Compost Tea - A Complete Guide

[Mikell]

Pantyhose or paint strainers are probably the easiest, cheapest options to get close to the 400-800 micron range.

Never did figure out an adequate answer to canola in tea, soil, etc.

 

[2st4this]

did anyone cook a TLO tea with lapacho bark?


since i've read the label i cant stop thinking about it.
its ritch on lots of nutrients but have a base PH
maybe some earthworm casting or humin acid will correct the ph to a good level.
how can i recuce ph without killing the bacterial?

i like it a lot and drunk one liter this evening

feel free to share your experience

 

[newkid]

Yeah no problem thanks for answering other Qs... I only had access to whiten coffee filters today so I went with that cause the girls need food by tomorrow. Will stock up on some brown unbleached filters next chance I get. With the conola Im just going to top feed in future or pre mix into soil. Cant top feed right now cause I got a lot of LST going on it would take to much effort to cut all strings and tie down again... plus Im feeding with EWC should be fine plus I'm a week away from flushing.

Thanks again,

NEWK

 

[Sylve]

So i have a thought, maybe someone can help me out in telling me if it is something doable or if it wont work.

I don't have much experience with ACTs but i do got some, and I don't go all pro on it looking at the final brew under a microscope because i don't own one sadly, but still i find it to be something I want do know more about and use in grows. The thing is that I have very limited space so I grow in a closet and basically it is in a one room apartment, so all sounds and light that comes with the grow will bother me when spending time in the room with other things besides the grow, like sleeping. Therefore I have tried to find methods to minimize both sound and light escaping from the grow. The little experience i have with ACT came to an end because i couldn't sleep with the sound of a pump in the same room and putting it in the bathroom, the only other space besides my room that i have, wouldn't let me sleep either. As it is a closet grow it is a very small grow, i brew 1,5 liters with help of an aquarium air pump. Besides the noise it worked grate. The noise was not only from the pump but also from the bubbles, I've tried different pumps that are supposed to be quiet but they are never so quiet that you can sleep with them on in the same room.

I saw a youtube clip of a DIY magnetic stirrer (here is one version there are more, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LviLZToPx1c), it builds from a computer fan so sound levels would be greatly reduced. There would be no bubbling sound as it doesn't create any bubbles but a vortex. So the question really is if this vortex would aerate the brew sufficiently? (i have seen some ACT brewer models with vortexes but they usually also pump the brew) Remember that I am brewing small brews of maybe 1-2 liter at the time.
As i understand the size of the vortex depends on the rpm (voltage) of the fan and the size of the stirring rod.

 

[Mikell]

Jesus, is that guy rentable?

I was going to suggest hearing plugs or a rubber mat for the pump. Interesting solution, I like the out of the box style to it.

You may need someone with a DO2 meter to check viability. I would also be fairly concerned about the stirring rod acting as a blender, and not agitating the edge of the container enough to keep compost/EWC in motion.

Although a wider spread on the magnets and speed control would be obvious solutions there.

 

[Sylve]

I thought the agitation occurred in the center of the vortex not on the edges of the container. But yes the obvious solution would be changing the size of the stirring rod and the speed of the fan to find the optimal.

I don't get hold on compost here where I live. Not unless I want to buy a very big bag of it which I don't have space to store. Small grow and all it makes it very unpractical. So what I thought of using is organic plant mixture containing compost as an ingredient. The mixture has an already existing bacterial flora and I was only going to add molasses and some guano and then aerate it to give it an extra punch.
So it would not be much non liquid to stir around.

I guess i'll have to just try and see if it works out. Don't have any way to measure if it worked or not besides if the plants love it or not. But maybe in the end I didn't add anything to it. I should add I have no previous experience with this fertilizer mixture, so I don't know how it should work normally.

 

[Mikell]

Interesting. Definitely throw up some pictures or something if you build it

One rough thumb scale would be the molasses. If the mixture doesn't smell sweet or funktastic after 24-36 hours, one may assume enough oxygen was supplied to maintain enough microbes to consume the sugar.

2.5-5 ml per litre, anything above and I find it smells sweet no matter what (without a vortex/air lift/high volume set up).

 

[icewax]

App for Compost Tea

App for Compost Tea

So I just stumbled across a very interesting facebook page. It's called the Compost Tea Calculator. It looks like some guys from Humboldt County have created an app for brewing compost tea. I searched around and found the website, it doesn't look like they have really promoted it yet cuz they don't have any blog posts. But I am very curious to know if anyone has heard or seen anything else about this. It looks pretty frickin cool!

Here is the link if you wanna check it out

http://www.compostteacalculator.com

 

[Madjag]

ice, ice baby.....nice, nice link

 

[minds_I]

Hello all,

I just put the mixins in the bucket, fill with city water and bubble for 2-3 days...pour it evenly around the bottom including the mixin's...no muss no fuss.

mixins:
chivken shit
worm shit
fish shit
kelp
silicon
molasses blackstrap

minds_I

 

[DreadPirateRob]

WOW thanks for the post, so much info

 

[Castroman]

COMPOST TEA TO SUPPRESS PLANT DISEASE

By Vern Grubinger
Vegetable and Berry Specialist
University of Vermont Extension

Why use compost tea? It’s long been recognized by organic growers and researchers that the use of compost can help prevent some plant diseases. So, it makes sense that liquids derived from compost could also have disease-suppressive characteristics. Besides stimulating growth, compost and compost ‘juice’ can also help fight off diseases by inoculating plants with beneficial organisms. Some of these good guys are bacteria and some are yeasts or fungi. These organisms are beneficial if they form a physical barrier against pathogens, or if they effectively compete with or attack the plant pathogens.
What is compost tea? Before going further, it’s important to explain what compost tea is, and what it isn’t. Compost tea is not the dark-colored solution that leaks out of the bottom of the compost pile. That’s called leachate, and although it may contain soluble nutrients it may also contain organisms that can cause illness so it isn’t suitable for spraying on food crops. Some people make compost tea to be the ‘extract’ of compost made by suspending compost in a barrel of water for a short period of time, usually in a burlap sack. The resulting liquid can then be applied as a soil or foliar fertilizer. To others, it’s not compost tea until the extract is fermented or ‘brewed’ usually with some type of microbial nutrient source such as molasses, kelp, fish byproducts, and/or humic acids.

