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 Post subject: Bubbling Tea
PostPosted: Wed May 19, 2004 9:43 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2003 6:20 pm
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Location: Wylie
I've started experimenting making my own tea and I had a quick question about an observation. For the first 2 days I'll get a thin foam at the top. This is to be expected and I can actually see some bubbling action. After 2 days though, the bubbling stops and the foam goes away. I then apply the tea after the 3rd day. OOF, does it stink.

I was wondering what it means when the bubbling stops and the foam goes away? Is there something I should add to keep things processing or is this just an indicator that It's ready to use.

I sure hope the tea works because I'm anxious to stop using the Miracle Grow when things start to look a little yellow. I'll probably also buy an aquarium pump soon to help the process.

Here's a great article that I read numerous times before making my tea

http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/orga ... 09975.html


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PostPosted: Thu May 20, 2004 1:22 pm 
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If your compost is good and mature and aerobic, and your water source is dechlorinated, you will make a superb tea brew, anyway you aerobically brew it. The main physical sign of a good aerobic tea brew is the pleasant yeasty, winey smell, not the foamy top layer anyway. Some times I get foam, sometimes I don't. It all depends.

Sometimes I add a little extra mature compost or extra sugar or molasses to my tea brews when the smell isn't what I'm looking for. Sometimes it doesn't work if the original compost wasn't aerobic enough or my water was too anaerobic and stinky.

Keep in mind that you will breed a different set of aerobic bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, protozoa, etc. on every batch! Microbes live and thrive at various temperatures, climates, seasons, weather, etc.

Teas are designed to complement, not totally replace, good regular composting, mulching, and cover cropping methods.

I use my teas to enhance the microbial activity in my hot compost stockpiles, my natural mulches, my lawn, and my garden soil, and even on my plant foliages.

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The entire Kingdom of God can be totally explained as an Organic Garden (Mark 4:26)
William Cureton


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu May 20, 2004 1:59 pm 
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Location: Wylie
I can see 2 things that I may be doing wrong. The compost I'm using is from a 40 lb bag I purchase from a nearby organic supply. In my opinion it's extremely good organic material but I'm not sure if being stored in a plastic sack prevents the compost from reaching it's full potential. I think it was fairly well "processed" prior to being bagged.

The other problem is I use water directly from the hose/city supply. I'm not sure what kind of impact this has. I could let the water stand in the 6 gallon container I use for a couple days before I add the ingredients to "burn" any chlorine off.

At the moment, storing large amounts of rain water and maintaining a compost pile may not happen anytime soon, so I need to find alternative solutions.


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PostPosted: Thu May 20, 2004 2:27 pm 
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The best way to dechlorine city water is to let it sit outside in a rain barrel 24 hours. Or let your water bubble without any ingredients in your brewer for just 30-60 minutes. Chlorine or chlorime is not "glued" to the water molecules anyway. The gas will diffuse out very quickly this way.

I like to keep a couple of 50 gallon rain barrels next to my compost piles and tea brewer, loaded with faucet water plus a handful of rich organic dirt or compost, and a cup of urine (urea), for extra nitrogen and microbial action for all my composting and tea brewing. That way I can fill the barrels up and use the water immediately, no matter if it sits out 24 hours or not, or if it rains or not.

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The entire Kingdom of God can be totally explained as an Organic Garden (Mark 4:26)
William Cureton


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat May 22, 2004 7:36 pm 
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I would have to classify the smell of my Tea as "Sewage Treatment Plant"


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PostPosted: Mon May 24, 2004 7:21 am 
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That's funny! Keep working on your personal tea brewing recipe and your own tea brewing style, until you get what you want. No two brews are ever the same, no matter how perfect you do it. All microbes all over the world, are different in numbers and species. Some microbes grow better in water, some better in dry conditions, some better in hot weather. some better in cooler weather, etc.

No matter how it smells, even if it smells like vomit, if you add some more molasses or dry molasses to it, and dilute it real good, at application time, it shouldn't harm any of your plants as an organic soil drench.

The extra organic matter and sugar as a biostimulant from the tea will help any soil condition.

_________________
The entire Kingdom of God can be totally explained as an Organic Garden (Mark 4:26)
William Cureton


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