Tea Article

[catcherintheye]

thanks guys, on top of it, shop had neptunes harvest, but i was cheap and got the growmore kelp, i really liked it more than the maxicrop liquid kelp which has chlorine in it. I thought that would kill the bennies, So ill get some neptunes harvest, thanks ct, what you said about it still smelling like molases or fish is priceless info.

I am careful not to use much, less is more,So as soon as the smell of it is mostly gone, add more if brewing longer or use the brew quickly.

Got the alaksa humus brewing at one cup humus, half cup ewc, one oz liquid kelp, a ML of liquid humic acid(15%) and a drop or two of molasses, no bubbles or froth (damnit, i live for foamy teas) still sure its a great batch, never had a spoiled smelling tea. I use a ten gallon air pump for one gal brews but methinks it should be overkill, say 50 gal airpump? or is my ten gal fishpump fine, thanks.

 

[mad librettist]

heya catcherinthereye,

The chlorine in maxicrop is not free floating chlorine ions like in treated tap water. It's in the form of various salts, like sodium chloride, calcium chloride, etc... the label is giving you an idea of how salty the product is. In high enough concentrations salts will really fuck with the microherd, but maxicrop is fine.

 

[catcherintheye]

I bought a bottle at the dro shop, I really like the grow more kelp better, like the npk, its more balanced and its great stuff. Thanks for clearing that up mad. Should the soil in organics stay pretty moist? will the herd die if its dry or slow down and reduce in numbers? thankss everyone!

 

[spurr]

Should the soil in organics stay pretty moist? will the herd die if its dry or slow down and reduce in numbers? thankss everyone!

No. To increase predation of protozoa (microfauna) and nematodes (mostly mesofauna) upon bacteria/archaea and even some fungi (all of which are microflora), you want the media to dry out a bit, not a lot, but a bit. Allowing media to dry out a bit also helps the roots in terms of respiration of Co2 from roots, and increasing O2 in media . Specifically you want the moisture content (by "wet weight gravimetric basis") to drop down to 40-45%, then when you water you want it to clime to 60-65%.

FWIW, using your finger to measure when to water does not work. The reason being we can feel moisture even when it's below 40%. Thus if we use our finger, often times people let media get too dry. At least using a media moister meter is a good idea, even though they are pretty inaccurate. If using a moisture meter buy the best one you can afford, specmeters sells decent (and affordable) analog moisture meters (link).

The reason letting media dry out a bit increases predation (i.e., microbial loop) and thus increases freed ions such as N, is the predators (micro and meso fauna) are better able to 'catch' the prey (microflora) when the soil water is in smaller 'pockets'. N levels increase when you water the media after the media dries out a bit.

 

[Mezz Mezzrow]

Why didn't I read this thread sooner? On page 4 now. All this info will help a lot. I've just begun to harvest my homemade ewc. The worms get organic scraps/grounds for food and leaves for bedding and wow are these ewc ever mild and fresh smelling!

Been making tea for months with an aquarium pump and store-bought ewc/guano/kelp. Want to get off the guano and looking to upgrade equipment. Definitely will be looking at the extended use system.

 

[mad librettist]

will the herd die if its dry or slow down and reduce in numbers?

Spurr, I think you are steering him wrong! For most growers, "dry" means dry enough to force protozans to form cycts. The top layer of soil is often perpetually too dry to support life, to the extent that roots don't colonize the area like they would outside with a good mulch. Further, cannabis needs a more stable soil than weeds would enjoy, so big fluctuations in nutrient mineralization are not desirable.

When I provide even and not excessive moisture, I get the best results.

Right now, I am brewing some ACT from dried fafard shrimp compost. Under the scope last night, things looked great, if a little sparsely populated. Had I used fresh compost, the brew would have been completed already, but dry compost takes at least 24 hours longer under the conditions in my kitchen. Everything is in cysts.

 

[heady blunts]

I use a ten gallon air pump for one gal brews but methinks it should be overkill, say 50 gal airpump? or is my ten gal fishpump fine, thanks.

let's just say you'd definitely get better results with a bigger pump. i use the biggest one from petco (rated for 60+ gal tanks) and it's barely enough for my 2 gal brews.

 

[Microbeman]

thanks guys, on top of it, shop had neptunes harvest, but i was cheap and got the growmore kelp, i really liked it more than the maxicrop liquid kelp which has chlorine in it. I thought that would kill the bennies, So ill get some neptunes harvest, thanks ct, what you said about it still smelling like molases or fish is priceless info.

I am careful not to use much, less is more,So as soon as the smell of it is mostly gone, add more if brewing longer or use the brew quickly.

