Re: [compost_tea] Information for Newcomer

From: Robert Norsen <bnbrew_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 23:05:00 -0800 (PST)

Apply with a fine spray TED and there isn't enough water there to give the microbs a running start in their new home. The best results we have recorded were with course spray Particulate and nutrients and fungi to land in drops large enough to give tham time to set up camp. 3 layers of screen doesn't change the size of the particles. It just hanges up more of the long fiber that is often the fungi you need most. .
 
When you dump the compost in the main volume of water then add a $ 45.00 air pump
you pump more like 1 cfm than 5 unless you go to a short life noisy vacume cleaner blower whizzer, you are not going to really wash the nutrients and bacteria and fungi from the compost particulate. Not enough action. Then when your innocent victim has dinked around with 5 gallons for a while is this going to create the thrill that will see him/her continue? Or have you suggested a sissors and paste idea that will become boring before harvest?

Well tested, proven systems that are capable of 5 and up to 30 gallons, are nearly silent, last for years, and come assembled ready to go to work with recipes and helpfull instructions are available for little more than the cost of your bucket, pump and panty hose idea. These brewers have set records at SFI. This highly effctive system is good enough to expand to many thousands of gallons per day.
Ted, good to encourage new interested people. But is yours good advice? Bob
Ted Peterson <ted.peterson_at_tcsn.net> wrote:
Look people, we have to be able to make a product that will work without extensive testing. We have to be able to say: "add this and this and this much air and you will get this."
 
It is unreasonable to ask a casual user to go through everything I did to come up with my formulas. It is unreasonable to ask a person to spend $200 on testing for a brewer that may brew each batch differently. That would mean, if we follow the logic, testing each and every brew because there are just too many variables. I have been doing this for two years and have brewed over 300 documented batches. If I can't tell a user how to get something out of his/her tea, I have wasted all the work I have done..
 
I was offering advice to a new person trying to brew. I didn't go into all the differences of turf, woody plants, food crops, etc. because first they need to just brew. There are enough sources, many of them errant, that make the process too difficult for the average person. It's far easier to just get some Miracle Gro and be done with it.
 
A person should be able to brew tea based on a procedure and formula and be reasonably sure that they will get good results. If they can't and need to test all the time, formulas are useless and procedures have no validity. Notice that I mentioned testing when you try something new or alter existing formulas. There is no reason to make this more difficult than it is. I personally offer suggestions to get people interested. I don't even sell brewers any more except custom jobs for specific clients so I can give away as much information as I want.
 
If I was new to this and followed the advice of this list, for the most part, I would be lost in a sea of details that while important are way above what I need to start.
 
Yeah, we can all give advice and try to sell our $500 Kiis and Bobulator and whatever brewers and we will have a lot of unhappy users. If you want to waste money, go and by a Soil Soup brewer and play with bags. I have looked at virtually every system and have found containerized compost in a brewer to be nothing but trouble which is why I advocate free suspension materials. If you want headaches, use systems that require containers or bags. Also, systems that pump liquid seem to be less reliable than those that aerate directly and pump separately. Harder to clean and more damaging to the microbes.
 
Filtering:
 
You want to get around 200 Microns. One layer of window screen will not do it. Period. I have experimented with many variations and can document each and every one. Remember, we have to assume that some of this tea will be sprayed through a sprayer. Window screening is about 1/32 of an inch and that is way too big.
 
Ted Peterson
Earth-Wise/Spirit of the Earth
 
 
 


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Received on Mon Feb 23 2004 - 02:36:17 EST

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