Fermented plant extracts

[MrSterling]

That's a very tricky question. We should, and we used to. But the past two winters have been so mild I was working in the garden in a t-shirt in January. We got about a week of a cold snap in April, but I don't think it went below freezing.

 

[ClosetAdvocate]

This popped up in my recommended viewing list on youtube.
http://youtu.be/LSuTh8g_8DA

Make Your Own Seaweed Fertilizer (he uses seaweed paper--the kind used for making sushi rolls).

 

[SeaMaiden]

That's called noori, and it's fantastic for feeding herbivorous fishes, especially TANG!

 

[greenmatter]

can FPE's be mixed with other FPE's ?

i'm not talking about the concentrates.

if i am mixing in a watering can, can i add more than one FPE to it,or is this not a good idea?

what about FPE's and fish emulsion?

 

[ClackamasCootz]

can FPE's be mixed with other FPE's ?

i'm not talking about the concentrates.

if i am mixing in a watering can, can i add more than one FPE to it,or is this not a good idea?

what about FPE's and fish emulsion?

Not trying to be an asshole but it would help if we agreed on a definition ONLY for your question because the term FPE has come to mean any number of things and more germane, any number of processes.

FPE - a tank of water that had plant material (only) added and that material remained there until it had broken down.

Yeah - I mix them all the time. Let's say that for a project I need 3x of FPE and I always have Borage and Comfrey available. I split the 3x in half and use both teas. If I had a 3rd tea like Nettles, Dandelions or Horsetail ferns then I would make the 3x from all 3 or 4 or 5.

I just reread that paragraph and hopefully you will get more out of it than I seem to - LOL

CC

 

[greenmatter]

"FPE - a tank of water that had plant material (only) added and that material remained there until it had broken down."

we agree! that is what i'm working with anyway.

i read that paragraph a few times i'm pretty sure i'm with you ...... or the answer is 35

just to be sure. if i use 3 different FPE's in one mix i should run each one at 1/3 strength,4 would have each one at 1/4 strength, and so on ..... right? i hope

 

[ClackamasCootz]

just to be sure. if i use 3 different FPE's in one mix i should run each one at 1/3 strength,4 would have each one at 1/4 strength, and so on ..... right? i hope

That's what I was feebly trying to say - good on you for figuring it out!

LOL

 

[Scrappy4]

"Bob Seger 2 + 2 = ?"

Yes it's true I am a young man
but I'm old enough to kill
I don't wanna kill nobody
but I must if you so will
And if I raise my hand in question
you just say that I'm a fool
Cause I got the gall to ask you
Can you maybe change the rules
can you stand and call me upstart
Ask what answer can I find, I ain't sayin' I'm a genius
2+2 is on my mind

Well I knew a guy in high school
just an average friendly guy
And he had himself a girlfriend
and you made them say goodbye
Now he's buried in the mud
over foreign jungle land
And his girl just sits and cries
she just doesn't understand
So you say he died for freedom
well if he died to save your lies
Go ahead and call me yellow
2+2 is on my mind

All I know is that I'm young and your rules they are old
If I've got to kill to live
then there's something left untold
I'm no statesman I'm no general
I'm no kid I'll never be
It's the rules not the soldier
that I find the real enemy

I'm no prophet I'm no rebel
I'm just asking you why
I just want a simple answer
why it is I 've got to die
I'm a simple minded guy
2+2 is on my mind

 

[spurrsbrotha]

Amen Scrappy

 

[magiccannabus]

This thread is a bit less organized and updated than most stickies, so I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I have a couple questions about my FPE I'm working on. I have a two-gallon jug, which I filled with dechlorinated water and then added the following: horsetails, a mix of wildflowers of different colors, spiderwort flowers, hosta flowers, lillies(oramental, stella, and broad leaf), thistle flower pods, a large rhubarb stalk and leaf, part of a pear, trimmings from some sweet peppers, garlic and chive flowers, white and brown rice, whole flax seed, and maybe a tiny amount of other veggie wastes and a smidge of gypsum. I put at least 1/4 cup of molasses in there, and about half that much potato starch for carb sources. I then added 1tsp of Pond Zyme Plus(barley based Lacto cultures). Not sure what else this might need.

My questions are:

1) How dark must this be kept?

2) Am I doing this wrong?

3) How long do I let it work for? Will all the plant matter break down? Do I need to strain out the plant matter?

4) How concentrated do I use this?

 

[shmalphy]

There is a lot of stuff in there lol. You are supposed to do one thing at a time.

I would have just used the thistle, and composted everything else.

4 cups plant matter in a gallon of water, soak 2 days, strain dilute apply

Dilute til it is the color of light sun tea

 

[SeaMaiden]

Magic, since you've done it with sugars I would expect it to be a very strong fermentation. I would go with a dilution ratio of at *least* 250:1, if not 500:1.

I'm really not sure that the microbes in PondZyme will live in that concoction. You might have done better to throw in some brewer's yeast.

 

[Scrappy4]

This thread is a bit less organized and updated than most stickies, so I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I have a couple questions about my FPE I'm working on. I have a two-gallon jug, which I filled with dechlorinated water and then added the following: horsetails, a mix of wildflowers of different colors, spiderwort flowers, hosta flowers, lillies(oramental, stella, and broad leaf), thistle flower pods, a large rhubarb stalk and leaf, part of a pear, trimmings from some sweet peppers, garlic and chive flowers, white and brown rice, whole flax seed, and maybe a tiny amount of other veggie wastes and a smidge of gypsum. I put at least 1/4 cup of molasses in there, and about half that much potato starch for carb sources. I then added 1tsp of Pond Zyme Plus(barley based Lacto cultures). Not sure what else this might need.

