permaculture

[Paul Kosuth <prkosuth@ll.net>]

I've tried it a few times but not this past spring. I used a similar 
setup with a 5 gal bucket, several bubbles, a few tablespoons of 
molasses, and about 3/4 bucket of the compost that I had on hand. After 
a few days I strained the concoction, sprayed it on the developing 
garden and side dressed the rest. The concoction looked great, smelt 
great but I couldn't tell if it did anything spectacular. I've never 
tried for more than 2 times in a row so I don't think I was able to get 
the full effect. I think that the theory is solid for both nutrition and 
pest resistance. I also recall that nitrogen based (grass clippings) 
compost is better than the carbon (dry leaf) based compost. The Soil 
Food Web and Dr. Elaine Ingram are the gurus for this method...they have 
a monthly newsletter as well.

paul K

Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

> Anyone on this list tried aerated compost tea?
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject:     [compost_tea] Worms in tea
> Date:     Thu, 17 Jun 2004 07:36:38 -0000
> From:     sstidham2002 <sstidham@mindspring.com>
> To:     compost_tea@yahoogroups.com
>
> I made my first batch of ACT
> I have two fish tank aerators that I bought on the recomendation of
> another compost tea board before I found this board. I was reluctant
> to even try it because of the stated need for 15 litres a minute of
> air which I was sure was beyond my capacity. I aerated the water to
> blow off the chlorine and dumped a shovel full of good compost into
> the 5 gallon bucket and felt guilty when I noticed a few worms sank
> with the rest of the compost. I let it brew for 4 days sniffing a
> couple of times each day to see if anarobic problems were developing.
> When I pulled the air stones I was astounded that the worms were not
> only still alive, but had grown. Does this suggest that there is
> sufficient aeration to make decent tea? Could worms survival in tea
> be a leading indicator? I have never seen it mentioned.