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[compost_tea] Re: Compost tea brewers



Jason-welcome to the group.  We share a similar climate and soil it 
seems, as I'm over in Surrey, BC.

I'm also a newbie at this, you'll find not too many people are old 
timers at such a new idea as aerated teas.

With our wet climate, I'm hoping the apple and plum trees, as well as 
jap. maples, will really benefit from the teas.  Disease problems 
threaten to make these plants impractical, at least from a commercial 
viewpoint--scab, canker, black knot, verticillium, our wonderful mild 
climate is great for plants and so many disease organisms.

Just my tiny bit of experience having a 22 gal machine now, I'm very 
happy with the somewhat smaller capacity.  Many machines don't work 
unless totally full, so you make 100 gal, or whatever, for e.g. every 
time.  This can be quite a bit of tea to spread unless you have very 
good spraying machinery.  On the other hand, I can make consecutive 
brews for up to 6 days a week, which saves a bit on totally 
sterilizing the machine between brews, and do the spraying each day at 
a more leisurely pace. I guess I like the versatility of a bit smaller 
capacity machine.  This 22 gal of very high quality tea is enough to 
drench the better part of an acre of soil, or several acres of 
foliage, tho I'm starting out with much higher rates on my own acre.

And of course there's the upfront cost of that bigger brewer.

Just saying that for smaller acreages you might find a smaller brewer 
is a good value, and versatile. 

Like you, sure would like to see that hardpan disappear thru CT use.  
I was just thinking about how impractical it would be to subsoil, as 
well as probably only a temporary solution with our climate and 
soil--wouldn't the iron, etc. just reform and require subsoiling again 
and again?

Good luck over there--Glen


--- In compost_tea@yahoogroups.com, Jason Austin <jason.austin@s...> 
wrote:
> Thank you all for the number of replies.  As I said, I am a newbie 
at this.
> 
> To answer some of the questions, I have 5 acres.  On this I have 110 
> holly trees, 150 apple & plum trees, 350 trees in a tree nursery, 
and 
> some vegetable crops in between.  My soil is sandy loam in most 
parts. 
>  Half the property is flat with deep soil,  and the other half is on 
a 
> gentle south facing slope with hardpan at about 3-4 feet.
> 
> I live on Vancouver Island on Canada's west coast.  I have an 
irrigation 
> pond and usually I last the summer with that, some summer rainfall 
plus 
> well water.  These last two years though have been dry, particularly 
> last year and I have had to limit the amount of irrigation.
> 
> Some of the holly trees are getting scale, and this last year there 
was 
> a very bad infestation of leaf miner.  Most of the holly trees are 
> planted (by a previous owner!) in the area with the hard pan.  I 
thought 
> of using the high bacterial CT as a folia spray to control the scal 
and 
> perhaps deter the leaf miner.  I thought of a deep fungal drench to 
> improve the soil; to build up the water retention capability of the 
> soil; and who knows - over a very long period maybe to start 
breaking 
> down the hardpan.   I was planning on using a lot of the CT for the 
soil 
> drench, hence the 100 gallon brewer even though I have a small 
acreage. 
>   Maybe I am going too big, I don't know.  If there is not much 
> difference in cost I would rather have surplus capacity.
> 
> I hear the messages that the main advantage of buying a 
preconstructed 
> brewer is that a reputable manufacturer will have done the testing 
so 
> the cost of testing is reduced or avoided.  I will be contacting the 
> manufacturers.
> 
> On the other hand, unless I am mistaken, a preconstructed 100 gallon 
> brewer will cost me at least $C5,000 and I can buy a lot of parts 
for 
> that.  I plan to use a 100 gallon sprayer on a three point hitch on 
my 
> tractor.  It occured to me that if I build both, it may be possible 
to 
> combine the brewer in the sprayer - ie have one unit that both brews 
and 
> sprays - but I am not discounting the costs of experimentation!
> 
> So those are my thoughts just now.  If there are any other words of 
> wisdom I am all ears <grin>.
> 
> Thanks again,
> 
> Jason
> Victoria, BC


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