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Re: [compost_tea] How Long For Comfrey



Typically 3 weeks is the brew time for a comfrey tea, because you need to go through the anaerobic period, let the bacteria use up the simple plant sugars, and then let the brew return to aerobic.  If you don't let the organism growth die down, you can have some fun making interesting brown streaks and yellow patches on your leaves.  I've done it enough times.....

Exactly what is made, and the chemistry of the plant teas made through the long brew cycles is not known.  Certainly, comfrey tea for human consumption is only brewed for a few minutes, which means something very different is consumed by humans than you are putting on your plants with a three week tea. 

Could we make a good plant tea in 24 hours?  We'd need to do some research to figure that out.  Certainly people put comfrey into their 24 hour compost teas, as an aadditive, and report positive effects.  But lots of knowledge needs to be gained for us to figure out WHY the impact is beneficial.  Lots more bacteria grow when we add green plant material with good sugars in the brew.

Elaien Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com
SFI Oregon, USA
SFI Australia
SFI New York
SFI Europe
SFI New Zealand

"Hope is not a feeling. It is not the belief that things will turn out well, but the conviction that what we are doing makes sense, no matter how things turn out."   --  Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic


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