Can Mosquito Larvae Breed in Manure Tea?
I am doing the tea thing with buckets and manure with water on top and had a thought. Can or would misquitoes try to reproduce in that standing tea. Between tall grass around my house and a few places with standing water I don't need any more places for misquitoes to breed.
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The Helpful Gardener
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Well........ no I have not been aerating. I had only even heard of aerating in the last couple of days. When I originaly researched the tea I did see lots of different ways to do it but I didn't notice anything about aeration until the last couple of days. Am I wasting my time with my simplified tactics?
Also, if not aerating, is that water harsh enough to repel misquitoes or would they love it?
thanks
Also, if not aerating, is that water harsh enough to repel misquitoes or would they love it?
thanks
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The Helpful Gardener
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- Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
- Location: Colchester, CT
Without aeration you are making a concoction that favors anaerobic organisms like E. coli and fecal coliforms. As anaerobes do not exhale carbon dioxide but methanes, sulfurs and alcohols, you can make acidic, ammoniacal, alcoholic brews that burn plants and possibly culture a pathogenic bacteria like E.coli. It was untreated livestock run-off from a CAFO that contaminated all that spinach back a ways. Aeration favors aerobic bacterias that are beneficial to plants and creates an ecosystem rather than a toxic stew...
Toxic to plants that is. Mosquitoes love swamp water...
Here's a bunch of [url=https://www.safelawns.org/video.cfm]videos on organic lawncare[/url]; the second one shows you how to brew your own tea... this is not stuff to fool around with; you can do damage to plants AND yourself if you aren't careful...
Dr. Elaine Ingham, world respected soil biologist, told me, "If it smells bad, it's bad." World expert who wrote the[url=https://www.amazon.com/compost-tea-brewing-manual/dp/B0006S6JVK]book on compost tea[/url](literally!); it's the best advice I ever had concerning compost tea. If it smells even a little off (ammoniacal, sulfurous, alcoholic, etc.) don't use it.
You can put bad tea out on the compost heap to great effect. Just keep turning daily until the smell goes away. Certain facultative anaerobes can be beneficial and survive aerated situations, so if you are not using the compost for some time, this can actually stimulate bacterial and protozoal cultures (a good thing as it starts the natural predatory nitrogen release Elaine calls the poop loop... I talk about it in [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13426]this post[/url]...)
Let's be safe out there people...
HG
Toxic to plants that is. Mosquitoes love swamp water...
Here's a bunch of [url=https://www.safelawns.org/video.cfm]videos on organic lawncare[/url]; the second one shows you how to brew your own tea... this is not stuff to fool around with; you can do damage to plants AND yourself if you aren't careful...
Dr. Elaine Ingham, world respected soil biologist, told me, "If it smells bad, it's bad." World expert who wrote the[url=https://www.amazon.com/compost-tea-brewing-manual/dp/B0006S6JVK]book on compost tea[/url](literally!); it's the best advice I ever had concerning compost tea. If it smells even a little off (ammoniacal, sulfurous, alcoholic, etc.) don't use it.
You can put bad tea out on the compost heap to great effect. Just keep turning daily until the smell goes away. Certain facultative anaerobes can be beneficial and survive aerated situations, so if you are not using the compost for some time, this can actually stimulate bacterial and protozoal cultures (a good thing as it starts the natural predatory nitrogen release Elaine calls the poop loop... I talk about it in [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13426]this post[/url]...)
Let's be safe out there people...
HG