Alfalfa Tea Question

Haha, you screwed me up with the goliath spray thing. You can certainly go ahead and foliar with it no problem. I gave my girlfriends caregiver some stinging nettle tea to water and foliar with and it worked great for him.  As for the second part of the question I don't think you would stunt the plant but if you can tea them in veg why not flower?

 

Using non-organic, synthetic fertilizers will kill much/most of your beneficial microbial populations.  Once you begin using them, your organic ferts (like alfalfa tea) will be far less effective, especially as soil drenches (alfalfa tea could still have some growth benefits if used as a foliar due to Triacontanol).  
 
I find it a strange idea to spend time cultivating a healthy microbial population that could take you all the way through harvest, only to subsequently decimate them with unnecessary synthetic ferts..... of course that is assuming that you are putting in the effort to cultivate a healthy microbial population............... 

 

If you are concerned about yield use a SIP bucket.

 

because more often than not a novice gardeners issues stem from watering; this is a larger factor in a grow geared towards biological interactions, as they require consistent moisture to thrive as well as the medium being much heavier and more retentive than peat/coco only mediums. There tends to be a small learning curve when one's lacking experience in dealing with a living soils needs.
 
The sip buckets/trays eliminate that concern as they provide consistent moisture in a passive setting, via capillary action. Plenty of gardeners here use them, myself included. I would however vouch for BluMats if money's not an issue.
 
Here's a couple threads on the SIP (self irrigated planter) system we have taken a variation of and applied. 
 
http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1154867-sip-fundamentals.html
 
http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/1151159-noobwannbs-self-wicking-smartpot-ghetto-setup.html

 

Organic growers mostly use them because you only put water in the reservoir. If you want to give teas you still need to top water the plant. I usually find that I fill my SIPs up between 1-2 times per week with water. I will soon be implementing a new schedule in which I top water with a tea on the same day I bottom water and wait for the top few inches to dry out then top water with tea and bottom water again.

 

 
because quite a few people buy into the hype over sterilization and gimmicks sold by "da dude" behind the counter at grow stores and continue to assume that the only way of gardening is that involving acids and such to adjust the water solution. 
 
that's my guess at least. if you would really like to understand a bit more on the differences between how the mediums and nutrition interact I'd suggest to start here - http://www.soilminerals.com/Cation_Exchange_Simplified.htm
 
dont apply any teas or solutions to the SIP reservoir...this will only encourage anaerobic processes should you not aerate the source.
 
I just made a couple large trays out of wood + panda paper, filled them with lava rock and perlite, set my 20 gallon smart pots on top and filled the trays with an appropriate amount of water. Others may utilize 5 gallon buckets, trays for runoff and/or various other containers for the reservoir.

 

 
Yes, or by foliar application

 

It's passive hydroponics, not unlike a hempy bucket...the hydroponic crowd just decides to throw in a pump and timers and omit the soil.  You will also find soil growers using blu-mats drip irrigation lines in an effort to maintain the optimal hydration.