hardland
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Compost tea question

I have just started a new batch of compost tea. I used worm castings, in a bag in a five gallon bucket. I have hooked up an areator. I want to add some fish emulsion and mollasses, does it matter when I add these two ingredients. I will let it areate for 36+ hrs, then use immediately....

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applestar
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I realize it's a long thread, but have you read the [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17097]Aerated Compost Tea sticky[/url]?

Wading through those pages, the consensus seems to be to add the unsulfured molasses -- no more than 1 or 2 tablespoons per 5 gal bucket -- at the beginning of the brew, and NOT to add the fish emulsion during the brewing process but to add just prior to application. Kelp meal or liquid seaweed is a recommended additional ingredient, however.

hardland
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I have read the thread, in as much detail as I could. I did add some fish emulsion, about 2 tbs to the tea already. I planned on adding the mollases at the end. I watched the video 3 times and was sure he added the mollases at the end? Will my tea be OK if I have already added the fish emulsion? I hope so, I already discarded one batch because I left it for 3 days before using, not mentined in video :lol:
A little knowledge is a very dangerous thing, you live and learn.

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Molasses first, fish last...

Even 36 hours is pushing it; you are usually optimal in 24 hours. Why push the envelope? Why waste 12 hours?

HG

hardland
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hardland wrote:I have read the thread, in as much detail as I could. I did add some fish emulsion, about 2 tbs to the tea already. I planned on adding the mollases at the end. I watched the video 3 times and was sure he added the mollases at the end? Will my tea be OK if I have already added the fish emulsion? I hope so, I already discarded one batch because I left it for 3 days before using, not mentioned in video :lol:
A little knowledge is a very dangerous thing, you live and learn.
I just want to know if adding the Fish Emuls early makes the tea bad?
All I have read and heard has been 36hrs? :? :?
Honestley confused and trying to learn.

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It is an amazing bacterial food, which can make for a huge bacterial population FAST, which can use up the oxygen in your tea FAST and...

CRASH!

Anaerobic tea...

Read the thread; feed the beast... :lol:

It's ALL in there...

HG

hardland
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I stumbled on this forum about six months ago and have found it a wonderful tool for a true novice in the vegetable garden. I cant quite understand why my questions about compost tea seem to be answered in riddles. The sticky areated tea post is 30+ pages long, maybe 125+ posts, most of them quite long and very detailed. I have tried to read it 4 or 5 times. It mentions numerous ingredients for comp tea, manure, tuna, mollases, milk, fish emulsion, kelp, etc, etc. My question was: Is my compost tea bad if I added the fish emulsion at the begining of the process. If anyone has an opinion on this, I would love to hear it. :) :)

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applestar
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I guess we're used to talking this way. :lol: But really we mean well -- that thread is a treasure trove of information. I followed it when they were first posted, and have read it through a couple more times just to get more out of them. So many people have already put a lot of time and effort into explaining and sharing their expertise. :D

You're just lucky that, this time, HG wasn't up to posting his detailed scientific explanations with several links to technical papers that have additional associated links and are often way above my comprehension level. :lol: He already did that on that other thread. :wink:

My short answer to your question is to go with what HG said, and keep the brewing cycle short with the fish emulsion enriched tea -- 24 hrs.

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rainbowgardener
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Here's another suggestion, not an answer to your question.

But I'm a lazy gardener who doesn't like fussing. The compost tea thing always seems a bit daunting to me... the bucket, pump, tubing, watching to make sure it doesn't brew too long, cleaning and sterilizing all the above.

So what I've been doing instead is compost extract... Throw a shovel full of compost in a bucket of warmish water, add a couple tablespoons of molasses and keep it stirred up for an hour or so (I just stir every few minutes). You could add your fish emulsion at the end. It makes a lovely rich product that smells so good, you might want to drink it (not recommended though! :) ). (Also that's without the fish emulsion, which would change how it smells!) Is it as good as ACT? Probably not. Is it an easy way to stretch your compost, spread it around more, get some bacterial cultures going that hopefully will continue in the soil? Sure.

