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[compost_tea] Re: Holding time for tea



Maybe this is already clear to everyone else, but I'm still uncertain 
about adding foliar nutrients to a tea that is going to be
immediately 
sprayed out.

I would like to combine fish and kelp foliar feeding with the tea 
being applied.  If I add fish at 1:100 in the tank, and kelp at
1:200, 
will the oxygen demand kill off a significant amount of my tea in the 
30-60 minutes it takes me to expel that tea from my sprayer?  

A possible factor is that lately I've gone to spraying straight tea 
(other than a small % of water used to dilute the yucca that is added 
to the tea in the spray tank). Thus I have a very "concentrated"
bunch 
of organisms in that spray tank, ready to consume the fish/kelp when 
it's added...

It sure would be nice if we could eliminate the extra trip around to 
foliar the nutrients separately from the tea, but not if the tea gets 
murdered in the process--Glen

--- In compost_tea@yahoogroups.com, soilfoodweb@a... wrote:
> I have been asked, off the list serve, to comment on how long you 
can hold tea.
> 
> IF you make sure that oxygen is maintained in aerobic ranges, you 
CAN hold tea for up to 5 days.  
> 
> BUT please recognize that during that time, you very well may
select 
for an ever-diminishing set of organism diversity.   The reason for 
the 5 day cut-off is that by that time, you are deal with a limited 
set of microbe diversity.  
> 
> If you add any foods into that "being-held" tea, oxygen will
PLUMMET 
to very low levels.  You have bunch of activated, starving bacteria 
and fungi in your 2 to 3 day old tea, and they will be SAVAGE about 
any added food, using it very rapidly, and with a huge oxygen demand. 
 Ask Bob of Bob's Brewers about his experience with this!  The oxygen 
demand can be so extreme that it will result in loss of the
beneficial 
fungi, protozoa and nematodes from the brew quite rapidly.  Within 4 
to 6 hours.  
> 
> So, if circumstances force you to hold tea, do it with caution, add 
only minimal amounts of food (no more than a teaspoon or 20 ml, for 
example) after 24 hours.  It can be done, but with extreme care.  
> 
> If you tank mix nutrients into your tea, you have the same 
situation, so remember that you have only a few hours - perhaps only
4 
to 6 hours - to get the tea out before the beneficial fungi have been 
consumed.  
> 
> Of course, once your organisms have gone flying through the air in 
droplets, the aeration problem has been alleviated.  The thin layer
of 
tea on a leaf surface will be nicely aerobic.  Diffusion is quite 
adequate on the leaf surface.  
> 
> The test to determine whether aeration was adequate is to PUT THE 
TEA INTO A SEALED CONTAINER AND LEAVE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE OVERNIGHT.  
Open the container and smell at 24 hours.  If ok, your tea was likely 
ok.  IF stink can be detected, do another tea.  
> 
> Compost tea is meant to be made, and applied right away.  There is 
no point in holding it, as you start to lose diversity after 48 to 72 
hours.  Hold it only if you have no choice.  With proper maintenance, 
tea can be held up to 5 days.  But then, apply it someplace that you 
don't care if the results are a bit funky.  I personally let the weed 
patch have it.  You are helping diversity in the soil, which will 
ultimately will select against the weeds.
> 
> OK?
> 
> Elaine Ingham
> President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
> SFI Corvallis, OR
> SFI Port Jefferson, NY
> SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
> SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
> SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
> www.soilfoodweb.com


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