Fish hydrolysate is more than likely
going to be found in powder form
and is a fertilizer. As far as fish
fertilizers go some feel that hydrolysates
are better than emulsions or meals but
thats kinda inside baseball imo.

I don't usually add any other ferts to
my teas but Im guessing your recipe is
suggesting it to boost the NPK which
is fine but your tea is plenty beneficial
without it so if you can't find it don't
sweat it.

Decklap, you're wrong.

There is Neptune Harvest liquid hydrolysate fish... You have a lot to learn about compost tea, that's for sure. This type of fish fertilizer is to boost fungal count in the tea which is very hard to do and our soil is sorely lacking in enough fungal biomass unlike bacterial...

Think of soil as a sponge... That's your fungal biomass. What happens when it rains? It soaks up all the water and hold water a lot longer...

When you use all sorts of chemicals including fertilizer, pesticides, etc, etc, the soil biology is destroyed. It can't absorb water as well (clay soil) or drains the water too fast (sandy soil).

Thanks much. So lou_midlothian_tx - is Neptune Harvest liquid something I would expect to only find online? I'm looking to find something at a local store. Most people behind the counters - God love 'em, but they are clueless. I'm half clueless :)

Is this something I should expect to find at a local nursery if I look hard enough? I mean - this stuff is fertilizer, yes? It's not something I would find at a pet store, I'm assuming...

Sorry for the dense questions, but this is how we learn.

Thanks!

Fair enough Lou. Don't know what
you don't know I guess. I've never
bought the Neptune's Harvest brand
at all so Im not familiar with them
but it does seem to me that in organic
ag supply cataloges hydrolyized
fish powder is a lot more common than
liquids but that may just be my impression.

As for additives of any kind in tea....

The only thing I've ever used in the past
was molasses which I stopped using some
years ago over concerns that I might be
brewin' up a batch of pathogens which
might give the op a moments pause as well.
Never added humic acid or kelp or anything
else that I know a lot of people use sometimes
so I'd be the first to defer to someone with
more experience.

In any event in my experience there hasn't
been a noticable drop off in efficacy since
I stopped using the molasses either in my yard
or in planted beds so I'll stand by the observation
that simple teas work quite well on their own.

You still have a lot to learn about brewing compost tea for certain situations. Read everything you can from www.soilfoodweb.com. Molasses isn't usually recommended but not for the reason you think... You could end up with TOO MUCH bacterial count and they consume ALL oxygen in the water and air pump can't provide enough oxygen for them. Not what you want.

It's VERY easy to grow high bacterial count but not so easy for everything else which is MORE IMPORTANT for soil.

If you've been using city water and did nothing to decholorine the water, you basically end up with worthless compost tea... humic acid neutralize chlorine in the water... cholorine in tap water kill everything.

If you've making compost tea but not aearated... you end up with almost worthless compost tea. No oxygen = no aerobic microbes. You end up with more harmful anaerobic microbes.

It's HOW you brew it that makes a BIG DIFFERENCE...

You know Lou I don't mind a bit
being told I've got a lot to learn
cause its just true. From women to
compost tea my knowledge has lots
of gaps. Im going to limit my questions
to you just to compost tea for now
though. If you also know a lot about
women we should maybe switch to email.....

I'll confess that I've never grasped this
brewing different teas for different
uses thing. I don't doubt that different
mixes yield different results but how
do you know which your soil is lacking?
I mean in my case I've just used compost
I've made or in some cases worm castings
I've purchased and, trying to be as objective
as I can, I don't see what Im lacking.
Very strong disease and pest resistance
in grass/flowers/vegetables...the whole
shebang it seems to me.

If Im starting with, what I feel like,
is pretty high quality compost then I've
never felt like I needed to add much
of anything to it. Now Im confessing to
a wide gulf of ignorance potentially but
what am I missing?

Next........

I've been ripped up one side and down
the other for this one but Im gonna
bring it up anyway. The chlorinated
water thing. It makes nothing but sense
that chlorinated water will kill a lot
of the bacteria in tea but this one bit
of information sticks in my craw when
I try to balance the whole thing out.

I bake a lot of homemade bread and I make
a lot of yogurt and I have chlorinated tap
water. With bread Im adding tap water right
to the yeast and with yogurt Im washing
*everything* in the same chlorinated water.
Fact of the matter is that the water isn't
killing *any* of that yeast or yogurt culture
unless I get it really hot.

So. I get mocked for bringing it up all
the time but I'll do it again. I don't
have a horse in this race, its just curiosity,
but how are the yeasts and yogurt bacteria
surviving the chlorine when supposedly the
compost bacteria can't??

Lou. Thanks for your time.

Hi Guys -

I really appreciate the conversation - I'm learning much.

However - does anyone have any information that would actually answer the question of this posting?

WHERE CAN I FIND FISH HYDROLYSATE (aka - what type of STORE, other than online)???

