The Tea: - 5 gal RO water - 1 cup alfalfa meal pellets - 1/4 cup kelp meal So I've had alfalfa/kelp tea bubbling since 2-17 - 9:30PM. Strained out the solids 36 hours after the stat time/date and used part of the 5 gallons on my girls, keeping the remainder bubbling since then. It has developed a very tall froth/bubble head 5-7 thick. So for the hell of it last night, I tossed some of the tea on some 3 day old sprouted kale and appear to have had no negative results. That being said, today I'm finding that the tea is loosing the slight sweet smell it had last night. It has been bubbling 24/7 and I'd like to use it, but fear making a bad judgement with my girls who are due for a drink tonight. Was wondering if anyone has ever let their teas bubble this long and if there are any obvious reasons why I SHOULDN'T use the remainder on my girls? Just wanting to make sure I'm not pulling some obviously stupid newbie move here. Not thinking it's bad, but don't want to do anything that may stunt my girls or wreak havoc on my micro-herd. TIA to anyone that can shed any light on this or has experience letting teas bubble for 4 days.
I would use it but if you're concerned then run it on some test plants - inexpensive Marigolds from Home Depot are a good choice. I mean look what happens when we soak Comfrey for a month or more - can't get much worse (smell) than that one other than Horsetail Ferns. Or Dandelions. Stinging Nettles can make you lose your lunch as well. If doesn't smell like alcohol then you're good. Nothing in Alfalfa or Kelp would kick alcohol levels up especially since it's been aerated. HTH LD
LD Thanks for the response. Playing it safe this time around. It was getting late, so I went ahead and just gave them water with a little Pro TeKt since one of the girls new leaves had brown tips followed by the slightest bit of yellow just on the very end of her top leaf set. Not sure if it's because the last watering with alfalfa/kelp meal made things a little hot or if she was getting a tad too close to the sealed light (13-14"). Top leaf temps were at 80.0F. Kinda unlikely that the feeding would be too much though, as I'm finding them both to look a little N deficient. That or I'm just used to plants that are darker green and overloaded on N. Definitely aren't as green as all the mom's, but the alfalfa/kelp tea did make them a little greener after about 3 days. In terms of growth though...DEAR LORD!... my one girl is growing about an inch vertically and the other 1/2 inch every day after the alfalfa/kelp meal tea. Thanks for your recommendation on that! Just gonna use the remainder on the house plants tomorrow. They always get the leftovers. ...gotta dry and stock pile comfrey next season. Should get a lot off my 4 plants now that they've had a season to get settled in. Question: Are there saphonins in the alfalfa meal that are causing the foam buildup? Kinda curious what made it foam that much. It's a good stiff foam. CIR
Thanks for this thread it answered a few ques i already had about the whole tea process that i was curious but didnt have a first hand experience with so never thought to start a thread. For one ive only made tea based with ewc and had a few tbsp of other things like alfalfa and kelp and bone and glacial rock etc but didnt think to specify single ingredients like that. Knowing FPE are more specific i just figured tea had to have the whole run of everything. My new ques now is can i make these teas better with neem seed meal and crab meal to increase the fungi activity in flowering or do these things take a minute to start working on the micro herd and root zone so better off in the soil while "cooking" it down
Question: Are there saphonins in the alfalfa meal that are causing the foam buildup? Kinda curious what made it foam that much. It's a good stiff foam. Yes - about 20,000 ppm. To compare, Yucca extract comes in at 40,000 ppm and Aloe Vera is 30,000 Alfalfa definitely gives you massive amounts of foam. If you added Yucca extract you would have a real mess to clean up. 'voice of experience' here LD
"Question: Are there saphonins in the alfalfa meal that are causing the foam buildup? Kinda curious what made it foam that much. It's a good stiff foam." I shave with it.
