Tea Article

[CT Guy]

if there's anyone in the San Fran area, i highly recommend trying Diestel's Root Force. They run a large turkey farm and their son Jason has been focused on composting the material. I was highly skeptical, but took a sample and it had excellent fungal activity.

Lyngso Stone and Garden is another great source for supplies. Excellent people...

 

[jaykush]

i second the diestel compost. good stuff as far as compost you can buy.

 

[heady blunts]

thanks mm. i thought i read about that on microbeorganics. sorry to make you dig out the link.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Diestel Turkey Ranch is one of the largest free-range turkey farms around. They and Shelton's are the major player on the West Coast for high-end turkeys.

Diestel has their birds on an open range and are fed a low fat vegetarian diet. No growth stimulants or growth hormones. The Diestel family employ sustainable agriculture practices. A good company to support.

I wonder if the feed and open range deal has anything to do with the quality of their compost?

CC

 

[heady blunts]

I wonder if the feed and open range deal has anything to do with the quality of their compost?

i'm sure it does.

i was scrutinizing the claims on the back of a bag of some "organic cow manure compost" the other day. they were going on and on about how dairy cow manure is superior to other cow manure, and i'm not saying that's untrue. but it was curious that they made zero mention of the diet their source cows were on.

i know the majority of dairy cows are fed with corn, and it does terrible things to their gastro-intestinal systems, probably having a negative effect on the quality of their shit.

that got me wishing i knew some pasture-grazed dairy cows.

 

[CT Guy]

Diestel Turkey Ranch is one of the largest free-range turkey farms around. They and Shelton's are the major player on the West Coast for high-end turkeys.

Diestel has their birds on an open range and are fed a low fat vegetarian diet. No growth stimulants or growth hormones. The Diestel family employ sustainable agriculture practices. A good company to support.

I wonder if the feed and open range deal has anything to do with the quality of their compost?

CC

I'm sure it does. My skepticism when I got the product was that Jason is a young guy (mid to late 20s) and the product itself (Root Force) looked like little mini bb's. You know, like the compost had possibly been over sifted and had too much homogeneity. Jason was really nice though and seemed knowledgeable about his products. I didn't get around to testing the product with the microscope for a month or so and just left it sitting indoors at room temperature in a bag with the top open. When I did make it into a tea, it came back with better fungal content than most of the other composts I was testing at the time (including the Marwest). Only tested the one sample, one time, but it seems like a solid family business and a good product from my limited experience with them. Keep in mind that they make a few different composts of varying quality and the one I'm talking about is their top of the line one from what I understand.

 

[Stankie]

i'm pretty sure the ambient temperature effects the rate of metabolism in our brews right? so if i'm having lows of 40*F at night, i probably should be brewing inside, correct? what is an acceptable temperature range?

Get an aquarium heater. I brew in my garage and last brew I did it was in the 30's in my garage, but the heater kept the tea at about 65f.

 

[heady blunts]

man i'm full of questions lately.

so once my brew is finished, i use it right away. can i mix some soil drench amendments (like kelp or fish) in the tea right before i water it in? or is it important to apply them separately?

 

[Microbeman]

thanks mm. i thought i read about that on microbeorganics. sorry to make you dig out the link.

no worries. it took 5 seconds

 

[Microbeman]

okay another question:

do you think covering the brew tank significantly reduces the available oxygen (esp in a waterfall system where breaking surface tension is an integral part of the aeration process)? or does the air being piped in from your pump provide enough fresh o2 for the brew?

i know many of the commercial brewers have lids, but they also use more powerful pumps than me...

edit: wait also i want to know if light affects the tea at all?

I like light to encourage photrophic organisms. I use a translucent fabric to reduce splash. eg. cut up white feed bag.

 

[Microbeman]

that got me wishing i knew some pasture-grazed dairy cows

I know some personally [but not intimately]

 

[Microbeman]

man i'm full of questions lately.

so once my brew is finished, i use it right away. can i mix some soil drench amendments (like kelp or fish) in the tea right before i water it in? or is it important to apply them separately?

I apply them separately. I have not done extensive testing but one time I added 5 gallons fish hydrolysate to 1200 gallons (0.42%) finished ACT and tested before and after. I had about 40% microbial death/dormancy. Since then I've applied separately.

It could be that I needed to dilute the hydrolysate first. I need to do more testing.

 

[C21H30O2]

microbeman, have you experimented with any rock dust in your teas?

 

[Microbeman]

soft rock phosphate, pyrophylitte

 

[Clackamas Coot]

MM

A locally produced thermal compost product, i.e. Marwest, uses cow manure from a couple of certified organic dairies in the valley near Salem. That and spent shitake mushroom logs and produce from an organic wholesale company in Eugene.

CT Guy was kind enough to test it for us and it's definitely a viable product - again it seems that the base of one's compost and worm bins has everything to do with the end results.

CC

 

[guest2012y]

I always make my teas with Marwest and a bit of EWC...as well as mixing Marwest into my soil. By far the best and affordable organic bagged compost I've ever seen.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Yep - $8.00 for 1.5 c.f. is definitely in the 'good deal' category.

CC

 

[Stankie]

Any testings done on Agrowin or Rabbit Hill Farm EWC?

Those are the two I use until I collect from my own bin.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Any testings done on Agrowin or Rabbit Hill Farm EWC?

Those are the two I use until I collect from my own bin.

Stankie

At one point in time, Agrowin had at their web site a PDF file of testing done at Dr. Ingham's SFI organization. It may or may not still be there. From what I recall (about 3 years back) is that it was an exceptional product. I compared it with products from Yelm's Earthworm Farms in Yelm, Washington who had also posted their test results from SFI.

Another product that had the same posting was from a mega-EWC operation in California's Central Valley near the Stockton/Modesto District - over 120,000 s.f. of windrow worm piles under roofs and temperature controlled . It wasn't too good from what I recall. I'll try and get you the name of the company in California. Much of their production ends up in 'organic potting soil' mixes. Lots of carbon but little microbial activity.

BTW - Vital Earth out of Phoenix, Oregon has a very high-quality EWC product as well as a thermal compost product. They do all their own production and bagging. They have retailers in your part of the world. Definitely worth checking out.

I'm running 4 plants in their potting soil straight out of the bag to see what's up and if it weren't for the price ($9.00 per c.f.) I could make the argument that it's a definite contender for a 'water only potting soil' - excellent draining, hold hydration levels easily with the Tropf Blumat devices - all around a top-quality potting soil.

HTH

CC

HTH

CC

 

[catcherintheye]

so microbe the same would be practiced for adding nutrients as well? apply seperately? im using pure blend pro for a little extra in flower, its all derived from rock phosphates and organic sources. Think it will cause death/dormancy. I will apply seperately now, just to avoid any risk. it couldnt hurt and id rather be 100% sure im not ruining anything im making.