Organic Fanatic Collective

[minds_I]

Hello all,

Yeah, but be sure to ferment that which is nutriant rich to extract what you can. But do it seperately from the bacteria. Once the fermented mix has been diluted or even had a airstone bubbling it to remove the alcohol.

The alcohol will kill the Bacteria we seek to populate.

As to using beer- top a can and leave for a few days and use that.

Just my opinion- I have yet to try it so just thinking things through.

minds_I

 

[Suby]

There are alot of oldschool tea recipies that call for flat beer.

I see alot of new faces this is very good.
Nice to see a thread with serious discussions on it make it past page 4...

I want reports on this camphrey devil weed tea boys, i have a source for next summer but zilch into then.

Sub's

 

[jaykush]

http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html

ps with the beer in the tea i had to bubble one day longer, for day 1 and two it smelled like beer tea, more like beer. then on the 3rd morning the tea smelled earthy and sweet.

keep the info coming i got a lot of reading up to do and shit talkin haha, ill be back in a few days.

 

[guanoman]

Hey everyone!

Do you have the proportions and how you prepared your amendments before
you made your tea?

What kind of beer did ya use?

I'd like to mention, the fermented Amaranth seeds still smell sweet, but disgusting at the same time. LOL

 

[jaykush]

yea for sure man, i jsut love growing its all good, its not like im nug less or anything.

ill get the proportions after work.

 

[jaykush]

Hey everyone!

Jaykush, sorry to hear about your ripped off plant. That sux, I guess its all part of the game.

Do you have the proportions and how you prepared your amendments before
you made your tea?

What kind of beer did ya use?

I'd like to mention, the fermented Amaranth seeds still smell sweet, but disgusting at the same time. LOL

hey to start im not really a proportions kinda guy, i just dump in what i feel is needed mostly a real touch and feel grower but i can take a stab at it.

for this batch i used: this is for one gallon too beacuse i only had one plant.
-wormcastings - one half handful
- guano - took a spoon about filled it not too much but not full.
-beer - was downtown brown from lost coast brewing company i used about 2-3 tablespoons was about 4-5 days old.
-vitamin c - always seems to make the plant happy and extra green never really looked into it.
-sugar, pure 100% organic found it on the shelf lol.
-compost- just a little bit
-stinging nettles - about 4-5 leafs chopped up ( dont touch the stem!! )
-alfalfa- just a little bit maybe half tablespoon
- kelp meal - also not too much half tablespoon maybe a couple pinches.

brewed for 3 days, smelled more like beer for the first 2 didnt seem done. nice thick creamy head the tea didnt smell bad at all....its like what you said about the fermented Amaranth seeds.

edit: friend said noticible growth spurt after the tea was given to it. lots of new noticible growth.

 

[jaykush]

oh yea and before they got it i took my most favorite macro. i know they will get it in the ass someday anyways haha.

 

[minds_I]

hey to start im not really a proportions kinda guy, i just dump in what i feel is needed mostly a real touch and feel grower but i can take a stab at it.

for this batch i used: this is for one gallon too beacuse i only had one plant.
-wormcastings - one half handful
- guano - took a spoon about filled it not too much but not full.
-beer - was downtown brown from lost coast brewing company i used about 2-3 tablespoons was about 4-5 days old.
-vitamin c - always seems to make the plant happy and extra green never really looked into it.
-sugar, pure 100% organic found it on the shelf lol.
-compost- just a little bit
-stinging nettles - about 4-5 leafs chopped up ( dont touch the stem!! )
-alfalfa- just a little bit maybe half handfull
- kelp meal - also not too much half tablespoon maybe a couple pinches.

brewed for 3 days, smelled more like beer for the first 2 didnt seem done. nice thick creamy head the tea didnt smell bad at all....its like what you said about the fermented Amaranth seeds.

edit: friend said noticible growth spurt after the tea was given to it. lots of new noticible growth.

Hello all,

Most excellent choice in beer/ale. Have you been to the brewery (well used to be now is just the restuarant)?


