A Basic Compost Tea Guide

[vonforne]

I couldn't agree more! It's hard for people to switch from the NPK paradigm and realize it's about moving away from tons and tons of artificial inputs. Once a healthy system is established it should be self sustaining (though I realize that's not possible for indoor growers).

I try and always stress the importance of diluting any thing. I learned that one the good old hard way. LOL But as far as teas are concerned I use it as a regular practice. My main goal any more is to continuously supplement the substrate with a fresh batch of bacteria. My soil is usually already build up and has been cycled.

V

 

[Scay Beez]

On another note, I'm working with a fellow berry grower down the road and we've set aside a small strawberry patch to play around with roasted barley meal teas - same thing they use in white flour to facilitate faster rising by feeding enzymes to the yeast plants. Commercially it's flour marked 'bromated' on the package.

I know that barley straw, soaked in water like alfalfa, makes a wonderful tea for plants in the hot summer months. Barley straw is also used to control algae growth in ponds and since I'm not a botanist or a scientist of any kind I don't know what the connection is but I have seen increased growth to plants sprayed with these teas. I know it's only anecdotal but there it is!

Great post! This kinda goes along with our enzyme thread. It is interesting to see all the different uses of barley. Roasted Barley tea, sprouted barley seeds, rejuvelac, roasted sprouted barley seeds, and malt. Looks like roasted barley tea has a cooling effect on the body when consumed... another possible cooling ingredient for hot summer months. I looked up bromated and it is the addition of potassium bromate in flour.

Here's some malted barley info I found in regards to baking:

Diastatic malt contains enzymes that break down starch into sugar; this is the form bakers add to bread dough to help the yeast rise and create a good crust. Non-diastatic malt has no active enzymes and is used primarily for flavor, mostly in beverages. It sometimes contains sugar, coloring agents, and other additives.

A little more info on malted/roasted barley:
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/beer/malt/barley1.htm

The lighter the malt the more the enzymes. So if one were to use roasted barley, it seems to me that the lighter the roast the better. Malt favors fungal growth.


- sbz

 

[jaykush]

don't forget barley grass juice scay beez, i know it does good for a fact. was testing with it a few months back. added some in compost teas, some foliars with aminos, and diluted and soil drenched.

 

[Guest]

V--i had two questions for you bro..do you use seaweed in your tea dooring flowering..all i can get my hand on is maxicorp liquified seaweed...analysis 0.1-0.0-1.0 is this okay

any info i gladly welcome

 

[mindlessonez]

a quick question

a quick question

i brewed up 3 gallons of tea, how long will it sit? i mix it daily and i have shut off my air pump. should i keep it going?

 

[jaykush]

fresh tea is best used fresh, the longer it sits the less active it becomes. too long and itl become anaerobic. use as soon as possible make only what you need.

 

[Suby]

V--i had two questions for you bro..do you use seaweed in your tea dooring flowering..all i can get my hand on is maxicorp liquified seaweed...analysis 0.1-0.0-1.0 is this okay

any info i gladly welcome

Maxicrop is great and it adds the necessary K boost needed during flowering, IMO the most usefull time to use it really.

You can foliar with Maxicrop too.

S

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Suby

RE: BioAg - discussion continued from another thread.

On the Kelp Meal thread you mentioned that you were interested in BioAg's "Humisolve-USA" product and considered buying 5 lbs.

You can buy as little as 100 grams @ $12.00 - the rate of use is 1/8 tsp. per gallon. I haven't done the math but I was told that you should get about 100 gallons from the 100 grams. That sounds about right.

When you hit their web site, you'll probably want to read about the differences in humic acid sources. Here is a page of theirs under Humate.net - their old web site.

If you read the article and kinda bounce around the main page of Humate.net, you'll find some interesting information.

Both web sites, BioAg.com and Humate.net, are the worst designed, hard to navigate web site you've seen in years. It reminds me of the early web pages, circa 1996 or so.

But I do believe that it's worth navigating because the information is very solid.

