Results Of My First Aerated Compost Tea Brew

[Perception]

Hey everyone! Wanted to follow up on a couple things I've learned over the last few months.

Temperature of Compost Tea!
I did another batch recently, and realized that because I was brewing in my basement, on an uncarpeted floor, that my brewing temps were in the 60's Fahrenheit. My second batch was showing 61-63deg F, when I checked after seeing slow growth in the first 24 hours. I'll be adding an aquarium heater in on the next run. This isn't something that I see talked about often, but I think that people should definitely be checking it. I plant to shoot for 75deg F on the next run.

Things that work with PM:
My battle continues with PM. I have it under control now, but have had to continue preventative measures. These are some things I've done and the results:

• 1:10, 3% hydrogen peroxide to water - Seems to help, but isn't an atomic bomb or anything. I've found that once the PM is knocked back, if you foliar spray H202/water for a few days, that it really suppresses PM growth for a week or two. Good for flower preventative & treatment
• Baking soda, neem oil, soap, water - This seemed to really kill the PM, but again, it would come back after a few days without repeated applications. It's a little stinky though, and you might not want to spray heavily on buds. This seemed more powerful than the H202, and did burn leaves a tiny bit after repeated use... but not horribly. 1teasp baking soda, 1 teaspoon neem oil, a few drops soap, 32oz H20. Oh, it kills spider mites on contact too!
• Green Cure Fungicide: Works, but again, not long term. I applied foliar spray to plants when I noticed a few smalls spots of PM. I did the lower recommended mix dosage. PM disappeared for 7 days, then started to come back on lower leaves. I sprayed lower leaves only, and several leaves got burnt. But PM has been gone for another week now.
• Bacterially dominated AACT: I sprayed a few days ago, a few days after GreenCure. The plants seemed to love it. Foliar application and soil drench. Leaves look super healthy, and no sign of PM yet.

I'm brewing another batch of AACT next week! Just need to get temperatures dialed in first with my aquarium heater and plain H20. I plan to try some 1:10 milk/h20 preventative spray on plants too. I'm determined to figure out how to control PM organically, and without hurting the plants. My suspicion is that repeated AACT applications will be the answer.

 

[One drop]

IIRC, Cucurbits is one of the groups of plants for which using compost tea against diseases like PM is effective. So is milk foliar, 10%. It is specific to the species, so to speak.

I missed all those pix, now I can see them! How did you get such great photos?

I use milk to combat PM on my gardens gives the bacteria something else to eat they feed up and seem to start to disapate and leave the league surface .

 

[Ecompost]

Hey everyone! Wanted to follow up on a couple things I've learned over the last few months.

Temperature of Compost Tea!
I did another batch recently, and realized that because I was brewing in my basement, on an uncarpeted floor, that my brewing temps were in the 60's Fahrenheit. My second batch was showing 61-63deg F, when I checked after seeing slow growth in the first 24 hours. I'll be adding an aquarium heater in on the next run. This isn't something that I see talked about often, but I think that people should definitely be checking it. I plant to shoot for 75deg F on the next run.

Things that work with PM:
My battle continues with PM. I have it under control now, but have had to continue preventative measures. These are some things I've done and the results:

• 1:10, 3% hydrogen peroxide to water - Seems to help, but isn't an atomic bomb or anything. I've found that once the PM is knocked back, if you foliar spray H202/water for a few days, that it really suppresses PM growth for a week or two. Good for flower preventative & treatment
• Baking soda, neem oil, soap, water - This seemed to really kill the PM, but again, it would come back after a few days without repeated applications. It's a little stinky though, and you might not want to spray heavily on buds. This seemed more powerful than the H202, and did burn leaves a tiny bit after repeated use... but not horribly. 1teasp baking soda, 1 teaspoon neem oil, a few drops soap, 32oz H20. Oh, it kills spider mites on contact too!
• Green Cure Fungicide: Works, but again, not long term. I applied foliar spray to plants when I noticed a few smalls spots of PM. I did the lower recommended mix dosage. PM disappeared for 7 days, then started to come back on lower leaves. I sprayed lower leaves only, and several leaves got burnt. But PM has been gone for another week now.
• Bacterially dominated AACT: I sprayed a few days ago, a few days after GreenCure. The plants seemed to love it. Foliar application and soil drench. Leaves look super healthy, and no sign of PM yet.

I'm brewing another batch of AACT next week! Just need to get temperatures dialed in first with my aquarium heater and plain H20. I plan to try some 1:10 milk/h20 preventative spray on plants too. I'm determined to figure out how to control PM organically, and without hurting the plants. My suspicion is that repeated AACT applications will be the answer.

just know that Oxygen presence is effected by temps, the higher the temps, the lower the O2. Having a slower brewed tea is better than a cooked one full of anaerobes

 

[Ecompost]

Let me clarify, my invite was for a few dayz or a week while visiting. Not a long term offer. LOL

All bs aside give me a shout if you ever get to the US

I will man, and sorry I only just got a note about this LOL. I am sure we will get to the US, I aim to try to get a few shows in 17, I will keep ya posted :-) Our new project pals are here also

 

[Ecompost]

I use milk to combat PM on my gardens gives the bacteria something else to eat they feed up and seem to start to disapate and leave the league surface .

yeah right on, its calcium which raises pectin, PM dont much like Pectin, it likes to ponce the water in the interstitial spaces of cells so replace the water with Pectin, dont get mold ever. It is also LAB type microbes, these secrete metabolites which inhibit the actions of PM and so the PM generally dosent get a hold on your plant. LAB microbes increase rates of interferon gamma, a crucial part of antibiotic systems. It is likely milk and the fatty acids are also used as a source to promote higher rates of ISR.
oh and the pH of milk is not something mold enjoys

 

[One drop]

yeah right on, its calcium which raises pectin, PM dont much like Pectin, it likes to ponce the water in the interstitial spaces of cells so replace the water with Pectin, dont get mold ever. It is also LAB type microbes, these secrete metabolites which inhibit the actions of PM and so the PM generally dosent get a hold on your plant. LAB microbes increase rates of interferon gamma, a crucial part of antibiotic systems. It is likely milk and the fatty acids are also used as a source to promote higher rates of ISR.
oh and the pH of milk is not something mold enjoys

Great info indeed I love this farm .