It's great to know there is a scientific base for the disease fighting and prevention power of compost tea, I have been using for a long time just out of intuition. Tons of tips about what to use, great info!

 

[Cork144]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mix # 4

Here's an effective fungal tea for flowering:

6 tbsps of liquid hydrolyzed fish fertilizer
6 tbsps earthworm castings
6 tbsps Dr.Earth Bud and Bloom Fertilizer
2 tbsps molasses.

Add to ~5 gallons of water and aerate for 18 hours at 75°, dilute 3:1 with water for drench applications.[/FONT]

Sorry for my ignorance, if someone could enlighten me it would be brilliant.

But these are the only ingredients yes? These arent additives to go in an existing compost tea?

Also is it 3:1 Tea:water or the other way around?

 

[Sirgreggins]

I know this is a little old, but I'm new to this site and wanted to put in my 2 cents. I'm sure a lot of people here have heard/read about the soil food web. I have listened to quite a few podcasts, interviews, and speeches and some of the things she talks about are really interesting. One thing I've taken from all of it is to be careful with molasses and/or other bacterial or fungal foods. If you put in too much the organisms can grow so fast that they take up the oxygen so fast that most pumps won't be able to keep up.
Also, make sure to thoroughly clean air stones between brews or anaerobic conditions can occur.

My tea's
Bacterial:
1 cup of EWC
1/2-1 tsp molasses
2-3 tbsp humic acid
2-3 tbsp kelp

Fungal:
1 cup of EWC
1/2-1 tsp molasses
2-3 tbsp humic acid
2 tbsp kelp meal
1 tbsp fish hydrolysate (netpune's)

Veg:
I add Mexcian bat guano

Flower:
I add Indonesian bat guano

 

[atticflowers]

Tag!

 

[BlackMarketMic]

Does this look right to you? Unless I'm wrong, this natural tree leaf compost would be a great ingredient for aact right? I have an unlimited source of this stuff in my back yard ! I have been reading about aact since last summer and have been wanting to try it out because I know it works, it sounds very logical and seems like this could replace the soluble salts and minerals in bottles that I have become addicted to. 18 year + of growing inside with general hydroponics and a few other brands, 1000'$ of $$$ spent and who knows what kind of damage I have personally caused mother nature with some of those salts going down the drain and re-entering our environment. I think I owe it to mother nature to at least give it a try. I rounded up the main ingredients minus the fish hydrolysate seems not common here in Québec. I built a simple bubbler brewer with stuff I had around. Its an old 20 gallon water softener reservoir with a 65 liter/ minute aquarium air compressor, I don't plan on brewing more than 15 gallons of act per batch, the compressor is a bit small for 15 gallons if I read correctly so until I buy a larger one I will also be using a couple extra aquarium air pumps I have laying around to be sure theres enough oxygen. It seems ok, actually quite violent bubbling, I put a bunch of different size and shaped air stones at tbe end of the air lines so it's nice fine microbubbles. I have to get a proprer mesh bag somewhere so for fjrst batch I used a regular fabric carry case I found, might actually dump the contents directly and filter solids after..

 

[BlackMarketMic]

I haven't used the contents of the bag in the picture, I used worm castings for the first batch, I want to be sure before I try different organic composts.. I have an old growtb forest in my back yard,300-400 acres, belongs to a local boarding school and hasn't been logged or bothered for about 3/4 century.. It's populated with tons of wildlife and has huge hardwood tree's like maples and oaks, top layer is thick leaf covering decomposing leaves, wood and other organic matter. Theres green moss growing on just about every rock and dead tree trunk.

This stuff has leaves,semi decomposed leaves, fully composted leaves that has become a nice dark rich compost, mushrooms and lot's of tiny insects that seem to just live in this mixture. Yeah this stuff is fresh, natural, lively and probably can't buy that in a bag at the store.. Bought my house a year half ago and people who lived here before kept dumping leaves in same spot for years they we're trying to fill a natural spring at the bottom of my mountain, so leaves decomposing in a shaded wet area... So hopefully someone experienced with aact can tell me if this is a good compost for me to try in my aact brew ???

 

[BlackMarketMic]

This is what's underneath all that decomposing matter, nice dark rich soil. If I can't use it for aact I'll mix some in my garden soil this season for sure, can't let that bio gold go to waste.

 

[7thson]

I know i'd use it.Nice score!

 

[BlackMarketMic]

I did so more reading after posting this and have come to the conclusion that out of luck I have found some pure gold!!
I read from a few other trustworthy sources that that natural leaf compost would be perfect to use and I put a small quantity in the brewer 12 hrs after the initial ingredients we're put in. I did not put too much about a cup in 15 gal, didn't want to oversaturate the mix. I will start using it today it's been 48 hrs for initial ewc, molasses etc mix and 36 hrs for nature compost should be good to go, wish me luck.