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I'm a bit uncomfortable using so many different products that you have to purchase from far away to make a compost tea. We have to source locally to make a compost pile but suddenly we take things from the ocean to feed terrestrial fungi?? There must be another way
You have everything you need. I do not doubt Matt's knowledge but this video seems more like a soft sell product endorsement to me, not necessary at all.
You’re breaking the cardinal rule of never combining concentrates there’s no reason to when you can just pour one at a time;) maybe it’s safe with fish hydrolysate and kelp but you’re teaching people that you can go ahead and combine concentrates which is never recommended 😅
But is there really any science going on here? It just seems like a lot of opinions and some of them aren’t based on what scientists have found. Either do the research or listen to the researcher. Not a third party that distorts or waters down the science.
@@Justbetru What exactly wasn't based on science's findings? What exact information was distorted or watered down here? Have you read this man's latest publications on soil? Are you aware of the soil scientists he collaborated with?
@@mourlyvold64 I’ve never seen anything he’s done besides this video and it is just a bunch of hype to put a bunch of purchased products in to a tea and buy his course from what I remember. I don’t remember exactly but there was a statement or two that he made that went into direct conflict with what Dr Elaine Enghams research has told her. I would listen to someone who has devoted a large part of their life to a subject rather than to a RU-vidr just trying to hype up some course and get people to like him. There are a lot of people on RU-vid telling people things that just don’t work and I don’t believe that is helpful to anyone. My main point is do the research don’t just believe somebody blindly and buy the products they are selling.
I am a microbe farmer. My microbes grow all the stuff I plant. I have my microscope and my refractometer. I am looking forward to spending more time getting to know how to use them this winter. I started "farming" my in city rental property just over a year ago (July 11, 2021) when I planted some store bought green onions into the ground that I had started in water on the counter the day before. The day after, I tossed some kitchen scraps on the ground and said, "Voila! A compost pile." Now that I had started composting, all I had to do was improve. Speaking of which, I have a great pile almost finished right now. My wife runs the yardwork business we started a decade ago, so I get a lot of microbial inputs all the time.
@@multiversity6290 I cannot say that I have, but, the way I am, that is not a serious factor. I would be happy to share stuff with you about my experiences. I do best with questions from people to direct me, otherwise there is just a deluge of information, and I flood folks with it, unfortunately. So, if you shoot me out a question or two, and tell me what you are aiming at accomplishing, that would help a lot, too.
This is the challenge. I live in a slum in East Africa. The people who need this type of regenerative and sustainable agriculture the most do not have access to the premade ingredients you describe. I have no access to amazon, home depot, kelp, fungal inoculants or fish emulsion. I do have a 40 gallon drum, a good solar air pump, river water, and good compost which we make. It would be extremely beneficial if someone could demonstrate how to make fungal tea from readily available ingredients for those in the third world.
Take a Tupperware container and add compost and worm castings if available then a few tablespoons of oatmeal, sprinkle it until damp and leave it in the dark for a few days. When you open you will have fungal activity. Use this in the barrel inside a cheesecloth and bubble for 1-2 days then use the tea for watering.
I'm very glad I came across this video! I've been worm farming small scale since 2017. I finally bought myself the filter bags and a vivosun air pump - looks like the one you have! I was going to order the unsulfered molasses but now I will save myself that money! Yesterday I sifted all my vermicompost. Garden 2023 is going to be amazing!
When I have been mixing my teas, I have been adding 1/2 cup of each Feather Meal/Blood Meal/Bone Meal/Kelp Meal/Alfalfa Meal to the tea as well as 4-6 cups worm castings, 1/4 cup greensand, 10-20# compost, 1-2 tsp humic acid. I also add about 1tsp molasses though I have been guilty in the past of using too much. I suspect I may be pushing toward Bacterial in this over Fungal, would you agree? Would fresh, steaming woodchips from a recently downed pine tree host fungal microbes and inoculate the tea? Or would they act to sterilize the tank (volatiles in the chips/sap etc)? I added some to this latest batch, I don't see any hyphae yet on the pile but we got an inch of rain and it was steaming so there[s some cooking action going on for sure. I also have dried pine wood shavings (sawdust) if you believe that would be a better carbon source? More surface area.. Hmmm.
What is the total volume that you put this mix in? What is the pH of the mix after it has brewed for a week? I think that being proactive with tea making and organic gardening is awesome, but I think that anecdotal evidence without a scientific approach leaves to many unknowns.
