The problem with instant (manure) tea

[Guest guest]

I was reading up on fish tanks and something clicked about the manure

tea used in gardening and farming. In the book " Farmers of 40

centuries " we find that in the traditional Asian cultures they

maintained their soil fertility by application of manure teas that

consisted of any vegetable matter and manure, both human and animal,

from wherever they could get it. Doing this, they were able to

supply the nutrients the plants needed for centuries of farming on

the same land without depleting their soil.

The thing I read was about infusorium, which is a way of brewing

stagnant water that is teeming with microscopic life that is the

smallest of foods and the basis of the diets of tiny baby fish.

Coupled with that, the aquarium store kid (who seemed to know a lot

about fish) said that while fish can live in filtered tap water,

they'll die in distilled water and need " live " water to thrive. Live

water? He meant filled with live things. It occurred to me that the

animals we have always frustrate us by ignoring the nice clean water

we try to give them and drink the stinky water with rotting leaves in

it. Or from the toilet. Do they do better with " live " water too?

It got me thinking about the " manure tea " that is so trendy these

days. The recipe usually is to put some compost in a bag and soak it

in a bucket/barrel of water to leach out the nutrients which you then

apply to your plants. But that's " instant tea " and there's a problem

with it - it takes over a week to build up the bacteria, yeast, and

one celled organisms that make it really good. Here's a chart:

Cycling for manure tea

http://www.echotech.org/network/modules.php?

name=News & file=article & sid=595

It follows a very similar pattern to what is described here, as what

happens in a new fish tank with levels of ammonia and nitrates.

tank cycling site http://www.bestfish.com/breakin.html

And here http://www.bestfish.com/newtank3.html - neat graphic!

Most of what I've read on the topic says using chlorinated water will

seriously set back the cycle or kill the bacteria, so using tap water

for manure tea will pretty much destroy a lot of the bacteria that

could have increased the available nitrogen to the plants. Also

kills those microscopic organisms that would, what? Feed good

nematodes and larval predatory insects? And of course, the instant

tea is not leaving the bacteria any time to work its magic and

convert the vegetative matter to nitrogen.

So it's frustrating that once again we're taking something really

neat and messing it all up with our impatient, controlling, and

bacteriophobic ways.

infusoria

http://animal-

world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/common_foods.htm#Infusoria

[Guest guest]

--- <haecklers@...> wrote:

> It occurred to me that the animals we have always frustrate us by

> ignoring the nice clean water we try to give them and drink the

> stinky water with rotting leaves in it. Or from the toilet. Do

> they do better with " live " water too?

You may be on to something here. Maybe we all need probiotic water

> It got me thinking about the " manure tea " that is so trendy these

> days.

OK, that's not what I had in mind for probiotic drinking water, but it

does sound good for plants.

> And of course, the instant tea is not leaving the bacteria any time

> to work its magic and convert the vegetative matter to nitrogen.

>

> So it's frustrating that once again we're taking something really

> neat and messing it all up with our impatient, controlling, and

> bacteriophobic ways.

Yes, so true. I've been too impatient to brew my own kombucha

[Guest guest]

It would be interesting to get a microscope and compare the one-

celled organisms in one " culture " to another - i.e. infusarium or

manure tea vs. kombucha or kefir. I doubt it contains only the

lactobacilli and yeast. You don't hear much about eating rotifers,

etc. tho, do you? Or whether they continue to live in the gut or

feed other stuff once swallowed.

> > It occurred to me that the animals we have always frustrate us by

> > ignoring the nice clean water we try to give them and drink the

> > stinky water with rotting leaves in it. Or from the toilet. Do

> > they do better with " live " water too?

>

> You may be on to something here. Maybe we all need probiotic

water

>

> > It got me thinking about the " manure tea " that is so trendy these

> > days.

>

> OK, that's not what I had in mind for probiotic drinking water, but

it

> does sound good for plants.

>

> > And of course, the instant tea is not leaving the bacteria any

time

> > to work its magic and convert the vegetative matter to nitrogen.

> >

> > So it's frustrating that once again we're taking something really

> > neat and messing it all up with our impatient, controlling, and

> > bacteriophobic ways.

>

> Yes, so true. I've been too impatient to brew my own kombucha

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Case in point, from an aquarium website: " After feeding fry on

infusoria, rotifers " medium sized ciliates " come next in their diet.

Some aquarists state that any breeder having access to an assured

supply of rotifers not only could count on raising almost every fish

he spawned, but could feel certain that at least 80% of the fish so

raised would turn out to be premium quality specimens. Philodina is

at least twice the size of Monostyla. "

What's the deal with rotifers that makes every baby fish live, and

grow up to become " premium quality specimens " ?

> > > It occurred to me that the animals we have always frustrate us

by

> > > ignoring the nice clean water we try to give them and drink the

> > > stinky water with rotting leaves in it. Or from the toilet. Do

> > > they do better with " live " water too?

> >

> > You may be on to something here. Maybe we all need probiotic

> water

> >

> > > It got me thinking about the " manure tea " that is so trendy

these

> > > days.

> >

> > OK, that's not what I had in mind for probiotic drinking water,

but

> it

> > does sound good for plants.

> >

> > > And of course, the instant tea is not leaving the bacteria any

> time

> > > to work its magic and convert the vegetative matter to nitrogen.

> > >

> > > So it's frustrating that once again we're taking something

really

> > > neat and messing it all up with our impatient, controlling, and

> > > bacteriophobic ways.

> >

> > Yes, so true. I've been too impatient to brew my own kombucha

> >

> >

> >

>