A Basic Compost Tea Guide

[vonforne]

This tea contained Yucca in the powdered form. I noticed once you add it to the tea it changes the properties of the tea right away. If any one else has noticed this chime in with you take on this please. SB, how much were you using? I was using around 2 to 3 teaspoons.......I think I will have to check my notes on that one.

But all together I had great results with it and would use it again.

V

 

[swampdank]

great thread!!!! i have completely stopped using bottled nutrients(except kelp) and started just using compost tea. black velvet mushroom compost, guano, and a few others. my neighbor grows lots of sugar cane and i tell you that shit really does make difference. just press the juice out directly into the tea and apply. i think i might start my own because ive grown to love it so much i think he is getting tired of me bumming it from him. i am now a firm believer in the power of sugar cane.

 

[Suby]

Swampster try some of the shredded stalks from the sugar cane in your compost or wormbin, it's like crack for microbes.

S

 

[swampdank]

hell yeah suby! put em in right now!

 

[Sammet]

I've just bought some Earth Juice nutes for my current grow.

To make a tea, I just put water (thats been standing for 48 hours) + nutes into a watering can and add an airstone/pump - then bubble for 48 hours?

 

[minds_I]

Hello all,

Yes, Sam, just bubble the dry ingredients in a bucket with an air pump and airstone.


Youcan add the EJ products and just bubble them for 24-48 hours,,,this should stablize the pH at something below 7..in my experience.

minds_I

 

[Smurf]

Thanks for the kind words fellas,

Suby, so far no mention of a bloom specific tea,,, but everything to influence a fungal and/or bacterial tea, depending on what your goals are, so I'll just keep reading for now. I'm sure there will be something in there! I've probably been too bent to notice, hehe.

So here's the latest addition to my hardware, hopefully this (polymer heater) wont break like the glass one I was using. Definitely the way to go (for outdoors) if you want to keep the tea warm & productive at night.
I've also used a heated clone pad under the bucket/pot, you know the ones we normally use with a humidy-crib.



some more outdoor nug porn from this winter/spring,,, pulled them last week, enjoy
once again no NPK ferts, only compost teas

 

[ThaiPhoon]

Very fine looking plants Smurf! What type of strain is that? The colours are very nice.

Tea Power!

 

[Suby]

Is everyone out there taking notes???

Did everyone hear that...no NPK fertilizers just compost teas!

Those are some fine looking colas and gorgeous looking plants

As for Dr E at least we know she writes on the benefits of fungal and bacterial teas so that's something to watch for as far as recipies go, I'm thinking having a flowering soil recipe might also prove a good way to sway the fungal count during flowering.

Suby

 

[swampdank]

wow! great thread! ive been looking for a good flower tea recipe as i have been expirimenting with ingredients myself. iam definitely bookmarking this thread. thank you everyone. tremendous relief.

 

[greenbamboo]

Vegetative mix-
1/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano (PSG)
1/3 cup High N Bat Guano (Mexican)
1/3 cup Earth Worm Castings (EWC)
5 TBS. Maxi-crop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
5 TBS. Liquid Karma (optional)
5 TBS. Black Strap Molasses
@ 1-cup mix/5 gallons of water every 3rd watering.

Flowering nutrient tea mix:
2/3 cup Peruvian Seabird Guano
2/3 cup Earth Worm Castings
2/3 cup High P Guano (Indonesian or Jamaican)
5 TBS. Maxi-crop 1-0-4 powdered kelp extract
5 TBS. Black Strap Molasses

i want to use these, but still confused. add all those ingidents to 5 gallons of water, 48 hrs later dilute it some more when watering plants, right? how often is this applied, formula says every day and every 3rd day, but vonvorne only feeds every 5 days. should i just be giving plain water inbetween feedings , i feel like a dummy when i ask the obvoius questions.

 

[Sammet]

Hello all,

Yes, Sam, just bubble the dry ingredients in a bucket with an air pump and airstone.


Youcan add the EJ products and just bubble them for 24-48 hours,,,this should stablize the pH at something below 7..in my experience.

minds_I

Cheers - and here it is bubbling away, with a warm pad underneath to keep it approx 80f. Some EJ grow, some Catalyst and some Biobizz root juice.

