Quote:
Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie
Even with two air pumps, I still have problems with most types of compost, because they coat the bottom in black mud, which goes anaerobic from lack of oxygen, even though the rest of the bucket is getting plenty. Worm castings don't seem to do that, neither did my black dirt from the cow field, which was also fairly coarse with rotted hay and not muddy or mucky when wet. I have not yet experimented with different micron-sized filter bags. From what I have read, the filter bag isn't supposed to be too fine, or it doesn't allow the bacteria to flow through.
Mushroom compost didn't work well for me. It's one of the experiments that caked on the bottom in mud and smelled poopy. I have read of some people trying to grow fungal material a few days beforehand on organic grain flour, and then adding that to their tea. Most tea is predominantly bacterial, and not fungal.
I took a sample of the same cow field dirt and made tea in the winter. It was not nearly as good. But I still think it had some value. I wonder if tea is also an extraction of any water-based compounds in the compost, like humic and fulvic acids. They are both beneficial, even if the tea doesn't contain many bacteria.
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I wonder if you may be using too much compost so that too much of it sinks to the bottom? I don't usually use a bag, but I have done it. The bags I used are the ones you can get from your local supermarket. I've bought these from Albertsons and Safeway. They are around the fruit islands. I also keep a stirring stick next to my bucket and I stir it up whenever I walk by...at least twice a day. My sludge is maybe 1/8 inch at most.