Post by VegHead on Jan 10, 2015 12:46:52 GMT 10
Hi all, thought I'd sure one of my many brain fart builds with the members.
I come from a bit of a funny background career-wise so many of my ideas have their place somewhere else in my ever diminishing brain cells, however this one actually works!
I like things a little systematic if not almost all automated as I have never enough hours in a day to get through my own self-imposed lists. This setup provides a super microbial (or fungal dominate if you choose) power feed for my crops and pastures with very little effort. The basis of the whole setup is Actively Aerated Compost Tea (AACT). I started out using Biodynamics but hand stirring the BD500 preps took a toll on my already buggered AC joint so I changed over to AACT (and I believe they work very much the same at the end of the day).
AACT takes some super-duper compost that you'd generally make yourself (see my thread on chicken employment), add some food for the microbes that should be present in properly made compost to eat whilst they multiply by the billions, aerate the whole she-bang over 24-36 hours a voila! A bunch of really wicked, super potent and microbial dominate liquid fertiliser. That's the first step.
The next phase is that I'm basically a lazy waterer and like to sit back on the veranda. So after a deep soil watering I apply the finished AACT, in diluted form (you'll see how in a tic) as a foliar spray for the veg, pastures, whatever. The trick is to dilute the fertiliser, add water to it and irrigate whatever it is that needs watering all at the same time.
The build: (most parts are scrounged, repurposed or battered for - I'm a cheap bugger after-all!).
Start with a 200 litre clean washed and sterilised drum. Cut out the top. Make up some diffusion rails from 25mm-ish PVC pipe with capped ends and drill a few small holes along the underside. Chuck on an air pump (I used an old spa bath pump (the spa bath is now my worm farm that supplies the vermicast for the AACT)) attached to the PVC pipe. Add an extension piece an add a paint strainer bag which will hold the compost material. This is not a crucial step but I find that blowing the air through the bag gives exceptional results as compared to having the bag just flopping around in the barrel like an untrained seal.
The barre, pump and the diffuser lines. The middle pipe is where the compost tea bag gets attached. The red valve enables flow control of air to the bag, think of it as a balancing valve.
Fill barrel with rainwater (if town water then aerate for a few hours to nick off the chlorine and other nasties). Add compost to bag, tie bag onto pipe. Start the blower. Add food for the microbes (molasses, flour, seaweed extract, Charlie Carp, etc). Aerate for 24-36 hours and the jobs done. Try and use the finished 'tea' as soon as possible diluted approx 10:1.
Here it is running but with the compost added. The water turns brown instantly and begins to foam once the bagged compost is added.
The next phase is to get the tea out and onto the leaf to get the most out of it. I use a spray unit, a watering can and by far the best idea that I sort of came up with is to use a venturi and fertigate.
My system uses a small venturi and a suction line with strainer that goes in-line with my hoses from the tao, either tank stare of bore water. Just be aware that these ventures will drop your presses big time so you may need a booster pump as well (I'm yet to try this experiment but have just bought the pump from Aldi).
I often use a watering wand on the end of the hose or bing lazy plumb into the sprinklers which are in turn on timers (I love set-and-forget systems!).
The whole setup couldn't be easier and promotes crop growth immensely, even preventing many diseases and pest attack; a healthy plant has inbuilt resilience remember.
I come from a bit of a funny background career-wise so many of my ideas have their place somewhere else in my ever diminishing brain cells, however this one actually works!
I like things a little systematic if not almost all automated as I have never enough hours in a day to get through my own self-imposed lists. This setup provides a super microbial (or fungal dominate if you choose) power feed for my crops and pastures with very little effort. The basis of the whole setup is Actively Aerated Compost Tea (AACT). I started out using Biodynamics but hand stirring the BD500 preps took a toll on my already buggered AC joint so I changed over to AACT (and I believe they work very much the same at the end of the day).
AACT takes some super-duper compost that you'd generally make yourself (see my thread on chicken employment), add some food for the microbes that should be present in properly made compost to eat whilst they multiply by the billions, aerate the whole she-bang over 24-36 hours a voila! A bunch of really wicked, super potent and microbial dominate liquid fertiliser. That's the first step.
The next phase is that I'm basically a lazy waterer and like to sit back on the veranda. So after a deep soil watering I apply the finished AACT, in diluted form (you'll see how in a tic) as a foliar spray for the veg, pastures, whatever. The trick is to dilute the fertiliser, add water to it and irrigate whatever it is that needs watering all at the same time.
The build: (most parts are scrounged, repurposed or battered for - I'm a cheap bugger after-all!).
Start with a 200 litre clean washed and sterilised drum. Cut out the top. Make up some diffusion rails from 25mm-ish PVC pipe with capped ends and drill a few small holes along the underside. Chuck on an air pump (I used an old spa bath pump (the spa bath is now my worm farm that supplies the vermicast for the AACT)) attached to the PVC pipe. Add an extension piece an add a paint strainer bag which will hold the compost material. This is not a crucial step but I find that blowing the air through the bag gives exceptional results as compared to having the bag just flopping around in the barrel like an untrained seal.
The barre, pump and the diffuser lines. The middle pipe is where the compost tea bag gets attached. The red valve enables flow control of air to the bag, think of it as a balancing valve.
Fill barrel with rainwater (if town water then aerate for a few hours to nick off the chlorine and other nasties). Add compost to bag, tie bag onto pipe. Start the blower. Add food for the microbes (molasses, flour, seaweed extract, Charlie Carp, etc). Aerate for 24-36 hours and the jobs done. Try and use the finished 'tea' as soon as possible diluted approx 10:1.
Here it is running but with the compost added. The water turns brown instantly and begins to foam once the bagged compost is added.
The next phase is to get the tea out and onto the leaf to get the most out of it. I use a spray unit, a watering can and by far the best idea that I sort of came up with is to use a venturi and fertigate.
My system uses a small venturi and a suction line with strainer that goes in-line with my hoses from the tao, either tank stare of bore water. Just be aware that these ventures will drop your presses big time so you may need a booster pump as well (I'm yet to try this experiment but have just bought the pump from Aldi).
I often use a watering wand on the end of the hose or bing lazy plumb into the sprinklers which are in turn on timers (I love set-and-forget systems!).
The whole setup couldn't be easier and promotes crop growth immensely, even preventing many diseases and pest attack; a healthy plant has inbuilt resilience remember.