 

[swampdank]

a simple answer to your question ,green bamboo. i do just that. bubble the ingredients then dilute with water. say 3:1. then apply every time you water. unless your plants are using alot of water. if thats the case and your soil dries up after just a short while, them use plain water. no tap water though. tap water has chlorine which kills stuff. i add compost tea once a week. actually 6 days. sometimes i water them in between with plain water. once a week with a dilute compost tea shouldnt burn your plants. if you do a crop with this regimen you should harvest some sweeet buds and then start fine tuning your mixture on your next. oh and keep on this forum. you will learn alot from everybody elses expiriences. after some advice from a few here, my tea foams like never before. and my picky ass plants love the mixture .

 

[swampdank]

from this,


to this so far,



nothing but compost tea(and a little ej bloom, but i think i didnt neeed it, omitting it from the next batch)

 

[texas grass]

i love what everyone has said about good teas
i just bought sunleaves guano kit that came with mexican bat, peruvian seabird, jamaca bat, and indoneasian bat

the mexican and the peru guanos have a decent k value mexican at 1 and peru at 2, but the jamaca and indo have a k value of .2, so i bought a bottle of some earth juices meta k for the added k value, but just read that kelp extract has a good k value. is this correct?

i was using GH products but think it would be better to use a base organic feeding schedule. would it hurt the guanos to add some addatives to the tea mix?

thanks for all the inspiration

 

[Suby]

Yes liquid kelp is a great substitute for meta K and personnally I would use additives with a plain waterin as opposed to an activated tea, it could damage microbial propagation.

S

 

[Smurf]

Damn that's a nice mix of guanos there texas,,, in regards to - "will extra additives in teas hurt it", I'm gonna say no, but that all depends on what your adding, as long as its not toxic you'll be ok,,, I always keep in mind that what we're doing is cultivating beasties, and always ask myself when cooking a brew if what I'm adding will be detrimental to the little guys. Probably salt would be the biggest killer of soil/leaf microbiology, as well as pesticides, fungicides,,,, and most other "cides" ,,, but you can use some synthetic ferts etc and not kill your beasties if that was your main concern.
and definitely go for the kelp during bloom,,,, a good rule of thumb is the colder the water of origin the better the kelp, by that I mean the higher the nutrient value, some having heaps more benefits than others, i.e. higher levels of hormones & micro-nutes as well as Potassium.

Theres no obvious answer to that greenbamboo, so you're not a dummie,, the thing is that you can feed your plants all day, every day with a tea, just depends on what ingredients & strength of dilution,,,, there are so many factors that play a part,,,,,,,,,, but the bottom line is the quality of the compost used in your tea together with the water & food quality (not forgetting the brew temps ) will most definitely determine dilution, regularity, application rate and the yield. Under optimum conditions you could say once a week would be fine with intermediate waterings, but like I said that all depends on your tea,,,,, for potted plants I personally like the idea of multiple teas during a week,, and water when they need it but only once a week for any plants grown in the ground,,, shit I'm so bent I've only just spotted what swampdank said !! ....yeah exactly what he said, and then later its all about fine tuning/ dialing in YOUR set up.

btw swampdank, nice grow you have there bloke!

I forgot to mention, you shouldn't use any food in your teas that contain preservatives, no good for the beasties.

 

[Smurf]

Boy I'm having a good run tonight,,,, sorry thaiphoon that plant with the red veins is a (Moroc X Afghan) X (Northern Lights x Big Bud)

 

[texas grass]

thank you for all the quick responses

what would be a good micro style fert to use?

the addatives i was thinking of using and i already have is GH's flourisious plus and the klabloom series. i hope they dont hurt my teas, so i can use. and the sunleaves guano kit was 30 bucks, way cheaper than buying bottles of liquid ferts.

as for my soil im using a humus/manure mix with perlite, and getting some ewc this weekend and using mycrozilla and subculture, im also thinking of what else could be good to go in my soil

again thanks for the help

 

[texas grass]

how long on average can you keep some tea aeriating in a bucket before it goes bad