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***NEVER USE – Blackstrap molasses*** If you do some of your own reading online about compost tea brewing one of the biggest things you will run across is the recommendation to use blackstrap molasses as the microbial food in the tea. This used to be widely accepted as a great way of brewing tea. The issue is that without a firm understanding of soil biology and what microbes look like under a microscope people actually brew up anaerobic teas the majority of the time with blackstrap molasses. This is why that happens even with an air pump -- molasses is a simple sugar which feeds bacterial populations very quickly basically as junk food. As the bacterial populations grow they take over the entire tea and use up all the oxygen, this causes the tea to become anaerobic as soon as the ppm (parts per million) of dissolved oxygen drop below 8 (6ppm is the critical point). There are plenty of bacteria all over this planet and we really don’t need to brew up heavy bacterial teas, rather we want to brew up complex teas that have a huge variety of life in them, not only bacteria but also fungi, protozoa and nematodes. When you only feed simple sugars to the microbiology in the tea brewing process the bacteria will out multiply all the other good guys and take over the entire tea. We instead feed complex foods to the tea so the fungi, protozoa and nematodes have a chance to grow and multiply. If you really want to use molasses in your brewing it is highly advisable to also get yourself a microscope so you can monitor the tea and make sure you use it before it goes anaerobic.
Good info above also Elaine Ingram backs this theory. It's always good to make sure all that you're doing is backed by science. Just because you heard someone do something doesn't mean it's solid evidence.
Also remember with organic gardening and "super soil" you're not feeding your plant...youre feeding your microbial life.
Fungicides and pesticides are a NO NO for organic gardeners, you disrupt the soil food web! Even "organic" ones can disrupt this!
Any questions or comments are very welcome here!
Good info above also Elaine Ingram backs this theory. It's always good to make sure all that you're doing is backed by science. Just because you heard someone do something doesn't mean it's solid evidence.
Also remember with organic gardening and "super soil" you're not feeding your plant...youre feeding your microbial life.
Fungicides and pesticides are a NO NO for organic gardeners, you disrupt the soil food web! Even "organic" ones can disrupt this!
Any questions or comments are very welcome here!