When does the compost tea go bad??

C

Chronicle_02

Member
kratos015 said:
Synthetic nutes will kill the microbes you're trying to cultivate.

Not only should you trash that tea (if you haven't already), but I would highly recommend sanitizing the bucket before you attempt to brew anything else. Use hydrogen peroxide or 91% ISO alcohol, disinfect the bucket and the air stones as well. Set your airstones up in a bowl full of hydrogen peroxide. Clean everything.

Drysift is definitely pointing you in the right direction. Take his advice, start over, and use his recipe.

As he said, castings are important but if you can't source good EWC then good compost will compensate.

When brewing a "compost tea" you're effectively growing a vast web of microscopic organisms that eat the compost+molasses, the beneficial microbes will then proceed to multiply greatly over the 24 hours of "brewing" it. The idea behind a compost tea isn't necessarily to feed your plants, its to get a jumpstart on the microbiology. Then, you in turn pour this liquid full of microbes into any soil and the microbes will go to town on any organic material within your pots.



That said, teas are superfluous IMO. Simply top dressing with high quality compost + organic amendments will achieve the same result, just over a slower period of time. Nutrient teas can cause more harm than good and I recommend against them. In organics, a religious top dress regimen is key. I top dress every 1-2 weeks, personally. Sprinkle a Dr. Earth organic amendment blend on the soil, then cover it with quality compost. Water as normal, rinse and repeat.

Should you encounter heavy feeders, Fish Emulsion (for veg) and Fish Hydrolysate (bloom) are the only products I use personally.

Less is more.
Click to expand...
I tossed em as soon as I got home and washed out the bucket with dish soap. I’ll sanitize them with alcohol before using again. Thanks for helping me get organized and putting me on the right direction.

But, yea I get the main concept of organic teas. A few readings and podcasts. I brewed em up to water the soil that I’m going to be using while transplanting to feed the microbes. I just had a lot left out and I don’t know why but at the moment, I thought maybe letting it sit and let it get fermented will make it better lol. I guess fermenting is way different route. I’m very new at this just started a month ago. Been reading a lot, and starting to putting it into action since experiencing is the best teacher out there.

Any other nute company you recommend for top dressing? How is gaia green line?
 
kratos015

kratos015

Well-Known Member
Chronicle_02 said:
I tossed em as soon as I got home and washed out the bucket with dish soap. I’ll sanitize them with alcohol before using again. Thanks for helping me get organized and putting me on the right direction.

But, yea I get the main concept of organic teas. A few readings and podcasts. I brewed em up to water the soil that I’m going to be using while transplanting to feed the microbes. I just had a lot left out and I don’t know why but at the moment, I thought maybe letting it sit and let it get fermented will make it better lol. I guess fermenting is way different route. I’m very new at this just started a month ago. Been reading a lot, and starting to putting it into action since experiencing is the best teacher out there.

Any other nute company you recommend for top dressing? How is gaia green line?
Click to expand...
Best way to learn is to fuck something up, and dwell on why you fucked up, then correct it. Fucking up = gaining experience. Don't feel pressured to not screw up, no reason for anyone to trip on it unless they're growing for commercially (and IMO, if you grow for $$$ with zero experience you deserve what you get).

You'll be fine, just remember less is more and consider everything as a learning experience. No such thing as failure if you learn something from it.



Anyway, on the note of fermenting. Teas will never get fermented, you're likely thinking of something mentioned on the podcast concerning fermenting. If I had to venture a guess, they were either talking about using Bokashi Bran to make Bokashi compost with or they were talking about making an EM-1. Bokashi bran uses fermentation and is an anaerobic reaction. I do know of some people that ferment milk to make an EM-1, but I personally have never done this. Look up a recipe if you're so inclined, but IMO just stick to the basics for now if this is your first grow.

Learn how the plant grows, how it reacts with your living soil, etc.

I've never heard of Gaia Green's line, but I just looked it up and it appears to be an Advanced Nutrients line. That the one? Though I've never used it, I just took a look at the ingredients and it looks like very solid stuff. The ingredients appear to be quality, nothing too "hot" that will scorch your roots, and it has basalt in it which is amazing.