What are you using for your DNA sequencer set up? Also, do you have a distillation apparatus or do you buy your own wood vinegar? I only found your channel a week ago and I love your science based and systems based approach and equally your respect for indigenous life ways. This is everything I was looking for even though I didn't know what I was looking for! Buying your book and will no doubt be signing up for your regenerative soil or permaculture courses if not both. Thank you for your excellent and valuable work!
Hi Ma Mo!! I use an Oxford Nanopore MinIon sequencer - it's AMAZING!!! All my bamboo vinegar has been from Michael Whittman of Blue Sky Biochar as a gift. Thank you for being here & we would LOVE to have you join us in one of our course communities!!
Awesome stuff Matt. I had heard before about Molasses being prone to bringing in pathogens, but hearing it from you definitely confirms it for me. FPJ for my Aerobic brews from now on. 😊
The study he cites say that there was no pathogen regrowth at or below 0.2% volume concentration. 0.2% of five gallons is 2.5 tablespoons. This means that if you follow the vast majority of recipes, and don't use more than 2 tablespoons per five gallons, you will be well below the danger threshold.
If you really want to know what you are doing buy a microscope and look at samples to see what you are growing or killing. Instead of just listening to someone on youtube.
@@Justbetru What do you mean? Matt regularly is looking at EVERYTHING under a scope and even offers training to know what you are looking at under one.
Hi - just a thought: I just finished the SFW school FC-classes and are investigatiing about microscopes. It is a very steep learning path! And new questions come up all the time. Everyone want to buy somethinggood enough for the future that can be build on ligke for fluorescence as that is expensive. So: can you make an epsidoe for the fresh students? Like whay is the "scientist" microscopes like 2000 usd and Amox wuith same spec is 350??? It does not add up! And if you want an Olympus or Leica - we are talking serios sums.... It would be good to know: What is the real benifit of getting the 60x dry objective contra the 100x oil - what is the different in use, pro/cons? Who offers, and what i s the benifit of certain items like eye piece micrometer - and do you really need a stage micrometer to make it work? I dont know wjhat the latter is!Would i need a dark field view kit? Fluorescence? And what a bout a case?? Camera - spcial topic - like i would like to have one that is on bluetooth/wifi with my iPad and also beeing able to connect with my Macpro and PC in office... so what do i choos - i do not understand wat is what.... And what a bout electricity on a battery for using microscope in field - car electricity attachement? And finally - living in scandinavia - how imprtant is it with guaranties etc? Or do theese "Scientist" microscope go on for years without breaking as long as one get them regularily cleaned.. Hoping for a good episode on your happy and very usefull channal 🙂 Best fortunes Jan H
19:04 I think you should do a testing on rock dust because I’ve seen a few studies here and there that clearly shows that they say organic but they’re actually chemical fertilizers because of the process that it takes in order to make it and then you have a better option just using a leaf mold. I am saving up money to get a microscope in order to see what I can see but I know that you have all the equipment. It’s some thing that needs to be bringing up and addressed if it is an actual Issue..
Good video but what is the failings of worm castings made with fungal emphasis Castings , water , rhizomes , minerals and air for 24 hours or till a light foam
Hi Matt, I am a recent subscriber and I am slowly educating myself with your introductory concepts of permaculture. The point I would like to ask about molasses and these compost teas. I want to buy some really good locally made worm castings and in their recipe for vermi tea it states to add molasses. Should I skip the molasses and add something like liquid seaweed and the EM powders? Thanks
Earthworms have a range of products in their castings that change depending upon their diets. Compost depends on the type of organic matter you are breaking down and how you are breaking it down (your method like hot vs johnson-su, etc.) A more in-depth and specific answer on what is in each type of compost and vermicompost in Regenerative Soil and even deeper in Regenerative Soil Microscopy: www.thepermaculturestudent.com/shop
It was a bit hard to follow all of the ingredients and amounts that you added to your brewer. Would you mind adding that to your video description, or in a response? Thanks!
Hello Matt! I loved your recipe! I have some coconuts palm trees! Some local producers have been useing beauveria bassiana and metarhizium anisopliae! Is it possible to add them to your recipe and drench it!?
I wonder how much this brew in total adds to the crop production cost vs the expected amping of produce. I'm watching this May 2024 and i wonder if anyone has tried and can share their experience. Thanks!
