Compost Tea Bubblers: do they actually help? + Large bubbles vs small bubbles?

[RenaissanceBrah]

There is some controversy online as to whether compost tea isn't the same as just adding compost or worm castings as a top dressing, and watering.

Have you seen any large benefits to brewing your own compost tea, vs just applying compost directly?

(Also, does bubble size matter when brewing compost tea? Some say you need large bubbles, some say small, some say it doesn't matter).

 

[Rico Swazi]

What controversy? They are not the same. One liquid the others being solid matter.
I have 'seen' many benefits occur with soil needing a biological upgrade, in healthy living soil not so much
anecdotally speaking of course

Most important IMO would be dissolved oxygen level over 6ppm (not 6% so edited),
not necessarily bubble size

compost tea if done right multiplies the existing microbes making it mo better so there is that

Edit- was told by my friend with the meter it is ppm and not percentage.. oops

while here.... was looking at

Measuring Dissolved Oxygen - Environmental Measurement Systems

Electrochemical or optical dissolved oxygen sensors are the modern and precise way to measure dissolved oxygen. Colorimetry and titration are other methods.

www.fondriest.com

lower down the page they show Measuring Dissolved Oxygen by the Colorimetric Method

Anyone use this method?

 

[Growdo Baggins]

I found this thread bc I was wondering the same thing. I've heard a lot of really great stuff about compost teas from podcasts that ran back in 2018. But what I read and hear more lately is that just taking compost and shaking it up with water and dumping that on is just as good, if not better. The idea being that they're soil microbes so why take them out of the soil with water then put them back in the soil.

 

[troutman]

It's probably best to use it within a few weeks in your grow medium.
I've cultivated algae, zooplankton, etc. before and it sucks when a
nice culture crashes after bubbling too long. In the soil it will be
more stable. Start a new culture before things crash and use the
old one otherwise.

Good Luck.

 

[JKD]

Fine bubbles provide more efficient oxygen transfer than coarse bubbles, but coarse bubbles provide better mixing.