My questions are:

1) How dark must this be kept?

2) Am I doing this wrong?

3) How long do I let it work for? Will all the plant matter break down? Do I need to strain out the plant matter?

4) How concentrated do I use this?

Magic, what I do for new ferments is to do a search on ingredients to get an idea as to if they would make good fertilizers or not. Here is a list that might be helpful to you....
http://oregonbd.org/Class/accum.htm

 

[heady blunts]

that's quite a mixed up brew MCB.

I think you'll be better served by starting over. the rhubarb leaf for example is highly poisonous so I wouldn't recommend watering your soil with it.

I make all my FPE separately. I even have made separate extracts for different parts of the same plant (dandelion blooms vs roots for example) if you wish to mix inputs, do it by pouring a bit of this and a dash of that into your watering can instead of fermenting everything together.

to make it, i use only chopped plant material and water, no additional compost, yeast, enzyme, or carb/sugar necessary.

 

[magiccannabus]

I could use brewers yeast if that would be advisable. What about bread yeasts? How about bio-starters like Bio-Tone or Biozome? The rhubarb was already really fermented out on the ground, so I'm hoping that brought some good microbes with it.

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Brewers Yeast = Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Bakers Yeast = Saccharomyces cerevisiae

 

[magiccannabus]

that's quite a mixed up brew MCB.

I think you'll be better served by starting over. the rhubarb leaf for example is highly poisonous so I wouldn't recommend watering your soil with it.

You are probably right. I'm going to test it on some weeds I have planted in pots outside. I keep them around for things like this. I will give them a nice dose of it and see if they survive/thrive/wilt/whatever and note my results. This stuff could do some fun things in the compost pile too. Either way I'll get some use out of it lol

 

[Scrappy4]

Not trying to be an asshole but it would help if we agreed on a definition ONLY for your question because the term FPE has come to mean any number of things and more germane, any number of processes.

FPE - a tank of water that had plant material (only) added and that material remained there until it had broken down.

Yeah - I mix them all the time. Let's say that for a project I need 3x of FPE and I always have Borage and Comfrey available. I split the 3x in half and use both teas. If I had a 3rd tea like Nettles, Dandelions or Horsetail ferns then I would make the 3x from all 3 or 4 or 5.

I just reread that paragraph and hopefully you will get more out of it than I seem to - LOL

CC

Good idea, how about calling teas made from fresh or dried plant màterial and soaked/bubbled for less than 4 days a quick soak botanical tea. Longer teas of the same but rarely bubbled FPE?, would that work? Just throwing stuff to see if it sticks, but open to some defining terms......scrappy

 

[ixnay007]

Tea = infusion, FPE = bacterial or fungal action causing decomposition?

 

[shmalphy]

from my understanding, an FPE is a quick soak of plant matter and water. The goal is to dissolve the terpenes. 1 part plant matter to roughly 3 parts water. strain and use about 30 to 1

I got this recipe/definition from JayKush and CC.

If you are going for the nutrients, add BIM and sugars if needed and soak for a week or 2 in a glass jug with an airlock until fermentation stops, and that is called bionutrient. The goal is to allow the bacteria to consume the plant material and expel usable nutrient as waste. Strain and use about 500 to 1.

This is from the first page of this thread.

Bionutrients

In the creation of biological nutrients, bionutrients, the basic process is the traditional fermentation. Fermentation process is a better system than simple extraction like boiling the plant materials, through infusion like making tea. In the United States, where compost tea is getting popular in organic agriculture, compost is made into tea, sugar or molasses are added, fermented to increase microbial population. A simple general formula or recipe in fermentation can be done for plants. For example, seaweeds. If you simply infuse seaweeds (which are quite difficult to breakdown, therefore hard to extract active ingredients), you may not get a more potent extracted active ingredients. If you ferment the same materials by adding sugar or molasses, it is easily broken down (biologically) by microorganisms and thus making nutrient more available. Microorganisms get their energy from sugar in fermenting the materials. Most healthy foods are fermented foods. Through fermentation, food are easily broken down, enzymes created, nutrition improved. That’s the reason why fermented foods like yogurt or kimchi (Korean pickles) are more nutritious than plain milk or vegetables.

In making bionutrients, the simple formula is to add 1/3 crude sugar or molasses and mixed with materials to be fermented and extracted. For example, let’s take papaya fruit fermented extract. We chop as thinly as possible ripe papaya, unwashed and unpeeled. We then add 1/3 crude sugar or molasses to the total weight or approximate volume of the papaya materials. Put the materials with at least 50-75% air gap and cover loosely with a lid and let it ferment for at least a week. After a week, you will notice some molds and microbial infections and will start smelling sweet, sour and alcoholic. The materials are then strained and liquid generated will be your pure fruit papaya extract. You can dilute this with 20 parts water. This diluted form can be used as bionutrient, using 2-4 tablespoons per gallon of water. Again, this extract can be added to animal drinking water and feeds, to compost pile or sprayed/watered to plants leaves and roots. This will be a good source of nutrient for plants or animals, and also for our beneficial indigenous microorganisms. Papaya extract is good source of enzyme pappain, beta-carotene and Vitamin C for example. So extract any plant material and just try to find out what kind of nutrients they have you can use for animal and plant nutrition. Should the materials you intend to use for extraction do not have much moisture (as compared to our papaya fruit example), you may add water enough to the level that will moisten all the materials.