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[compost_tea] Re: ACT Test



Tom Jaszewski

702-595-7012

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Lowenfels [mailto:jeff@gardener.com]
Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2003 1:07 PM
To: compost_tea@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [compost_tea] ACT Test

 

Ah, I might have misunderstood!  I thought we were going to get SFI 
to do the testing for us..meaning all the conditions would be the 
same. That is really the only way to make it work...There are simply 
too many variables....ranging from the kind of soap people use on 
their hands to exactly where they make their tea. For this "test" to 
work, it really has to be in one room, at one time, with the same 
compost and the same water and the same nutrients.........

 

TOM WROTE> Which pretty much makes it pointless! We may as well make 
a donation to SFI. Even under SFI conditions what do we learn? Noone 
builds a machine that brews tea like every other machine?

 

As I have said before, this will be fun, but, THE REAL TEST IS WHAT 
YOUR OWN TEA IS LIKE...and how it impacts your particular soil 
foodweb situation. The idea of finding a world champion machine seems 
silly if we know that almost all machines out there, with the sad 
exception of the Soil Soup machine are capable of making teas that 
meet both the fungal and the bacterial ranges SFI has developed. That 
is what counts. Not whose makes the best tea with the exact nutrients 
we are going to pick.  In fact, this sounds like taking plate counts 
on a larger scale! 

 

TOM WROTE> There are more dogs than SS?..sadly!

 

So, again, it will be fun but I don't think it will prove a darn 
thing. 

 

TOM WROTE> I agree this sort of testing shows little! Anyone worked 
with a brewer that produces great tea regardless of the ingrediants? 
It seems pretty clear the recipres are specific to the device?


Having said that, if you want to make better tea, do so with your own 
machine--fungal tea is what seems to be the problem.  Here are my 
suggestions:

 

1. Buy the Compost tea manual from SFI (WWW.SOILFOODWEB.COM .

 

2. Start with activated compost. There seems to little question that 
starting the fungi growing using a handful of oatmeal flakes of one 
sort of another increases the fungi available to be extracted into 
the tea. Activation in a container with a loose lid for three to five 
days at 80 in the dark is ideal. If your compost fungi don't activate 
(no white, Santa beard strands), since it is Sunday --then buy Alaska 
Humus (WWW.ALASKAHUMUS.COM). 

 

TOM WROTE> Or tested vermicompost?

 

 

3. Make sure your machine is spotless. It doesn't take much slime to 
do in a good tea. How many days would you go without brushing your 
teeth? One day? Two? Three? The same build-up in those hoses and 
cranny's occurs after one, two and three brews.

 

4. If  you have an air machine, throw in a handful of bark (orchid 
bark?) or large sticks to help break up compost while you brew.

 

5. Use only Kelp and Humic Acids as your ingredients to start. Have 
the tea tested by SFI. These ingredients usually put tea into the 
ranges suggested. 

 

6. If the test has low fungal numbers,  next add some rock phosphate. 
At the same time, use your 15 minutes with SFI to explore whether you 
are making your tea properly. People complain about SFI's price, but 
you can get an awful lot of information for that price, so the 
complaining isn't really fair. Use your time.

 

7.If this test has low fungal numbers, contact the brewer 
manufacturer. Almost all of them will work with you to get your teas 
up to snuff. 

 

8. Consider buying a nutrient mix from those of us that sell 'em. 

 

Some thoughts. 

 

 




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