I bought my air pump with stone, 5 gal bucket, organic compost , vital kelp, vital fish, and distilled pure water. I bought what I believed to be the best of the best for my aerated compost tea. After a day of brewing, the ph was 3.5 ( super acidic) i have no idea where I went wrong. I will throw this batch away because Im pretty sure that 3.5ph will not help my plants. Before I start over, does anyone have any idea why all this good stuff that I bought and used as directed would become soo acidic?
I've never checked the pH of any tea I've ever brewed. I don't use as many teas these days but still do here and there. If your soil is a quality soil based on good compost it shouldn't matter. Since I started organic gardening some years ago I gave away all of my nutes and pH pen etc.
It was the fish hydrolysate. I was told at the hydro store that it was for microbial tea, now i find out it will create a fungal dominated tea which is acidic, as opposed to bacterial dominated teas which are alkaline.
did it smell rotten or have an ammonia smell if not it is probably fine. you mix it with water anyways so if the water you mix it with is 7 you'll be fine. 24 hours is plenty of time the longer it brews the more chance of it going bad. keep it clean.
did it smell rotten or have an ammonia smell if not it is probably fine. you mix it with water anyways so if the water you mix it with is 7 you'll be fine. 24 hours is plenty of time the longer it brews the more chance of it going bad. keep it clean. what the? it posted three times, I'm spam master......
When you make FPE concentrates the pH is always around 3 and it is not a problem when applied properly. The soil will quickly buffer the pH back to a neutral value. PW
you can expect to screw it up so yeah check with whatever tools are at hand eventually you will be in the 'zone' its then you discard them tools and shoot from the hip as the soil will always dilute your hard earned efforts ...anyway ...lol good luck
Never phed compost teas. And I use a friend's earthwrom castings, molasses, kelp meal, or maxi crop, I also add bokashi, and a guano depending on the week of flower. Generally my teas are acidic. You shouldn't have too many problems. As long as a regular watering is at a stable pH of around 7. Don't over do acidic or basic teas. You will eventually unbalance your soil to where you'll have problems. I brew for 24 hours. And if it smells sour or like poo, i toss it. Sent from my XT1585 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Organic nutrients have a much higher bio-availability to plants. So you don't need to be right on. And you can expect soil to drift in pH for days after you water with a heavy tea Sent from my XT1585 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
The trick is to always and forever base your soil mix on quality compost. The humic acids and microbial life will balance basically whatever you throw at it - providing it's organic also. A true organic soil based on good compost has a pH which is dynamic - meaning that it can, and will drift up and down as different organic items which have different pH values break down. And it's never a problem. VOE. J