Hi Allan, The reason I need so much tea is that I am collaborating on a 12 acre orchard which needs tea-ing every two weeks or so, 5 gallons to the acre per six feet of tree, many of these are in the 12-15 foot range...and since our tea will not be that from a multi thousand US dollars boutique system, but from a bootstrapped air compressor-to-be-determined airstones-diffusers-to-be-determined system, I figgered we best be ready to make more than less......since it could take up to 80 gallons an acre to be effective in Elaine's SoilSoup examples.
I think it is not the case that pumped air can't be used for larger containers, but I think it is the case that Elaine and company have not gone out of their way to simplify the task of choosing blowers/compressors/diffusers for systems of specific volumes and depths. Last thing I read from Elaine was no more specific than 'two air pumps and four stones in a five gallon bucket' which I consider to be something less than precise advice, seeing how an 'air pump' is hardly a nonvariable entity.... Diffuser issues add to the confusion, as fine air bubble diffusion is much more efficient than your normal aquarium airstone at oxygen transfer, so you need less air for a fine air bubbler diffuser, but coarse bubbles are best at moving water, so you might need some coarse air thing right under your compost basket for maximizing extraction, unless you just let the whole thing run free, in which case you still might need both coarse and fine bubbles for circulating water while optimizing oxygen levels, all the while keeping it all at above 6 ppm to alive-stay the ungus-fay, eh? With the all in the pool brew game the trick is to filter it just enough to not stop the sprayer, but not so much you inhibit your benny-fishals from getting through to leaf's end, where their paradisical lives in the phyllosphere can begin.... Doubtful in such a case, that you could do what Uncle Will suggests, letting it all settle 8 hours or some such prior to siphoning off the higher levels, since such non-aerobic conditions would doubtless crash the big aerobic mike-populations that are the whole reason to subject it to such all-aerobic-all-the-time conditioning. So, as a first approximation ISO the just right, not too much filtering, I am using clean cloth and a funnel for the next batch, as it is no fun to get a 25 gallon trailer full of tea and not be able to use the last 15 gallons of it due to near constant clogging. I have emails out to the equipment suppliers and when I get some replies as to BOD calculations for tea growth as they relate to blower/compressor/diffuser/circulation issues and the 6 ppm target, I will get back to you with as helpful a set of information as I can. However, I will say that I am frustrated that Elaine seems to be more tied in to manufacturers of teamakers than to the core process of teamaking and the paramaters that would help us all to make good tea without going more deeply into hock. I expect that this alliance from the inception has kept us from doing more in the DIY department. I did buy, on Elaine's recommendation in 2000 at the Vermillennium, a SoilSoup machine, and have even had the tea from it tested once, which I found prohibitively expensive to redo on anything like a regular basis. Like Jose's, it makes good bac tea, but had poor fungal aspects. And with chunky tea, such as if the sock falls in the vat, (bin and dun it), the thing can get pretty clogged up. Summing up, there is a wide range of pumps available to deliver air, from anything to little bitty aquariums to ten acre ponds, waste treatment systems, intensive aquaculture, etc. 'Two pumps and four stones in a five gallon bucket' is not really the kind of detail I need, and yes I am a bit frustrated, so please forgive my brusque and even sarcastic tone, if that's what it was. Between the Phyllosphere Paradise Fantasy and the Phyllosphere Paradise Reality lies the Bridge of Technical Tea Competence, which we need to actually cross. There is no doubt that the equipment is out there to get the job done, but choosing the equipment is not so simple and yes, that is what I am in the process of doing. While I consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent fellow with a solid general education, I admit that the environmental engineering required here leaves me a bit short in getting to the Goldilocks golden mean of 'just right' on air delivery, water movement and filtration of the end product. When I know more, I will get back to you. Frank Teuton ----- Original Message ----- From: "Allan Balliett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2002 12:19 PM Subject: Re: vortex pump > Why so much tea, Lloyd? > > Elaine is recommending 5 gallons of good tea to the acre and says > that tea has less than a 24 hours container life. > > I want to thank both you and Frank for reminding me that simple > pumped air is impractical for working with large volumes of liquid. > > -Allan > > >----- Original Message From: Frank Teuton > > > > > >> Would you care to quantify that a bit, say talking about how many gallons, > >> what sizes of tubing/devices, compost and nutrient amounts? Oh yes, and > >what > >> exactly is a 'good aquarium pump' for 200-400 gallons of teamaking? > >> > > > >Hi Frank > > That would be one helluva aquarium pump I reckon! > >I make a "brew" - (not compost tea but there's some compost in as > >feedstock) -just a microbial brew - and getting enough air in is a big > >problem. I usually make 4 to 500 gallons in a old milk tank and a ten cubic > >foot /minute air compressor was not up to it We got reasonable results > >recirculating the whole lot with a submersible trash pump injecting back > >into the tank. Plan "B" is to put a three tier flow form running back into > >the tank (lack of funds is presently interfering with the implementation of > >plan "B"). I would be real pleased to hear any other suggestions. I am > >thinking Jose's system is worth a look? > >Cheers > >Lloyd Charles >
