Compost tea

[pjd907]

Ive been looking into making my own compost tea just have a few questions from the guys that have done it before.

1- how often
2- how long do u brew
3- best ingredients to add

 

[PorterRockwell]

 

[pjd907]

Uh thanks for that i guess hahaha

 

[lemmy714]

I'm on first grow but I have friends who have been making teas for years. Basic compost tea per gallon of water are a couple of handfuls of castings and compost, a tbsp of molasses, and a tbsp of kelp. I use kelp meal by down to earth myself. Of course there are different types of teas you can brew but this is the basic one. Make sure to bubble it for at least 36 hours and no longer than 48 hours.

 

[lemmy714]

Make sure to use non-chlorinated water or it will kill your beneficial microbes.

 

[pjd907]

Make sure to use non-chlorinated water or it will kill your beneficial microbes.

Thanks dude! I usually let my water sit out for 24-48 hours before i use it.

 

[pjd907]

I'm on first grow but I have friends who have been making teas for years. Basic compost tea per gallon of water are a couple of handfuls of castings and compost, a tbsp of molasses, and a tbsp of kelp. I use kelp meal by down to earth myself. Of course there are different types of teas you can brew but this is the basic one. Make sure to bubble it for at least 36 hours and no longer than 48 hours.

Thanks for the reply man. How often do u add the teas?

 

[lemmy714]

Thanks dude! I usually let my water sit out for 24-48 hours before i use it.

If your cities water uses chloramine, it will not evaporate by sitting out. If they use chlorine then sitting out will do the trick. I would call them and ask what they use and if they do use chloramine then you need to do something to break the bond of chloramine or change your water source. To break chloramine bond you will need to add some kind of organic material to water and let sit for 24 hours, then add all your tea ingredients after that and start brewing process then

 

[pjd907]

If your cities water uses chloramine, it will not evaporate by sitting out. If they use chlorine then sitting out will do the trick. I would call them and ask what they use and if they do use chloramine then you need to do something to break the bond of chloramine or change your water source. To break chloramine bond you will need to add some kind of organic material to water and let sit for 24 hours, then add all your tea ingredients after that and start brewing process then

Well heres my water quality sheet. Im not seeing cloramine. See anything that would harm the microbes?

 

[lemmy714]

Thanks for the reply man. How often do u add the teas?

I only use regular water about 3 times the entire grow. Usually do a tea every watering to repopulate microbes.

 

[lemmy714]

Well heres my water quality sheet. Im not seeing cloramine. See anything that would harm the microbes?

I see chlorine and not chloramine listed in there so you should be fine with letting water sit for 24 hours

 

[pjd907]

I only use regular water about 3 times the entire grow. Usually do a tea every watering to repopulate microbes.

Im using the general organics entire line. Should i just add teas to the days i only use plain water? I feed once a week and i water Once a week.

 

[lemmy714]

I water with my teas personally. Plants love it. It is almost impossible to get nute burn by using organics.

 

[pjd907]

T

I water with my teas personally. Plants love it. It is almost impossible to get nute burn by using organics.

thanks for your help bro! Im gonna do a tea everytime im not feeding nutes. So once a week!

 

[greasemonkeymann]

I water with my teas personally. Plants love it. It is almost impossible to get nute burn by using organics.

please be wary of spreading information like that, it's absolutely very very easy to burn the bejesus out of cannabis using organics.
blood meal, cow manure, horse manure, sheep manure, goat manure (most any manure) fish emulsion squid emulsion, etc, etc, etc. Hell a soil that is perfectly ideal for growing cannabis may burn the hell out of them by simply not allowing it to age.
And you do not want to use kelp in an AACT, according to the experts that back up their statements with microscopes.
compost/ewc and molasses, and aerate, no more than that.

 

[greasemonkeymann]

T

thanks for your help bro! Im gonna do a tea everytime im not feeding nutes. So once a week!

I would highly recommend getting additional advise before following that regime.
Go read the stickys in this organic section, watering with a AACT every time is excessive and may lead to issues with micronutrient lockout due to the frequent usage of black strap molasses.
It may NOT hurt them, but I can safely say, that with a proper organic soil you won't need to re-populate with microbes weekly, they stay in the soil, and as long as it's conducive to their likings you won't need to do that. It's overkill, in my opinion.

 

[pjd907]

I would highly recommend getting additional advise before following that regime.
Go read the stickys in this organic section, watering with a AACT every time is excessive and may lead to issues with micronutrient lockout due to the frequent usage of black strap molasses.
It may NOT hurt them, but I can safely say, that with a proper organic soil you won't need to re-populate with microbes weekly, they stay in the soil, and as long as it's conducive to their likings you won't need to do that. It's overkill, in my opinion.

How often would u suggest adding a tea? Once a month? Thx for the reply

 

[greasemonkeymann]

How often would u suggest adding a tea? Once a month? Thx for the reply

honestly, if you have a really healthy aged established soil, you only need it probably once or twice, but i'd say a monthly thing wouldn't hurt.
Like I said, even more often it probably wouldn't hurt anything but it would be unnecessary. And if you use BSM as the sugar source you could wind up with some other problems (micro lockouts)
A nutrient tea would be a different thing all together, but an AACT isn't needed very much.
If you like brewing teas, check out SSTs, those are some good stuff to give your ladies

 

[pjd907]

honestly, if you have a really healthy aged established soil, you only need it probably once or twice, but i'd say a monthly thing wouldn't hurt.
Like I said, even more often it probably wouldn't hurt anything but it would be unnecessary. And if you use BSM as the sugar source you could wind up with some other problems (micro lockouts)
A nutrient tea would be a different thing all together, but an AACT isn't needed very much.
If you like brewing teas, check out SSTs, those are some good stuff to give your ladies

Lol what is an sst? I was just planning on doing compost and black strap molasses and brew it for a day or two

 

[greasemonkeymann]

Lol what is an sst? I was just planning on doing compost and black strap molasses and brew it for a day or two

that's a good recipe, brew for maybe two to three days, assuming it's cold where you are.
A sst is a sprouted seed tea, if you search with "sst" as the keyword you can find some more info there.
Basicly seeds are chock full of growth enzymes/hormones and when you sprout a bunch in an aerated water it absorbs the good stuff, then after you bubble fro a bit you strain and then mash the seeds up and the tea works amazingly good, I had some damaged bamboo and a nice (but rootbound) French lavender, and ONE application of the SST and it came completely back to life, I was shocked, I've been growing all kinds of plants for almost 25 yrs or so, and I've never seen a plant come back to life that fast, hell it even started flowering like 10 days after I applied the SST. I was a believer after that.