Re: [compost_tea] Fruit Club Update

From: jim allAn <jallan6977_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 14:53:07 -0400

   I am interested in the idea of a tea club. I would like to know
how it got started. In particular, since I can't afford a decent
proper setup, did the club pool there money to buy equipment?
   My own setup consists of a 20 gal static brew tank in which hangs
a sandbag full of cow dung. I presently have no bubbler but am
working towards a portable tank which I can charge at the house and
transport 1/8th mile to the garden. I shake the bag several times a
day. So far I don't have a significant odor problem. The brew tank
sits 10 feet above my storage tank. I keep water going in _at_ 1gph.
This I siphon from the bottom down the grade to a fifty gal. steel
drum. I never flushed it with any solvent so the oil it once
contained and which permeated the drum still protects it from rusting
from the inside. The drum is 10 feet above the garden bed height so
I am able to drain from the bottom a light colored almost odorless
liquid which I use to foliear feed my veggies. I also put some
personal urine for nitrogen into the brew tank. To much of that and
it definitely goes anaerobic and smells terribly foul.
   If I could get a club started to use and finance a proper brew
system it would be just great. Not to mention reducing everyones use
of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
   My current garden problems are mainly wormy critters and slugs
which mess up my toms and peppers. I seems my 22 has discouraged the
mice that used to eat half a tomato and leave the rest. I keep the
slugs mostly at bay with used coffee grounds. I plan to try a strand
of copper wire around the top of the beds. Slugs will not cross a
copper barrier.

On 26 Oct 2003 at 9:29, Judi Stewart wrote:

>
> I put out the fresh banana bread and hot coffee on the table at the
> tea house. This is the last time we'll be making compost tea as a
> group this year. We've now grown to over 100 family memberships and
> more than 1/3 of us use compost tea. This time, we're making 500
> gallons in two batches and every drop has someone's name on it.
>
> One member, Jim, came over Friday to help me set up the brewer. He
> wanted to see how we make compost tea and the ingredients used because
> he's going to make his own 50 gallon brewer.
>
> Jim said he and his wife moved into their house 15 years ago. Among
> the trees on the property, there was this particular pear tree. Every
> year it produces pears, scabby pears. He also said that the leaves
> curl. The pears were
>
> about 4 inches long. This year he put compost tea on that tree. He
> had no scab, no leaf curl, pear size increased 50%, and the canopy was
> loaded with fruit. He doesn't know if he should credit the dry summer
> or the compost tea. But in 15 years, he thinks there must have been
> other dry summers, so he's leaning towards the tea.
>
> I'm used to skeptics in the group. A group this size can't be
> without them. But I don't have to say a word any longer. I just
> smile. Now that the season is over, there are so many members sharing
> their "success stories." I'm just thinking (worrying) of what I have
> to do early next spring before the apricots bud out.
>
> Judi
> BobOLator 250 gal.
>
>
>



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Received on Sun Oct 26 2003 - 14:24:44 EST

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