feeding compost tea in coco coir?

Hello folks,

I'm curious about feeding nothing but compost tea in pure coco coir. Does anyone here have experience in feeding compost teas in pure coco?

cheers,
captain.koons

In order for the compost tea to work in the coco it would need to contain the same micro-organisms that thrive in a soil medium right?

http://www.geogrowers.net/Organic_Fertilizer.html

The main path of entry begins with the deposition of organic
nitrogenous compounds on the soil in the form of animal feces and urine
and the dead remains of animals and plants. These largely organic
materials are subjected to hydrolytic and oxidative degradation by decay
microorganisms

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you can think of a coco grow more like a hydro set up.

wouldnts recomend straight compost for hydro. need some salt ferts

thecrondon said:

wouldnts recomend straight compost for hydro. need some salt ferts

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Why is that? I've fed coco Advanced Nutrients Iguana Juice,AN Mother Earth Tea, and Botanicare PBP granted these aren't the same thing as a freshly brewed compost tea but they're far more similar than refined hydro nutes you say I "need"

jjf1978 said:

In order for the compost tea to work in the coco it would need to contain the same micro-organisms that thrive in a soil medium right?

http://www.geogrowers.net/Organic_Fertilizer.html

Click to expand...

Yeah, the idea of a compost tea is to activate the beneficial bacteria and fungi and allow them to reproduce rapidly over the course of 1-3 days. This is essentially the same thing that happens in soil but much faster as you're giving the bacteria and fungi an optimal place to live as you typically provide food, heat, and oxygen in the right amounts.

I think all liquid nutes come from a tea. depends on what's in your compost. sorry if this posted twice. When you make tea it leeches all the stuff from the soilds in the tea. So for the most part what you put into the tea you'll get back in liquid.

stumps said:

I think all liquid nutes come from a tea. depends on what's in your compost. sorry if this posted twice. When you make tea it leeches all the stuff from the soilds in the tea. So for the most part what you put into the tea you'll get back in liquid.

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Nutes from General Hydroponics Flora series for example are not brewed from compost. They're refined or produced synthetically. Hydroponic nutrients have their derivatives labeled on the bottle.

For example, Supernatural brand's Super Boost is derived from - Mono-Potassium Phosphate, Di-Ammonium Phosphate, Potassium Nitrate, Mono-Ammonium Phosphate, Potassium Sulphate, Borax, Copper(CuEDTA), Iron (FeEDTA), Maganese (MnEDTA), Ammonium Molybdate, and Zinc (ZnEDTA)

As you can see they have to be very specific as to what is used in their product, this isn't to boast who has the best ingredients either it's the law. They even need to specify what their chelating agent is (EDTA)

I don't know what you mean by leeches but making a tea involves far more than just dissolving solid nutrients into a tea which is the context I can assume when you use a word such as leech. The goal is to activate and multiply as many bacteria and fungi as possible in a short amount of time. These guys release enzymes to break down large organic molecules down into food they can eat which is also plant soluble. The bacteria and fungi also aren't pathological so they're beneficial to plant health also.

guess I should have said organic.

Either way, your solid nutrients being brewed into a tea aren't just leeching out or dissolving there's fungi and bacteria at work producing enzymes to break down your large organic molecules into smaller ones they can eat which are also plant soluble.

ok sure, I might have used the wrong word. thats what the guy making fert called it said the process took 7 days. at x temp 24hr air pumping. was kinda cool to watch not Real indepth. He did call it leaching. I would think there are all kinds of shit going on in the slurry. In the end the shit that goes in makes the nutes that come out. Correct? Here I'll rephrase. some liquid nutes are made from tea's. If you find a good fromula you can make great tea's. I looked into doing it but in the end cost was way higher then buying premade nutes.

Maybe if you brew some super tea using high quality humic acid, guanos, enzymes, b vitamins, chitin, etc the cost could become higher than buying a premade compost tea. You still can't buy a bottle that contains the same kind amount of bacteria as a freshly brewed tea.