Pretty sustainable, especially if you use "waste" heads - guts Salmon run pretty heavy up the rivers/streams and die off after spawning. Not sure on farmed fish like catfish, tilapia
Depends - is your coir "washed" to remove all the alkalinity they usually bear? I wouldn't use it - it'll pull you the wrong direction. I'd use that in an EM sealed ferment and squash the alkalinity lol ;)
now if youre feeding cannabis this fungally dominant tea, which you would typically use in the bloom phase.. My question is wouldnt the fish emulsions/soluables add an unwanted nitrogen source to your tea? For cannabis you want to cut out all nitrogen at bloom to get an even ripeness to the buds rather than having a bunch of lower popcorns that dont ever ripen.
that introductory remark about molasses - that it promotes pathogenic microbes. promotes bacteria for sure but necessarily pathogenic...i believe this is an inaccuracy that needs correction. if there is a scientific study for this, kindly...mygreathanks and blessings
You got it - I wouldn't have said it without having read it and gone over the research and done my own DNA sequencing to verify it. It's REAL and happening right now with many people's and company's composts: www.researchgate.net/publication/261572335_Effect_of_Molasses_on_Regrowth_of_E_coli_O157H7_And_Salmonella_in_Compost_Teas
@@ThePermacultureStudent From the study cited. "Pathogen regrowth did not occur when molasses was eliminated or kept to 0.2%." The vast majority of compost tea recipes for 5 gallons are 1-2 tablespoons. This puts them comfortably below the 0.2% danger area.
@@paulbraga4460 It's fine even according to that study, AS LONG AS you don't exceed 0.2%. Just don't use more than two tablespoons per 5 gallon batch and you will be fine. Don't spend extra money.
My bokashi barrel which i populated with hay for a time no smells like fucking honey. viking met. (meth?). why is that? thats good, is it? or is it a trap and actually the honey mushroom that lives in my neighbourhood?
The Red Aztec Spinach was the seed I was growing for them but I moved to a colder climate and then when I returned to Cali the fires were strong so I haven't grown out enough seed to sell to them to sell to folks for several years. That's why we moved to TX - it's just too hard to do anything in California and my seeds from there grow well here in Texas. I'll be selling seeds again in a year or two as I refresh the seeds and scale up in the coming seasons. Thank you for your interest!! :)
@@ThePermacultureStudent Oh thanks. I originally thought you were there and bought seeds i really need of vegetables i love in a daily but thought that i was supporting you too because you were one of the breeders. Lol at first i thought you were the only person in the company. May God help you and guide you there in TX as is important what you do. I beg you to pray for the people you help and for your family since what you, John K., and David Johnson, and others are doing is against what controls the bad in this world. I hope you understand and that wisdom of Christ is confered to you on this brother. Keep going and rest when needed. Is a long beautiful road. From Dominican Republic, your friend Xavier.
Is it true that fungal-dominant compost teas are more beneficial for perennials, whereas bacterial is better for annuals/herbacous vegetables? From my limited understanding, it has something to do with fungi preferring high levels of ammonia, whereas bacteria convert that intro nitrates, which would give bacteria a foothold over fungi if a bacterial tea was applied to a perennial crop area?
Just like the wrong concentrations of minerals are upsetting, too much of anything microbial is pathogenic in the body as well - in the soil it is the same. There are viruses all over everything and within us through and through, SO if you imbalance the plant it gets sick or weak just the same. This is why Elaine Ingham was using fungal teas to treat weeds. This concept is shared in my books and the original diagrams I created were with Dr. Elaine Ingham - you can learn more about it in detail in my free peer-reviewed 400+ page ebook here: www.thepermaculturestudent.com/download-ps2-free
Will send 1k for school as soon as I get it . So great to find an inspired aligned soul , passionate about his vocation . Millions like you Matt could really help save the day... I've changed some important minds about the nonsense of clearing land of herbivores, they say they are causing warming , but before big fencing ,when millions herds of deer. Buffalo ,Elk ,etc. Migrated the grasslands, the grass had 20 ft. Root systems and all full of living soil which was turned to dirt by bad farming techniques.
You are enfuego Matt and can't thank you enough for sharing! Looks like I will be doing a little splurging down at the hydro shop. This seems like a root drench brew exclusively? Any thoughts on application frequency and dilution rate, if any, for my Cali foothill garden?
Good afternoon Matt! Thank you so much for everything you’ve been teaching for all these years! I have a little question, can’t the mycorizae spores when brewed get eaten by other microbes? I have this feeling that if they dont get atached asap to roots they could die becoming food for protozoa. Whats your view on the research you’ve been doing?
All the fungal composts and teas are filled with fungal feeders - otherwise the nutrients won't cycle, BUT it's about proportions. I always want to see a certain ratio & # threshold.
It was my understanding that fungal microbes we're very delicate. When making teas I add any AMF additive closer to the end of the brewing cycle. I'll also lower the air bubbles.
