Green Tea from Comfrey Or Other Leaves – IPM Control – Foiloir Layer Biology
Green Tea from Comfrey Or Other Leaves is an IPM Control for the Foiloir Layer Biology. Compost tea can be made out of leaves as well. It is not called compost tea, but green tea. It is used as a pest management for leaves. This method suppresses leave pathogenic problems. Fungi and bacteria issues. Link: For [...]
Compost Tea Brewing Equipment
Compost Tea Brewing Equipment can be bought as a kit or made with some house hold items around the house. The description posted here are for the DIYers. Compost Teas are used for disease suppressions on leaves on trees or plants. Once the compost tea is made, it is placed on tree leaves to prevent bacterial [...]
Hard Water-Chloramine-Chlorine-Dissolved Minerals Removal
When water comes to us from a wells, rains or cities, it normally has some or all of the elements of Chloramine, Chlorine or Dissolved Minerals. For us to make good compost teas, grow mushrooms, grow Aquaponics systems or just plain using water, we need to make sure it is safe for our plants and our [...]
Measuring the Amount of Fungi in Your Soil Sample
Measuring the amount of fungi in your soil sample is easy an inexpensive way to check your soil microbiology. The unit of measure for fungi in soil is ug/gram. Here is the unit dimensions. A “ug” means 1 micro gram. One gram is equivalent to 1 ml of water; or 1 ug is equivalent to 0.000001 [...]
Dissolved Oxygen Meter RS232 Connection Cable and Data Collection (EXTECH 407510A) for use with Compost Tea Brewing
When brewing Compost teas, it is very important the whole brew does not go anaerobic. That means the dissolved Oxygen in the water/brew can not go below 5.5 mg/L of dissolved oxygen. This can be measured using a Dissolved Oxygen meter. If you are very serious about making good compost teas, you may want to [...]
Identifying MicroOrganisms using a Microscope
Identifying what is in your soil takes you many steps closer to understanding how the world works around us. If you are a beginner to microscopes and to microscope slides with sample preparation, you first need to get a lesson oh how to use a microscope. Using microscopes is not hard, but is not as simple [...]
Preparing Soil Samples
Preparing soil samples for microscope analysis is easy. The actual analysis has a steep learning curve. It takes a bit of practice. Preparing soil samples is different than preparing compost tea and compost extract samples. In preparing soil samples we are going to be measuring the amounts of micro-0rganisms contained in the soil. That means [...]
Preparing Extract Samples
Preparing compost extract samples is the easiest sample to make. It is identical to makeing compost tea samples. You do not need to ratio water with the tea. The down side is you really can’t tell how much of each animal is in the tea. When testing for compost teas, you are really looking for [...]
Soil Test Equipment
Testing your won soil with a microscope is fun, but there is a large learning curve. It is simple to make the samples, but identifying the animals on the slides takes a lot of practice. Here is a list of items you need for basic microscope soil analysis. These items can be used for analyzing compost, [...]
Microscope Care
Microscope care is simple but it needs to be done. With all microscopes, dust is the biggest problem. When too much dust gets into the microscope it is difficult to see clear images. Get it cleaned once a year if needed. The best practice is to keep the cover over the microscope when not in [...]
Using Compost Tea for Pest and Disease Suppression Control
Compost Tea is the easiest and safest way to control blight, leave curl and most fungi problems in trees. The process is very simple. Spray compost tea on the leaves and tree branches. Yes, this does not go into the ground, but on the upper canopy of the tree. About 4 weeks before buds open [...]
Making Compost Teas – Video
Here are some simple How To Vidoes to Make Compost Teas. For more information on Compost Tea Application schedules for preventing diseases see, For more Information on applications schedules for Tea Applications, Click Here For more Information on Disease and Pest Suppression using Compost Teas, Click Here Compost Teas/Extracts Foods, Click Here Making Compost Teas [...]
Testing Confocal Microscope on Compost Tea
Here is an interesting test case of compost tea made this week. The tea was brewed with protists and fungi in mind. The tea was made in a 5 gallon bucket with 4 tablespoons of liquid kelp and 4 tablespoons of fish hydrogisate. It was bubbled for 48 hours at 68 degrees F. Below is [...]
Foiloir Layer Case Study – Laurel Bay Leaf Images
The sample is set up with two different stains. One stain shows all of the live bacteria (green) and the dead bacteria (red). Below is the BL (Back Lite) of the Bay leaf. The stomata are shown in semi-bright circles in this image. A stoma is a pore, found in the leaf and stem epidermis [...]
Composting for Growing Soil, Compost Teas and Compost Extracts – Videos
Gardening Rhythms: Advanced Composting Part 2 (2010) (YouTube Part 1) Gardening Rhythms: Advanced Composting Part 2 (2010) (YouTube Part 2) Gardening Rhythms: Advanced Composting Part 2 (2010) (YouTube Part 3)
Pump Batteries
The battery is the last thing people think about. In this case, I have used an 11 amp-hour 12 volt sealed lead-acid battery. It is strapped to the bottom of the applicator using Velcro bought from the local fabric store. It is recharged once a month. I used a cheap motorcycle battery charger. Any 12 [...]
Compost Extractor Attachements
I found a need to have three attachments to apply Teas and Extractions to everywhere. In the picture below, there is a normal chemical sprayer tip. Very thin Compost Tea will pass through it, but it normally gets plugged up with something. The center of the nozzle had to be clipped off with a pair [...]
Setting up the Right Hose
The hose and nozzle cannot destroy the micro-biology as it passes through. In this case, I have used a typical chemical pump up sprayer nozzle. This can be bought in any hardware store. You can buy the parts separate from the whole applicator. A 3/8 inch clear hose is used between the pump [...]
Choosing the Right Pumps
The best and cheapest pump for this application is a diaphragm pump. This is a positive displacement pump with a chamber that does not grind up the micro-organisms. A positive displacement pump causes a fluid to move by trapping a fixed amount of it then forcing (displacing) that trapped volume into the discharge pipe. Here [...]
Cavitaion Solutions
Cavitation is the formation of gas bubbles of a flowing liquid in a region where the pressure of the liquid falls below its vapor pressure or in this case (0 psi). When a pump creates cavitation, it destroys the micro-organism by allowing the internal pressure of single cell organism to explode the through the cell [...]
Building your own Applicator
The 5 gallon bucket sits on top of the applicator. Use the compost bag to wash the organisms off the compost. Add the appropriate foods and you are off to the races. The pump is located under the bucket. It is self contained. The pump is connected to the bucket by a hose at the [...]
How to Make a Compost Extraction
The easiest way to extract compost is to use a 400 um threaded nylon bag. You can buy them in any hydroponic store for about $47. Or you can make it yourself with a serger. A serger is sometimes called an overlock or babylock sewing machine. It’s a sewing machine that overcasts the raw edges [...]
Cleaning Equipment
Hydrogen Peroxide. This is used for killing everything. It is very important not to let any compost, extract or tea go anaerobic. This means equipment has to be very clean. If I feel I can eat off it, it is clean enough. If the equipment is not cleaned right after use, it starts to grow [...]
Growing Fungi for Compost Extractions
Below is ground up oatmeal. This does not work in extractions but is used for pre-germinating fungi spores in your compost. A few days before doing your extraction, place a cup or two mixed in your compost. Make sure it is 50% moist with waterand then let it set. It is best of the ambient [...]