Questions for the compost tee aficionados

[CTMIAMI]

I plant to enter the compost Tee adventure. Now I do need to make very concentrated mixtures since the best way for me is to apply it is via my irrigation system.  My calculation is that I will be able to apply one gallon of brew with 400-500 gal of water.
I have a few questions that have not been answered in what I have read:
1 If you apply to the brew a few ounces of a product like the Super Soil Buster that has various types of microbes, will they multiply in the brew? Same with Mycorrhizae and Inoculants powder products.

2. Would it help to place some of your own soil in the brew to multiply naturally occurring microbes in the soil of the risk of bad stuff growing is too high?

3. Seems like worm casting is the most favored source to start a brew short of growing your own worms where can one find a good fresh source in the Miami area or best to order by mail. Any recommendations?
Thanks

[Coconut]

 Vermiculture.com worm casting!  They sell all kind of 💩 for your garden!😜

For aerobic species of microbes no but if you aerate it yes!  For aneorobic microbes no problem as long as you provide something to feed them!

I sometime innoculate it with my healthy soils full of goodies and my urine brew got an earthly odor borderline on some gourmet Champignons!😝

Best add carbohydrate like newspaper so the innoculating aerobic or aneorobic go to work, your choice using an airstone or not.  I like the aneorobic fermentation process backyard smell like some mysterious distillery the HOA could not single out; so they dont send me a letter in fear My Lawyer will suit their asses!

Aerobic airstone you might have Durian smell attracting a few fruit afficiandos first few day if you forget to put it on high aeration in full sun for that clean honey wine amber brew; tempting a few glass!🍷 I have known some crazies that drink worm casting brew as natural probiotic for their colons health; sadly they are healthy as hell living beyound Social Security Entilement!  😁

[starch]

Hi Carlos,

I brew my own compost tea is 10 gallon batches typically. Mine is based on vermicompost (I have a flow-through worm bin that I built for easy casting harvesting). I will share my recipe below.

I am no expert so please take my answers with a grain of salt. But I have been doing a little research on this and will share my perspective.

1 If you apply to the brew a few ounces of a product like the Super Soil Buster that has various types of microbes, will they multiply in the brew? Same with Mycorrhizae and Inoculants powder products.

One of the fertilizers that I use is Urban Farms Bio-Active which has all kinds of good stuff in it including Mychorrizae. I put a handful in the bag with my castings when I brew the tea. However I don't believe the mycorrizae are multiplying during the tea making process. They form a symbiotic relationship with plant roots and do most of their growing and multiplying there (mineral and food exchange with host plant, etc.). But what I think the real benefit is, is that the mychorrizae are evenly distributed in the tea at the end of brewing and when you put it on the plants (I typically do my tea as a soil drench) they are in an environment where roots are immediately stimulated and can form quick bonds with tree roots. My very unscientific take

2. Would it help to place some of your own soil in the brew to multiply naturally occurring microbes in the soil of the risk of bad stuff growing is too high?

I think the answer is no. E coli and other bad bacteria grow in most soils. And when compost tea is aerated, it encourages 'good' bacteria growth and discourages 'bad/anaerobic' bacteria growth. However there are many 'bad' soil bacterias that are aerobic, including E coli which would multiply in the tea brewing process. So my take is that the risks outweigh the rewards by adding soil to the compost tea process. I make my vermicompost from kitchen scraps, produce waste, composted leaves and fresh cat pine litter (not used by cats, cat feces contain pathogens), so that I am controlling (as much as one can) the inputs to minimize any bad bacteria growth.

3. Seems like worm casting is the most favored source to start a brew short of growing your own worms where can one find a good fresh source in the Miami area or best to order by mail. Any recommendations?

I agree, growing your own worms is the best option (however I have seen pure worm castings in 10-15 lb bags at my local nursery supply store). I get mine from redwormcomposting.com. I buy 5 lbs. of red worms (eisenia fetida) in October and put them in to a bunch of bins of compost that have been aging over the summer. By spring when I am ready to make tea I have lots of vermicompost available. My gardens are now full of worms, and so is the soil around my fruit trees.