I started a tea today using:

to a gallon,

2 tbsn ewc.compost
2 tbsn guano (3-10-1)
2 tbsn dry molasses
2 tbsp instant mashed potatoes
1 teaspoon of liquid kelp/humic acid
and just for shits and giggles,
1/2 teaspoon of endo/ecto mycorhizea granulated form. How knows- maybe this will introduce some other benificials.

minds_I

EDIT:

Does the Liquid Budswell the sell at the hydroshop have live bacteria in the solution?

 

[Suby]

Sorry to hear about your loss

There is special place in limbo for rippers where endless fields of ripe bud are on THE OTHER SIDE of a plate glass windo forever and ever...

That's why I'm all about indoor, I've always been more afraid of someone robbing my home and finding my op, even more so than cops, robbers come back.

 

[jaykush]

haha damn straight suby, they will be looking onto the other side wishing they hadent fucked up, but i dunno man i love the outdoors next season im going to have another one i dont care i cant not have an outdoor grow even though my indoor room will be done. i have enough nugs from past harvests and friends for now so that plant was nothing, just for shits and giggles as minds_i put it. and if they do come back.......they made a very very very bad move haha, on there part. *shhhliiiiiing* as the sword comes out on there ass(es)

minds_i: thanks i do love myself a good beer. i dont drink to often but when i do iots gotta be some quality. i baught a case of downtown brown and great white ( which i think is hella better taste like nugs kinda) but the downtown brown was a dark beer so i thaught it would be better somehow.

 

[guanoman]

jaykush, that's a nice macro. What camera/method did you use to take that picture?

 

[jaykush]

to start off thanks, and to be honest that camera isnt supposed to take that good of a picture, its a kodak easyshare 4530. i made my own macro lens that goes on the normal lens. im used to working with professional slrs, and when i had to sell mine and get this one its features werent enough for me. i took the picture outside in the sun, its better than any light can do. i can always explain more detail on the photo taking process in pm if anyone wants. its more than just snapping a pic.

oh yea u can just call me jay :joint maybe u can be the G-man lol.

 

[judas cohen]

WOW!!! What a great thread. Here's a simple tea that I just got the ingredients for. Thought I'd get opinions before trying it on 14 day old bagseed seedlings in quart containers of Black Gold Potting Soil/Perlite.

Alive!(tm) Soil Activator
*Specially formulated mixture of beneficial bacteria and fungi that will help maximize plant growth.
*NPK is 3-1-1
*Derived from: Brewers Yeast, Dried Molasses, Distiller's Dried Grain, Alfalfa Meal, Wheat Middlins, Soybean Meal, Crab meal, Kelp Meal, Microbial Supplement.
*Mix 1 tsp in enough soil to fill a 4 to 6 inch pot.
*$9.95 for 1 lb. package

Humes Organic Garden Blend
*A custom blend of soluble humate, kelp, and yucca.
*Dissolve 1 teaspoon of soluble powder in 1 gallon of water.
*Apply every 7 to 14 days
*$11.95 (includes shipping) for 8 0z jar.

Since it will be used on babies that have ewc in the potting soil, I am planning on 1/4 teaspoon of each in a gallon of water to start with. All predictions, opinions, warnings appreciated. :smile:

 

[vonforne]

Hello All, Great reading everyone! Looks like we have made some head way in attracting all the Organic fanatics around.

Jaykush, great pics man and sorry to hear of you loss. And I love the outdoors also jaykush. I have some girls outside right now. they will all finish all the way up to Xmas. (I live in a warm area) Right now it is perferct weather for some outside work. 80's in the day and 60's at night, the plants love it. I will post up some pics soon for all you "colder climate folks"


Suby, hello and I will have some nice "in progress" flowering pics for you soon. Just waiting for them to look nice before I snap those shots. In my area there is no comfrey that I know of so I'm kinda of out of the loop there. I did add 16 oz's of flat Grolsh though in my 5 gallon tea mix. With some mushroom compost and composted cow manure and a small shot of ewc. they each supply different micros to the tea. I also used some molasses and sea kelp. I will use this one on my veggin babys. I think it is a balanced tea as far a NPK goes. I have used it before and this discussion brought it to mind. So, I revived it.