Got the alaksa humus brewing at one cup humus, half cup ewc, one oz liquid kelp, a ML of liquid humic acid(15%) and a drop or two of molasses, no bubbles or froth (damnit, i live for foamy teas) still sure its a great batch, never had a spoiled smelling tea. I use a ten gallon air pump for one gal brews but methinks it should be overkill, say 50 gal airpump? or is my ten gal fishpump fine, thanks.

Do I read correctly that you are using one and a half cups of compost in one gallon? If so this seems way too much. CTguy suggested looking at the measurements posted a few pages back in this thread; here it is again

'1 gallon = 16 cups = 256 tablespoons

2.38% by volume compost or vermicompost (EWC) per gallon = .38 cups or around half a cup max or about 2 cups in 5 gallons max.

0.5 to 0.75% molasses by volume per gallon = 1.28 to 1.92 tablespoons per gallon. 0.75% is the maximum I use. It is a good bacterial and fungal food.

0.063% fish hydrolysate by volume per gallon = 0.16 tablespoon = 0.479 teaspoons or half a teaspoon

0.25% (max) kelpmeal by volume per gallon = 0.64 tablespoon or half a tablespoon'

As for the air required you cannot tell anything about the air ouput of a pump by what sized fish aquarium it is rated for. It is about CFM (air volume flow) From extensive testing I did when using the above listed amounts of compost in reasonably clean water the minimum amount of air flow required to sustain dissolved O2 (DO2) at 6> ppm is 0.05 CFM and 0.08> CFM is optimum. A generality you might use is that 25 watts puts out around 0.75 to 1.0 CFM. Usually an aquarium air pump can 'run' a brewer of one gallon to two gallons in size. Heady Blunts has posted some good information for building an efficient brewer. It might be worth a read and http://www.microbeorganics.com/#So_You_Wanna_Build_A_Compost_Tea_Brewer

 

[Microbeman]

Spurr, I think you are steering him wrong! For most growers, "dry" means dry enough to force protozans to form cycts. The top layer of soil is often perpetually too dry to support life, to the extent that roots don't colonize the area like they would outside with a good mulch. Further, cannabis needs a more stable soil than weeds would enjoy, so big fluctuations in nutrient mineralization are not desirable.

When I provide even and not excessive moisture, I get the best results.

Right now, I am brewing some ACT from dried fafard shrimp compost. Under the scope last night, things looked great, if a little sparsely populated. Had I used fresh compost, the brew would have been completed already, but dry compost takes at least 24 hours longer under the conditions in my kitchen. Everything is in cysts.

You two are actually both correct....hmmm. The drying out forces the microorganisms into smaller pockets of water where more predation (eating of bacteria/archaea by protozoa & nematodes) occurrs and then when you water the nutrients released by the predation is spread around. Don't worry too much about the flagellates (& naked amoebae; the elusive) encysting (bind themselves in an egg-like capsule) as pockets dry out. In the soil it happens more gradually so the microbes survive just fine; not like on a hot microscope slide; and they excyst (hatch out) and start multiplying again when called upon.

In my own experience I liked to keep the soil a little on the moist side but there are some cool things that happen like growth spurts when the soil drys a little.

 

[mad librettist]

sounds right to me MM, moderation in all things.

 

[Thomkal Vwalaa]

In my own experience I liked to keep the soil a little on the moist side but there are some cool things that happen like growth spurts when the soil drys a little.

agreed 1000%, growth spurrts, lol.

 

[spurr]

Spurr, I think you are steering him wrong! For most growers, "dry" means dry enough to force protozans to form cycts.

That is why I wrote not to use a finger, and to use at least a moisture meter. It's important to let media dry out a bit, and "a bit" being the key phrase. It's important for biota and roots to have a moist-dryer-moist flux. And by "dryer" I don't mean dry as a bone; we want to keep O2 levels high in media, and letting media dry out a bit accomplishes that.

The top layer of soil is often perpetually too dry to support life, to the extent that roots don't colonize the area like they would outside with a good mulch.

That is a separate issue, mulching media is wise, but even with mulched media, you still want it to dry out a bit before watering again. I have been adding mulch for a long time to indoor media, and I have tried using cheese cloth too, instead of mulch, amongst other things. This next grow I am going to mulch with red plastic mulch to increase reflection of red light upward (and thus increase red:far-red ratio and reduce stretching); as well as reduce "evapotranspiration" that will keep moisture level at top of media, and middle media, higher.

Further, cannabis needs a more stable soil than weeds would enjoy, so big fluctuations in nutrient mineralization are not desirable.