I don't feel comfortable adding all these powders. To each their own. But to me, creating my own compost and compost tea is not only about regenerating soil and giving my plants the best nutrients. It's also about taking back power from big corporations and companies. But here we go again buying all these products and making ourselves dependent. They may claim all they want on the labels but in the end, I don't know for sure how they make the products, whether they actually have in them what they claim, and most importantly if the process is sustainable. How much energy and fuel do they use? What's the point of regenerating the soil in my garden when I indirectly burn fossil fuel and waste water through the production process and to ship that stuff all over the country?
The green in the afenda is about the money not the environment. I would stick to worm castings and or compost. If you want more fungus throw some oatmeal in it.
I want an XRF handheld analyzer for EVERYTHING - the pyrex measuring cups in everyone's kitchens are covered in cadmium and lead, so yeah I am concerned about heavy metals but them in everything and then in testing specially to prove out what is and isn't.
Thanks. What most miss, myself included, is growing bacteria is what most methods teach. No one talks about growing microrysal fungi. If you don't aerate your tea microbes bacteria and fungi both die. Broader question is what do you need in your soil. Most need microrysal fungi added to balance the existing bacteria in the soil. Add food for the fungi to digest you are looking to add to your soil then test with a microscope to observe the effects.
Loved your video. You get your message across with oodles of personality. Subscribed. Check out Marc Rebillet; genius musician and the brother you did not know about. I promise you. Cheers from u.k.
Get yourself a body muc. Not just because the dogs but because when you went back and forth to the barrel it's like Grover doing "This is Near and this is Far."
So with the work you've done and the work I see done between KIS organics and Tim Wilson. Is their a middle ground ? Is the short brew time KIS recommends using molasses that middle ground ? From what they have seen, molasses do feed fungi in the tea. Do you find fish hydrolisate can make the inside of your vessel slimey? I've only used it with molasses to make a tea. Not with soluble kelp. Hope to get a ping back, thanks Matt!
Can we get a chitosan oligosaccharide COS & Alginate Oligosaccharide AOS based compost teas? My plants love those mixed with coconut water & aloe teas, ffj, fpj, corn steep liquor, malt barley, compost casting teas... plus all the various cultures.
Ola Matt, Big fan of your work. Got a question: Have you ever tested your tea before brewing (so just the extract) and compared it to your tea after brewing? Do you have any idea about the multiplication rate of the fungi in the brew between start and end?
hey there matt, long story short i am a former ish student of your advanced permaculture cert course(never followed through regretably) and ive wanted to reach out and talk numerous times over many topics but have always gotten cuaght up in procrastinations and other priorities. i was watching this for the first time and on the topic of the bio ceramics, my and my longtime friend/current roomate got into a bit of that same debate and really dove down the rabit hole on the topic about 8 monthes ago, and i dont remember the specifics totally but i believe the resonance of the far infra-red wavelength from the ceramic that is described in research paper/link that you reccomended to someone in the course is a result of the ceramic being in contact with the energy or heat of surrounding biology and that energy, heat and or frequency coming in contact with the ceramic is the source of the energy that is than amplified by the crystalline stucture of the ceramic and then resonates the far infrared wave length. this rabit hole dive was prompted by my roomate asking how does the ceramic resonate any type of frequency without and input of energy and that was what we got to the bottom of.. ish lol. but i figured id write this longwinded comment after hearing you talk about seeing if any microbes are excreted from the ceramic and i dont expect any biology to be living in the ceramic in my understanding, biology(em in this case) was simply used to "tune" the ceramic to a specific frequency by cooling down the ceramics as they came out of the kin with the em consortia. but also im a 26 year old youngin that hardly knows shit about fuck and am trying to just absorb and cypher through this age of information as it comes lol either way much love man mad respect!
Matt have you ever activated EM1 with fish hydrolysate rather than molasses and if I use diluted activated em-1 in this recipe will it still be fungal?
Matt could i add mycelium to my compost tea and spray it over my windrows. I have a big compost plant in south Georgia and want to add more fungi to my compost??
Were you adding all those additional things into the bag or into the water itself? And if into the bag didn't need to be mixed in? If into the water to that mean it would need to be strained extra carefully for the sprayer?
Great question - you need predator nematodes. They are 5x bigger than the root knot nematodes and you can buy them and apply them. You can disrupt them between plantings this way. I can find them in some piles but often I see fungal and bacterial feeders in compost not as often the predators.
