Compost Teas: 24 hour, EM, IM, BD & fermented plant extracts

["Jennifer Wallenfels" <jennifer AT nventure.com>]

Hi all,

Just joined this list a few days ago, and I'm fairly new to CT. I have so
many questions, but I should wait till I get a copy of  The Compost Tea
Manual, because many are probably answered there.

But I will ask this one, since we are on the sprayer discussion:  What makes
a given sprayer damage organisms?  Is it how fine a mist it creates, or
perhaps the pressurization?  I'm a home gardener; spending hundreds on a
sprayer is unthinkable for me. Do we know anything about one-gallon
pump-ups, or hand sprayers?

Fish hydrosate was brought up. I know of two sources that are menhaiden-free
(Organic Gardening recently reported that many fish fertilizers are
depleting this important nitrogen-absorbing species.)  Emulsions also
typically contain 1% or more chlorine, having been made with large amounts
of tap water. Not too good for the tea!

I like http://www.neptunesharvest.com.  They make hydrolized fish, kelp, and
a mix of both - which is what I'm using. It's made from fish waste, not a
dwindling species  It does not smell offensive like emulsion does. It's got
a nice NPK ratio on the fish, too: 2-4-1, as opposed to 5-1-1 for Alaska
Fish, as an example.

There's also Drammatic, which is available on various websites, including
http://www.gardengift.com/orfer.html.

One more thing. I went to Ground Up yesterday and got some Tea Base. Bob is
the greatest!  His tea brewer design is so elegantly simple - really
brilliant. It's a little hard to find  (don't confuse him with the other
compost guy down the street!)  but worth it.

Thanks so much for starting this list!

Jenn