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