Basalt rock dust should be in every living soil, we organic growers should consider it our "secret weapon" in fact! Coots switched to Basalt exclusively for a reason, it is the absolute best mineral to amend soil with due to its high sulfur content.

Sulfur = terpenes. That's why I foliar feed with small amounts of epsom salts (Magnesium Sulfate); not to correct deficiencies but to make sure my plants have a good enough supply of sulfur and magnesium available. Both of those nutrients play a big role in terpene production, I always recommend people do a side by side with and without sulfur to see the difference for themselves.

The Gaia Green products also have light NPK ratios, which I also like.

Just keep at it, and ask questions when needed; don't pay mind to those that are negative, that negativity stems from their inability to cope with their own lack of experience and/or results.

HTH
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
kratos015 said:
Best way to learn is to fuck something up, and dwell on why you fucked up, then correct it. Fucking up = gaining experience. Don't feel pressured to not screw up, no reason for anyone to trip on it unless they're growing for commercially (and IMO, if you grow for $$$ with zero experience you deserve what you get).

You'll be fine, just remember less is more and consider everything as a learning experience. No such thing as failure if you learn something from it.



Anyway, on the note of fermenting. Teas will never get fermented, you're likely thinking of something mentioned on the podcast concerning fermenting. If I had to venture a guess, they were either talking about using Bokashi Bran to make Bokashi compost with or they were talking about making an EM-1. Bokashi bran uses fermentation and is an anaerobic reaction. I do know of some people that ferment milk to make an EM-1, but I personally have never done this. Look up a recipe if you're so inclined, but IMO just stick to the basics for now if this is your first grow.

Learn how the plant grows, how it reacts with your living soil, etc.

I've never heard of Gaia Green's line, but I just looked it up and it appears to be an Advanced Nutrients line. That the one? Though I've never used it, I just took a look at the ingredients and it looks like very solid stuff. The ingredients appear to be quality, nothing too "hot" that will scorch your roots, and it has basalt in it which is amazing.

Basalt rock dust should be in every living soil, we organic growers should consider it our "secret weapon" in fact! Coots switched to Basalt exclusively for a reason, it is the absolute best mineral to amend soil with due to its high sulfur content.

Sulfur = terpenes. That's why I foliar feed with small amounts of epsom salts (Magnesium Sulfate); not to correct deficiencies but to make sure my plants have a good enough supply of sulfur and magnesium available. Both of those nutrients play a big role in terpene production, I always recommend people do a side by side with and without sulfur to see the difference for themselves.

The Gaia Green products also have light NPK ratios, which I also like.

Just keep at it, and ask questions when needed; don't pay mind to those that are negative, that negativity stems from their inability to cope with their own lack of experience and/or results.

HTH
Click to expand...
That's another thing I learned from you was the epsom salt thing. Do you also add Pro-TeKt to it for the silica, or am I getting confused, lol?
 
C

Chronicle_02

Member
kratos015 said:
Best way to learn is to fuck something up, and dwell on why you fucked up, then correct it. Fucking up = gaining experience. Don't feel pressured to not screw up, no reason for anyone to trip on it unless they're growing for commercially (and IMO, if you grow for $$$ with zero experience you deserve what you get).

You'll be fine, just remember less is more and consider everything as a learning experience. No such thing as failure if you learn something from it.



Anyway, on the note of fermenting. Teas will never get fermented, you're likely thinking of something mentioned on the podcast concerning fermenting. If I had to venture a guess, they were either talking about using Bokashi Bran to make Bokashi compost with or they were talking about making an EM-1. Bokashi bran uses fermentation and is an anaerobic reaction. I do know of some people that ferment milk to make an EM-1, but I personally have never done this. Look up a recipe if you're so inclined, but IMO just stick to the basics for now if this is your first grow.

Learn how the plant grows, how it reacts with your living soil, etc.

I've never heard of Gaia Green's line, but I just looked it up and it appears to be an Advanced Nutrients line. That the one? Though I've never used it, I just took a look at the ingredients and it looks like very solid stuff. The ingredients appear to be quality, nothing too "hot" that will scorch your roots, and it has basalt in it which is amazing.

