From

Location

Message

Date Posted

maine USA

I have read that some growers use Soil Soup. I am wondering how often you use it? How much do you use per plant? Do you spray just the soil around the stump, the foliage, or under the canopy of the entire plant? Finally when in the season do you use it? thank you KathyT

1/1/2008 2:56:15 PM

Wilmington.Ma.

HI KathyT I use it and make it in 6gal at atime,spray it on top and under the leaves and start another batch. Every 3 days.Hope this helps.

1/2/2008 2:24:32 PM

Georgia

What is this product and where do you get it. Ive never heard of it. Is it located next to the Cambells Chicken Noodle or cream of Mushroom?

1/2/2008 3:25:17 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Jason, not sure if you are kidding or not but check it out at;

http://www.soilsoup.com/home.asp

In the off season, you can use it to brew beer!!

1/2/2008 3:29:33 PM

Georgia

Yeah I was just joking North Shore Boyz. Thanks for the link. Im still gonna check the soup isle out.

1/2/2008 4:51:10 PM

Mt Vernon Ky

i made a batch every outher day 25 gal at a time i got mine from http://www.soilsoup.com

1/2/2008 6:42:13 PM

Colorado

I used it all season last year. Once about every 7-10 days. I just sprayed in on the soil over the entire area of the plant.

1/2/2008 7:10:18 PM

maine USA

Thanks for the info guys. Jason you are silly! :}

1/2/2008 11:48:46 PM

Rhode Island

no need to over do it with the nutrient ( soil soup) sprays kathy.

ron and i made a 25 gallon batch every couple weeks but also added some additional atlantic sea crop or other organic feeding mixture in with the finish product.

we also added a bit of composted rabbit manure castings in with the worm castings at start up.
the nutrient solution you add before brewing is the key. much needed to feed micro activity during brew cycle

sprayed until run off.

1/3/2008 5:49:59 AM

maine USA

Paps how many plants did you grow that required a 25 gallon
batch? thanks fo the info Kathy

1/3/2008 1:32:02 PM

Seattle, WA

Kathy,

I would do a bit more resarch into compost tea makers and different brewers before buying a machine. There's a bunch of variables that go into making compost tea and some manufaturers produce better tea than others.

Here's a good starting point:
http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/approach_pgs/c_03a_aerated_tea.html

1/15/2008 8:05:51 PM

Seattle, WA

Here's an article I wrote awhile back on the subject:
Compost Tea...Is It All The Same?
By Tad Hussey

My first reaction to compost tea was a fairly common response, "So you just put compost in a bucket then dump it on your plants?" Little did I realize all the science and work that goes into making high quality compost tea or AACT (Actively Aerated Compost Tea). In some ways it seems like such a simple concept, to place good compost in a container with water, add food for the bacteria and fungus in the compost, and then agitate and aerate the tea for a sufficient amount of time to allow the bacteria and fungus and micro-organisms to replicate and grow. However, since this is a relatively new field, you seem to find many different ideas on what compost tea is, ranging from total ignorance to in-depth scientific study. I've compiled a few points that I believe to be of significant importance when making compost tea:

1. Good compost is very important! Without good biology in the compost, you really have no chance of getting high-quality tea. You can only multiply what you put into your brewer, therefore good compost that has been tested to have high numbers and a diversity of beneficial organisms is essential. A lot of science goes into making good compost, and unless you test your compost you really have no idea if what you are putting into your brewer is truly beneficial. By adjusting the type of compost you put in the brewer you can control whether your tea is going to be bacterial or fungal dominated. We use a mix of 3 different composts to increase our diversity in our teas.

1/15/2008 8:06:40 PM

Seattle, WA

2. Food is critical for the micro-organisms so that they can reproduce and grow in numbers. The goal is to maximize your output of beneficial biology without giving the bacteria and fungi too much food that they over-replicate and cause the tea to go anaerobic. There are many different recipes out there, each of which will give you different biology in the end and some are much better than others. It is important to see the lab results of the recipe you use to make sure that you are indeed maximizing your final product.

3. Oxygen! All living organisms need oxygen to survive, and your tea is no exception. If you're not getting enough oxygen in your brew, then your tea will go anaerobic and you will start brewing the "bad" organisms (pathogens such as e.coli or root feeding nematodes) that may have existed in your original compost. If your tea has enough oxygen and stays aerobic for the entire brew cycle, what you'll have at the end will be the good biology that you want for your plants.

These are the main ingredients I've discovered when making compost tea. I'm constantly surprised by what people think of when they hear "compost tea." I've heard it described as everything from "manure in a bucket," to "boutique fertilizer." As the movement towards organics continues, I think we'll find more consensus on a definition of compost tea and also greater public knowledge on the subject. It is our job to educate others on the potential benefits of organics and compost tea!

