Soil Food Web Gardening with Compost Teas

Rrog said:

blueJ (like the name, btw), this is great news! There are many good soil recipes. I'm doing SuperSoil right now, and will be re-planting in it without tilling, pulling up root balls, etc. No soil disturbance.

Teas are definitely a good thing, but an occasional dose is all that is required We have to keep in mind that the inoculated microbes will continue to propagate, often under the direct control of the plant. The plant will be choosy as to what it feeds and keeps around and what it doesn't feed.

You will find that the weed is better and MUCH cheaper doing amended soil vs. bottled ferts (organic or otherwise). If you'd like other soil options, just holler. We'd love to help you

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My goal has been a no-till scenario, either custom made beds or the easy way out - 150gal smartpot. This catches my eye "...but an occasional dose is all that is required." I feel (or felt) like i ammend pretty heavily, and without heavy biocanna feedings i'm getting yellowing by midflower (bottom to top) and lower yields........

....let me read through this thread real good before i ask any questions, as i have a few for you But like i said, growth is explosive now that my feedings have been ACT based! But i'd like to not go through so much $$ with biocanna! but at the same time i'd like to avoid using bone/blood meal

You avoid blood and bone for vegan reasons? There are other materials that can be used.

My best grows have been with no bottled ferts at all. And I have no pests, either

Yes.

I have had years of success with a real basic soil mix, any old bag of organic and then amended with bone/blood/lime and fed with a mix of pureblend, earth juice, & FF big bloom (& molasses).

I've gone the plant-based route and am easily 99% "veganic" for better or worse

Here's the mix and the ladies love it, it's my own and been a year in the making, pics tonight

1 bag coconot
1 bag roots organic or ednas organic or Happy frog or (_____)
1 bag vermiblend
1/2 bag EWC
some perlite (prefer rice hulls but having trouble sourcing locally)

1 cup each of
vegan mix, kelp, alfalfa, dolomite lime

1/2 cup each of
neem seed meal, azomite, greensand

1/4 cup of
granular humic, epsom salt

I probably forgot an amendment or two and my actual measurements are rarely precise hehe

Then i mix it 50/50 at least with already used soil of the same mix

blueJ said:

My goal has been a no-till scenario, either custom made beds or the easy way out - 150gal smartpot. This catches my eye "...but an occasional dose is all that is required." I feel (or felt) like i ammend pretty heavily, and without heavy biocanna feedings i'm getting yellowing by midflower (bottom to top) and lower yields........

....let me read through this thread real good before i ask any questions, as i have a few for you But like i said, growth is explosive now that my feedings have been ACT based! But i'd like to not go through so much $$ with biocanna! but at the same time i'd like to avoid using bone/blood meal

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Hmmm... now wheels are turning in my head. I've been working towards my own water only soil mix for quite some time now, it's not quite there yet, but always improving. I've been looking into the whole "no-till" method a lot lately, and can't believe I've never considered using one gigantic Smart Pot for a shared bed grow. I'm doing this. Thanks.

The SuperSoil is a water-only deal, which is cool, but to do no-till, you'll have to top dress the soil with amendments (EWC, Compost, ACT) as you go to replenish gradually and evenly. So it's not a water-only.

I'm starting with SuperSoil, and have amended it and will continue to amend after I plant seeds in it next month. Clover stays the whole time. I'll just chop the plant at the base.

Good deal wolverine! there is a thread with pics of a no-till smart pot bed in a tent, good results, it's over on icmag.

Rrog, that's what i was thinking, no till with continual topdressing for slow release, which is fine in that scenario, and extra topdress @ the end of each cycle. I need to just do it, i think i'll do the XXXL smartpot method for now, hopefully in the next couple months..... yea clover, i wanna do the living mulch too. Also want to do comfrey and nettle teas but am having trouble sourcing both, i have lots of property but @ high elevation so i only have a few months a year....my corn only got a foot tall last year LOL but the strawberries are coming back right now

I'd love to source comfrey, nettles etc. also. I should buy a field guide, I guess. Fermented vegetable extracts... Excellent stuff. And how much does that cost? Zero?

blueJ said:

I wouldn't say lazy necesarily lol, but some reading would definitely help out in understanding what is going on in the soil/teas & why we use them. Your worm bin for example, there is no fungi in earth worm castings as it is all bacteria in the worm that does the work and come out in the castings. Fungi tea you'd make with our regular compost, store bought compost, or some forest soil (ideally you'd grow some fungi too like with moist oats in a tupperware for a week). Start with a book like Teaming With Microbes, and i'm sure there's plenty of links in here to websites to do some research in.

Your tea recipe could be as simple as:

5 gal water with:
handfull of EWC or compost
20 to 30ml molasses
small scoop of kelp meal or 30ml liquid kelp

I mix all my biocanna nutes into my teas and let them bubble with it all

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Cheers mate. I am currently studying soil health at my local Tafe so im learning all of this there plus this book is a godsend. I asked my teacher for some Tea recipe advice and he said basically im here for soil not teas. (even though i knew nothing about teas until he mentioned and talked about it in class -.- )

trichome fiend said:

...growing indoors, I prefer to have all the goodies already in the soil....only water is needed.
...I typically veg clones in small pots of quility soil, giving water only, then transplant into an adequate sized pot with quility soil to flower in....water only throughout the life of the plant....it's really that simple.
...however, your plants will do great with a steady soil drench of ewc and molasses if you do not want to transplant, from my experience...it's hard to over do it with teas but it isn't necessary to go crazy with it.

