On a microbial perspective there is one consideration (perhaps) and that is regarding the protozoa levels introduced by alfalfa tea specifically. This is not an 'either or' paradigm, i.e. the addition of massive levels of protozoa can be good, bad or indifferent. If you have high levels of bacteria in your soil (usually from earthworm castings) then the influx of protozoa will release any number of sequestered nutrients in the soil as they do their job - digesting both bacteria as well as bacteria exudes. If the levels of bacteria in your soil is (relatively) low then what you might want to do before you apply a straight-up alfalfa tea is to top-dress your plants with an inch or so of a high-quality earthworm casting product, water in and let it sit for a few days as this simple process will increase the levels of bacteria in your soil and then mix, brew and apply your alfalfa tea. I believe that you'll find this process to be beneficial. HTH LD
Heres a question I've been wondering. Anyone here have an answer? If I make this tea, could I use this as the ONLY nutrient/fertilizer for the whole veg cycle?
I don't recall the recipe you are referencing but if you are thinking of a tea as the only nutrient input to your grow I think you'll enter acute deficiency stage and be chasing the deficiency with tea after tea after tea. I might be wrong and you could pull it off. I think goldenglow and chunkdaddy have tried this with reasonable success, but teas aren't the typical way to feed the soil or provide the plant's nutrient demands. There is quite a bit of complexity that goes on in the soil when using non-synthetic plant nutrients and soil ammendments so most of the organic inputs we supply are not in a plant-ready state for root absorption - not all but the majority. And then there is the discussion of micronutrient needs and a tea is not the best vehicle to serve those needs, perhaps arguably any vehicle at all. So, it might be "fun" to try it but if you want a sure-fire harvest and respectable yield this is probably not your best choice to achieve that. This might rank "ok" on a "better/best" scale IMO. The "best" (IMO) way is to supply 100% of the expected plant nutrient needs in your soil from the get-go, ensure a healthy biological activity in the soil (plenty to read up on in The City on this), and use the organic teas to supercharge both the soil microbes and the plant. Do this and you're pretty much just adding water throughout your grow over the course of 3-4 months. And taking a lot of pictures of the beautiful budZ you are growing . Good luck with it should you try it and please share it with us if you do.
Alfalfa Tea is a great source of strength and well being.Alfalfa can be made into a tea using dried alfalfa that you can get online or from your local health food store,or by using alfalfa sprouts.
Alfalfa sprouts is an excellent choice if you can't source organic alfalfa meal. Or even if you can. Sprout 1/4 cup of seeds in a 1/2 gallon Mason jar using the usual process. When the sprouts are about 1" long, fill the jar to about 2" from the top. Let this sit for several days (4 or 5) and then drain off the liquid and this is the tea that you'll be working with. Dilute 1:1 with clear water and apply to the soil. Repeat every 2 weeks or so. Sprouts will contain a number of enzymes (in particular), vitamins, phytohormones, etc. that are not found in alfalfa meal or they are found with much lower numbers. These specific enzymes are necessary for the sprout to grow and it is believed that transferring these set of enzymes will enhance the root development on the plant it's been applied on. Something like that............. LD2
Is there an advantage to doing both casting and alfalfa in an ACCT? I ask because my first casting harvest is coming up and I've been regularily doing this "protozoa bomb" about every other week on both my vegetable garden and mj. I add 2.5 c. alfalfa pellets, 1/4 c. ag. molasses and 2.5 gal. bubbled tap, (ph7.4) and a few drops of Superthrive. Once a month I add 4oz of Kelloggs Organic fertlizer. I use both flower and veg and apply to the respective plants. Kelp meal is planned to be ordered in a couple days.
Yes there is. Alfalfa is an excellent fungi food and when using castings it's even more important to add because castings have extremely high levels of bacteria colonies and unless the 'worm farmer' took the proper steps by adding material to develop fungi colonies specifically, the addition of alfalfa (in small amounts) and kelp (again in small amounts) will improve the diversity in your AACT. LD2
Sorry Lump. Should have better worded it: Can the same benefit be reached in separate brews, or is there a greater benefit in brewing castings and alfalfa, at the same time?
If I understand your question correctly you're asking if you were to take the amount of alfalfa suggested for 5 gallons of water to use as a straight alfalfa tea specifically and use that amount with the appropriate amount of EWC and/or compost would that be beneficial? If that is your question then the answer would be no. Competing agendas. The agenda/goal in bubbling out humus is to extract to the extent possible the microbes from their hiding places, the 'glue' that bacteria and fungi use to hold on to the particles and once removed grow them out to reach astronomical numbers. The goal in brewing an alfalfa tea (aside from the protozoa benefit) is to extract the myriad of minerals, phytohormones, vitamins, auxins and other hormones, et al. Adding kelp meal to the alfalfa tea will ramp up the benefits of both amendments. Both are good additions but as separate applications. HTH LD2
Thanks LD2, I'm starting to have fun, now. Began research yesterday on humus from a link you put up on GC. I'm sure you're aware there's a great deal of information there and is a great edition to anyones soil science library. Needless to say, I will be spending some time there. The more I think I know; the more I'm seeing I have a lot to learn.