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

["Jeff Lowenfels" <jeff AT gardener.com>]

I asked Dr. Ingham's  permission to post  this email---which reminds me of a few house keeping items.

 First, make sure you get people's permission before you send on a post. 

Second, you don't have to copy Dr. Elaine with posts to this listserve. She is reading what you are.

Third, whenever possible be as specific as  you can...tea or fungal tea? Tea Brewer...model, type? etc

 FInally, I know a lot of you are "lurkers" out there and others are scared to ask questions or send in receipes or share experiences for fear of ridicule. Not to worry. We are all in this together. We want to make CT brewing and using as easy as possible and we are ALL novices. ASK.

And tell us about your experiments.

How else are we going to learn that things like tofu make great fungal nutrients?

 

Jeff L

 

Dr. Elaine:EPM wanted information on the same thing, we bought some thiosulfate
> and tested that thiosulfate on several teas.  EPM did not pay for those
> tests,
> so I can talk about these results.  Thiosulfate killed a number of bacteria,
> and
> fungi, but really reduced flagellate and amoebae populations, even at very
> small
> concentrations of the thiosulfate.
>
> However, as you might suspect, this is one of those instances that Growing
> Solutions claims I tell people about data they paid for.  As if I can never
> test
> something when someone else asks me to check something that GSI also asked
> about!
>
> BUT, the story doesn't end.
>
> Recently, we've had people use thiosulfate to complex the chlorine, but they
> also then added humic acid to the tea, and we have seen no detrimental
> effect on
> the organisms.  Humic acids complex the thiosulfate-chlorine complex,
> apparently.
>
> I'd love to get funding to do a fully replicated assessment of how much
> chlorine, how much humic acid etc is needed.
>
> Anyone interested in providing the funds?
>
> Elaine