I mixed up guano in just water n shits fine...
You need to be very careful when doing this, if you're outdoors and growing monsters they might be able to handle it. But typically, guano is very hot right out of the bag and if too much is used you can in fact burn/kill your plants. The problem with guano is that it hasn't decomposed yet, that's why you "cook" it in your soil for 30+ days or brew it in tea because both of these methods allow the guano to properly decompose. Mixing up guano and water in a gallon jug can in fact work, but if I had to guess I'd imagine you're using these for outdoor plants? Making a slurry out of guano means that, again, it hasn't decomposed completely. So it's gonna decompose inside of your soil over the next month, then after it's cooked in your soil a bit will you start seeing the benefits from the guano. You have to be absolutely certain your plants can handle that much guano though, or you will burn them. A lot of compost tea recipes call for using over 1/2 cup of guanos sometimes and I guarantee you're gonna burn your plants using that much guano in your teas, I know this from experience sadly
This thread is over a month old, but on the off chance anyone else comes in here looking for some advice I'd like to chime in on some things.
First, the type of pump you'll need will depend entirely on the amount you plan on brewing. A basic aquarium pump will get the job done for most indoor gardens, I've had great success with properly aerating my teas with my simple $20 aquarium pump I purchased from Petco. Again, it costs around $20 and it comes with 4 air holes to connect tubing into. In my experience, if you use all 4 tubes in one 5 gallon bucket you can get away with properly brewing a tea with that pump. I've noticed even better results just brewing 2 and a half gallons of tea, since I dilute it 1:1 anyway. The more air you're getting the better. If you're looking to make large 20 gallon totes of tea at a time for your outdoor plants, you're gonna need something powerful like this
http://www.amazon.com/Rio-Plus-1400-Aqua-Pump/dp/B000IMXTCG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1395361085&sr=8-5&keywords=aquarium+pump
Cleaning these aren't too hard either, just let them sit in a solution of 91% ISO alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and bubble for 24 hours. Then rinse them off and re-use. When working with air stones though, I find it's better to just replace them after 3-4 brews. Only cost me $1 per air stone and they last me for about a month. Seeing as it's less than $10/month to get them new all the time I just go with that. Also, be sure to use pure RO water. Whether you get it from an RO machine or those local water vending machines, as long as it is pure water. Most tap water is too hard and full of chloramine which will destroy your microlife you're trying to breed in the tea. If you use RO water, you'll notice an immediate difference. Think about the water you drink. Do you drink tap water ever? Personally, my stomach gets very upset if I drink too much of my tap water. If it does that to me I can't imagine what it must be doing to my plants!
To make your tea REALLY shine, here are some things you can add to it. Please bear in mind these ingredients are per gallon. With guano teas, you likely won't want to use more than 1-2tbsp per gallon of clean RO water. Anyway, extra things to add are
- 1/2-1 cup Earthworm Castings
- 1 tsp Seaweed and/or Liquid Fish (Maxicrop makes great liquid versions of both)
- 1 tsp molasses
- 1-2 tbsp Kelp and/or Alfalfa Meal
If you throw all those into your tea (again these are per gallon of RO water) you'll be amazed with the results.