Minds-I, hows it going? Keep us posted on you tea progress. I'am watching closely but will wait for your expert opinion before I brew mine like that. Keep us posted man. And give all the details. and do you think that the powdered beer yeast is better than the flat beer? If so which brand is the best to get.

Hello guanoman, good to see you again.

Welcome Judas and that looks like a nice product there. Has alot of the ingredents we have been discussing here. We have been working on some new "home" tea mixtures without the aid of store bought items. It will give us some good comparsions to work with.

Again, good to see everyone is still keeping this going. Hats off to Suby once again for the thread start. he is our "Mod" by choice.

 

[jaykush]

judas welcome, feel free to post whatever whenever. i see no problem with putting it on your seedling, just dont go crazy and keep the dosage light maybe even half the reccomended.

vonforne: yea man i had a awsome cross with a extremely late finishing ssh daddy to a extremely powerful ww. i made this cross years back. they would have probly went to christmas as well. i also have a very warm area and almost all year around grow season. as for ur tea 16 oz of beer seems a bit much to me. i thaught i put too much in mine beacuse it smelled of beer for so long. ( nice pick on beer as well gotta love that grolsch )

and jsut some more organic nug porn.

 

[jaykush]

i found the info on nettles

Perhaps it's just another variation of making lemonade from lemons. But France's most ubiquitous weed, stinging nettle (Urtica dioica, also naturalized through most of the U.S.), is made into soup, omelettes, sauces, and even wines and jellies. There's usually a stand offering all these products at almost every festival or fair.

But more germane to the gardener, purin d'ortie, which is best translated as a concentrated tea of nettles, is the most popular organic fertilizer. Jugs of the stuff are industrially prepared and for sale in every garden center. Even nonorganic gardeners here are partial to using it.

Partaking of nettles in every possible way seems to verge on an act of patriotism for the French. There is an Association des Amis d'Ortie (Association of the Friends of the Nettle) who have annual meetings, and of course, the requisite Fête des Orties, or nettle festival, where you can listen to lectures, meet with other impassioned nettle users, and of course, indulge in nettle gastronomy.

Seriously, nettles offer extraordinary nutrition, both for plants and humans. This homely herb is extraordinarily rich in nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, oligoelements, encymes, and trace minerals, especially iron. For the landlocked, who can't go to the beach and forage seaweeds for their compost, stinging nettle is the answer.

In France, bodies of serious research exist supporting the various benefits of applying nettle tea to your plants. Much as is the case for kelp emulsion, nettle tea seems to stimulate the "immune system" of plants, making them more resistant to insect and disease attacks. Perhaps this effect is due to no more than the fact that the plant is in a state of optimal and balanced nutrition.

Nettle tea must be diluted before using, and can be applied as a soil drench or sprayed on as a foliar feeding. Undiluted nettle tea can be used as an organic herbicide. Just spray the undiluted stuff on actively growing weeds. After two weeks, the ground will be ready for planting--and richly fertilized to boot!

Since American garden centers don't stock this miracle product, you'll have to make your own if you want to profit from this rich gardening resource. In areas of the country with regular rainfall, nettles are usually easy to find in the wild. They are partial to rich, moist to wet soil, but may also be found on roadsides or even in deep woods, as--being highly successful weeds--they tolerate a wide range of soil conditions. If you locate a wild patch, you can either harvest a big sackful for drying or immediate use, or dig up a couple of clumps to plant in an out-of-the-way corner of your property. Make sure to wear heavy long pants and thick gloves when approaching the nettle patch. Their sting doesn't last more than a few hours, but is highly irritating.

Here's how to make purin d'ortie:

1. Cut the nettles at about half their height. Remember, wear gloves!

2. Mix the cuttings with water in a large container such as a large plastic garbage can. You'll need a lid, because nettle tea smells absolutely disgusting. Use a non-chlorinated source of water, such as water from a rainbarrel or cistern, as chlorine inhibits the fermentation of the tea. Mix 1 gallon of water with every pound of fresh or 2 ounces of dried nettles. Cover with the lid!

