Hey all, I've decided to give kelp tea a shot in my garden to see what all the hubbub's about. Let me see if I've got this right... 'Bout a handful of kelp to 5 gal' water. Mix and let sit for a week. Apply. Do I have to use an airstone? I read in an earlier post today (for the life of me I can't find it and this is why I'm posting now) that someone threw in a little LB serum. I want to do this and I'm thinking that an airstone might not be such a good idea as lacto' prefers anaerobic conditions. I'm also wondering if adding the LB serum will decrease "brew" time. I've noticed people use a little aloe vera in their mix. What does this do? And lastly, how about throwing in some alfalfa along with the kelp. Would this be over-doing it? In short, the sharing of any and all kelp tea recipes/procedures would be greatly appreciated! And if it goes into your tea, I'd like to know what it's "purpose" is. This, of course, would only be for items that aren't obvious, like aloe vera (or kelp!). Thanks, amigos wak
Here's LD's recipe. This will make your plants explode. It's fun to watch. Alfalfa/kelp 5 gal gallon 1 cup alfalfa meal 1/4 cup kelp Bubble 24 hrs, strain Add 2 tsp silica 1 1/4 cup aloe vera 1/2 cup fulvic acid
I use the same recipe for my teas, roughly. Handful of kelp, larger handful of alfalfa meal, bubble for 24/48 hours, then add silica and apply. I only use the fulvic acid when I intend to foliar.
Yes and yes. This is a pretty decent read on the compounds found within the Aloe Vera pulp. http://www.mdpi.org/molecules/papers/13081599.pdf
Hey all! Thanks for all the great responses. What is the function of the silica in LD's recipe? Is this a grow shop purchase or something that I can find at a health food store? Also, is this recipe used "straight up", or diluted? And do you need to water to drain, or is just a couple of inches in the top of the pot enough? BTW, I'm indoor. Thanks, wak
You can buy it online or at the store; I use Dyna Gro Pro Tekt brand. As a general guideline, silica strengthens cell walls and in turn makes the plant more resistant to drought and pests. I use it in every watering/foliar application, as LD stated, it's a highly mobile element that is easily washed out of the soil. So it's hard to OD Cannabis on it, though most likely possible. The recipes presented here are used straight up; I use 1/4 - 1/2 tsp per gallon of water, every time. The aloe I'm not too sure about, so I'm just using it for clones, foliar and a weekly tea. I'm vaguely recalling something about it being "bad" if applied in excess, like anything else.
Interesting thread. Thank you Waktoo for taking the time to start this. I found the nutrient and dynamic accumulators pdf very helpful GiMik. Now if any of you would like to try some of the botanicals listed in this pdf you can get a lot of them here: Bulk Organic Herbs and Spices. I have ordered a lot of herbs from these folks and they are great to deal with. They also beat the hell outta the health food store prices. Now I understand why so many of the tea concoctions I drink are healthy for me. Time to pass that on to my girls. rb
Im going to try this kelp tea thing but i use kelp probably twice a week and i just mix it into a glass of water and stir it very good. The brand is NOW kelp power.
O.K. I mixed up a batch of kelp/alfalfa tea. 5 gal' water Hand full of kelp Larger hand full of alfalfa Bubbled 48 hours... Then added 3/4c aloe vera juice and 1 teaspoon silica (protekt, is this stuff organic? Doesn't look like it)... And applied early this morning. Waitin' for the magic... wak
http://plantibalism.com/downloads/SilicaFarming.pdf http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/879367-dyna-gro-protekt.html I didn't really search for the educational resources, so here's some conjecture. HTH