Basalt rock dust should be in every living soil, we organic growers should consider it our "secret weapon" in fact! Coots switched to Basalt exclusively for a reason, it is the absolute best mineral to amend soil with due to its high sulfur content.

Sulfur = terpenes. That's why I foliar feed with small amounts of epsom salts (Magnesium Sulfate); not to correct deficiencies but to make sure my plants have a good enough supply of sulfur and magnesium available. Both of those nutrients play a big role in terpene production, I always recommend people do a side by side with and without sulfur to see the difference for themselves.

The Gaia Green products also have light NPK ratios, which I also like.

Just keep at it, and ask questions when needed; don't pay mind to those that are negative, that negativity stems from their inability to cope with their own lack of experience and/or results.

HTH
Click to expand...
Great tips thank you so much. I will probably just go with the Gaia green for my next run. And maybe get something else to top dress. Any recommendations for that? I will probably add wormcasting and 4-4-4 to the soil. What do you recommend for top dressing after that? And also I will put epsom salt(mag sulfate) to my buy list.

About the fermenting. I heard from one of the podcasts that KNF have something called ferment juice and Choi calls it juice from heaven or something. I think they mentioned something about em1 or similar to that. That was the part i didn’t really understand. They were talking in like abbreviations or whatever lol
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
kratos015 said:
1/4 tsp of Epsom per gallon, and I use the recommended dose on the back of the Pro-Tekt bottle. Haven't had a grow going since last year's outdoor, so I forget the exact amount on the back. I want to say its 1 tsp per gallon I believe? Same with liquid kelp, I use recommended dose once a month.
Click to expand...
Nice. I thought you used a bigger dose of Epsom. Thanks again for all the advice.
 
kratos015

kratos015

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Noooo!
Click to expand...
Don't mind me, just quoting this for emphasis.


Chronicle_02 said:
Great tips thank you so much. I will probably just go with the Gaia green for my next run. And maybe get something else to top dress. Any recommendations for that? I will probably add wormcasting and 4-4-4 to the soil. What do you recommend for top dressing after that? And also I will put epsom salt(mag sulfate) to my buy list.

About the fermenting. I heard from one of the podcasts that KNF have something called ferment juice and Choi calls it juice from heaven or something. I think they mentioned something about em1 or similar to that. That was the part i didn’t really understand. They were talking in like abbreviations or whatever lol
Click to expand...
My pleasure, glad to help. The Gaia Green looks like good stuff, I may actually start looking into using it myself truth be told.

Remember, less is more. If you amended your soil with Gaia Green, top dress with it. Top dress with whatever you initially amended the soil with, then cover it with quality compost.

My local Ace Hardware has a 2 cu.ft. bag of compost for $8.49, but it isn't fully decomposed and I need to water/turn it daily until it fully decomposes. Could take a week, could take a month, depends on how far the compost got in the composting process before going into the bags.

Your situation is likely different from mine, I live in the middle of nowhere so I have to either use what's available at Ace Hardware or whatever I can have shipped to my house. Coast of Maine's Lobster Compost is some of the best, but quality EWC is the undisputed #1 form of compost to use. But most EWC on the market is trash IMO. I don't use EWC unless I make it myself, or it comes from a legit worm farm that isn't just feeding worms paper and cardboard.

Remember, your soil is only as good as your compost is. That said, that's why I compromise with the Ace Hardware stuff. I make 100s of gallons of soil at a time, so it's not fiscally practical for me to pay $30/bag of CoM Lobster Compost. Some people are lucky enough to get it local for ~$12/bag, if you're one of those lucky people then go for that. I used to live 5 minutes away from an EWC in California, I miss those guys. $20 for a 5g bucket of legit EWC.

Does sound to me like they were talking about EM1 though, but unfortunately I have no experience with it so I can't comment much more than that.
 
C

Chronicle_02

Member
kratos015 said:
Don't mind me, just quoting this for emphasis.




My pleasure, glad to help. The Gaia Green looks like good stuff, I may actually start looking into using it myself truth be told.