3. Allow the brew to ferment from one to three weeks. The length of time necessary will depend on ambient temperature. Obviously, the hotter it is, the quicker the process. (However, place your barrel in the shade during summer to prevent the mixture from overheating and killing the necessary fermenting bacteria.) The tea is ready when fermentation has ceased. Test for this by stirring. Avert your nose to avoid the fumes, then sneak a peak. No more bubbles? It's ready to use.

4. Strain the tea as soon as fermentation has stopped. Store the infusion in clean plastic or glass containers in a cool spot.

5. Remember, unless you want the herbicide effect, dilute the tea before using. For soil applications, dilute to a 10% solution (1 cup of original infusion to 10 cups of water) or 5% for foliar feeding.

Trying to think of a Christmas gift for the gardener who has everything? Well, how about a jug of homebrew?


natures garden.ca

Cooked nettles are a choice spring green. As the nettle plants grow, you can pinch off the tender tops; this pruning encourages production of more young growth which provides you with more fresh young greens. A nettle patch can be worked in this manner well into the summer.

Harvesting old leaves is not recommended; they develop gritty particles called cystoliths that can irritate the kidneys. Nettles are a traditional food for the "breakup blues".

The greens contain significant amounts of protein, chlorophyll, Vitamins A, C and D, and minerals iron, calcium, potassium and manganese. Nettles are a perfect spring cleanser because they also contain a substance called secretin which causes the bowel to slough off its heavy mucous lining from eating the heavier winter foods.

Steamed nettles are delicious, very much like spinach in flavor and appearance.
Try them topped with lemon, garlic, and olive oil as as a side dish.
Stir frying nettles in oil with grated ginger, along with cooked rice is said to be very pleasant.
Creamed nettles on toast is another delicacy. Nettles are also known to be a dieter's delight, low in calories and high in flavor.
Save the nettles' cooking water for use in soups and chowders, or drink as an invigorating tea.
Nettle roots can also be used for making stock.
The dried leaves can be used to add extra nutrition and flavor to bread dough.
After the nettle has been dried and powdered, it is a nice addition to a herb-salt blend.
(Above information from: Lonepine Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies by Linda Kershaw)

Recipe: GREENS SUPREME
4 cups fresh nettles, chopped
boiling water
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Place nettles in steamer basket over boiling water. Cook 3 to 5 minutes. Top nettles with parmesan cheese and serve immediately. Serves two.
For more recipes go to Stinging Nettle Recipes
BONUS: Other Uses
Cosmetic Use
Nettle leaf is a wonderful hair rinse, it promotes growth and helps to eliminate dandruff.
It also provides a soothing wash for the skin
Taken internally, the tea is reputed to help those with eczema.
For a stimulating wake-up bath, place dry nettles in muslin bags and add to your bath water. This circulation increasing soak is also good for people with arthritis.
Nettle vinegar, diluted with water, is a hair lotion.
Herbalist John Lust advocates a hair-growth formula containing nettles and onions soaked in alcohol for two weeks. Strain and apply daily to the hair or bald spot.
(Cosmetic use information from: The Pocket Guide to Herbs by Anna Kruger)
1. Nettle fibers were used for many years to make fishing nets, rope, paper and cloth.
2. The fibers were considered superior to cotton for making velvet or plush and more durable than linen.