Do you not have trouble with fish emulsion and critters? If I were to add fish emulsion to the compost extract and spread it around the garden, the cats, raccoons and other critters would dig up my whole garden trying to find the fish they KNOW are there. I know this by experience!

hardland
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rainbowgardener wrote:Here's another suggestion, not an answer to your question.

But I'm a lazy gardener who doesn't like fussing. The compost tea thing always seems a bit daunting to me... the bucket, pump, tubing, watching to make sure it doesn't brew too long, cleaning and sterilizing all the above.

So what I've been doing instead is compost extract... Throw a shovel full of compost in a bucket of warmish water, add a couple tablespoons of molasses and keep it stirred up for an hour or so (I just stir every few minutes). You could add your fish emulsion at the end. It makes a lovely rich product that smells so good, you might want to drink it (not recommended though! :) ). (Also that's without the fish emulsion, which would change how it smells!) Is it as good as ACT? Probably not. Is it an easy way to stretch your compost, spread it around more, get some bacterial cultures going that hopefully will continue in the soil? Sure.

Do you not have trouble with fish emulsion and critters? If I were to add fish emulsion to the compost extract and spread it around the garden, the cats, raccoons and other critters would dig up my whole garden trying to find the fish they KNOW are there. I know this by experience!
It's funny you mention that. My dog has been going crazy the last few weeks in my back yard, he stands at the rear window and looks out all evening, watching out for something. :lol: Thanks for the good advice

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So what I've been doing instead is compost extract... Throw a shovel full of compost in a bucket of warmish water, add a couple tablespoons of molasses and keep it stirred up for an hour or so (I just stir every few minutes). You could add your fish emulsion at the end. It makes a lovely rich product that smells so good, you might want to drink it (not recommended though! ). (Also that's without the fish emulsion, which would change how it smells!) Is it as good as ACT? Probably not. Is it an easy way to stretch your compost, spread it around more, get some bacterial cultures going that hopefully will continue in the soil? Sure.
I would just add one thing to this. Stir the mixture clockwise until the last stirring. On the last stirring start clockwise then a violent counterclockwise. Now you can call it Biodynamic Compost tea. :wink: :)

Eric

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applestar
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Were you kidding?
What is that supposed to do? I used to know someone who home-bottled filtered water by running it through a vortex gadget.

DoubleDogFarm
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Apple,

Mostly tongue and cheek. I am looking for the resource for my statement.


Eric

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Steiner's Biodynamics works on vortexes a great deal; manure buried in a rams horn under a full moon is a biodynamic prep, no foolin'. Does it help? I dunno :roll:

So not riddles, HD, just a million answers to any biological question like "Does fish make my tea bad?" What fish? Hot processed or cold processed? Hydrolysate or emulsion? Temperature during brewing? What type of oxygenation? PPM oxygen in the final brew?

Of course you really can't tell until you put it under a microscope, but the nose knows, especially if you have sent a batch annie-robic before. You never forget your first anaerobic stink.

I was putting together a commercial brewer from a basket of parts and cracked a two inch ball valve that had apparently been closed with a slug of tea in it for a year. The build-up of gasses had pressurized the contents and they sprayed right up my front and into my face. It remains the grossest thing that has ever happened to me and that, my friend, is truly saying something...

So this is something I want to spare you and everyone else. Anaerobic decomposition has some good points in the right place, but your compost tea ain't one of them. Knowledge is your best tool. I know the Tea Monster is scary, but it remains the repository of a lot of tea knowledge. Feed the beast; it's actually worth the time.

In the meantime use that tea sooner rather than later, fish goes last next time (why not feed the citters in their new home rather than in the tea, where oxygen is already low?), use hydrolysate rather than emulsion, and use some hay towards the end of a bubble to add protozoa.

HG

hardland
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Thanks HG, Great stuff. I'm glad I read through the last 4-5 posts, almost tossed out my 3rd batch of tea due to a bad stir.. :lol: :lol:

I have the upmost respect for the tea beast and a whole bunch of respect for the soon to be fed monster.

Halloween soon. ....



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