Compost tea Concentrate?

[humble1]

I was at the NE grows show today, a guy tryed to tell me that they supply a concentrated compost extract that i would then put in a big tank to apply the finished tea. Is there such a thing or is he just trying to sell some molases?

[NattyLawn]

Sounds like ICT Bill's product.

www.ictorganics.com

[humble1]

Sounds like ICT Bill's product.

www.ictorganics.com

Have you used it, is it good:confused:

[Smallaxe]

Sounds like something that fits the way things grow. A few hundred thousand microbes that multiply to a few hundred million in a favorable growing environment. Basic Botany 101 type stuff.
That is why brewing and carefully rebrewing confuses me. Either they are present in adequate numbers to overcome the competition in the proper growing environment or they are going to die.
I also understand the concept of a properly brewd tea that creates the proper growing environment , gives them the edge to beat the competition.
The natural followup is whether your turf is ready to support these critters or will these critters make your turf ready.
A concentrate of biologicals makes perfect sense to me as long as they are able to go dormant rather than die in a given medium. When released they wake up and multiply which is their lot in life. Any system that denies this fundamental truth about microbes is suspect. IMO.

[tadhussey]

Smallaxe,

You keep mentioning rebrewing. What is this in reference to? Instant compost teas?

[phasthound]

Sounds like something that fits the way things grow. A few hundred thousand microbes that multiply to a few hundred million in a favorable growing environment. Basic Botany 101 type stuff.
That is why brewing and carefully rebrewing confuses me. Either they are present in adequate numbers to overcome the competition in the proper growing environment or they are going to die.
I also understand the concept of a properly brewd tea that creates the proper growing environment , gives them the edge to beat the competition.

Yup, the microbes need "room & board" to stick around for long. Hey, Natty how's that Super Bowl Party analogy go? :)

[NattyLawn]

Sounds like something that fits the way things grow. A few hundred thousand microbes that multiply to a few hundred million in a favorable growing environment. Basic Botany 101 type stuff.
That is why brewing and carefully rebrewing confuses me. Either they are present in adequate numbers to overcome the competition in the proper growing environment or they are going to die.
I also understand the concept of a properly brewd tea that creates the proper growing environment , gives them the edge to beat the competition.

Yup, the microbes need "room & board" to stick around for long. Hey, Natty how's that Super Bowl Party analogy go? :)

I've probably heard that analogy 10+ times over the last 3 years, but don't want to type it out without getting right. I'll try and ger Erik's permission to put it on here, he probably has it trademarked.

[Newby08]

can you buy teas or do you basically have to make your own to get the proper benefits? I read somewhere that after about 3 hours the organisms die off and loses most of its benefits. And if so how hard/expensive is it to keep teas going for a company?

[Tim Wilson]

Sounds like something that fits the way things grow. A few hundred thousand microbes that multiply to a few hundred million in a favorable growing environment. Basic Botany 101 type stuff.
That is why brewing and carefully rebrewing confuses me. Either they are present in adequate numbers to overcome the competition in the proper growing environment or they are going to die.
I also understand the concept of a properly brewd tea that creates the proper growing environment , gives them the edge to beat the competition.
The natural followup is whether your turf is ready to support these critters or will these critters make your turf ready.
A concentrate of biologicals makes perfect sense to me as long as they are able to go dormant rather than die in a given medium. When released they wake up and multiply which is their lot in life. Any system that denies this fundamental truth about microbes is suspect. IMO.

Biological concentrates do make sense and they work. Most concentrates have around 2 to 4 species of bacteria usually of the bacillus group, some fungi spores and or some yeast cells.

A compost tea which has been aerated and circulated for a sufficient period of time {only once} with good compost and feedstock should produce (underestimating) approximately 200 to 1000 species of bacteria/archaea, 4 to 10 species of flagellates, 2 to 4 species of amoebae, at least 1 species of fungal hyphae but up to 5, 2 to 5 species of yeast cells/hyphae and possibly a few ciliates.

Tim

[ICT Bill]

Humble1
I do not know if it was me or not. I do know that I can back up any claim with third party data analysis.
There are basically 72 Billion bacteria and 12 Billion Fungi per milliliter in the mix

[humble1]

Humble1
I do not know if it was me or not. I do know that I can back up any claim with third party data analysis.
There are basically 72 Billion bacteria and 12 Billion Fungi per milliliter in the mix

Thanks Bill,
I have a 200 Gallon spray tank, Do i add your product directly to water and spray or do i still need to brew it?

[ICT Bill]

Add directly to de-chlorinated water and spray

AACT should be used in cases where you are using CT for disease suppresion or as a foliar nutrient. The active bacteria stick to the leaf surface much better. As a drench for turf and landscapes the other can be used

[Newby08]

so let me get this straight, this is compost tea concentrated that you just throw in your tank and off you go?

[ICT Bill]

That is the intended application, yes

[Newby08]

sweet, sounds expensive

[ICT Bill]

I have not signed on as a sponsor to this site, YET, so I can't discuss that here
It is cost effective is about all I can say

[Newby08]

lol sounds like politics to me

[ICT Bill]

The policy on this board is that non sponsors can not promote their products in any way. I have had my hand slapped several times and need to get off my A$$ and sign on as a sponsor

[humble1]

The policy on this board is that non sponsors can not promote their products in any way. I have had my hand slapped several times and need to get off my A$$ and sign on as a sponsor

So can you pm me then? Or could you vaguely say something along the lines of- If walmart carried the product then they would want to be in the price range of X per 1000 sq ft of product.

[Newby08]

I don't know Humble1, I don't think we want to get him in any more trouble than he might already be...

This website might be of some help again if you take a closer look...
www.ictorganics.com Notice the first three letters... look familiar? I'm pretty sure I even saw some prices on there.

[Newby08]

Hey ICT, what does it cost to have one of those assays done? Is there any soil tests that I can do at home?

[ICT Bill]

The soil food web is the one I am the most familiar with that does bio-assay's you would have to look on their website, there are a lot of other labs out there. Barry Draycott posted a website on another thread that listed several labs and what they could perform

[Newby08]

wow thats not cheap, you do this for all your customers or is it something you just do for your own lawn?

[ICT Bill]

I am not a lawn company but a manufacturer
The companies I am familiar with always perform a bio-assay on new property. On existing properties it is normally done in the spring as the soil warms and only for 2 or 3 seasons.
As you get more familiar with them and what the results are telling you you can base a program on them for the customer fairly easily.

I know of a few guys/gals that have been doing this for some time and they rarely send out for bio-assays but do them themselves back at the shop and only when something is really wrong or something catostophic has happened. These experienced guys/gals can usually pull a few core samples, dig in the soil a bit, smell it, roll it around in hteir fingers and have a good general idea on the health of the soil.

[Newby08]

ahhh, there were a lot of different tests that you could have done, what tests would you recommend?