My vermicompost tea recipe:

resources:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/M1309.html
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-tea/making-vermicompost-tea/
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/organic/2002082739009975.html
http://www.bioag.com/images/BioAg_Compost_Tea_Recipe.pdf

2x 5-gallon buckets
20 gallon air pump
Tubing
Air stone
Large muslin bag
Long handled brewing spoon

10 gallons of water (sit out overnight to dissipate chlorine)
1 quart of worm casings
(rest of these are optional, but I used them)
3 oz Neptunes Harvest Hydrolyzed fish
2 oz Urban Farms Bioactive Dry
2 oz Texas Greensand
1 tbsp unsulphured organic molasses
1/2 tsp of Epsom Salts (for Magnesium)
1 oz Apple Cider Vinegar

Collect water into 5-gallon buckets and let sit overnight. Use a food grade plastic bucket (lowes), stackable. Let the buckets sit in the sun during the day to burn off chlorine.

Place aerator in bucket 2 hours before brewing to increase oxygen and further drive out chlorine.

Put the vermicompost and dry ingredients into muslin bag and put in bucket. Dump in rest of the ingredients and give a stir.

Aerate for 24 hours and give a stir halfway through hours or so.

Turn off pump, remove tubing and use the mixture in the next ~45 minutes

Dilute as needed for your application

[CTMIAMI]

Thanks for the info. I can see I know very little about this.
Starch aren't you worry about the chicken litter and bat guano in the Urban Farm Bioactive?

[starch]

Carlos,

Absolutely, happy to share!

Starch aren't you worry about the chicken litter and bat guano in the Urban Farm Bioactive?

That is a very good question, and my answer is: sort-of.

The chicken litter and the bat guano are both composted, so the heating and breakdown process does help to remove pathogens. And this fertilizer is *very* dry. It has some small dry particles but most of it is powder. So it does seems like it has been fully broken down.

I agree, there is some concern there. I personally think the reward is higher than the risk. But I use it also because I have it on hand as part of my normal fertilization regimen. And since I am a backyard grower I don't keep a large variety of fertilizers and inoculants.

Probably a better / safer route especially for a larger scale application (like you) would be to get the mychorrizae and any other inoculants separately and in bulk to add to the tea brew. You would have a lot more control over your inputs to the tea brewing process like this.

[FrankDrebinOfFruits]

I plant to enter the compost Tee adventure. Now I do need to make very concentrated mixtures since the best way for me is to apply it is via my irrigation system.  My calculation is that I will be able to apply one gallon of brew with 400-500 gal of water.
I have a few questions that have not been answered in what I have read:
1 If you apply to the brew a few ounces of a product like the Super Soil Buster that has various types of microbes, will they multiply in the brew? Same with Mycorrhizae and Inoculants powder products.

2. Would it help to place some of your own soil in the brew to multiply naturally occurring microbes in the soil of the risk of bad stuff growing is too high?

3. Seems like worm casting is the most favored source to start a brew short of growing your own worms where can one find a good fresh source in the Miami area or best to order by mail. Any recommendations?
Thanks

Hi Carlos,
Do you use drip irrigation or high pressure sprinkler nozzles.

My drip system is constantly getting plugged by ants. To clean them out I blow them out or sometimes I have to suck em out... gross I know. It would be nice if I found a device to clear the heads.  The ants love to shove their bodies into the heads and jam them up.  The cost of replacing a half dozen heads every week or two would be too expensive to make the sprinklers practical. Personally, I would be hesitant to put compost tea into my drip system for the bacteria growth. However, I would grow tea and manually apply it to the soil.

[CTMIAMI]

I have high volume macrojets  in the last few years I'm changing to Antelco Rotor  sprinklers each tree has one I get about 35 gal an hour great coverage.  I have ants but my have been instructed not to bother my irrigation, they are not a problem.