Thank you very much -

It's usually local specialized organic garden store or animal feed store.

It's a lot easier to find one online. Order one directly from Harvest Neptune... I don't see much difference in price elsewhere.

Great - thank you very much!

btw - any guidance on my original question (#1)? - about the compost itself? :)

greengrass,

I have some notes. Look at the bottom part of my compost tea log. Arctic Humus is like 37 lbs. I paid like $37 to $40. I bought it from Peaceful Valley.

Look at this link.

oops, wrong handle. There is another person with the handle greengrass. It should be for grasswhispherer.

You can make your own hydrolated fish it is easy!First go fishing for any fish and bring it home and chop it all up with a knife and put in a blender with water and puree it! if you want alot 1/3 of fish in 5 gallon plaster bucket2/3 water!Add a whole container of yogurt to it that has lactobaccilus in it the add about 5 quarts of black strap molasses not white sugar thats no good put it all in a 5 gallon plaster bucket let ferment for about 3 weeks dont seal top tightly or it will explode or burst with expantion you will know when it is done when it no longer stinks and stops bubbling then you stain it thru a strainer to get all the scales and bones that were not entirely pureed out and bottle it up and seal it for future use make sure the bubbling stopped before you seal your storage containers that is about $70 to $100 of top grade fertilizer for anything I use it for everything in my garden!you should blend the molasses & yogurt with the fish if you can it will work better and faster!You can use bluegills,perch or any fish they have no limit on in fishing to make it!Im about to make some myself! It might stink but if you take cover off daily to and stir it to add oxygen it will ferment better and quicker!

There is a big differance in prise you can get it on line as I stated below for free shipping for $33 gallon or $50 for 2 gallon Neptune Harvest wants $45 a gallon for their junk shipping not included that's terrible,$5 more you can get 2 gallons and Neptune want $45 for 1 ! Go to Kelp4Less as I stated below you won't be disappointed I've been doing this 50 years!!Sorry for coming on again you say you want to buy it other then on line it is very difficult to find. Ebay is a great place to go(buy almost in any State)free shipping with great deals if you search thru all the sites that is where I got mine!Another great place is Kelp4less on line a FANTASTIC USA company shipping always included alot of great products I got some there aswell! But I got my best deal thru Ebay but you have to search thru alot of their sites then you can get fantastic deals with shipping included! It takes patience with Ebay cause you usually have to search thru alot of their sites but it is well worth it cause you find inexpensive great deals if you do so I have done alot of shopping on Ebay and they were always fantastic to me with very good products and they back ther products if you feel you have been ripped off they will always reinburst you 100%!Kelp4less will be a little more expensive(but not much at all)it is well worth it please trust me on this on one of the most trusted and best companies in the USA but it is a great company that you will find top quality products of anything you want for your lawn or garden&shipping is always included its one of the most well respected companies in the USA that even the NFL and big companies buy from aswell! ONE gallon of hydrolated fish is $33 or TWO gallons of it is $50 shipping included that is a fantastic prise when you compare it to other and Neptune Harvest fish emulsion that wants about $45 shipping not included and hydrolated fish is far superior cause it is non cooked it is cold fermented so all the healthy enzymes that are good for the soil and plant are not killed by the cooking process like fish emulsion does that is why hydrolated fish is far superior it feeds the soil aswell as the plants with the good enzymes that have not been killed off by the cooking process like they do with Fish Emulsion I have studied this(the enzymes feed the friendly bacteria in the soil that breaks down the organic matter and fertilizer that makes it available to the plant and also went to school for agriculture and have been gardening for 50 years!Even if you bought it in a store you can not beat Kelt4less prises ans variety of quality products you will ever need!They basically will have everything you will ever need!Its convenient its all shipped to you you need to do no searching or traveling!Mix (molasses) with it 1 tablespoon per gallon H2O plus 1 to 2 tablspoons every two weeks this also boosts the friendly bacteria count in the soil and has iron potash and other helpful thing for the plants plus 1 to 2 tablespoons of hydrolated fish at same time you can add in 1 tablespoon of epsomsat it is sulfur and magnesium not sat it is great fotr tommatos and peppers and especially great for photosynthisis of the plant helping it utitilize the needs of the sun!You say$37 to $40 at Peaceful Valley but if im not mistaken that does not include shipping they are a rip off and very expensive with shipping that is why I never do business with them and I do all my shopping on line for the past 12 years!

Sorry I don't want to be rude but the person that said hydrolated fish comes in powdered is dead wrong the only reason I am correcting this is to be helpful to the person that is asking the question!Plus look at the prefix of the word it is HYDRO which means water,which means it is a water based product mixed with fish!!!Powdered form is either fish meal or fish bone meal both are good they are powdered form!!!50 years experience and I bought them all!! Great stuff!

Hey George that is all interesting stuff. Not something I'm about to do but still interesting. I don't know if you realize it but this topic is 11 YEARS old. All these people could be dead by now as far as we know!