I mastered bacteria! 12 hour froth. How i did.

Well I mastered the secret finally of bacteria. As usual when it comes to mariujuana it came down to going big. Lol.

I took three aquarium air pumps and put a splitter on each hose. These are average size 30 gallon pumps. Bigger is better. These might even be 20 gallons as their is a bigger model I broke laying here.


So I have 6 hoses. I dont use airstones. Professional tea makers recomend medium ato large bubbles and I read the reason. Small bubbles are like scythes and will kill the bacteria and the fungi inside your teas.

So far as I understand it MJ prefers the bacteria being an annual and uses fungi as reserves of sorts. The soil food web is awesome and I am studying it now in some books written for the layman that rock. The "soil food web" by jeff lowefels is one.

SO after only 12 hours of bubbling I got a froth brewing. I added 1 tbsp of blackstrap a gallon. I am brewing three gallons.

It is bacteria laden by the froth you can tell. This bacteria came from spt and fresh wormcasts. Also a little steer manure I tossed in.

Previuolsy I had not been sure what I needed to get the froth as with some teas I got nothing. I have read quite a few posts where some do not get anything either. This will make lower fertlizer more productive and feed the plant quite well.

cool

Also in addition to my BMO I throw in some more indo batguano. I am hoping for some big girls. I also topdress, I am a little over a month in flower and the I am happy.

I just looked that book up in the library and low-and-behold they have it! Should be picking it up in the next week. Sounds like a really interesting read.

I've heard that temps and tea times go hand in hand. I bubble my tea in the attic which gets to be 85 degrees and within 20 hours their is froth on the top. Does froth mean that it's done? I had one go for too long and it REEKED, I dumped it.

the higher temps are good for bacteria production. the froth means it is done. The reek means it is now anerobic and is bad. To work past this I add a tbsp of blackstrap a day to keep it aerobic. That kept my last tea for a week frothy.

I am now going to read on as to how fungi help annuals. I use hydroguard now and love it, or at least rot has not been my prob.

I'm going to stay tuned so keep filling us in.

To fill in.

Now I am mastering adding a little homemade myco fungi, ecto and endo but I am figuring that the mj plant might like to attract endo into its rhizosphere.

You see plant produce exudates from their roots that actually control what bacteria and fungi surrond it. They actually control what they want. While marijuana is an annual and most annuals love the bacteria more fungi play a role in their life to. From reading I am thinking it is a .8-1 fungi to bacteria ratio to a 1-1 fungi to bacteria ratio. Endo and ecto fungi are awesome in the root sone, or rhizosphere, as they form a bond either inside or outside the roots that feed the plant and make use of a larger area than the roots can by themselves to feed. Also they protect.

Mostly trees and larges shrubs, longer living plants, prefere ecto myco, but I have heard reports of both being at work here and other places.

I guess the best place to get a little ecto and endo fungi to add to my teas is the hydro shop. However I have read how to make my own.


I have got some compost and worm castings. I have read to add some oatmeal or some soy meal at a rate of a teaspoon to a cup of compost and then wet it. I have added some soy protein shake as I had nothing else. Supposedly if I keep it warm with a seed heat mat I will have a nice hairy fungi growth in a few days. This I can add as a topdressing or into the tea at the later stages of tea brewing.


It is best to add fungi later as they are delicate.

Fungi masses are huge and can really help a plant. I highly suggest them from my reading.

so that is what I am up to on this fine monday. lol.

I have a good compost pile going now. Once it has cooked long enough I can add oat meal wet it and keep it in an outside open environment and my fungi will supposedly start to grow? or should it be in a covered damp environment with good light?

I put everything from sandwiches, fruits, veggies, leftovers from the night before and low sodium V8 in my compost pile turn it in the ground for a few weeks and then it will go to the turner drum I have mounted in a large recycle can with worms. Should I add the oats after the compost is complete?

I am thinking according this instruction manual that I am banking on that taking some compost after it is fully done and placing it in a container with no lid and no light in a cupboard or something with a seedling heat mat for warmth will be best. Add a tsp of oats to a cup of compost. Moisten. Leave it for a while. Either that or buy humbolt nutes myco madness or whatever variety yu like.

josephine porter institue for applied biodynamics- get the catalog...order the inocculants, follow the directions...you'll have top of the line compost in a matter of months...I add all kinds of stuff in the pile to 'cook'- from kitchen scraps to stuff from the garden shop.. organic cow manure, 'organic' charcoal,etc. I make teas with the compost(stretches it out)...that stuff is beyond amazing!!! sometimes I hit the tea with azomtie and earth juice for good measure. I used to use a lot more coco coir,but more than 25% is a waste of space, and notable loss of vigour compared to mostly black dirt/compost.

is the froth really important? 'cause I don't get froth, I just let it go 3 or 4 days, bubbled for a few hous a day...the stuff is still PHENOMENAL!

The froth shows there is a bunch of microlife busy eating, shitting, farting and reproducing. So, yes, froth is a good sign of activity.

If yu are using compost then froth is a must to do it right. If yu dont have froth then yu do not hace enuf air, molasses (doubt it) or enough bacteria to breed. I find the more raw compost, manure, and worm castings I add to the teas goves me the best froth. I have super plant tonic and rarely do I get a good froth with that alone. Some bubbles but not like when I add a hug chunk of compost. IDK, it amy be an air thing or maybe the tea has gone fungi dominant, as I hear the froth is minimal then.

