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

["D" <madhava AT fidalgo.net>]

>What is humic acid and where does it come from?  

Daniel
Re: working with lab results
>
>"Just received the results from my second sample, really
>fast thanks Elaine
>and other SFIers!
>Looks alot better, higher fungal counts, which I attribute
>to adding humates."
>
>Thank you, we try to get the tea results back to folks
>within 24 hours of the sample arriving in the lab.
>Generally, we get them back to you in a couple hours.
>
>Humic acid is fungal food.  If you have decent fungi
>extracted from the compost, addition of humic acids will let
>the beneficial fungi grow!
>
>"Questions on results
>active bact was 85.8  --- in good range
>total bact biomass was 2112 - with a comment that this could
>be too high
>is the difference between active and total "sleeping"
>bacteria or dead ones ?
>could this result from brewing too long?"
>
>I like to use the example of a lecture room full of students
>to explain active and total biomass.  All the students in
>the room is the total biomass of students.  How many of them
>are still active and listening to the professor at teh end
>of the lecture?  Less than 100%, right?  Some portion of the
>student population is not actively performing their function
>of learning from the professor.  Some are sound asleep.
>Some are going to sleep.  Some are doing other things -
>reading the newspaper, writing notes, thinking about the
>party last night, etc.  Some portion of students still are
>functioning properly - and that's the active population.
>
>In the soil, some part of the total bacterial population is
>dead, but their bodies haven't decomposed yet.  Hopefully,
>in the lecture hall of students, we don't have totally dead
>students - they do get up and move when the bell rings.
>
>Why do we need to know about the totoal population then?
>Because they are the ones that will wake up when the
>conditions change.  If the soil gets hotter or colder,
>wetter or drier, some bacteria will wake up, or go to sleep,
>or change what they are doing.  We need to know that you
>have an appropriate number of those other bacteria.
>
>
>"I'm currently working with 2 barrels. One is made fresh
>each batch , the
>other contains a starter culture kept going from the
>previous batch (like
>sour dough bread). To the started barrel I had more water
>and food on the
>basis that the microbes are there now and just need to be
>maintained. I
>keep the pump and air stones running. Comments ?"
>
>This will take some serious observation to determine if you
>are growing good guys or bad guys.  I'd do a plant
>"bioassay" every once in awhile.  Take a speedwell try, fill
>the little pots with the same compost, or potting mix
>through the whole tray.  To the first line, just add water.
>To the second line, add 1 cup of material (liquid or solid)
>from barrel one, to the third line add 2 cups of material
>one, to the fourth line add 1 cup of barrel two, to the
>fifth line add 2 cups of barrel two.  Plant two or three
>seeds in each little pot.
>
>Keep track of how many seeds germinate in each line.  That
>tells you if the stuff in barrel one or two is better or
>worse at helping that plant grow.
>
>That's the simple, very practical way to tell whether the
>tea, or the compost, or what ever is better than something
>else.
>
>"Hyphal Diameter
>2.5 on my test
>test comments indicate 2.5 to be mainly ascomcete community
>with 3.0 or higher being the Basidiomycete which we are
>shooting for.
>So how do I tweak my tea / compost to produce the larger
>type ? habitat?
>food ? pH? temp?"
>
>Add foods the feed teh beneficial fungi - that's humic acid.
>
>Hope this helps!
>
>Elaine
>
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