You get more N by letting media dry out a bit, than by not letting media dry out a bit; it's not about flux of N (and other) ions, it's about the amount of N available. Predation (microbial loop) is not the same as nutrient mineralization per say; the latter is (basically) when microflora solublize ions from organic matter.

When I provide even and not excessive moisture, I get the best results.

Yup, you don't want media to be too moist because the reduced O2 levels, once media is ~>70% moisture content it starts to become anaerobic. This is why knowing the "container capacity" (aka "water holding capacity") of media is important and it should not be > 70%, as well as knowing "air porosity"; both of which when summed, equal "total porosity".

 

[CT Guy]

No. To increase predation of protozoa (microfauna) and nematodes (mostly mesofauna) upon bacteria/archaea and even some fungi (all of which are microflora), you want the media to dry out a bit, not a lot, but a bit. Allowing media to dry out a bit also helps the roots in terms of respiration of Co2 from roots, and increasing O2 in media . Specifically you want the moisture content (by "wet weight gravimetric basis") to drop down to 40-45%, then when you water you want it to clime to 60-65%.

FWIW, using your finger to measure when to water does not work. The reason being we can feel moisture even when it's below 40%. Thus if we use our finger, often times people let media get too dry. At least using a media moister meter is a good idea, even though they are pretty inaccurate. If using a moisture meter buy the best one you can afford, specmeters sells decent (and affordable) analog moisture meters (link).

The reason letting media dry out a bit increases predation (i.e., microbial loop) and thus increases freed ions such as N, is the predators (micro and meso fauna) are better able to 'catch' the prey (microflora) when the soil water is in smaller 'pockets'. N levels increase when you water the media after the media dries out a bit.

Was planning on using the Blumat waterers. Do you think I still need a moisture meter? Which one on that page would you recommend?

 

[spurr]

sounds right to me MM, moderation in all things.

True, that is why if using moisture content, 45%-65% is the goal, and 40%-70% is the outside range. Microbes are not hindered (in general) until moisture content is <35%-40%. Better than using moisture content is using water tension, but that's a whole different ball of way most people won't want to bother with; even thought it's much better than using moisture content.

 

[CT Guy]

about that new name for ACT that is less confusing-

what about AACC? aqueous aerobic compost culture.

This is tough, I don't like ACT or AACT all that much, it's got a lot of negative connotations now.

Ones we are kicking around right now are SAM - Soil Activated Microbes or SAME - Soil Activated Microbial Extract or CAM - Compost Activated Microbes.

Think we might just give up the whole compost tea label and go with something along these lines...especially with the neg. associations for organic certifiers with e. coli and compost tea.

 

[CT Guy]

thanks guys, on top of it, shop had neptunes harvest, but i was cheap and got the growmore kelp, i really liked it more than the maxicrop liquid kelp which has chlorine in it. I thought that would kill the bennies, So ill get some neptunes harvest, thanks ct, what you said about it still smelling like molases or fish is priceless info.

I am careful not to use much, less is more,So as soon as the smell of it is mostly gone, add more if brewing longer or use the brew quickly.

Got the alaksa humus brewing at one cup humus, half cup ewc, one oz liquid kelp, a ML of liquid humic acid(15%) and a drop or two of molasses, no bubbles or froth (damnit, i live for foamy teas) still sure its a great batch, never had a spoiled smelling tea. I use a ten gallon air pump for one gal brews but methinks it should be overkill, say 50 gal airpump? or is my ten gal fishpump fine, thanks.

Are you brewing all this in 1 gallon? Maybe I missed something here. Lastly, I'd add the humic acid at the end of the brew instead or as a separate application.

 

[spurr]

Was planning on using the Blumat waterers. Do you think I still need a moisture meter? Which one on that page would you recommend?

Hey,

I will get back to you later today, I have to head out now. I will also send you a PM response to your PM.

Best, spurr

 

[Microbeman]

This is tough, I don't like ACT or AACT all that much, it's got a lot of negative connotations now.

Ones we are kicking around right now are SAM - Soil Activated Microbes or SAME - Soil Activated Microbial Extract or CAM - Compost Activated Microbes.

Think we might just give up the whole compost tea label and go with something along these lines...especially with the neg. associations for organic certifiers with e. coli and compost tea.

Bioreactor (assisted) mulitlied microbes made in 'bioreactor assisted multipiler' (BAM) = microbulator hehe

 

[CT Guy]

Bioreactor (assisted) mulitlied microbes made in 'bioreactor assisted multipiler' (BAM) = microbulator hehe

I like it, but mostly because then I could say "BAM!"

 

[Microbeman]

I like it, but mostly because then I could say "BAM!"

Biofission microbial reactor (BMR)
= Primordial activated liquid solution (PALS)