I have had teas that look like beer. I ahve had teas that look like nothning. The best tea had lots of air and lots of compost.

I am trying to brew my own fungi from homemeade compost and oats but I scrwed that up. No oats! lol.

Bubbles mean bacteria. YOu need a lot of air! A lot. The larger the air bubbles the better. The more dry compost the better. Like half the buckett and yu get a good brew. Careful to much and wow the burn. I would wait at least a month in veg. Also watch the ph. Bacteria will shoot it up.

I broke down and ordered some rooters myco for my girls. After reading the soil web guide I cannot believe I have not been all over this myco.

A little optimistically I am wondering if adding ecto will greatly help instead of just endo. After all I am growing trees. Shrublike.


By the way, this is DIRT CLEAN. I changed emails and cannot fig out how to log back on as me. as me, hehe.

You should check out my DIY compost tumble bin. The cage matter has fungi all over. White fluffy little hair like things. There is some crazy things with this tumble, it works way better than I was thinking.

This morning, leaving for work, red wiggler worms were migrating from one side of my drive to the other. I harvested about 15 for the tumble section which hold them very well.

lol, cain that is awesome. That looks exactly like those machines they sell thru sams club that autocompost. All yu need to do is add a motor and a heating element. These machines do a batch in 10 days! Although if yu were to turn it every day then I dont see why yu need a motor.

Does yurs work like that? reps...

I must be using too little compost, or my compost is too 'done' already...I'll try using some less finished compost...about worms- I get about a baitshop per shovel in my pile, so I think I'm good on the castings...and the gophers in my garden love me!(no they don't bother the plants).

tea tree said:

lol, cain that is awesome. That looks exactly like those machines they sell thru sams club that autocompost. All yu need to do is add a motor and a heating element. These machines do a batch in 10 days! Although if yu were to turn it every day then I dont see why yu need a motor.

Does yurs work like that? reps...

Click to expand...

Pretty much. Water and tumble once a day. Everything that is completed composting and all of the worm casting collect in the bottom as I tumble. I'll post more pics of it set up in place.

There is new fungi every day I look in. It needs better ventilation so I have a little mod I need to do. I think this stuff will make great tea.

Check this tutorial http://www.monkeysee.com/play/394-how-to-compost

s.c.mtn.hillbilly said:

I must be using too little compost, or my compost is too 'done' already...I'll try using some less finished compost...about worms- I get about a baitshop per shovel in my pile, so I think I'm good on the castings...and the gophers in my garden love me!(no they don't bother the plants).

Click to expand...

Red wigglers are the best. They can eat .25% of there body weight a day. I plan on recycling worms in and out of pots through growth.

I just picked up Teaming With Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels from the library and let me tell you what a highly recommended book so far! I just got finished only reading the preface and forward and I already know that this is going to be a great read. In the preface it shows 2 magnified pictures of a nematode trying to attack a root. In the first picture the nematode is being 'held down' down a fungi strand, preventing it from eating the root. In the second picture it shows the same soil after being fed with synthetic fertilizers, and now the nematodes are going INTO the root without any protection from the fungi. The chem ferts killed all the good fungi in the soil and left the bad bactria to florish and take over the plants vital ecosystem. Good read and plus rep to Dirt Clean for the recommendation.

tea tree said:

By the way, this is DIRT CLEAN. I changed emails and cannot fig out how to log back on as me. as me, hehe.

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+rep just cuz ur two people now dirt tea clean tree

to serve man said:

I just picked up Teaming With Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels from the library and let me tell you what a highly recommended book so far! I just got finished only reading the preface and forward and I already know that this is going to be a great read. In the preface it shows 2 magnified pictures of a nematode trying to attack a root. In the first picture the nematode is being 'held down' down a fungi strand, preventing it from eating the root. In the second picture it shows the same soil after being fed with synthetic fertilizers, and now the nematodes are going INTO the root without any protection from the fungi. The chem ferts killed all the good fungi in the soil and left the bad bactria to florish and take over the plants vital ecosystem. Good read and plus rep to Dirt Clean for the recommendation.

Click to expand...

That is what I thought. You really should take a look at the pic of the plant with the myco added! It is ten times bigger, then they show what the roots look like. With a myco fungi any plant can expand its rootmass by like a 1000 times.

They say plants like ours, vegatbles and herbs and flowers like endo myco. I am wondering if I feed my big girls ecto also they light attract using their exudates some ecto considerong I grow in seven - ten gallon bags over a 2-3 month veg. That would be nice to know.

Yeah, the next best part is on root exudates.

Pinkus-thanks man, yu two guys have got me my second and third rep as this guy. This is better than second life which I saw on CSI but cant log into. Hey, you guys see that show numbers? They figured out how to spot mj from the air using the light spectral patterns it returns from some camera. They were finding mj plants cuz the surfers were selling pot and shooting each other, lol. It was all stringy, but they got a real veg leaf in one outdoor shot it looked like, and some funky fake looking plants for the rest. They were killing cops for like 5 plants. Hehe, and their boyfreinds. Off topic. . . women.

I am considering a diferent way to feed fertilized tea plants. Make a compost tea then when I mix all my nutients in another buclet just add a cup of this compost tea or two so as to prevent tip burn. Cuz I got to say I got it a little with only a 1-8-7 and some indo topdressed! It is all that bacteria I feed with the whole mix aerated.