Re: [compost_tea] Substitute for fish hydrolase

From: <soilfoodweb_at_aol.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Sep 2003 01:16:15 EDT

Jako wrote:

> Hi, here is sunny South Africa we cannot buy fish hydrolase's. Will fish
> emulsion also work and do I use the same amount? Can I substitute yucca with
> aloe? I can buy a cubic meter of aloe leaves (which the sap(bitters) has been
> drained from) for about fifty dollars. I just have to figure out how to
> grind it to a paste. What is the saponin content of yucca?

Fish emulsion has had the fish oil removed, and thus much of the fungal food
has been lost. It is a bacterial food then.

If you don't have fish hydrolysate, then try oatmeal, as Jeff Lowenfels has
tested and found to be successful. Please talk with Jeff about what he did,
rates of use, types of oatmeals. He has also tried, and been successful, with
many other meals. Please talk with him about those trials, which he has
summarized on this list serve previously.

Aloe leaves have a highly toxic matherial in them, and thus aren't really
useful for making something for the tea. The saponin component is in the sap
material that you describe as having been removed already. Each method of
preparation of yucca determines the saponin content. You need to go to the company
which makes the preparation and ask them for that information on saponin
content of their material.

Pine sap is a good sticker, fruit juices often get the bacteria to make
glue-like materials that help things stick to leaves. Molasses can work well for
this, but you probably want to find a microbial inoculum that includes good
amounts of Pseudomonas and Bacillus species. They will help make the sticky
materials when you use molasses. Most well made, aerobic composts contain these
bacterial species.

Hope this helps -

Elaine
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





Received on Sun Sep 28 2003 - 10:52:38 EDT

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