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Which brings me to my second question: Yucca! Yucca seems to be all the rage now, I see it is many, many products. However, I have not been able to find much scientific based information on it. I searched around a bit today and yesterday and was unable to find and studies or info posted by by a reputable source, like say UC Davis on the subject.
However I have seen a few ACT recipes from reputable sources that use it. Supposedly it is a fungal food source so I was curious about adding it to my brew. I ordered a bottle of OMRI listed Therm X70 Yucca Extract, which is a foliar and wetting agent. Not sure if this is what should be used in ACT though. Also found a company that makes Ag grade yucca extract w/o preservatives just for ACT, called Ag-Aide 50. Was also wondering if the food grade yucca powder you can get at health food stores would also do the trick.
So the questions would be:
What does Yucca actually do?
How much would I use in a 10 gal batch of ACT?
What type of Yucca product should be used?
I've never tried any of the commercial catalysts and have been trending more and more to simplicity. We had to brew up a fast ACT a couple months ago to help save some ailing magnolia trees and the soft rock phosphate and pyrophyllite powders were still packed away in a mystery location after moving. We just scooped some vermicompost (VC) from a recently harvested worm bin (3 to 4 months digestion time) and blended it with some older VC and threw in 0.5% black strap molasses. I did not expect much but lo and behold in just over 24 hours we had an ACT complete with bacteria/archaea, flagellates and fungal hyphae. I have always used the rock powders because I feel that they contribute to the bacterial/archaeal diversity and I believe the pyrophyllite promotes the growth of a particular organism which I believe helps degrade powdery mildew [but that is conjecture].
I was accustomed to using and recommending humic acid occasionally after it was recommended by several friends, (& it is recommended by Ingham as a fungal food) however after putting in too much once and seeing a very limited tea under the scope, I took a closer look, as did CT Guy. We both concluded that humic acid in a liquid in anything except very miniscule amounts, inhibited microbial development. I absolutely need to do more careful research into this and I'd like to hear from others with microscopes about this. In the interim I've stopped recommending humic acid as an ingredient in ACT but do recommend it be applied separately to soil. Varying amounts, ranging from 10% down to 0.07% (as I recall) were mixed with distilled water and (vermi)compost and checked periodically over 72 hours. Some samples also included black strap molasses. In all samples there was an inhibitory effect on both bacterial/archaeal and fungal division and growth.
I must say too, that more and more I'm impressed by the complex but simple food source which is cane black strap molasses. It seemingly feeds bacteria and fungi equally well, contrary to what is generally stated.
In your previous post you specified "humic acid in liquid form." My first thought jumped to MicroHume, a dry humic acid product, and how that may behave in a compost tea solution.Just a note to CT Guy who sent me a PM which I cannot answer because I don't have enough posts. You really can't tell who I am? ;>
On the humic acid; better to apply it on its own rather than in the tea at all, even when finished brewing. That is probably what you meant but I'm just playing safe.
Inthebeginning, I know humus has humic acid in it, and I know humic acid makes nutrients available. I use it in light does but fairly regularly. How much or little of humic acid do we need, in light of a 20% humus content through either ewc or thermo compost? And what happens in the soil, microbe wise, with too much humic acid? I imagine there is a too much, for balance if nothing else. Shredder
In your previous post you specified "humic acid in liquid form." My first thought jumped to MicroHume, a dry humic acid product, and how that may behave in a compost tea solution.
We both concluded that humic acid in a liquid in anything except very miniscule amounts, inhibited microbial development.
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