3. The roots can be boiled to make a yellow dye or a rinse for reducing hair loss.
4. Roman soldiers, chilled with cold, rubbed their feet and hands with with nettles to bring back the circulation.
5. A wild nettle patch indicates good soil; the British often plant orchards in nettle rich areas.
6. Nettles are commonly cultivated in European gardens, and can be grown from root cuttings or seed. Seeds are available commercially.
(Companion Plants and how to use them reports that nettles change the chemical process and essential oil content of neighboring crops.)
7. Herb growers commonly mix nettles with mint, valerian, and sage to bolster oil production.
8. Health of tomatoes and strawberries is also said to be enhanced by nettle companions.
9. Composed of 7% nitrogen, nettles are an excellent addition to compost.
10. Nettle tea is a superb fertilizer for house and garden plants and has been known to cure 'transplant shock' in plants as well.
11. When mixed with a small amount of liquid dish soap, the solution adheres to the leaves, this foliar spray is reported to be effective against aphids and plant lice.
12. Dry nettles are forty percent protein, they're an inexpensive and effective additive in the diet of livestock. (Shinier coats, higher milk production, and greater resistance to disease are all reported by owners feeding nettle hay to their livestock.)
13. Dry nettle leaves and seeds, added to poultry feed, are said to increase egg production.
14. The blanched shoots are a delicacy.

Dry nettles are another winter food source. They can be purchased (for about ten dollars per pound) in natural food stores and herb shops. If you want fresh nettles during winter, transplant some rootstalks into your cellar.

bagel hole.org
Herbal Teas



Herbal teas, also called also called liquid manures or garden teas, are an old practice in organic farming and gardening ?especially in biodynamic farming?yet little is published on this topic outside of the practitioner literature.

In reality, herbal teas usually consist of one fermented plant extract, while liquid manures are made by fermenting a mixture of herb plants in combination with fish or seaweed extracts.

The purpose of herbal teas and liquid manures are manyfold: they provide a source of soluble plant nutrients and associated plant extracts; they stimulate plant growth; they help suppress diseases; they enhance plant vigor. To reflect their multi-purpose use, they are sometimes referred to as immune-building plant extracts, plant tonics, biotic substances, and biostimulants.

There are simple ways of making herbal teas and more sophisticated ways of making herbal teas. The simplest way to make an herbal tea is like this:


Stuff a barrel three-fourths of the way full with fresh green chopped plant material, then top off the barrel with water and let it sit for 7-10 days. The plants selected may include clover, comfrey, horsetail, or stinging nettle. After the steeping period, strain the tea to remove floating particles and then use the tea at 1:2 to 1:5 to 1:10 strength. In other words, cut the tea with plain water in half, or use 1 part tea and 4 parts water, or use 1 part tea and 9 parts water. This sort of herbal tea can be used as a liquid drench to feed the plants or it can be used as a foliar spray.

A more sophisticated way of using and explaining herbal teas is to place them in the larger context of an alternative farming system such as biodynamics.

Biodynamic agriculture developed out of eight lectures on agriculture given in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925), an Austrian scientist and philosopher, to a group of farmers near Breslau (which was then in the eastern part of Germany and is now Wroclaw in Poland). These lectures, as well as four supplemental lessons, are published in a book titled Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture (1), originally published in English as An Agricultural Course.

A distinguishing feature of biodynamic farming is the use of nine homeopathic preparations described by Steiner for the purpose of enhancing soil quality and stimulating plant life. They consist of mineral, plant, or animal manure extracts, usually fermented and applied in small proportions to compost, manures, the soil, or directly onto plants, after dilution and stirring procedures called dynamizations.

The original biodynamic preparations are numbered 500-508. The 500 preparation (horn-manure) is made from cow manure and is used as a soil spray to stimulate root growth and humus formation. The 501(horn-silica) is made from powdered quartz and applied as a foliar spray to stimulate and regulate growth. The next six preparations, 502-507, are used in making compost. Preparation 508 is prepared from silica-rich horsetail plant (Equisetum arvense) and is used as a foliar spray to suppress fungal diseases in plants.

? No. 502 Yarrow blossoms (Achillea millefolium)
? No. 503 Chamomile blossoms (Chamomilla officinalis)
? No. 504 Stinging nettle (whole plant in full bloom) (Urtica dioca)
? No. 505 Oak bark (Quercus robur)
? No. 506 Dandelion flowers (Taraxacum officinale)
? No. 507 Valerian flowers (Valeriana officinalis)

In addition, several of the biodynamic preparations double as herbal teas. The following is a brief introduction to their use.

