you take you the sample.

has55 5/31/2019, 6:42 pm

this video tells why your compost tea helped your peppers recover and increase its yield to more than you could eat. Awesome problem. It doesn't have the bacteria to fungi ratio I'm trying to find.

has55 5/31/2019, 6:58 pm

I found it.
DR. ELAINE INGHAM'S BASIC COMPOST TEA RECIPE
Making a tea or extract with your COMPOST shows how concentrated it is with the growth of organisms. Teas should be applied to foliage to feed the SOIL FOOD WEB. The amount applied is determined by the organisms in the tea. If the tea has excellent numbers of what is missing in the soil, then you could apply as little as 5 gallons per acre. If there are good levels of organisms in the tea, then 10 gallons per acre, if not many organisms, then 20 gallons per acre.
Dr. Elaine Ingham's Basic Tea Recipe:
A. 25 gallons of water, aerated to remove chlorine, add two teaspoons of a humic acid solution (preferably humic acid extracted from your own compost).  
B. 1 to 2 tablespoons of humic acid diluted in 2 cups of water BEFORE adding to the COMPOST TEA water OR 1 to 2 tablespoons of fish hydrolysate (pre-diluted to neutralize the acid preservative according to the label on the container).  
C. 1/2 cup of kelp mixed in 5 cups of water BEFORE addition to the compost tea  d.
D. 5 pounds of good aerobic (good smelling, like deep forest soil) compost with excellent bacteria, fungi, protozoa in the compost. Using a microscope, assess the compost: Using a 1:5 dilution of compost, 400X total magnification, there should be a MINIMUM of thousands of bacteria in each field of view, 1 strand of fungal hyphae in each 5 fields, 1 flagellate or amoebae in each 5 to 10 fields of view and 1 beneficial nematode per drop.
Additional foods if needed to improve fungi: 1 cup steel cut oats, or bran flour, or shrimp shells (no protein on the shells!) put in the compost bag with the compost  .
Replace humic acids with the same amount of fish hydrolysate if the plants need a nitrogen boost .
 NO MOLASSES!
Extracts are usually applied to the soil

how are you coming along with identifying the organisms? The bacteria is easy, I'm still learning the others.

OhioGardener 5/31/2019, 8:06 pm

has55 wrote:
 NO MOLASSES!
Extracts are usually applied to the soil

This is the one point in which Tim Wilson disagrees with Elaine Ingham - he believes it is myth about not using molasses:

"Review of Some Common Myths; [In no particular order]

1/ Small bubbles destroy fungal hyphae or other microbes.

This is utter nonsense. The bubbles/air would need to be super compressed to harm any microorganisms.

2/ Molasses should not be used or only feeds bacteria.

Black strap molasses (BSM) is a complex sugar/carbohydrate and feeds bacteria/archaea and fungi equally well.

3/ Fungal hyphae is difficult to grow in ACT.

If you have fungi in your [vermi]compost and have a decent brewer design and use 0.50% BSM it will grow out in the first 15 to 20 hours along with bacteria." Quoted from Tim Wilson's Microbe Organics

"how are you coming along with identifying the organisms? The bacteria is easy, I'm still learning the others."

Still working on that, and it is a slow process.

"Do you know the bacteria to fungal ratio yet?"

My compost tea currently has a very low percentage of fungi, because my compost is made in compost tumblers which do not have the ability to create fungi in the compost. This is something I am working on, trying to increase the fungi in the beds. As soon as it becomes available, I am going to change to making at least half of the compost ingredient as worm castings. The worm casting should greatly increase the fungal activity in the tea.

OhioGardener 5/31/2019, 8:11 pm

There is a typo error in my recipe for compost tea posted above - the amount of Alfalfa Meal is incorrect. It should read:

For 10 gallons of water:
4 cups Compost
½ Cup Black Strap Molasses (Unsulphured)
½ Cup Fish Hydrolysate
½ Cup Alfalfa Meal

has55 6/1/2019, 12:50 am

How often did you apply the compost tea to your pepper to helped them healed and increase their fruit production ?

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