I am going to try jumpstarting char with
Activated Compost Tea. You make simple compost tea and then juice it up and aerate it for a bit to get a much higher population.
Quote:
Activated compost tea uses compost as a microbial medium, extracts the microorganisms into water, and promotes the rapid reproduction of bacteria and fungi by feeding a nutrient mix. Then the water is aerated for 12-24 hours (depending on the size of the brew) to make sure that the microbes in the compost have available oxygen and remains aerobic as the organisms reproduce. A nutrient mix acts as a food for the growing microbes and a crucial ingredient to tea. Our selection of nutrient mix will influence the type of organism we want to select for. For instance, if we want to feed bacteria we emphasize sugars, a protein source, and provide extra minerals. If we want to create an environment suitable for fungi we add more complex foods including fish hydrolosate, soluble kelp, and protein meals such as feather meal or whey.
Compost tea has a very short shelf life and it is important that once you are done brewing the tea that you spray it onto the soil [char] within four hours. If you wait too long, the increased population of microbes may consume all the remaining oxygen in the mix and making the tea anaerobic, and therefore, potentially harmful to the soil.
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