CC

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Suby

My information about the usage rate was incorrect.

Here's link to a graphic from the Humisolve-USA product - here

Note that it says that 'more is not better' and that 'reduced rates are also effective on some plants'

CC

 

[Guest]

SUBY--THANKS MAN

 

[vonforne]

Maxicrop is great and it adds the necessary K boost needed during flowering, IMO the most usefull time to use it really.

You can foliar with Maxicrop too.

S

Thanks Subs. I have been real busy lately and have had little time for the online thing.

V

 

[sophisto]

Interesting read on the benefits of microbes in the soil....In other words got compost???

Here the link... Super scientific..

www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1489615

 

[lovelightpower]

i've read nettles make for good tea, with immediatly usable nitrogen that cannot burn plants.
so along those lines of thinking, would cannabis leaves be good for tea. like if a had spare leaves, could i put them back into a tea.
i'm obviously not talking about cutting leaves off just for the sake of putting in a tea (before anyone gets worried). just that i like to trim smaller branches that arn't going to produce much, and concentrate the energy into the main flowering tops.

 

[Guest]

V--You must never be to busy for your loyal subject..i have tea questions.....lol...

 

[SensimillaWolf]

I have a really basic question about bubbling water in general. I bought a small air pump and tubing and bubbled some water. Obviously, the bubbles go straight up, and dont disperse through the water. Is the agitation of the whole body of water enough to oxygenate?

I made lots of little slashes in the tube and tied it to itself to create a dispersal effect... somewhat effective, but not even close to an all over bubbling. Is this ok for compost tea making purposes? I also want to try a little hydro experiment, can I use this 1200cc pump? It's designed for a 5-15 gallon aquarium.

 

[jaykush]

've read nettles make for good tea, with immediatly usable nitrogen that cannot burn plants.

of course you can burn plants with nettles. whoever said that is an idiot. undiluted nettle extract will KILL weeds. i use it as a herbicide to KILL unwanted weeds popping out the cracks of the driveway. diluted it is a great fertilizer and as a foliar spray helps prevent pest problems. but it can burn to get my point across.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Air Pump

Air Pump

I purchased Coralife Super Luft Pump - SL-65 and produces 66 liters of air per minute @ 3.9 PSI

They're used in the aquarium hobby where you need a fair amount of air for an inexpensive price.

I've been using this pump with the single-outlet manifold (3/8") with a 6" air stone that is used in outdoor ponds. It creates a mass of large bubbles. I usually only make 2 -5 gallons of compost tea at a time. I'm only allowed 6 plants under Oregon's MMJ law so making a large amount tea at a time isn't all that necessary.

I have a need to make a batch of 15 gallons. Would a pump this size do an adequate job for a batch of tea this large?

I'm using a pure humic acid as the activator (Humisolve-USA product), earthworm castings from a reliable source, kelp meal, glacial rock dust and liquid fish emulsion.

I think I've got the ingredients down pretty much, but it's the pump size that has me wondering. This is for a community garden so there's no money to buy a larger pump. I could make 3 batches if that's what it comes to.

Thanks for any information.

CC

 

[Mischief2JZ]

I have a question thats been bugging me for a while.

While yourr brewing your tea, the foam will start to build up. Like you said that means the organisms are populating. But after your first feeding, can you keep brewing for your next feed?? I notice that there are no longer any foam built up so does that mean the organisms are dead and not good for feeding??

Reason i ask this is because i wanted to make a huge batch of the tea so i dont have to keep making the tea. But i noticed that after about 4 days, the foam isnt built up anymore so that worries me a lot. I definitely dont want to kill my babies with bad tea. Anyone experience or think this also?

 

[jaykush]

fresh tea batches are best, longer brews risk (<--key word) going anaerobic.

 

[lovelightpower]

thanks jaykush,
so could i use nettles as a source of nitrogen?
i have trouble getting hold of sea bird guano in england, can anyone recomend me something i could use as an alternative?
maybe something i could go forage for or buy?