A 200 lt ‘Basic Brewer’ for making Soil Pro-biotic for the Bio-Vital™ system paul@trustnature.com.au

Paul Taylor (V1.5 non emailable)

Paul Teaches organic soil management, Bio-Vital™ compost, Permaculture, and sustainable

design.

The basic brewer is designed to make ‘soil pro-biotic’ more commonly referred to as ‘actively aerated compost tea’. The term ‘compost tea’ is becoming outdated and confusing as there are so many different types of solutions referred to as ‘compost tea’. We believe ‘soil pro-biotic’ is a more appropriate description of the intention, science and practice for making this vital soil amendment.

Soil pro-biotic is a specialist process; the system is designed to be remarkably simple however it is a very specific process, so pay special attention to the details.

Here at Trust Nature, we have taken the complex sciences of soil fertility, soil microbiology and plant production and designed an easy to apply system that you can use as the basis of productive organic soil management in your backyard or on the broad acre; this system has been trademarked Bio-Vital™ to represent a specialist ‘point of difference’ for sustainable soil management.

Here we discuss how to use good compost as the source of beneficial soil microorganisms, we strip the organisms out of the compost and into water and grow them as a soil

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pro-biotic. This is the basis of a simple but specific system that leads us toward sustainable land management with fertile, living soils.

In order to make soil pro-biotic, we place compost, rich in organisms into an aerated solution and grow ‘hundreds of thousands’ of organisms into ‘thousands of millions’ in just 24 hours. Pro-biotic can be applied as a foliar spray, soil drench or sprayed on seed with multiple benefits.

Soil pro-biotic 400 x magnification: beneficial fungi deliver minerals to productive plants

Soil microorganisms:1. Help to build soil fertility and make non-plant

available nutrients plant available.2. Help to build soil structure.3. Are responsible for Nutrient cycling.4. Build the ‘soil food web’.5. Help soils accept and hold water.6. Protect your productive plants from pests and

disease.7. Reduce input costs and improve production.

The ‘basic brewer’ is designed has been simplified to make it cost effective, it represents a quality example for DIY manufacturing, we can make a quality ‘compost tea brewer’ from readily available materials. This is especially important for making a brewer in remote areas, when working in ‘developing countries’ or for the grower who wants to become familiar with the system without making a significant investment in a stainless steel unit.

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The basic brewer is somewhat simplified in that it does not require a ‘tea bag’, instead we simply place compost directly into the barrel with water.

It is important to note that if we were using chlorinated water, we would need to aerate the water for about an hour to gas off the chlorine.

The basic brewer relies only on a diffuser ring for aerating the solution, the diffuser needs to be in the bottom of the tank or barrel, it is connected with an air blower pump that needs to be of sufficient power to be able to deliver adequate aeration to the solution. An appropriate indicator of adequate aeration is when the solution looks like boiling water.

Aeration causes the pro-biotic to look like boiling water

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Place the diffuser ring in the bottom of the tank

The tube can be replaced and extended to fit in a larger diameter tank, 3 mm holes drilled on bottom of tube 100

mm apart for air diffusion

The diffuser ring is designed to be heavy enough to stay on the bottom of the tank, the clear tubing comes reinforced to prevent kinks and has 3 mm holes in the bottom at 100 mm spacing. The hose length can be changed to fit the barrel; here it is made to fit a 200 lt drum.

Soil pro-biotic: We make soil pro-biotic to improve soil

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vitality; soil pro-biotic contains a vast collection of beneficial microorganism found in good compost and in healthy soils.

Bio-Vital™ compost

Compost serves as the source of the microorganisms, the process of making pro-biotic takes those organisms and washes them out of the compost and into the solution where we add microbe foods for them to become active and reproduce. We grow ‘hundreds of thousands’ of organisms into ‘thousands of millions’ over a 24-hour period in this solution as soil pro-biotic. Just like an array of organisms has many benefits to a human body, a diversity of organisms has multiple benefits for our productive soils.

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Soil pro-biotic 400X: organisms aid in ’nutrient cycling’

Process and Ingredients:

1. Fill a 200 lt drum with 180 lts of water (200 mm from the top)

2. Drop the diffuser ring into the water with the air pump ‘on’ this will reduce the need to clean the system, as the solution will not be able to get into the diffuser when the air is ‘on’.

3. If you are using chlorinated water, you need to aerate the water for 1 hour in order to gas off the chlorine.

4. Add food for the microbes: 1 litre of liquid fish hydrolysate, 250 ml of liquid humate, and 2 litres of liquid kelp, turn the air blower on to mix the ingredients. Note: always add the microbe foods before adding the compost, the foods are concentrates and kill microbes if not mixed with water first.

5. Add 5 litres of good quality compost to the solution.6. Leave the air pump ‘on’ for a 24 hour period and you

have pro-biotic ready to apply.

Additional optional ingredients:

1. 2 litres of worm juice as vermicast extract.2. 250 grams of oat, rice or soya flour.3. 100 ml of molasses.

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Note: It is a matter of balance; more ingredients are not ‘better’ and can cause a drop of the oxygen levels in the solution. Should you want to add more nutrients, add them at the time of application and make sure that the additional foods are diluted with water before adding the pro-biotic to the spray tank or bucket. Once you add additional food, the solution needs to be applied as soon as possible or the solution will begin to support anaerobic organisms.

Application rates:Application rates vary depending on circumstances and practicalities. Applications of 200 lts per HA 4 times per year for grazing or dry-lands cropping are recommended. Monthly applications are recommended for greenhouses and intensive cropping, and 1 lt per sq mt applied monthly to home gardens is common practice. If applying pro-biotic to seed, dampen the seed before sowing or apply during sowing, this gives the microbes the opportunity to make beneficial relationships with your productive plants on germination.

Rates recommended are for pure pro-biotic, any amount of water can be added as a carrier, additional foods can be added to the spray tank to support microbial growth in the field, act as a plant fertiliser and boost long term fertility.

Parts for ‘basic brewer’ making soil pro-biotic.

All fittings in galvanized steel required to be heavy enough to keep diffuser at the bottom of the tank.1 x 25mm Tee2 x 25mm nipples1 x 25mm end cap1 x 32mm Tee2 x 32-25mm reduction nipples1 x 32-25 bush1 x 25mm x 100 mm galv pipe6 x hose clamps 1.5mts clear reinforced intake hose for pump2 mts flexi hose and nut and tail to threaded PVC fitting at pump.

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Fittings in galvanised steel, hose can be optional length to fit tank diameter, steel has the required weight for keeping the diffuser on the bottom of the tank.

http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au

For further information contact paul@trustnature.com.au

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