 

[Ecompost]

Great info indeed I love this farm .

you are very welcome my friend :-) yes its a good spot to meet, share and learn. I am super impressed you use milk and not some hardcore widespread anti fungicide.

 

[One drop]

you are very welcome my friend :) yes its a good spot to meet, share and learn. I am super impressed you use milk and not some hardcore widespread anti fungicide.

Thank you my Father and grand father use milk in there gardens along with urine , wormtea , compost teas there's a lot of natural remedies for a lot of plant problems

 

[Ecompost]

Thamk you my Father and grand father use milk in there gardens along with urine , wormtea , compost teas there's a lot of natural remedies for a lot of plant problems

totally agree mate. I make my own Bio Organic Nutrient range, I dont use my wee or indeed any animal waste or shit, but, urine is probably one of the best in Sodic soils, :-) I like Urea where we grow in coastal locations etc, it helps keep N mobile amid the sticky clays. I use all sorts mate. I try to use parent DNA / host DNA and i plant in families not by strain alone where and when possible.

 

[One drop]

totally agree mate. I make my own Bio Organic Nutrient range, I dont use my wee or indeed any animal waste or shit, but, urine is probably one of the best in Sodic soils, :) I like Urea where we grow in coastal locations etc, it helps keep N mobile amid the sticky clays. I use all sorts mate. I try to use parent DNA / host DNA and i plant in families not by strain alone where and when possible.

I'm on sandy loam with a clay base and yes I've found urine a life force for my gardens along with my wormtea which I consider to be a great soil conditioner , I use chicken , cow , sheep and donkey manure in my system .

 

[Seamaiden]

@Perception -- I found that, in my own basement, an aquarium heater wasn't sufficient for brewing a trash can-size batch of tea. I went with a water bed heating mat and built a little house of rigid Styrofoam insulation around it. Uses less wattage than the larger aquarium heaters (I am always focused on ways to save money). Initially a bit more expensive, but not a whole lot, IIRC mine was well under a C-note.

 

[Ecompost]

I'm on sandy loam with a clay base and yes I've found urine a life force for my gardens along with my wormtea which I consider to be a great soil conditioner , I use chicken , cow , sheep and donkey manure in my system .

I grow for medical purposes and regulations would not allow the inclusion of the many of the inputs you use. But the regulators have a restricted understanding of such matters, indeed the world more generally. There are safer practices to the inclusions of manures and for sure, a sandy soil would perhaps need some assistance depending on plant selections and desired outcomes of us humans, however, i grow with a vast arrangement of microbial life. I use teas etc, but I know also the microbes we have researched and use, cycle nutrients even in the absence of urine, can create NO3- or NH4+ from N2 rich atmospheric gases and or metals in the lithosphere. I use rotations and I try where i can to reintroduce lost NPK etc through the careful plant selections we might make. Where this isnt possible, i like to use plants to feed plants and look to reintroduce better conditions to support more diverse biospheres in which to plant.
I understand in part, but may be some more than others, the limits of soils, and chemistry. I understand that a sandy loam based substrate for example, would almost certainly have a lower entropic tendency towards supporting perennial crops due to a restricted fungal count, and that without the work to introduce alternate organic sources for fungus, such soils would likely forever struggle to produce a good fruit tree alone.

 

[Ecompost]

@Perception -- I found that, in my own basement, an aquarium heater wasn't sufficient for brewing a trash can-size batch of tea. I went with a water bed heating mat and built a little house of rigid Styrofoam insulation around it. Uses less wattage than the larger aquarium heaters (I am always focused on ways to save money). Initially a bit more expensive, but not a whole lot, IIRC mine was well under a C-note.

using less watts is a reason enough to do this and any and all tips regarding the saving of money and or waste should have there own section on the site i reckon mate. good idea, and good advice, those big tube heaters draw watts like crazy in the coldest months, plus I like the method of not having this in direct contact with the water, more thermal than outright shock for the closest of water molecules :-)

 

[jumpincactus]

just know that Oxygen presence is effected by temps, the higher the temps, the lower the O2. Having a slower brewed tea is better than a cooked one full of anaerobes

I would consider 75 deg F to be a maximum upper limit on your brew temps as @Ecompost stated at higher temps you will be limiting the amount of DO at the upper ends. Most research thus far I have found indicates 65-75 d F is a good working range.

 

[Perception]

Thanks for the tips! I'll shoot for 70degF

@Perception -- I found that, in my own basement, an aquarium heater wasn't sufficient for brewing a trash can-size batch of tea. I went with a water bed heating mat and built a little house of rigid Styrofoam insulation around it. Uses less wattage than the larger aquarium heaters (I am always focused on ways to save money). Initially a bit more expensive, but not a whole lot, IIRC mine was well under a C-note.

Thanks for the heads up. I've got an aquarium heater in it right now, just testing with plain H2O. But, my temperature probe just broke! From sticking my finger in, It seems to be cycling warm, warmer, warm, warmer. Need to get another thermometer to know though.