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tutorial Beginner's guide to AACT/Compost Tea

cactusMD said:
endomycorrhizal spores do not sprout and grow in compost tea
 
also "kelp meal initially delays all microbial development in a liquid but does feed fungi and bacteria/archaea following 24 hours. If too much is used the effects are suppressive. From this I garnered that it should be used very sparingly and one must be prepared to brew a little longer if using this foodstock. Again, this does not mean that kelp meal is not a good thing to use in/on soil. It definitely is!"
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Thanks to both of you. That seems to make more sense. Also my very first batch had no kelp in it and I remember it smelling much sweeter and was wondering why following batches never smelt quite the same. It will be interesting to see if that was the difference.  
 
cactusMD said:
endomycorrhizal spores do not sprout and grow in compost tea
 
also "kelp meal initially delays all microbial development in a liquid but does feed fungi and bacteria/archaea following 24 hours. If too much is used the effects are suppressive. From this I garnered that it should be used very sparingly and one must be prepared to brew a little longer if using this foodstock. Again, this does not mean that kelp meal is not a good thing to use in/on soil. It definitely is!"
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Where is this quote from?
 
how bad is neem oil for the soil food web?
 
apparently, it's bad for it
 
The results revealed that Neem seed cake positively affected
the population of organic nitrogen users and actinomycetes and affected negetatively
the population of fungi, Nocardia, Bactoderma and the whole population of inorganic nitrogen users which include nitrifying bacteria. On the other hand, it exerted
fluctuating effects on Mycobacterium, Micromonospora and Arthrobacter. Moreover, Neem seed cake significantly increased electrical conductivity, exchangeable calcium, iron, manganese, copper and zinc content.
 
So here is my final design up and running.
 
First video is a straight run and a view of the whole system, the second video is running with a brick in the bottom of the barrel to disrupt the vortex to an extent. I actually think the brick it helping to get more air into the pump. I skipped the venturi fittings for now, mostly because I haven't received them yet, but I am not convinced they are necessary either. Seems like I am getting quite a bit of bubbling.
I am going to start my first batch tomorrow, right now it is running just to de-chlorinate. Anyone have any suggestions as to how much of the following I should add to make a 40 gallon batch?
 
Blackstrap Molasses
Kelp Meal
Worm Castings
Compost (homemade)
 
We are supposed to have some really cool weather, highs in the mid-70s, this weekend so it should be good to go?
 
i'd go easy on the molases ... like 1 cup or so ... there is still TONS of food for the bacteria/funghi
 
otherwise, a 40 gal batch is roughly 10 times what is being brewed in normal garages - so you just would want to multiply the regular recipes here x 10.
 
Al
 
Al-from-Chile said:
i'd go easy on the molases ... like 1 cup or so ... there is still TONS of food for the bacteria/funghi
 
otherwise, a 40 gal batch is roughly 10 times what is being brewed in normal garages - so you just would want to multiply the regular recipes here x 10.
 
Al
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microbeorganics recommends 0.5% of the tea be molasses, for 5 gallons that's 0.4 cups so he should be using 3.2 cups for 40 gallons
 
usery said:
Following publication was a big help to me, cutting through the blah blah around AACT and providing a science-based approach - may help other forum members too:
 
http://washington.osu.edu/cuyahoga/topics/agriculture-and-natural-resources/cuyahoga-composts/Compost%20Tea%20Brewing%20Manual.pdf
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I will take Dr. Ingham's opinion over the company posted above any day. She is considered by many to be the leading scientist in soil biology and the food web.
For 40 gallons I would put 16 Tbsp. or about 8 oz.
 
So, I'm about 30 hours into an AACT brew and I don't have a frothy top on my bucket.
 
My recipe followed the suggested components in the first post:
4 cups of organic worm castings
2 big handfuls of freshly cut grass clippings
2 Tbsp of mycorrhizae granules
about 3 Tbsp of unsulphured molasses
5 gallon bucket of de-chlorinated water
 
I have the whole thing bubbling away in my garage which is holding fairly steady at about 82'F.  I have an air pump for a 100 gallon aquarium with two 12" bubble wands agitating the suspended mesh bag of goodies.
 
When should I get the foam?
 
KingLeerUK said:
So, I'm about 30 hours into an AACT brew and I don't have a frothy top on my bucket.
 
My recipe followed the suggested components in the first post:
4 cups of organic worm castings
2 big handfuls of freshly cut grass clippings
2 Tbsp of mycorrhizae granules
about 3 Tbsp of unsulphured molasses
5 gallon bucket of de-chlorinated water
 
I have the whole thing bubbling away in my garage which is holding fairly steady at about 82'F.  I have an air pump for a 100 gallon aquarium with two 12" bubble wands agitating the suspended mesh bag of goodies.
 
When should I get the foam?
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i never get foam ... just take a whiff and if it smells like rich moist decomposing forrest soil - take it to your plants
 
Well, this morning I checked on the progress (40 hours in) and instead of foam I've got these dark brown colloidal clumps; which I assume are bacterial colonies?  Still no foam as in the OP pictures, but it doesn't smell "bad" it smells like a variation on what the organic worm castings bag does when it is opened.
 
So, after almost 50 hours (application delayed due to rain) this is what I ended up with:
 
2vlpb1y.jpg

 
Before I took the air stones out there was a bit of persistent "foam" on the surface and you can see the colloidal masses floating (assuming bacterial colonies).  The mix smelled like molasses and worm castings.  I did a foliar spray of my plants with it and then used the remainder on the 8 Trinidad Moruga Scorpions (about 10" tall plants) I planted out in the front yard on Saturday.
 
As of this morning I can't tell either help or hurt from the foliar on my seedlings so I'll take that as a good sign.  I'm going to start another batch tonight.
 
Recently tried adding fish gutts to my brew and it started to smell like dead fish in 20 hours. The recipe I used is 200 grams fish gutts, 1 cup worm castings, 1/2 cup bat guano, 1 tbsp molasses, 2 tbsp EM1 in a 5 gallon bucket.
 
It did froth in less than 20 hours but I'm concenrned about the smell. Did I put too much fish or the smell is supposed to disappear after a while?
 
TIA! -JL
 
I read somewhere that if the compost tea doens't smell earthy, it shouldn't be used. I played safe so made a new batch and withdrawing from using fish emulsions for now.
 
Another thing you might consider adding is a few bouillon cubes. This is a great source of nutrients for the culture that is readily available. I actually just use sugar and bouillon cubes.
Also, if you have it on hand (if you have a pool you might), add some sodium sulfite or sodium thiosulfate to neutralize chlorine (not necessary, but will speed up the culture).
 
Streamer said:
Man,,,,I am so glad to see this. Can't wait to give it a go.
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My thoughts exactly Soo here we go for around $15
here's my contraption in action
5gal bucket/free Thank You Albertsons bakery :0)
PVC I had so no extra $ there thank you me...lol
Air pump $10 (wal-mart) double outlet/20-60 gal
Air stones(2)@$1.78ea
Air line(4ft) 1@$1.88
2013-10-13_14-23-19_95.jpg

oxidizing it to get all the impurities out of the water( chlorine)?well if any it is city water but ddidn't get it tested?
2013-10-13_14-23-06_438.jpg
The bottom it just like the top part spaced about 6 to 8 inches apart the top is where I plan to put the bag? hopefully that'll do the trick?
 
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