@@ThePermacultureStudent I cant rotate because pomegranates are perennial culture. Can I do something in already infested orchard that will wipe these bastards? I cant buy predatory nematodes in my country because there are no products like that. I dont want chemicals. My only hope is organic stuff, manure, compost, sawdust, vermicompost, marigolds, but all that is very hard to do every year. You think you erradicate them, and they pop up again in ideal conditions for them. Having them in the soil is nightmare especially if you want to grow perrenials. I already had to burn 6 plants that are 2 years old. Others are probably infested but not showing symtoms yet.
Thank you for this very informative video! I have two ingredient questions. At 9:05, what is the brand of the fungal inoculant you're using? It doesn't come across clearly on the video. Also, what is your source for the EM bioceramic power? I can't find anything online and I'm very interested in adding it to my recipe. I'm all set on all the other ingredients and want to thank you again for taking the time to share your expertise!
The study you cite, to support your claim that molasses leads to pathogenic regrowth, says that no regrowth was detected when the volume concentration of molasses was at 0.2% or below. A five gallon batch at 0.2% would be 2.5 tablespoons. Most of the 5 gallon recipes for compost tea I have seen, say to use 1-2 tablespoons of molasses. This puts them comfortably below the danger threshold. What's the problem?
I've seen many videos and recommendations on RU-vid for much more than that - the further you go back in time the more "experts" you'll also see recommending higher and higher rates of molasses. It was a "go-to" about 15 years ago in the composting and gardening community. If you have pathogens present, they always feed on simple sugars, regardless. Having biocontrol microbes in your mix is critical if pathogens are a concern.
I’m so excited for you! There’s so much to learn and teach each other! Thanks for doing all the research….so I don’t have to lol One farmer can only do so much. It’s difficult to sort through and figure out what we really need on our farm to be healthy and efficient. I look forward to seeing your new space bloom.
Quick Question: As I understand it, making the extract gets microbes off the soil material and into the water. Hitting it with a day or two of bubbles increases speed of regeneration, making the bacteria more sticky, making teas great for foliar applications. If I use compost tea (not quicker extract) to water my plants normally, will the sticky bacteria not make it down to the root zone? I don't want to boost population only to have most of them not make it, right? So, if time is not an issue, is it advisable to make the tea, even for regular, ground level watering?
If you are tilling the soil while applying the tea, it's fine as the liquid will stick to all new open surfaces. (eg. last till to undo compaction). If you just apply it on the soil, you need the non sticky extracts so the microbes can get deep. So you are correct in your assumptions. Teas are especially useful in the first steps of regeneration as foliar sprays, as the microbe taxis (insects) might not have established yet in the necessary quantities to spread the microbes on all plant surfaces.
William Padilla Brown's film crew was filming so I have footage and I'm planning on doing my own video but was waiting for his team's release to time it.
@@ThePermacultureStudent Excellent. I will keep an eye out for your next DNA sequencing video. I will look for tutorials online as well. I would like to sequence my own soil soon.
I’m going to brew this soon. I’ve been watching lots of videos on BioChar and am thinking that this AACT would be a great thing to activate the BioChar, but I have no idea how long to let it soak in and activate the BioChar. Part of that concern is that I understood AACT needs to be used within a few hours before the microbes start to die off. So mixing AACT into bigger quantities of BioChar might not be the best idea??? Keeping in mind that perennial crops benefit the most from mycorrhizae and annuals are more bacterial. I’m figuring out how to make bigger quantities of BioChar to use. My theory is that lots of Biochar will encourage a more fungal dominant soil (like Terra Preta). A recent contact tells me that AACT is great stuff but it nhas sticky glues that help it stick to foliage but limit how deep it will soak into soil. He is recommending using compost “extracts” instead. But “hot compost” is heavily bacterial right? I’m thinking that something around 50/50 bacteria to fungal content is ideal for a garden. I’m also a big fan of Azomite for all the trace elements and it makes everything taste noticeably better.
Oh no, I got the poo on me 😂 It’s all good mate, it’s not battery acid! Some People get so scared about some of these ingredients. Just don’t lick it 🤷♀️
And don't breathe it in either! There are types of aspergillus that are infecting people from soil and compost (it's very small like 2% of the sampled cases but it's making headlines already).
Yeah, I was scratching my head a bit -- he said molasses promotes bad bacteria but then said he was going to use it for brewing an EM batch ???? ..... did you figure that out?
I do list them in the video - one can take notes and copy it all down, or you can get Regenerative Soil, the book, for a more formalized and in-depth understanding as to why I chose what I did and the amounts I used, so you can improvise and adapt your recipes to your situation and site.