CIR - how's it going man. 3-4 day old Alfalfa/kelp tea is NEW. I use mine at a week old - NOT aerated. I just used some Sunday that was 2 weeks old. Wonderful stuff. Perfect. The nose test WORKS. Neither alfalfa or kelp are real strong smelling - even after they've sat for a week - or 2. If it smells like alcohol don't use it. If it does - well, don't use it. Alcohol is the killer. Alcohol smells. My Horsetail Fern tea has been "steeping" for 6 days now. I'm gonna wait another few days before use. Jerry.
Great thread CIR. I think I'll try soaking some alfalfa meal and try it on my mother plant. Maybe put some kelp meal in there. While my mother is doing better after some tlc, there is vast room for vigorous growth so this should be a great test. I'll post pics and such in the botanical topic.
It's goin' good. Girls are approaching screening height! Exciting time for a first time SCRoG...and true SFW organics. Good info! Thanks Jer (can I call you Jer?)!
Thanks WD! I'd tell you what I feed my mother, but you'd probably cringe. They're still running on what my old idea of "organics" was. Not trusting to make the switch, because I know the soil the roots are fused to is absolute shit for supporting microbial life. Will have to do a root ball cut down some time in the future and squeeze in some "real" mix, then go full SFW-org's. Just hate putting them under the 16" knife...that and I feel like a psycho wielding it. "Come to papa! I'm gonna slice off 1/3 your root ball! *evil laugh*" ...on a side note, I'm now officially bouncing off the walls on this Sat.! Edit: I've now officially edited my post 3 times because of all the errors.
Thanks gang, for this has answered a few questions for me as well without me having to ask them. And Thanks CIR for asking!!
SH - I shake the hell out of it whenever i walk by and remember to - and then I loosen it halfway. You just need to remember that yer lid isnt tight. I had some (awful!!!) stinky-ass neem & Karanja tea brewing; this stuff stunk to high heaven. I forgot the cap wasnt tight and was walking by and figured I'd give it a good shake. In the millisecond it took me to realize that the cover wasnt on tight I got quite a bit of the worst smelling crap in the world on my clothes and all over my hands. A waste treatment plant in July has nothing on this goop. Dont let this happen to you. jerry.
That's the worst! I had the cap of a gallon of fish hydroslate pop off on me mid-shake once. Now I always hold my hand against the caps when shaking. I and my room stunk like a cat's wet dream for about a week.
CIR - Fish Hydrolysate is like the finest mens cologne you could put on when compared to Neem and Karanja that has been soaking for 10 days. Just barely cracking the cap for a millisecond inside the house made my family run screaming. I laughed until I realized how badly I needed to throw up... jerry.
[quote name='"CommanderInReef"'] That's the worst! I had the cap of a gallon of fish hydroslate pop off on me mid-shake once. Now I always hold my hand against the caps when shaking. I and my room stunk like a cat's wet dream for about a week.[/quote] I can relate i got the bio bizz fish mix on my hands and for days my fingers smelled just like they did back in my high school days...stuff just sticks to ya and wont come off
Sorry to jack your thread CIR. My questions seemed somewhat on topic to me... I am a bit confused about the difference between Carandang's bio-nutrients and a botanical tea. I have made a few botanical teas with nettle and alfalfa that I have let turn into somewhat of a slushy, shaking the jar up at every chance. I let the water, alfalfa, and nettle ferment for about a week and then strained the sludge. In Gil's book he recommends adding 1/3 part sugar to the mix, to speed up the fermentation process. I added some blue agave nectar to this batch of nettle and dandelion and it has been sitting for about a week. It has not developed a particularly slushy texture because I have not been shaking the jar. The mix has a lot of white fuzzy mold growing on top of it, like Gil explains that it will. I am wondering if my mix is ready to strain, or if I should shake it up and let it ferment more. The only difference between the bio-nutrients and botanical teas seems to be the addition of sugar, which likely just speeds up the fermentation process. I am just a little unsure whether the mix should be slushy like or just covered with the mold lol?