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compostteas - RE: [Compostteas] When is the brew finished?

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

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  • From: "Jeff Lowenfels" <jeff AT gardener.com>
  • To: <john_boegman AT yahoo.com>, "Tea Listserv" <compostteas AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: RE: [Compostteas] When is the brew finished?
  • Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 21:46:28 -0700

Welcome John, You are going to have great tea....worm castings and good
compost.

You asked how do you know when your tea is finished? But first you have to
answer what is the temperature of the water and the environs? How much air
are you putting into the mix? How did your worm and compost mix test before
you put it into the mixer. What nutrients are you going to use?

These and, I am sure, more questions come to mind.

I take my teas' temperature. I look for it to start going up a few degrees.
I look for foam when there has been no foam and they type of foam if there
has been foam all along. I smell it and compare to what I put into it. If
it starts to smell bad, I know I have gone too far.

HOWEVER, I think an oxygen probe to tell you what is going on is the best
way. Look in archives on this list, use the "find" in the edit tool bar
thingamabob.....

I am sure Dr. Elaine will jump in here (please!) but unless some one on this
list screams different, I would say give your tea between 24 and 36 hours if
you have great aeration and temperature over 70 degrees outside. The tea
will probably get to 74 -75 degrees.....

As for Chlorine, I once asked this question: What good does putting the
soil foodweb back out on my lawn if I water it with a sprinkler that has
chlorinated water. The answer I got was that the water was de-chlorinated as
it traveled through the air. I did not ask in the context of a drip system
where the tea is presumably siphoned into chlorinated water and mixed. I
suspect that this will kill the critters as there is no declorination and
the dilution is the wrong way! Anyone else?

Cheers,

Jeff

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