Aerated compost tea
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Compost extract with molasses and fish meal
Biofertilizers Inoculants Bio-inputA liquid compost extract, rich in aerobic microorganisms and soluble nutrients, that brings the life of the compost to the soil and leaves and improves nutrient availability.
Application description: Use it the same day. As a foliar spray, once a week, on both sides of the leaves, before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m.; or to the soil, with irrigation or at the foot of the plants. The sack residue is worked into the soil or returned to the compost pile.
Dose: Leafy vegetables: 10 % (2 litres in 18 litres of water). Fruiting vegetables and field crops (maize, beans, squash, tomato): 15 % (3 litres in 17 litres of water). To the soil or by fertigation: 20 % (4 litres in 16 litres of water). About 200 litres of tea per hectare.
Aeration must be steady: without enough air, the tea smells bad and loses quality; if so, aerate it for another 24 hours. Do not keep it more than a day: the microorganisms die quickly without oxygen; if it smells bad, return it to the compost pile. As a guide, finished tea has a pH of 6.5–7.5. Always use unchlorinated water and well-made compost: the tea is only as good as the compost. Wash the sprayer well before use.
1) Fit an air diffuser at the bottom of a 200-litre plastic drum (a square of ½-inch PVC pipe with small holes, weighed down with a stone) connected to an aquarium pump of about 75 litres per minute. 2) Put the compost in a sound, permeable sack and close it with wire. 3) Dissolve the molasses and fish meal in 20 litres of lukewarm water. 4) Hang the sack from the rim of the drum, about 20 cm above the bottom, so the air circulates around it. 5) Add the premix and top up with unchlorinated water to 200 litres; cover with a mesh that lets air through. 6) Aeration: 24 hours non-stop, 4 hours rest, 12 hours of air, 12 hours rest, then another 24 hours of air. 7) Remove the sack, pour off the liquid without stirring up the sediment and filter it once or twice before filling the containers.
About 3 days (76 hours).
Dark amber, thin liquid with a pleasant smell of fresh soil.
SADER and INIFAP (2021). Manuales prácticos para la elaboración de bioinsumos, no. 6: Té de composta (in Spanish). Technical Support Strategy, Mexican Ministry of Agriculture. — Recipe written in our own words.
Recipe written in our own words by biopreparados.es. Copyright and sources
Grégory Prybys
Tel: +33 7 75 76 37 70 — WhatsApp: +54 9 11 2157 0868
Country: Argentina
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