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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] compost tea, oxygen & molasses

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  • From: Robyn Francis <robyn@permaculture.com.au>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] compost tea, oxygen & molasses
  • Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2015 12:41:43 +1000

I didn’t notice a clear answer to the original question about DO levels in
compost tea - thread got a bit off topic...

To keep the tea aerobic, the oxygen level needs to be 5.5 ppm. Ask in an
aquarium shop and they’ll show which air pumps will do the job for the
quantity you’re making. We generally do 20 - 40 Litre (5-10 gal) batches so
our pump can provide 5.5 ppm for up to 40 litres. We don’t use an aerating
stone (they get blocked and reduce the O2 flow), just have the air tube
weighted down to bubble from the bottom of the container.

SFW recommend that you don't leave it for more than 3 hours without aeration,
as it then becomes anaerobic, so that gives a guide for application time.

For vegetable crops and grasslands the molasses (or sugar) is important to
feed the beneficial bacteria. Molasses is not used in the fungal-dominated
compost teas made for tree-based systems.

This is the compost tea recipe we make here:
40 liters water (10 gal)

60ml (2 Tblsp) humic acid – diluted in 1 cup water

120ml (4) Tblsp kelp extract – diluted in 1 cup water

2 Tblsp molasses (or dark brown sugar. NB do not use honey) - dissolved into
1 cup water

Add the above to the water and commence aeration, the suspend the bag or
stocking holding the compost/worm castings:

500ml (2 cups) container of compost

500ml (2 cups) container of worm casting

1 cup of probiotic liquid (whey of yogurt, kefir or curd cheese; kambucha;
liquid from sauerkraut or kimchee)

Aerate for 24-30 hours. In cool weather it might need to brew for 2-3 days.

Sometimes we check the brew under the microscope and do a count of what’s in
there (bacteria, amoeba, fungi etc)


Robyn


> On 20 May 2015, at 5:20 pm, Steve Hart <stevenlawrencehart@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The compost tea discussion in question involved exploring ways to keep
>> AACT,
>> aerobically activated compost tea, aerobic through the time of field
>> application.
>> Court mentioned a study done that showed flowforms oxygenated liquids
>> flowing through them.





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