permaculture

[venaurafarm <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

For Sal: High fungal compost tea for fruit trees Fwd: Re: [compost_tea] 
Air blowers

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: [compost_tea] Air blowers
Date:   Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:56:08 -0500
From:   kevin.titus@redfoxorganics.com <kevin.titus@redfoxorganics.com>
Reply-To:       compost_tea@yahoogroups.com
To:     compost_tea@yahoogroups.com


I have run a 50 gal vortex brewer I built for two years now with
excellent results both for my customers and I. I check from time to time
with a lietz scope to check quality of my tea.

I need to build a manifold for the 3 or 4 standpipes that will feed the
brewer.

I'm using methods I learned from a earthfort seminar (the soil food web
people)...which so far is working quite well.

Most my mixes are high fungal, for fruit trees, and bacteria dominant
for lawns and vegis.

Sent from my HTC One™ X smartphone

Kevin Titus
(512)581-8247
www.redfoxorganics.com
"All natural living solutions for lawn & garden."

----- Reply message -----
From: "Stephen Steyn" <ssteyn@wcaccess.co.za>
To: <compost_tea@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [compost_tea] Air blowers
Date: Thu, Mar 28, 2013 12:24 AM


Kevin;

I have 4x1200lt tanks with a blower but the blower is on the inside of
the building and is at about 10ft off the ground. My tanks are on a
stand on the outside of the building. I haven’t used the system for
quite a while for a number or reasons. I have an Isusu truck airfilter
connected on the suction side and it is driven by a 3phase motor. It’s a
job to get up there to read the manufacturers plate and I remember the
plate has very small writing on it.. I’m sure the blower is much too big
and that a smaller blower would be ok. From the blower the plumbing is
steel for some distance because the blower generates some heat….

I also believe we spend too much time on the design of the system. As
long as you don’t overload it with foods, and it’s easy to clean, just
about any system should be ok. I like the idea of a vortex system
because you can have your ACT running through a mesh bag and not have to
worry about coarse material that will block your applicator filter too
much. One should rather spend the time on making decent compost and then
finding a recipe that you like and have your ACT tested to ensure all is
in order.

I have yet to find an application system that will suit my operation. I
read about a producer who applies ACT through his wheat planter and
dribbles it onto each seed row. He seems to have had good results from 6
years of doing so. Maybe that would be the way to go for me. My current
planting system has me dribbling microbes and foods onto the seed row so
changing to ACT or extract wouldn’t be a problem. For my application, I
believe it’s best to get the soil seeded with microbes and use
fungicides on the plant itself. I’m getting good results with my system
so don’t want to change too much.

SS

*From:*compost_tea@yahoogroups.com [mailto:compost_tea@yahoogroups.com]
*On Behalf Of *kevin.titus@redfoxorganics.com
*Sent:* 27 March 2013 19:28
*To:* compost_tea@yahoogroups.com
*Subject:* Re: [compost_tea] Air blowers

Hey Stephen, what type/ size brewer do you run? My main objective is to
brew larger batches in upwards of 300 gallons at a time. As business
expands I want to be able to make enough to do several deliveries..

Sent from my HTC One™ X smartphone

Kevin Titus
(512)581-8247
www.redfoxorganics.com <http://www.redfoxorganics.com>
"All natural living solutions for lawn & garden."

----- Reply message -----
From: "Stephen Steyn" <ssteyn@wcaccess.co.za <mailto:ssteyn@wcaccess.co.za>>
To: <compost_tea@yahoogroups.com <mailto:compost_tea@yahoogroups.com>>
Subject: [compost_tea] Air blowers
Date: Wed, Mar 27, 2013 9:55 AM


Kevin;

Running an airline into the bottom of the tank with 6ft head is putting
a lot of back-pressure on the blower. This means you’re producing a lot
of heat which is wastage of horsepower. What you can do, is to run a
4inch or 6inch PVC pipe from the bottom of the tank to the top (either
inside or outside the tank) and at about the 4ft mark from the top you
can put a bubbler in the pipe. This will cause the water to suck out of
the bottom of the tank and blow out the top of the pipe. This gives you
more bang for your buck.

SS

*From:*compost_tea@yahoogroups.com <mailto:compost_tea@yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:compost_tea@yahoogroups.com] *On Behalf Of
*kevin.titus@redfoxorganics.com <mailto:kevin.titus@redfoxorganics.com>
*Sent:* 26 March 2013 21:25
*To:* compost_tea@yahoogroups.com <mailto:compost_tea@yahoogroups.com>
*Subject:* [compost_tea] Air blowers

I am building a 350gal brewer and need a large volume air blower. I was
looking at the sweetwater regenerative blowers, but wanted to see if
there were less costly pumps. The one I speced is over $1000.

I have a ace rotomold cone bottom tank, and plan to run a airline thru
the bottom. I will have about 70" of water height.

I could make a vortex brewer, but want a design that is EZ to clean.

Thanks all!

Sent from my HTC One™ X smartphone

Kevin Titus
(512)581-8247
www.redfoxorganics.com <http://www.redfoxorganics.com>
"All natural living solutions for lawn & garden."