Hello All,
Thanks for the many responses. Tim, I found your site full of info and rea=
d through it all. You have done amazing amounts of research, thank you for=
freely sharing!
I ended up writing directly to Dr. Ingham and got an answer a few minutes a=
go. First off, the article is nearly 15 years old, which helps me to know =
that tons of research has been done since then (there was no date on the ar=
ticle itself). Elaine answered that she doesn't recommend adding sugar base=
d "food" to tea because most small brewers don't have the capacity to aerat=
e it well enough to allow it to develop past aerobic fungi, protozoa, etc. =
She also said, most of her research since the fine gardening article has s=
hown that we already have high enough bacterial populations in most soils a=
nd compost (unless intensive biocide application has occurred) and what we =
are lacking is the fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and microarthropods. Theref=
ore, most garden systems need to be inoculated with these microbes, not nec=
essarily bacteria. This makes sense to me.
I am still at a loss for one aspect of this, and I realize I didn't explain=
it well enough in the first post. I am interested in the longer term of n=
utrient allocation and availability and have come across information about =
anaerobic microbes being a necessary part of nutrient storage in soils via =
the ethylene cycle, where anaerobes actually hold nutrients back from plant=
availability which has been theorized is a beneficial function of soils to=
maintain fertility over the long-term. Most soils will have pockets of bo=
th anaerobic conditions and aerobic conditions. When thinking in terms of =
till-based gardening we are encouraging aerobic conditions via the continuo=
us addition of oxygen inducing tillage, but as we know long-term this deple=
tes soils over time. I am interested in whether it is actually beneficial =
to maintain a healthy population of anaerobes in the soil and thus in our c=
ompost teas.
Long, not entirely informed, question short, has there been a lot of resear=
ch done on looking at anaerobes from a beneficial standpoint? I wonder if =
the research has been skewed more towards aerobic microbes since that is ho=
w we treat soils generally through various forms of agriculture (i.e. tilla=
ge). When it comes to compost tea, I then wonder, what is so bad about hav=
ing a few extra anaerobes? Is there a healthy balance? Or in a tea brewin=
g situation perhaps it goes too far toward anaerobes once headed in that di=
rection.
This is getting complex, but I would be interested to know others thoughts.
Jason
--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, "wormlady" <whitemountainworms_at_...> wro=
te:
>
>
> I'd be interested in the answer to that myself.
>
>
> --- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt_at_> wrote=
:
> >
> > Hi All,
> > I am new to this group, and joined mostly to stay up to date on the lat=
est
> > research into compost tea brewing. I have one question that perhaps
> > someone can answer. Does anyone know if Elaine Ingham endorses the way=
she
> > suggested brewing compost tea in the this article in Fine Gardening
> > magazine at this site:
> > http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/brewing-compost-tea.aspx
> >
> > There is no date on the article so I am unsure if it is disproven by re=
cent
> > research. I simply want the best, least expensive way to brew consiste=
nt
> > small batch compost tea. I saw the above article, saw that Elaine wrot=
e
> > it, therefore trusted it, and already went ahead and bought all the
> > materials before doing further research. I don't really want to buy ox=
ygen
> > meters and spend hundreds on testing batches taken from multiple points=
in
> > the brewing process. I suppose I might if I have to, but I am hoping t=
here
> > is a straightforward 5-gal bucket method that doesn't require too much
> > research work. My hope is that the risk for harm is higher in larger s=
cale
> > brewing, and minimized at the small-scale.
> >
> > Any thoughts, anyone?
> >
> > Jason
> >
>
Received on Thu Dec 01 2011 - 14:26:04 EST