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Compost Tea and Fig taste?

I saw this article talking about compost and produce and improving taste.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/gardening/how-the-right-soil-makes-your-vegetables-tastier/article4105623/

I was wondering if anyone has any info/experience  regarding this info with figs?


Thanks
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ok, i'll share my beer with some of the choice figs tonight. too bad i don't have BT growing here... 
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I can only tell you that I use compost tea on all of my fruits/veggies and have not done any controlled experiments.

I do both vermicomposting (worm factory) and Bokashi composting and will make teas from both.

Just as a tip, I use the paint strainer bags found at Home Depot to make a big "teabag" for brewing.
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Panty hose work really well too, I usually go for the biggest size I can get.
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Figaro,
What is you recipe and how do you apply the tea? (and how often)
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Originally Posted by greenfig
Figaro,
What is you recipe and how do you apply the tea? (and how often)



I don't really use a formal "recipe", but I'll take a heaping trowel full or two of cow manure compost, add about a 1/2 to a small trowel's worth of the vermicompost/castings to the paint straining bags and just tie it off.  I hang that from the wire handle on a 5 gallon bucket full of water that's been allowed to sit overnight to dissipate the chlorine which can kill the micro-organisms.  I'll then add any of the Bokashi tea that's accumulated in the Bokashi bucket, along with maybe 1/4 cup or so of molasses (unsulphured).

In the bucket is an airstone hooked up to a small pump that's normally used for a fish tank.  You can get these for less than $10 at Walmart or some pet store, along with the plastic tubing and airstone.

I let that bubble for 24-48 hours and fill another 5 gallon bucket of water to let sit so the chlorine dissipates.  I use this water to dilute the tea 50/50, since after brewing for a day or two, it should be VERY highly concentrated with micro-organisms, and just water it into the soil (which I pre-water to dampen) using a watering can.

I would do it weekly, if I could and/or was so motivated.  But, since I need to plan it a day or two before application, I'm lucky if I do it once every month or two.

The reason it's beneficial is NOT because it adds any real nutrients to the soil, but it does add micro-organisms that convert the soil into nutrients that can be used by the plants, speeding up the process and making the nutrients more available.  The molasses feeds the micro-organisms and speeds up the process of them multiplying.

I've heard urine is supposed to be very good in compost tea (no comment about Elin's question regarding fig taste!), but didn't want to risk having one of my neighbors see me peeing in a bucket in the back yard! (yes, I know I could pee in a container inside and empty it into the bucket - thanks!) :D

The reason I mix the cow manure compost with the vermi-compost and Bokashi is to get a wide range of different micro-organisms in the mix, but is not needed to get great compost tea.  I do know there are a lot of recipes out there on the web, but as long as you have high microbial activity, your plants will love the tea.

I hope that helps!
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Compost tea is really good for lawns too, apply once a month, minimum 6 times a year for good results though.  I put alfalfa in it when I did this and it made a thick lawn of fine grass so the blades weren't so coarse, wasn't dark forest green but it also helped the grass flower earlier and spread more.  When I made it, I would put about 5 kgs of compost or composted manure and 5-10KG or alfalfa along with molasses.  You can add kelp if you like but not entirely necessary either.  I would also leave the water sit for about 24 hours to get the chlorine out, you can leave it over night with the fish tank bubblers and it gets it out pretty good as well especially when it's warm out.
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Figaro , your adding manure to potted plants?
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Originally Posted by elin
Figaro , your adding manure to potted plants?


I make my own potting soil using different types of compost, including composted cow manure, but I would NOT add manure unless/until it's been composted.  I mix the different composts & worm castings with peat moss, perlite, vermiculite, rock dust, blood meal, bone meal, and a some slow release organic fertilizer pellets for my soil mix.
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Figaro, just curious, roughly what percent of perlite and rock dust are you adding?  I make a mix of compost/peat (half my mix) with top soil 30%, composted sheep manure 10% and sand/clay pebbles 10%.  It works really well for summer time to hold moisture in but I am thinking it is still too heavy so I am thinking to keep the sand at 10% and then cut back the compost or topsoil 10-20% and add lava rock instead for drainage so I am curious what ammount of drainage is working well for others.  They seem to like the blood meal and bone meal though, the potassium sulfate, used sparingly really perks up the fruits late last season when I first tried it.
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Originally Posted by Chivas
Figaro, just curious, roughly what percent of perlite and rock dust are you adding?  I make a mix of compost/peat (half my mix) with top soil 30%, composted sheep manure 10% and sand/clay pebbles 10%.  It works really well for summer time to hold moisture in but I am thinking it is still too heavy so I am thinking to keep the sand at 10% and then cut back the compost or topsoil 10-20% and add lava rock instead for drainage so I am curious what ammount of drainage is working well for others.  They seem to like the blood meal and bone meal though, the potassium sulfate, used sparingly really perks up the fruits late last season when I first tried it.


Chivas, I got started in gardening doing Square Foot Gardening and basically use a modified "Mel's Mix" for all my pots & raised beds, although, I vary it slightly based on what's being planted.

I first mix a 70%/30% (or so) mixture of perlite/vermiculite, then use about 1 part of perlite/vermiculite mix, to 1 part peat moss and 1 part mix of composts (usually cow manure, vermicompost & mushroom compost).   Then, I usually add about the recommended amounts of rock dust, bone meal, blood meal, and fertilizer pellets based on how much soil mix I have.

I find this mix drains well, but still holds a good amount of moisture and, here in South Florida, moisture evaporates quickly from containers, even after a heavy rain.

Up in Canada, you may need to add more perlite or sand to help drainage and I'm sure the lava rock will work well, too.
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Thank you Figaro, I found that my favorite mix is 50 very large chucnks of coconut husk mixed 50/50 with composted sheep manure gave me the best results, however I can no long find the same quality coconut (before it helped that it was free from a friend), so it looks like I should test out some with 30-40% aeration materials to have similar mix to you.  I do agree that I may need to add more for my climate, but even with my heavy mix it seems to work well with producing tons of roots, then again it is easy to add extra water than take it away.  
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