1/15/2008 8:06:46 PM

Seattle, WA

Application rates for good tea is 5 gal./acre foliar and 20 gal./acre soil drench. You can also add water to the tea at a rate of 5:1 as long as your tea is within range for the beneficial organisms you want.

1/15/2008 8:07:52 PM

Roselle, IL GJGEM@sbcglobal.net

Tad, thanks for your input. I have a question on how much, or how to induce the oxygen into the tea. I have the Soil Soup brewer and seems to work great. After reading the book "Teaming with Microbes" and meeting the Author Jeff Lowenfels, he said the brewer in the Soil Soup system is too strong or emits bubbles too small that will literally kill or shred a fair share of the microbes we are trying to produce. He mentioned a KIS brewer is less harmful on the microbes and will make a better tea. Any truth to this?

1/16/2008 9:40:36 AM

Litchfield N. H. 03052

Kathy,
There are numerous types of "teas" out there, with every one with there own best mix.
Why not look at the pumpkins that are produced by verious methods. The Wallaces, numerous 1400# and greater pumpkins. My 1566#, Joe Jutris 1689#.Soil soup is so simple and its works. Bill R.

1/18/2008 10:13:22 AM

Seattle, WA

George,

Okay first off, I have to tell you I'm a bit biased. I work for Keep It Simple, so of course I love the brewer! Research has shown the soil soup brewer makes primarily a bacterial tea. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and will still have benefits. However, you won't be getting the beneficial fungi which are what are correlated with disease suppression and other benefits.

The best way to compare brewers is to look at lab results. Any company that sells compost tea brewers should have lab tests to show that their brewer makes good tea (otherwise you may as well build your own). I know that some of the lab tests in Jeff's book are of our brewer.

I believe the issue with the soil soup brewer is that there's not enough oxygen being put out by the "bio blender" and that it also possibly shreds the fungi when it agitates.

That being said, if you're happy with your results, I say stick with it. There are also other companies out there that make brewers that will give you good results, it pays to do a bit of research. The link I provided in a previous post will speak a bit to what I was talking about.

Oxygen levels need to stay above 6 mg/l to ensure an aerobic compost tea.

~Tad

PS: If you're not having disease problems, and pumpkins prefer highly bacterial conditions (I don't know this, just guessing based on other vegetables) then a bacterial tea would work fine. You can also brew a bacterially dominant tea in any other brewer by adjusting your brewing cycle and recipe.

1/21/2008 2:14:54 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Tad's point about DO (dissolved oxygen) is perfectly valid when brewing an aerobic CT. Does anyone test for or know the Do that is produced with the Soil Soup brewer? I'm curious if the SS machine can brew ACT or if the end result is mostly bacterial.

I get to plead the fifth since I don't brew or use any CT right now. LOL

1/21/2008 4:17:00 PM

Roselle, IL GJGEM@sbcglobal.net

It would seem to make sense to rotate teas bacterial and fungal- for disease prevention. For fungal teas, would it be best to add humic acid to the brewer, or powdered baby oatmeal to the compost? or both?

1/21/2008 6:07:47 PM

Seattle, WA

Baby oatmeal is typically used as an activator to the compost, which means you want to add it a week or so before using the compost to make tea. Humic acid can be added to your compost pile or used in the tea as a fungal food. While the baby oatmeal does produce wide diameter fungal hypahe, I have yet to see any data as to the specific fungi that prefer it as a food substrate. Dr. Ingham has stated that in general, fungi with wide fungal hyphae tend to be the beneficial ones. On this basis, you can assume that the baby oatmeal is culturing beneficial fungi, but we don't know for sure.

If you go to the link I provided above, Dr. Elaine Ingham lists brewers that produce only bacterial tea and Soil Soup falls into that catagory.

We sent in blind tests to SFI and I know Jeff Lowenfels did the same thing. All the our tests and his came back with good bacterial numbers but no fungi.

If a tea is high in both bacteria and fungi, then you wouldn't need to rotate the teas. This way, the plant is in charge, based on the exudates it puts out, for the organisms it wants in the rhizosphere and leaf surface.

1/21/2008 6:41:11 PM

Mt Vernon Ky

i used the soil soup this year and i think it was the best thing since the pocket on a tee shirt

1/21/2008 9:32:10 PM

maine USA

LOL Vic. Thanks for all of the imput Tad

1/22/2008 11:04:39 AM

Seattle, WA

Pumpkinhead Vic,

Maybe you already have good fungal content in your soil and the bacterial inoculum from the Soil Soup did the job just fine! I'd stick with it if it's working for you.

~Tad

1/22/2008 4:03:36 PM