Remember, less is more. If you amended your soil with Gaia Green, top dress with it. Top dress with whatever you initially amended the soil with, then cover it with quality compost.

My local Ace Hardware has a 2 cu.ft. bag of compost for $8.49, but it isn't fully decomposed and I need to water/turn it daily until it fully decomposes. Could take a week, could take a month, depends on how far the compost got in the composting process before going into the bags.

Your situation is likely different from mine, I live in the middle of nowhere so I have to either use what's available at Ace Hardware or whatever I can have shipped to my house. Coast of Maine's Lobster Compost is some of the best, but quality EWC is the undisputed #1 form of compost to use. But most EWC on the market is trash IMO. I don't use EWC unless I make it myself, or it comes from a legit worm farm that isn't just feeding worms paper and cardboard.

Remember, your soil is only as good as your compost is. That said, that's why I compromise with the Ace Hardware stuff. I make 100s of gallons of soil at a time, so it's not fiscally practical for me to pay $30/bag of CoM Lobster Compost. Some people are lucky enough to get it local for ~$12/bag, if you're one of those lucky people then go for that. I used to live 5 minutes away from an EWC in California, I miss those guys. $20 for a 5g bucket of legit EWC.

Does sound to me like they were talking about EM1 though, but unfortunately I have no experience with it so I can't comment much more than that.
Click to expand...
Man, I love this community lol.

They also have the bloom dry amendment I think it was 2-8-4? So maybe I top dress with that. I don’t know if my ace hardware has any EWC or compost at all but I did get my FF products from one of the local ones for 44$ of OF 3 cu ft. And like 18$ for 2 cu ft of HF but I think the lady up charged me lol I got the HF from local hydro store haha.

I have quite a lot of nursery’s around town and I went to one of them. They told me one local store has EWC when I asked them about it. So I might go check it out and I saw a sign for premium organic mulch the other day driving around town also. Maybe that will help also? What do you think about that
 
vitalsine

vitalsine

Well-Known Member
Chronicle_02 said:
Man, I love this community lol.

They also have the bloom dry amendment I think it was 2-8-4? So maybe I top dress with that. I don’t know if my ace hardware has any EWC or compost at all but I did get my FF products from one of the local ones for 44$ of OF 3 cu ft. And like 18$ for 2 cu ft of HF but I think the lady up charged me lol I got the HF from local hydro store haha.

I have quite a lot of nursery’s around town and I went to one of them. They told me one local store has EWC when I asked them about it. So I might go check it out and I saw a sign for premium organic mulch the other day driving around town also. Maybe that will help also? What do you think about that
Click to expand...
Home Depot should have EWC in the garden section. Probably not the greatest but works for me for the time being. It's not wet or gross or anything, nice and dry and jet black/almost charcoal color.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
IIReignManII said:
I'm out on compost tea...its just not good technique. Apply the compost, water, skip the BS
Click to expand...
It's actually really awesome for the plants. The bacteria can multiply rapidly in the right environment and then you feed that to the soil. You can also coax out nematodes. I think the nematodes like a slower, and softer bubble. I think a lot die with massive bubbles. I could see the little guys swimming around sometimes when I made teas.

I actually haven't made a tea in months. I've just been top dressing since I'm lazy, but my plants really loved the teas when I gave it to them. My tastiest and smelliest batch was with lots of EWC tea.
 
IIReignManII

IIReignManII

Well-Known Member
PadawanWarrior said:
It's actually really awesome for the plants. The bacteria can multiply rapidly in the right environment and then you feed that to the soil. You can also coax out nematodes. I think the nematodes like a slower, and softer bubble. I think a lot die with massive bubbles. I could see the little guys swimming around sometimes when I made teas.

I actually haven't made a tea in months. I've just been top dressing since I'm lazy, but my plants really loved the teas when I gave it to them. My tastiest and smelliest batch was with lots of EWC tea.
Click to expand...
If you bloom the organisms in water with air and sugar they will go in the container at a high cell count but when they find an environment without enough food the population will again die back to match the food levels in your environment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top