No Froth on my tea

[Jay Johnson]

Hi, I am brewing up my first batch of tea for an all organic grow and I dont see any of that frothy stuff on the top of the water. I heard thats an indicator that the population is alive and thriving.
I used Wormcastings, Molasses, and a lil alfafa meal in the tea. Also added a tiny touch of epsom salts to the knee high that I have sitting in there.

Will a tea work at all if the foam doesn't form at the top?

 

[ClamDigger]

it should still work. how are you brewing your tea? it is aerated, right?
mine foam for the first few days, then mellow out, but it still works good.
try giving the bucket a stir, right to the bottom, to mix up all the goodness with the molasses.
i have found alfalfa meal VERY useful in teas.
AACT works best when there is nutrients in your soil, like Happy Frog 7-4-5, or bat guano, or any other organic amendment.
Happy Farming!

 

[Luger187]

im not sure about the froth. i would think there is still bacteria in there even without it. should still work.

im wondering why u put in the epsom salt

 

[watchhowIdoit]

It still will be ok. Get yourself some Epsomas Garden-Tone. It has a good compliment of bacteria that makes a wonderful all around tea. You can use it right along in your previous mix...... Also what is the air temp where you are brewing? Below 70 and division slows rapidly. I like 75-80 for a couple of days of brew time.....

 

[Jay Johnson]

Thanks all, Yea its been atleast 80 degrees around here lately. I use two air pumps with just the tube dumped in there since I heard that they like to have the big bubbles in the brew. I threw in the molasses and bubbled that for a day then through in all of the rest of the ingredients. I did hear that I should've added another tablespoon of molasses when I added the other things. But I bubbled for a total of 48 hours and then fed them with it.
I added the touch of epsom salts because I noticed a couple of leaves feeling pretty dry and somewhat starting to form a very faint necrosis spot. Thought that it might be magnesium and figured that might help.

I did just order some Super Plant Tonic by BMO and I heard this helps quite a bit, so i'll try it also in my next tea.

 

[Luger187]

Thanks all, Yea its been atleast 80 degrees around here lately. I use two air pumps with just the tube dumped in there since I heard that they like to have the big bubbles in the brew. I threw in the molasses and bubbled that for a day then through in all of the rest of the ingredients. I did hear that I should've added another tablespoon of molasses when I added the other things. But I bubbled for a total of 48 hours and then fed them with it.
I added the touch of epsom salts because I noticed a couple of leaves feeling pretty dry and somewhat starting to form a very faint necrosis spot. Thought that it might be magnesium and figured that might help.

I did just order some Super Plant Tonic by BMO and I heard this helps quite a bit, so i'll try it also in my next tea.

just throw in everything at once. bubbling plain molasses doesnt do anything. also, what kind of water r u using?

 

[Jay Johnson]

Been using regular tap water that has been sitting around bubbling for a few days.

 

[Maine Brookies]

Throw everything but the epsom salt in at once. While the mix is bubbling take the epsom salt you would have thrown into the tea and apply it in a foliar spray instead.

 

[Jay Johnson]

Yea, i was actually thinking about trying this. Just didn't know how the plant would take the foliar spray of the epsom salts, nice to know it should work tho. I was thinkin the nutrients should be taken up faster that way.

How often can I tea it up?

 

[Luger187]

Yea, i was actually thinking about trying this. Just didn't know how the plant would take the foliar spray of the epsom salts, nice to know it should work tho. I was thinkin the nutrients should be taken up faster that way.

How often can I tea it up?

yeah the epsom will work better as a foliar. make sure you dont use too much. from my understanding, you can do teas as much as you want. ive been doing one every one or two weeks lately. i use EWC and dr eath's #5. my friend only waters with turtle pond water and his are big and beautiful. hes even got a layer of green slime around the other edges of the soil haha

as long as whats in the tea is good for the plants, it should be fine. oh yeah, also u shouldnt need to bubble the plain water for days to get the chlorine out. if u have an air pump in it, i think it takes like 4-6 hours. if u want, u can find a place that sells distilled water. its not very expensive to get like 3 gallons every so often for a tea

 

[WillASM]

I was having the same problem until I realized the worm castings I bought were sterilized. Bought a bag of good compost that was not sterilized
and now my teas foam like crazy! Also check to see if your water supply company uses chloramine. It will not evaporate like chlorine does. The easiest
way to get rid of chloramine is with vitamin C. I just dissolve one 500mg tablet in a water bottle, then add half of that water to a 5 gallon pail of tap
water. Gets rid of the chloramine almost instantly. Good luck with your teas.