Horsetail tea is extracted from the common horsetail (Equisetum arvense), a plant especially rich in silica. Horsetail is best seen as a prophylactic (disease-preventing, not disease-curing) spray with a mild fungus-repressing effect. During the months when green plants are not readily available, you can prepare an extract by covering dry plants with water and allowing them to ferment in a sunny place for about ten days. Dried equisetem, available through the Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics (2) in Woolwine, Virginia, can also be used to make horsetail tea.

Stinging Nettle tea is extracted from nettle (Urtica dioica) plants at any stage of growth up to seed-set. To make nettle tea, use about three pounds of fresh plants for every gallon of water, allow the mixture to ferment for about ten days (it gets pretty rank), then filter it and spray. It is useful to site your fermentation vessels in a manner that allows you to fill the spray tank by gravity. In biodynamics, nettle tea is treated with BD preparations 502, 503, 505, 506, and 507 prior to steeping.

Chamomile tea is derived from the flowers of true chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) which have been picked and dried in the sunny weather of early June. Fresh flowers may be used, but their season is much shorter than the period when sprays of chamomile tea are helpful. To prepare the tea, bring a large pot of water to a boil, turn off the fire, and add about one cup of tightly packed flowers per gallon. Stir well, and spray the filtered tea when cool. It is most helpful during cloudy, humid periods when the silica-based sprays seem to be less effective.

Comfrey tea is another tea commonly used in organic farming and gardening. Comfrey is rich in nutrients and stimulates growth. It can be made by packing a barrel three-quarters full with fresh cut leaves, followed by topping the barrel full of water. It is allowed to steep for 7-14 days, then filtered and diluted in half with water prior to use.

Further insight into foliar-applied plant extracts, herbal teas, and compost teas
can be understood by viewing biological farming practices in the way they influence the rhizosphere or phyllosphere. (Those microbially-rich regions surrounding the root and leaf surfaces). Foliar-applied herbal teas and compost teas aim to influence the phyllosphere. Soil practices such as composts, tillage, and green manures influence the rhizosphere.

In addition to physical modification of the leaf surface to inhibit pathogen spore germination or the promotion of antagonistic (beneficial) microbes to compete against disease-causing organisms (pathogens), foliar-applied biotic extracts can sometimes initiate a systemic whole plant response known as induced resistance.

A complete explanation of biodynamic farming, with a section on herbal teas and accompanying literature, can be found in the ATTRA publication Biodynamic Farming and Compost Preparation.

 

[vonforne]

That whole web site looks like a great read Jaykush...thanks again for the research.

 

[vonforne]

Hey everyone, How is the home brewing going?

I had to come here for my 500 th post. Nowhere else would be the same. Thanks for all the input people. We are compiling a great amount of information. But most importantly, we are all learning from each other to better the plants we grow. Smoke on my fellow Organic fanatics and good growing.

Von

 

[Guest]

Freshs Soil Mix from the 3LB

Freshs Soil Mix from the 3LB

Heres my first organic mix that 3BM help me put together. Its composting right now in two rubbermaid containers. Let me know what you guys think:

Freshs Soil Mix

1/3 bale promix HP
30lb bag Mush Compost (Finally found it yesterday!)
30lb bag Worm Cast
3lb play ground Sand
4 gallons Perlite
3 cups dolomitic lime
20 cups of nutes:

Nutes Mix

Bat Guano 13-1.5-3 (2cups)
alfala meal 03-00-2 (6cups)
greensand 00-01-8 (4Cups)
bone meal 05-22-1 (2cups)
kelp meal 01-00-2 (6 cups)
rock phos 00-03-0 (4 cups)

Of these nutes I only used 20/24 cups.

Liquids

Alaska Fish 4-1-1
Growth Max (foliar Spray)
Earth Juice Catalyst, Meta K, Bloom
AN Super Bloom Tea
Homemade Teas

Am i missing anything? What do you guys think is this a good soil or what?

 

[vonforne]

That is a great mixture Fresh. How is it with just 4 gallons of perlite? That would be the only question that I would have. Seems a little low in proportion to the organic matter you have added.

Ya, and the mushroom compost is onsale right now. I picked up a few bags also.