Re: 'tea' water

[huntley@ix.netcom.com]

Pete wrote: 

snipalot...

>I don't boil peat, though I know others recommend boiling. The nursery 
>bags say it's organic and sterilized and I've had no bad effects from it. 
>I put a small handful in a nylon stocking and put the stocking in a 
>filter. If you're worried about rapid pH changes, you could hide the 
>stocking in the back of the tank, where it would alter the water even 
>more gradually than in a filter.

snip...the rest...

Most of us boil peat just to wet it. It's full of air and almost waterproof 
right out of the bale. Boiling just drives off the air and makes it so it 
will sink or at least disperse in the water. It's very tough to filter out 
the fines, etc. if you don't have it *really* wet.

I do small amounts in the microwave, and dump into a regular dip net over the 
sink to rinse out the fine powdery part and cool down for use. Works for me, 
but ymmv.

To get maximum "blackwater" effect, I'd skip the boiling, too. I store wetted 
peat in a 5G bucket with a 15G Hex UGF running all the time, so that bucket 
provides me with more than enough black water.

Wright


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Wright Huntley (408) 248-5905 Santa Clara, CA USA huntley@ix.netcom.com