I personally don't think you need to go expensive at all. You can use nothing but manure and get a very active and rich tea. A lot of people like to introduce over ripe fruits, rice wash, aquarium water, protein meals (such as milk, alfalfa, soy, bean, rice, oatmeal, etc), any manure/guano, molasses, mushroom compost, outdoor made compost(ie. from various yard and kitchen waste, worm castings, kelp, expired fruit juices, dolomite lime, bone meal, blood meal, human piss, etc.

All of those aren't really expensive other than say worm castings, guanos.. it gets expensive when you add enzymes, b vitamins, chitin , salicylic acid, plant hormones, "lab grade" bacterial/fungal inoculants.

A lot of this stuff anyone can afford to use. You could use manure, rice wash, a handful of soil (for it's diversity of bacteria and fungi), and some overripe fruit and you've got everything you need for a rich compost tea.

The process usually takes 24-36(up to 72hours if temps are low)hours to make a tea, from what I've read closer to 24hours is best to keep diversity in the beneficals.

the stuff I wanted was only sold in large amounts. lol I didn't need 70 lb of alfalfa that alone was 28.00 I went away from the tea idea any way. only commented cuz of that show I watched on how it was made.

70lbs of alfalfa meal used at a few tablespoons per 5gals... goes a long long way.

You don't have feed stores or bulk barns where you can buy whatever you want?

I told the guy I only needed like a cup or two an he laughed and said the bags where as smal as they had. I only checked a few places. for the mill. there was another item I don't remember but it was the same thing. way to much. I just stick to sun tea.

Might have to look around more then.

I mean in any populated city nearly everything is somewhere in any amount imaginable.

Think of all the places that make it their business to break down large amounts and sell them as small amounts at an inflated cost. There's always someone at the bottom of that business model.

I went to lowes and bought a bag of nrich compost and organic mulch. Full of raw organic ingreds, bark, and other things. I put this in a five gallon bucket with as much air as I could get and a tbsp of molasses for every few gallons. The air is the trick. With enuf air and big airbubbles you get a froth in 16 hours. Big bubbles better. They dont damage the fungi. So anyway this is a good tea. That cost little. Also I have made it with 90 cent cow manure and also with batguanos.



Are you only feeding tea?

Mhj like most annuals like a half and hald ratio of fungi and bacteria. So brew it a little longer for more fungi. I poured some batguano in a five gallon dwc with pbp and got a froth the next day. That was funny.


I shot of this once a season might make your plants healthier by innoclutlaing the roots and coco with good guys.

Compost tea is a liquid ecosystem with hundreds of microorganisms. Great for soil. It might be a good trace amendment for your hydro reservoir, but I would use it sparingly just to give the reservoir some of the beneficial bacteria. I'm not sure what might start growing in your system if you give it a high dose. You may want to just spray it directly onto your coco once or twice and leave it at that.

Soil responds real well to compost tea. An artificial set up may not like a lot of compost tea in the system.

captain.koons said:

Might have to look around more then.

I mean in any populated city nearly everything is somewhere in any amount imaginable.

Think of all the places that make it their business to break down large amounts and sell them as small amounts at an inflated cost. There's always someone at the bottom of that business model.

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Dr. Earth packages alfalfa meal, kelp meal, etc. in consumer quantities. I use them in my AACT teas.

tea tree said:

I went to lowes and bought a bag of nrich compost and organic mulch. Full of raw organic ingreds, bark, and other things. I put this in a five gallon bucket with as much air as I could get and a tbsp of molasses for every few gallons. The air is the trick. With enuf air and big airbubbles you get a froth in 16 hours. Big bubbles better. They dont damage the fungi. So anyway this is a good tea. That cost little. Also I have made it with 90 cent cow manure and also with batguanos.



Are you only feeding tea?

Mhj like most annuals like a half and hald ratio of fungi and bacteria. So brew it a little longer for more fungi. I poured some batguano in a five gallon dwc with pbp and got a froth the next day. That was funny.


I shot of this once a season might make your plants healthier by innoclutlaing the roots and coco with good guys.

Click to expand...

I've brewed my teas 24 hours at 70° but, after some interesting reading, will go to 75° for 18 hours. I've been told that in the real agricultural world, five gallons of AACT tea is diluted to effectively service an acre of plants/fruit trees.