First off keep up the good job here guys, its a good place to learn! Okay now for my question, I am a newbie to organic growing and i've come up with a tea recipe using a simple organic soil mix for the base along with a guano tea recipe i came up with using "Super tea" and "Budswel". ________________________________________________________________________ Revised guano tea: Mix is for 2 1/2 gallons of water as I am using only two 7.5 gal pots for the plants. Seedling tea: 1/2 cup - Earthworm castings 2 1/2 tsp - Blackstrap molasses -Every 3rd watering. ________________________________________________________________________ Veg tea: 2 tbsp - Super Tea dry guano mix 2 1/2 tsp - Blackstrap molasses -Every 3rd watering. _________________________________________________________________________ Late veggie early bloom tea: 4 tbsp - 50-50 mix of Budswel and Super tea guanos........? (i've heard it works great) 2 tbsp - Maxicrop kelp/seaweed extract (speed up blooming) 2 1/2 tsp - Blackstrap molasses _____________________________________________________________________ Full bloom tea: 5-6 tbsp - Budswel dry guano mix 2 1/2 tsp - Blackstrap molasses With every watering.____________________________________________________ So there it is, i would really appreciate it if you guys could let me know if i am doing something wrong here, i am not very familiar with using guanos or these perticular products as a combination. Thank you in advance!
Very little of the nutrients contained in the guano get released into the tea when you brew it. Guanos can be useful in tea in that they contain unique beneficial organisms, but they are not a fertilizer substitute and the impart very little nutritional value to the plant when used this way. The primary purpose of tea is to get the soil biology going and to make existing nutrients more available to the plants. If you are looking to get the nutrients out of the guano, you would have better results top dressing with the guano, then applying the tea. IMO your tea needs a few more ingredients to make it balanced. Some sort of liquid humate is always a good idea as these feed the fungi as well as provide many benefits to the plant themselves. I would recommend you check out Dr. Ingram's recipes - they have been proven to work and they are what I use as a base for my teas. When I brew mine I use earthworm castings, occasionally a very small amount of guano, soluble seaweed powder, liquid humates (non-leondorite derived), a small amount of molasses, sometimes some liquid fish for a more fungi dominant tea, sometimes natural apple juice for a more bacterial dominant tea. At times I will add myccorhizae fungi spores in the last few hours of brewing. I also always use a catalyst as well. Also, how you brew and how long you brew is also very important. The amount of aeration and movement of the tea influences how well it does. If your air pump does not provide enough O2 your tea can go anerobic on you, and if it agitates the tea too much, the organisms get slammed up against the side of the brewer which kills them and busts apart the fungi hyphae that form. There is a lot of really bad info out there on making teas IMO - if you want a good solid source on how to make teas that really work, I would highly recommend Dr. Ingrams COmpost Tea Brewing Manual.
Actually, the guano teas i am using are pre-mixed dry. They contain both high N and high P bat guanos along with earthworm castings, soluble seaweeds and natural composts. I apologize, i should have made that clear before. Also i am using a base mix recipe with EWC, dolomite lime and perlite.
I would not recommend doing that. If you wanted to apply guano that way you should dress it on the soil and then soak the soil with a light worm casting tea. That's just my humble opinion, of course.
that's a terrible idea IF your plants have started producing trichomes, because they require dryness and submersing them with water will make them disappear.,,... looks good darren I'm going to use budswel high P tea for the extra flower...