 

[Jay Johnson]

Nice... yea, I think thats what I'll do. Water with my tap and grab a couple of distilled gallons for the teas. Thanks for the input
+ rep for the help.

 

[Jay Johnson]

I was having the same problem until I realized the worm castings I bought were sterilized. Bought a bag of good compost that was not sterilized
and now my teas foam like crazy! Also check to see if your water supply company uses chloramine. It will not evaporate like chlorine does. The easiest
way to get rid of chloramine is with vitamin C. I just dissolve one 500mg tablet in a water bottle, then add half of that water to a 5 gallon pail of tap
water. Gets rid of the chloramine almost instantly. Good luck with your teas.

Thanks alot for this tip man. I've never heard of a way to take them out. I know that my water does contain some chloramine .07 on the best day up to 2.0 on the worst day. Can I just get these tabs from walmart? How do I know when the chloramine is gone?

 

[Luger187]

I was having the same problem until I realized the worm castings I bought were sterilized. Bought a bag of good compost that was not sterilized
and now my teas foam like crazy! Also check to see if your water supply company uses chloramine. It will not evaporate like chlorine does. The easiest
way to get rid of chloramine is with vitamin C. I just dissolve one 500mg tablet in a water bottle, then add half of that water to a 5 gallon pail of tap
water. Gets rid of the chloramine almost instantly. Good luck with your teas.

ive never heard of this. source?
i use a reverse osmosis machine myself. we have it for drinking water, and i use a few gallons every so often

 

[Jay Johnson]

Well I started looking it up a little myself, and it seems to be true!

Wikipedia.com: Chloramine can be removed from bathwater and birthing tubs by adding 1000 mg of vitamin C (as the ascorbic acid form) to a medium size bathtub (about 40 gallons of water)

So im guessing as long as I dilute it big time it might do the trick?

 

[WillASM]

Yes it does work. 1000mg will remove the chloramine from an medium sized bathtub.
I just use cheap tablets that you can buy any where. You must either crush them up, or do what I do
and dissolve one in water, then add a small amount of that water to your pail of tap water.
You can also buy ascorbic acid in powder form from any beer/wine making store.
They sell it for the same reason, to remove chloramine/chlorine from your brewing water.
It does not take much, and it works quickly.

 

[watchhowIdoit]

Nice... yea, I think thats what I'll do. Water with my tap and grab a couple of distilled gallons for the teas. Thanks for the input
+ rep for the help.

I would just stick with your tap water, it is the best choice for teas. Better yet get some of your buddys pond water. The little bugs you are trying to breed need a place to attach too and multiply. R/O and distilled lack these. And distilled water in general is a poor choice for growing.

 

[Jay Johnson]

Yes it does work. 1000mg will remove the chloramine from an medium sized bathtub.
I just use cheap tablets that you can buy any where. You must either crush them up, or do what I do
and dissolve one in water, then add a small amount of that water to your pail of tap water.
You can also buy ascorbic acid in powder form from any beer/wine making store.
They sell it for the same reason, to remove chloramine/chlorine from your brewing water.
It does not take much, and it works quickly.

Nice... Plus rep man!! Never even knew you could get it out so easy. Im going to get a little bottle soon to test it out.

 

[Luger187]

I would just stick with your tap water, it is the best choice for teas. Better yet get some of your buddys pond water. The little bugs you are trying to breed need a place to attach too and multiply. R/O and distilled lack these. And distilled water in general is a poor choice for growing.

if he has chlorine in the water, it may kill the good bacteria you want. why is tap water the best choice? fungi need stuff to attach to, not bacteria. there are also things you can add to the tea that fungi can attach to. like alfalfa and oats. some people put oats in a bucket with some water, and leave it in a warm area for a while. then pull off chunks and put it in the tea for a good inoculant.
i dont think the fungi can attach to the soluble stuff in tap water anyways(Mg, Ca, Cl, etc.). there needs to be something there to grab onto