Help with organic tea recipe

[Vapekush]

I would like to start brewing my own teas and have SOME of my ingredients in mind but I am not sure how much of each ingredient I should use. Can somebody with experience please help?

I will be using a 5 gallon bucket and an air pump to mix up my brew. Assuming that I'll need to dilute the tea with some water I will likely make small 2 gallon batches. So based on 2 gal of water how much of the following ingredients do I want to use?

Below are the ingredients I plan to use.

Veg- worm castings, peruvian sea bird guano and something high in K to balance my NPK. Got any suggestions??

Flower- worm castings, Jamaican guano, and again I need something that's high in K.

Thanks!

 

[tyson53]

Kelp meal or wood ash will raise the Potassium levels....just go easy on the wood ash is all...like half cup to 5 gallons is plenty...may wasnt to start with a 1/4 cup first and work up....Kelp meal is great stuff....greensand will work aslso..but best as a side dress on the soil since it is slow acting...alfalfa pellets from a grain store is great also has many benifits in a tea..I use it in all my teas.....

Al

 

[ClamDigger]

Kelp meal or wood ash will raise the Potassium levels....just go easy on the wood ash is all...like half cup to 5 gallons is plenty...may wasnt to start with a 1/4 cup first and work up....Kelp meal is great stuff....greensand will work aslso..but best as a side dress on the soil since it is slow acting...alfalfa pellets from a grain store is great also has many benifits in a tea..I use it in all my teas.....

Al

good stuff, what you are looking for is Molasses. NPK=1-0-5
also feeds your microbes with simple sugars.
with Greensand in your dirt and molasses in your tea you should be fine.
on another note, because you are brewing a tea you could add some old Banana's from the fridge or local store, they are high in Potassium.
Alfalfa pellets make a great tea, and it costs 15$ for a 20KG bag of them.

amounts-per Gallon
VermiCompost-1/4 cup
Alfalfa Pellets--1/4 cup
Banana mash-- 1 Tablespoon
Seabird Guano-1/2 Tablespoon
Molasses-------1/2 Tablespoon (if your tea lasts for a while you can add more later, it feeds the microbes)
Greensand-----1/2 Tablespoon
Kelp Meal------1/2 Tablespoon

happy organic growing!

 

[Vapekush]

Thanks guys! I knew molasses was good for the microbes but was not aware that it was a good source for K, that's tits. Thanks again guys

 

[mcpurple]

good stuff, what you are looking for is Molasses. NPK=1-0-5
also feeds your microbes with simple sugars.
with Greensand in your dirt and molasses in your tea you should be fine.
on another note, because you are brewing a tea you could add some old Banana's from the fridge or local store, they are high in Potassium.
Alfalfa pellets make a great tea, and it costs 15$ for a 20KG bag of them.

amounts-per Gallon
VermiCompost-1/4 cup
Alfalfa Pellets--1/4 cup
Banana mash-- 1 Tablespoon
Seabird Guano-1/2 Tablespoon
Molasses-------1/2 Tablespoon (if your tea lasts for a while you can add more later, it feeds the microbes)
Greensand-----1/2 Tablespoon
Kelp Meal------1/2 Tablespoon

happy organic growing!

how would you use the nanners? blend them upand make a smoothie first? or just toss them in the tea bag in chucnks?

 

[Vapekush]

Also, on the same note with the nanners.... DO you just want to use the actual fruit or is the peel good too? I actually thought most of the goodness was in the peel.

 

[ClamDigger]

how would you use the nanners? blend them upand make a smoothie first? or just toss them in the tea bag in chucnks?

i mash them in a cup with a fork, there normally pretty old and soft.

Vapekush, unless your banana's are organic, throw away the peels.
if they are organic banana's, go for it.

IMO most of the goodness is in the fruit, because it contains potassium and sugar.

 

[Vapekush]

Good call, never considered the organicness of my bananas.

Also, got my 1st batch of tea all brewed up thanks to your help, Clam. Watered with it last night, this morning everyone still looks happy.

So here's what I did...

Used about 2 gal of water which I let sit 24 hours.
Added
2 oz Sea bird guano
2 oz worm casting
2.25 oz. kelp meal
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
Let that bubble for about 22 hours

Then cut it 50/50 with water for watering plants
Does that sound too hot or too light?? I wanted to go kind of light for the 1st batch.

 

[ClamDigger]

Good call, never considered the organicness of my bananas.

Also, got my 1st batch of tea all brewed up thanks to your help, Clam. Watered with it last night, this morning everyone still looks happy.

So here's what I did...

Used about 2 gal of water which I let sit 24 hours.
Added
2 oz Sea bird guano
2 oz worm casting
2.25 oz. kelp meal
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
Let that bubble for about 22 hours

Then cut it 50/50 with water for watering plants
Does that sound too hot or too light?? I wanted to go kind of light for the 1st batch.

that sounds good, if my plants are really hungry i feed straight tea, but i find more consistent results from mixing it 50/50 with water.

 

[Vapekush]

Cool, I plan to stick with the 50/50 mix to avoid any trouble this far along.

Is there a mathematical way to figure out my NPK ratio when I'm mixing ingredients like this? I don't have anything to test it with at the moment and don't really want to get into buying anything extra ATM.

 

[Jack Harer]

Vape, yeah, you can add 'em up, they are cumulative. But don't be too anal about the NPK values in organics. I use what I use for veg, making sure it's got enough N, and during flower, I just up the P. (that didn't sound right!!) I keep a good bit of K going on (not too much tho.). Most good organic nutes are pretty complete. Are you trying to make a complete fertilizer or a supplement? For a complete fertilizer, you cant beat Espomas Plant Tone. Use that and supplement it with other organic input.

 

[Vapekush]

Thanks Jack, adding up the #'s is what I did last time around so I'm glad that was correct.

I guess I'm using it more as a supplement, the soil I use is pretty rich to start with but a little low on P to get through the entire cycle. For this 1st batch I made I wanted something that would be balanced all around, as the season progresses my tea will have more P and less N.

Next time I'm out I'll check out the plant tone, but I'm trying to run out my supply of guano and worm castings and hopefully avoid buying anything else this season. I tend to buy stuff I see that looks good and then I decide to use something else and end up with a bunch of extra stuff laying around.

 

[Jack Harer]

Can't tell ya how many times my ass has been saved 'cuz I had some "old stuff" hanging around!! And a man can't have too much worm castings. The guanos are good to have around too. Just in case....

 

[Vapekush]

Ha ha yeah, I'll be restocking next year. For now I have some guano that's been around for like 2 years so it's gotta go b-4 it's no good.

Thanks for all your help

 

[SpaaaceCowboy]

Question for those who make their own teas...

On top of feeding your plants these teas, do you use regular nutes as well like Jack's or something ? thanks

 

[ClamDigger]

Question for those who make their own teas...

On top of feeding your plants these teas, do you use regular nutes as well like Jack's or something ? thanks

no.
then it wouldn't be organic at all.
i use some Happy Frog Fruit and Vegetable 7-4-5, but it is organic.

 

[Jack Harer]

No need for anything else. Once you mix your nutes in, organics are slow release. just supplement that with a nice tea and you're good. Organic is extremely forgiving. Once you are rolling, it's stable, You aint gonna wake up one day with problems, and if and when you DO have them, you got time to correct it. pH doesn't fluctuate. It's ALL good.

 

[Vapekush]

If tea doesn't get foamy during aeration is there something wrong with it?