Scott wrote:
> I (and the group i spoke to) would like to know - If the mixture was aerated, would the weeds and herbs break down more rapidly and be available to use in a much shorter time?
Elaine's reply -
You have to distinguish between what happens to simple, structurally not-complex foods, as opposed to complex foods.
The anaerobic condition results in anaerobic bacteria, using anaerobic metabolic pathways, to consume the simple foods and produce alcohols, organic acids - some of which give the smells we all associate with anaerobic conditions - phenols, terpenes, putrescines, and other complex compounds, which may include antibiotics. Only half of these simple substrates will be completely metabolized, which means you end up with anaerobic sludge on the bottom of the container. That sludge will have to be dealt with using aerobic conditions.
In the AACT brewers, the simple sugars, simple proteins, and simple carbohydrates are pretty much all used (taht means turned into either bacterial biomass, fungal biomass, a few aerobic metabolites which will be consumed by other bacteria and fungi, CO2 and water) by the end of the brew.
In AACT brewers, the fungi have the chance to begin breaking down the cellulose and other complex molecules in the plant tissue. They won't have finished that process in 24 hours, so those complex food resources continue to feed your organisms once you put the tea out into the real world. The break down of complex foods by fungal metabolism releases bacterial food. The way fungi chew up cellulose, humic acid, complex fish proteins, etc results in the release of food resources for bacteria. And generally, just the foods for beneficial bacteria, not the bad-guy bacteria. Although, this has to be in aerobic conditions. No aerobes (if the tea is anaerobic, right?), then the bad guys can use the food resources.
What if you have no good guys in the tea? What if you used stinky compost, where the anaerobes were the active critters? The outcome of AACT could be questionable. You have to have the good guys.
So, when you are using anaerobic processes, breakdown is much longer, and right now, we don't know enough to be able to predict the outcome of an anaerobic or fermentation type of tea. We have not studied the parameters enough to be predictive of whether or when the good guys finally start ruling again.
So the simple answer to your question is yes, AACT is ready in 24 hours, anaerobic or fermentation tea is "ready" in three to four weeks. Maybe longer.
But, one other thing to think about. The end product of AACT is the whole foodweb, active and ready to go to work for you.
In anaerobic or fermentation teas, the organisms are asleep by the time you finish the fermentation, and they are ready to work for you. You have to wake up the beneficials again, and in fact, most of the beneficials will not survive the fermentation.
OK, one more thing - the end products of the anaerobic processes CAN be (be aware, when someone says can, it means we have no guarantee that it will turn out every single time) highly toxic to a number of critters.
What have we learned about doing the toxic thing? That ultimately, it does more harm than good. A one time application of a pesticide can knock the bad guys for a loop, but you have also taken out a herd of good guys. You have to put the good guys back.
So apply AACT to get t he good guys back. Or good compost, if you have enough to cover everything.
Scott wrote:
> I have heard somewhere (probably at the one-and-only bio-dynamics workshop I went to many years ago) that the predominant weed is able to supply the needs of the soil. I took that to mean that the major minerals, and trace elements could be added back to the soil by applying these plant teas. Someone in this group probably knows which weeds have a predominance of which minerals, and which weeds are telling us something about our soil .
The problem there is that sometimes weeds seem to concentrate nutrients, sometimes they don't. You need to do plant tissue analysis to know that the weed is higher in concentration in a particular element before trusting to this approach.
OK, I'm a scientist and require data before I will back anything. Other people don't need that level of quantificcation, and I'll give you that just because we haven't quantified something, does not mean it isn't true. Grin. Classical scientist, huh?
How do we reconcile this? We need data. Show that all comfrey in all parts of the US, in all soils, concentrates N, K, etc. I suspect that in fact, comfrey in Oregon concentrates different nutrients than comfrey in Georgia. Some work is needed.
Scott wrote -
> So . . . . when the plant teas are "ready" would they be safe to add at the beginning of a AACT brew OR would it be best at the end, just prior to application???
Elaine responds -
You need to test this. I think (that means no data, just extrapolating from experience with lots of messing about with these things, and relying on talks I've had with lots of biodynamic people who have lots of experience, Jeff Poppen and Alan Balliet, for example), it depends on what you want from the tea.
If the nutrient you want needs to get directly into the plant, you add the plant tea into the AACT and foliar apply the mix. The high numbers of good guy bacteria and fungi in AACT elevate CO2 on the leaves, and the nutrients released in the plant tea fermentation (we think), results in the nutrients being pumped directly into the plant, and getting the plant's nutrient levels to be super-charged.
If you want to elevate the nutrient in the soil, you add the PLANT, or the plant tea, to the AACT compost bag, and let the brew occur with the plant. That way the nutrients are tied-up in the bacteria and fungi, and they don't leach when you add them to the soil. Especially in the fall, after harvest, you need to do this, because otherwise, the nutrients you worked so hard to gather, to ferment and release in the plant tea, and apply to the soil just leach right on out if you don't have the beneficial organisms working for you in hte soil.
Scott wrote:
>I have lots of huge thistles (supplies copper, I think), Cobblers Pegs, plantain, and a host of other weeds and I reckon these could make a very "nutritious" soil additive once they've fermented.
Elaine writes:
Could be. Any chance you could test that anaerobic/
fermentation tea after it is done, and show the nutrient level? Or even better, do a plot of just adding water, a plot of the just AACT, and a plot of the AACT plus plant tea, and in a week, pull plant tissue, and have an analysis done of each of the three areas.
SHOW US THE DATA, if you would. That way you would begin to really document this, and the rest of us would share.
------------------
Which reminds me, SFI did some testing on humic acids as fungal food resources, and I'm not sure I ever reported those results. The take-home message was this:
Humic acids extracted using harsh chemicals (strong acid and strong base) are not as good sources of food for fungi as humic acids extracted using hot water, or less harsh chemical means. Humic acids that have been extracted using harsh chemicals can be revived, or biologically activated, however.
The list I like? Terra Vita's highest concentration humic acid, Helena Chemical company's HydraHume, Horizon Ag's humic acids, a product out of Australia called Biostarter, made by Tryton. Tom Piatkowski has made a study of all these sources of humic acids, and he is a good resource to ask questions of. That's tom_at_healthysoil.com
Anyone else have a favorite humic acid? If we've tested it, and I can share the data, I'll let you know how it did in testing.
Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
SFI Corvallis, OR
SFI Port Jefferson, NY
SFI Lismore, NSW, Australia
SFI Hilversum, The Netherlands
SFI Cambridge, New Zealand
www.soilfoodweb.com
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Received on Sun Nov 16 2003 - 13:29:58 EST