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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Compost tea vs compost direct on acre

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  • From: Robert Norsen <bob@bnbrew.com>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Compost tea vs compost direct on acre
  • Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2006 14:31:19 -0700 (PDT)

My reply to several replies to my " ACT is better at less cost"  answer to Ken H. 
" Probably enough bacteria already in the soil."   That is not what has been found when ACT is added there is usually a strong response in growth and in plant nutritional  content.   More on that below.  
 
"ACT is just a process of leachate from the compost.  Lay the compost out on a field the rain will wash the microbes and nutrients into the soil" - - - -   Not by a dam site.
 
Laid out in the sun and weather how many will survive?   How many will get to the soil and plants?  How many will be destroyed by UV?  How many will be in the compost in the first place?
 
ACT extracts the microbes.  In a powerful but gentle scrubbing action the brewer collects a very high % of microbes and nutrients from the compost into an ideal water condition for this life.  Nutrients are added to produce rapid population increase.  When the numbers have increased 1,000s of times, nutrients consumed and the microbes have returned to a durable - dormant - condition the ACT is applied to foliage and to soil. 
 On foliage the foliage offers nutrients so that  beneficial microbes remain to feed on, multiply and to protect the plant.   Hard to apply compost to foliage. 
On soil the microbes reach the soil with/in liquid moisture that enables this life to reach plant roots, there to be nourished by the plant, to flourish.  Microbes carry nutrients needed by plants - in body, create slime that holds water, feed soil life such as earth worms and continue to multiply.  
 
Bacteria are attracted by root exudates emitted by plant roots to attract the microbes.  The microbes hold the nutrients in body until released by protozoa.   Thus unlike dissolved chemical liquid nutrients that do wash away with rain, the biological life is held and nourished by plant roots until released to the plant.  This natural process increases nutritional value thousands of times and puts the nutrients exactly where needed by the plant. Bacteria eat plant exudates the plant furnishes from sunlight and CO2. The bacteria alter the condition of the exudates to make a suitable plant food and thus keeps that nutrition coming to the plant.    What amounts to tiny amounts of nitrogen in bacteria,  is more effective for plant growth than much larger quantity of nitrogen added as a chemical.  A chemical that a high % does wash down thru the soil to become a contamination in the aquafer.   Other nutrients that are not evident in soil tests and not directly available to plants are released  from the soil by bacteria and fungi  
and delivered to the plant at the roots.
Enough bacteria already  in the soil ?   Perhaps.  Enough bacteria under a pasture, the bacteria outweigh the cows!
Does a typical pasture have enough?   Will ACT add a useful diversity?   Takes careful testing to know.  
Does adding ACT to typical pasture prove to do any good?   This might be a better test!  Ask  Betsy Ross, of Texas.   Her carefully run research and report indicated a remarkable 2x to 4 x  increase in animal weight gain and startling improvement in  meat quality after adding ACT to her pastures.   But- read her report!!   Many Texas ranchers observed what Betsy did and her results.  Now those Texas ranchers are doing what Betsy did.   And the beef is found to be equal to wild salmon in nutritional value!!  
 
BTW 1/4 inch of compost as suggested for gardens is a lot of tons of compost when added to 1,000 acre pasture.  Anyone know how many?  Chris, the rancher, suggested $ 8,000 per acre to apply enough compost.   I am trying to help a Chris put 20 g ACT per acre on 1,000 acres.  Not a small task either.  
1,000 acres is in Texas not the largest ranch.  Think 10 to 100 times that big.   The problem of improving pasture by any means is a big project.   
 
Objective-  Increase animal weight gain x 2 in a given period.  Increase quality to eliminate/ reduce feed lot.  Sell pasture / grass  fed beef.  Eliminate 'mad cow' and GM hazard.   Improve CLA content of beef.   CLA is the (10%) fraction of grass fed beef fat that helps a human system store and recover fat as an energy source.  Without CLA the body can store but not recover fat for energy.   Think of the result if a body can store but not recover fat !!
- Always hungry - can't expend energy long  between meals - can't use fat even when feeling starved - ACT  can make a huge difference in American / world  health.       Bob 

John Smith <mikakigr@gmail.com> wrote:
The soil holds probably as many bacteria as it needs to hold. Adding more doesn't seem to make sense to me. It's the nutrients that the plants need. I would have thought that the slow release of nutrients from the compost is what matters. Compost tea would be a quick booster which might get leached away by the rain.

On 6/10/06, Robert Norsen <bob@bnbrew.com> wrote:
Hi Ken - When you spread compost on your field that is good.  2 tons per acre will have some effect
on building the soil, producing a crop.  If you look close you can see this amount of compost after spreading it.  You will have the bacteria present in  4,000 lbs of compost.  If it rains soon enough some will enter the soil. Some will live.   None will apply to the foliage. 
 
If you put 15 POUNDS of compost in a 50 g bewer in 20+ hours you will have extracted the live bacteria from the compost, mutiplied  it by 10,000 in that time,  now you can put that on your acre.  The 15 lbs now is as many bacteria as would be in  37 tons of compost,  in a liquid it is likely to live in / on the soil and also on the foliage.  The Bacteria and fungi will make the nutrients already in  your soil available to your crop in addition to the sometimes critical trace nutrients in the Compost
 
If you think it is a lot of work to make the compost tea 1 hour, and apply 1 hour,  compared that to the work of spreading the 2 tons compost on your acre,  have to it.  (Not using a $40K spreader truck.)    
 
Compost TEA was by promoted by lazy farmers wanting to escape poverty and who heard Elaine.    
2 tons of compost cost is  - $ 200 - $400  ?  + Labor  ???                                                       $500?
15 lbs compost,  $ 1.25, Nutrients,  $ 10.00 ?   Brewer prorated per brew,   $ 1.00 Labor       $53?
 
Effect on the crop???   Who wants to guess that one??                                       Bob 
 
High - I bet this will bring out a bunch of math experts.  My  math is a quicky.  Bob   
Ken Hargesheimer < minifarms2@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Readers,
 
I have made compost tea but it occurred to me that everything in the compost tea is from the compost.   If I put the compost in the growing bed, the plant still gets it and I do not have to do all that work.  Nature does not make compost tea and the prairie, jungle and forest all do quite well. 
 
Any advantages?  I have heard it repels insects?
 
Ken Hargesheimer

 


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