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Ok cool, that's what i thought. Now creating my own good soil to begin with is just another challenge of mine i guess i can go buy some bagged soil but i don't know what bags of soil at our local bunnings is good. As they have so many varieties. Might just go to a landscaping joint and buy from them.

Hey another question: Soild biology does take its time to build and over time a garden can b fully established with gr8 soil biology. But when it comes to my POTs that last twelve week how effective is this still with the soil only lasting 12 weeks ?

puppasmurf said:

Hey another question: Soild biology does take its time to build and over time a garden can b fully established with gr8 soil biology. But when it comes to my POTs that last twelve week how effective is this still with the soil only lasting 12 weeks ?

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...12 weeks is a long time without a transplant, tea, or top layering.....in a situation like that I wouldn't want to transplant in mid flower, so I would top layer an inch or so of ewc along with a soil drench every couple weeks, starting around week 4-5 of flowering.

Great answer TF

Rrog said:

The SuperSoil is a water-only deal, which is cool, but to do no-till, you'll have to top dress the soil with amendments (EWC, Compost, ACT) as you go to replenish gradually and evenly. So it's not a water-only.

I'm starting with SuperSoil, and have amended it and will continue to amend after I plant seeds in it next month. Clover stays the whole time. I'll just chop the plant at the base.

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By "water only", I mean no bottled nutrients...

Ah! OK. Thanks for the clarification.

BTW, we don't bring it up much, but there's huge value in biochar. Like the spent activated carbon from air filters. I used a lot this time.

What does biochar do? How do we use it properly? Most of us have filters, I love to recycle so I'm curious

The Biochar works for odor filtration because of the incredible surface area with all hose nooks and crannies. Those same nooks and crannies are available as condos for bacteria. Really works well to promote the microlife. I added about 2 cups of spent carbon in my 7 gallon pails when initially mixed.

Aeration and carbon content for the soil.

Redbird1223

What does biochar do? How do we use it properly? Most of us have filters, I love to recycle so I'm curious​

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This link answered all my questions and more. It also refers to Terra Preta which is how the ancient central and south american cultures kept agriculture going in the nutrient poor jungle soils, and I think where the idea of Biochar regenerated soils comes from.

http://biochar.pbworks.com/w/page/9748043/FrontPage


Also, I posted this side by side result in the other AACT forum and then read this one and its relevant here too. No one has answered my tea dilution and foliar ?s yet over there. Here goes...


I got started on this cause someone was asking if anyone ever ran any roots brand soil, and these ladies loved their 707 mix! This side by side test was the second to last run I did before switching to try out Rize Up style veganic grows for the utmost quality claims, which involves a lot of beneficial microbes via compost tea (every other watering for me). Anyway...

• This round also in Roots 707 watered every 4-5 days. Both plants are Subs Agent Orange. Left plant was fed GO full line and yielded 130 grams of high quality. Right plant was fed ONLY (~24 hour brewed) compost Tea's based on Vital Earth's chart every other watering(just not using all THEIR products)(yes, i did use that much guano and it did not burn my plant, it loved it actually, I know its not vegan but it was a big learning experience on the power of AACTs for me) and she yielded 138 grams of higher quality, much more complex flavor profile and denser, stickier nugs! AACT for the win!!! The AACT plant didn't look bigger at all but weighed in more, and sure was prettier!
  

• Agent Pics:
• ​1)Both plants under 1000w 2)Detail comparison (GO left, AACT right) 3)GO detail 4)AACT detail 5)AACT detail @8wks 6)AACT detail on trim table

So needless to say I really liked the results of the test. AACT is really great because it gives me, the grower (no one else is more tuned in to them than dad), the ability to make my own custom nutrient. AND this nutrient source is much more affordable as far of cost of inputs compared to relying on bottled products. I like that I can easily obtain some of the ingredients at stores I get my own food from. It is important to source the purest actually organic inputs you can IMO (water too), and local is extra sweet if you can find the right connections (i.e. get inputs for free or trade). TIME is to be considered too; to make the RO amount needed, put together the materials in the sock 24-36 hours before you need it, bubble for one hour THEN feed them, preparing 'santa's beard' in advance to give fungi a head start, etc. But its nothing a good calendar/alarms on the phone can't facilitate! Time is really all we have, I am not opposed to dedicating a bit more to my garden, this wonderful resin does so much for me in return!




My big questions to ask the organic AACT forum are about diluting the tea after brewing and foliar spraying my tea:


1. Who dilutes, if so, what is your approximate dilution ratio and what are your inputs per gallon, if not, how heavy per gallon are your inputs?

2. Why do you think this is/isn't necessary for your roots/media/application techniques?

3. Do you foliar your teas? If so do you prepare them any differently from ones that you apply to the roots?

...here, 9 time world record and 18 state record holder John Evans uses 5 to 1 ratio.

[youtube]BXGqJbFZzCo&feature[/youtube]

I started a thread but i should of asked my question here.

Ok, so i want to make a bone meal, blood meal and guano tea. I have been doing alot of reading and im not quite sure how to prepare this yet. Would letting all the ingredients sit in water together cause some type of bad bacteria to form? I know people recommend to let it sit in water im just wondering if the ingredients are combined and sat in water if that would do any harm? Also im thinking bubbling the ingredients in water for a few days would be better than letting it sit in water, would do you think?

So my plan, bubble some bone,blood,guano for two days. then add tablespoon of molasses and bubble 2 morre days. How does this sound? Is this the correct way to make this type of tea?