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

["Soil Foodweb, Inc." <info AT soilfoodweb.com>]

Hi Ron -

Wanting to get into this service?  SFI is about to offer a training program 
to use
compost tea and compost in lawn-care and landscape programs.  We work with 
Smart
Lawns in upstate New York, with TreeWise in NYC, with EcoServices in North 
Carolina,
with BonTerra in Vancouver, WA, and Highlands in Salinas, CA on these 
services.
They work with us to train people in these services.  Mostly, we want to make 
sure
you do tea and compost correctly, so we don't have bad press occurring out 
there!

Building a brewer?  What size?  We'll consult with you on building small size
machines - up to 35 gallons.  Beyond that, you really need to buy a machine, 
because
the pumps and the plumbing need to be commercial-scale.  So, call Charles or 
Kirk
here at SFI and they can talk with you about building a small size machine.

Soil Foodweb Inc. has tested all the commercially available compost tea 
machines
AND/or we have worked with growers who have bought these machines and are 
making tea
according to the instructions given them by the manufacturer.

I will be publishing on the e-zine the results of this testing - that means 
tables
of data, sorry.  But the data will speak for themselves with respect to the 
results
coming from each machine.  We have at least three growers working with each 
machine
size from each of the compost tea makers.  We have gotten, or will get soon, 
three
teas from each grower.  Since most growers only have one machine, they had to
replicate with time.  Some growers sent in 5 teas in one group, since they 
have more
than one machine.  So, replication is there as well.

But those results will be next mnoth, I'm not done collating the results yet.
Please stay tuned.

But, what I can see from the results of COMMERCIAL MACHINES FOR SALE TODAY ON 
THE
MARKET is, briefly:

Earth Tea Brewers (100 and 500 gal machines, EPM, www.composttea.com) make 
great
tea, 5 to 7 gal per acre application is the norm.  EPM has a tea sprayer that 
is
great!  Doesn't plug, gets good coverage, the least expensive thing for the 
size
that I've seen.  The nutrient mix from EPM makes great fungal tea.  Yes, the 
food
resource they have in it is special, helps BENEFICIAL fungi out immensely.  
Grows
great fungi.  They also can help you add into the tea components - both food 
and
organisms - that go after insect pests, fungi, bacteria, root grubs, 
wireworms,
mosquito larvae.  Call and ask them about these additional things.  Great 
grower
support.  Positive feedback from everyone.  Bruce Elliott really works with 
his
clients to make sure, to the max extent, that the tea maker and products are 
being
successful.

EarthWorks tea makers (www.soilfirst.com) makes 35 and 85 gallon machines, 5 
to 7
gal per acre application is the norm.  Tested out really well, early grower 
results
(we haven't gotten anyone with all three tea trials into SFI yet) look great!
Haven't had feedback from anyone on customer service, or the additional 
products
that SoilFirst offers.  They offer tea additives that grow fungi and bacteria 
very
well too.

Alaska Bounty makes the 1 gallon and 5 gallon size machines 
(www.alaskagiant.com),
use 5 to 10 gal per ac to get good coverage of plant surfaces.  The food 
resource
that they sell usually results in good fungal growth too!  Lots of 
particulates in
this system, because the compost is put free into the water.  Use a nylon 
stocking
as a compost holder and reduce particulates.

Hendrikus Schraven (www.hendrikusorganics.com) sells a good 25 gal tea 
machine,
which is manufactured by GSI.  If you work with Hendrikus, he can tell you 
how to
get this machine to give you good tea.  There are certain little tricks 
necessary to
get this machine to perform.  Growers that bought the machine straight from 
the
manufacturer were not told these things, and so usually don't get decent tea 
until
after the first tea they send in for analysis and we - or Hendrikus - can 
talk with
them about the needed tweaking. Hendrikus has great ORGANIC bacterial and 
fungal
food resources that he sells as well.  Great customer service from Hendrikus
Organics too so if you have problems, they will help you get it figured out.

I am not aware that the Microb-Brewer is for sale anywhere.  Please let me 
know
otherwise, because it makes great tea!  Cleaning is a chore, or you have to 
run it
all the time.  Rumor has it that a re-design is in the works, but I've seen 
nothing
so far.

Teas from 30 gallon SoilSoup machines always result in minimal fungal biomass,
typically no protozoa or nematodes in the tea even if the compost has good 
protozoa
and nematodes, and SOMETIMES (not all the time) the only fungus we see in the 
tea is
mildew.  One fix is to replace their fabric bag with a nylon stocking.  But 
even
with that improvement, you have to apply a minimum of 100 gallons of a 
SoilSoup tea
per acre to get the full benefits that can be obtained from tea.  People with
SoilSoup machines have told me that the person selling the machine to them 
told them
that fungi are all bad, or that fungi won't grow in tea.  Both are not true.  
You
want to put foods to feed the beneficial fungi that compete with or attack 
and kill
bad fungi in the tea.  Most of the fungi in healthy compost are beneficial 
fungi
that protect your plant.  Help the good guys out, give them food, and watch 
them
grow in your tea.  Fungi grow in tea just fine.  They need a surface to help 
them
grow, and so put kelp or rock dust in your tea to help them out.

There are other machines that will soon be out on the market, but they are in 
grower
testing phase right now.  Some pretty astounding and very different 
engineering on
some of the new machines!!

Hope this helps!

Elaine
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