Organic teas

What kind of tea are you trying for?

You mention microbes in your post, but all of the ingredients you have listed are for more of a nutrient tea.

To brew a basic microbe rich tea, get some quality compost/worm castings, mix 2-3 cups of this with a tablespoon of molasses. Mix this with 5 gallons of dechlorinated water and let it bubble for 18-24 hours. You now have a soup of microbial life. Drench your soil with this.

Now you have to keep all the 'non-organic' crap out of your grow or you will kill off some of the microherd.

 

Stankie... Couple of questions if I may..

I've been using Advanced Nutrients Natural Super Tea but at $67 bux a gal ($26.95/L) it's getting a friggin tad expensive ...

Is this formula of yours the diluted version or the concentrated version???..

If concentrated, how many cups do you mix per gallon???..

 

Bat/Seabird Guano depending on what part of growth
Blood or Bone meal" "
General organics Bio Root
Worm Castings
A few drops of superthrive
Mollasses
and Fish emulsion

I let it ferment in a 5 gal bucket with 2 cheap walmart airstones at least 24 hours, but I do ph it. They do make organic ph up and down if you really want to keep it 100% organic, but i'm not worried about that as now.... Also thinking about adding some kelp to the mix. Couldn't hurt.

I havent gotten a solid recipe of part ratios yet, i kinda testing different amounts but I feed my babies once a week with tea and they seem to be loving it.

 

Oh I forgot I use General Hydros Humic Acid too.

 

I use 1 cup of worm castings and 1 cup of my home-made organic compost in 4 gallons of water - in a 5 gal bucket
I also add 1 oz liquid kelp, 1 oz humic acid, 1oz 5% vinegar

I use an aquarium pump rated for 100 gallons w/ 2 airstones and let it sit 24 - 36 hrs

I apply it at full strength and sometimes 1/2 strength on younger plants

 

Vinegar? I've never heard of someone using vinegar in a tea. Thats pretty interesting, What does it do?

 

It raises the Ph a little, adds some micro-nutrients [including vitamins, minerals and amino acids] and improves the quality of tap water
The guy in this vid is a top gardener in Texas and talks about using vinegar in organic gardening
- you can also use it for killing weeds
I started using vinegar in my compst tea and plant feedings after listening to him



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQXea4nx6mA]YouTube - Vinegar 101 - Howard Garrett[/ame]

 

I have no idea what "Natural Super Tea" is . . . . . but if it's from AN you are probably not getting your monies worth. I'm on lunch and don't have the time to research what's in AN magic elixir.

The tea I listed is a microbe tea. Its intention is to populate your medium/soil with beneficial microbes, not fertilize.

 

Stankie.. http://advancednutrients.com/hydrop...other_earth_super_tea_product_information.php TIA..

 

When I was stupid about growing, which I am still not far from, I paid some big dollars ($37/qt) for a quart each of two of those AN teas. They were not worth a shit. The Neptune's Harvest Fish Hydrolysate and Seaweed Extract and the other basics amendments we talk about using on here have done more for me than any of that shit. Don't waste your money on it again.

JaK

 

JaK.. I've been using AN on my first grow and am getting pretty good results (I think) but I'm a cheap 'ol fart and like making something from nothing so I'm looking for alternatives..

I got access to all kinds of horse manure and am looking to make some sort of liquid fertilizer with it for my next grow..

Googling recipes for it

 

It's much easier to buy all the base ingredients and make something similar.

All that is in "super tea" is compost, fish meal, kelp, crab meal, EWC (earth worm castings), and alfalfa. Everything listed is pennies per pound (literally) except kelp, which can be found for about $1 a pound.


If you are new to teas, there are 2 main 'kinds' that people often confuse/interchange/mix-up. I like to differentiate and define them as such . . .
Nutrient tea - a tea whose main purpose is to provide the plant nutrients, the soil food, or address some other need.
Microbe tea - a tea whose main purpose is to populate, increase, or otherwise modify the soil microbial life.

It seems that AN is claiming they have both in a bottle. To my knowledge, it is still generally accepted that microbe teas cannot be 'bottled'. That is, they have a shelf life of a few hours. The amount of water you are buying (at exorbitant prices) when you buy a bottle of 'super tea' is large. The amount of actual 'stuff' you are buying is small.

To make an awesome fertilizer, take about a cup of alfalfa meal, a cup of kelp meal and put them into a gallon of water. Leave a little bit of head space as the mixture will off-gas and will need room to expand and will also need to be burped. Let this sit for about a week till it stop bubbling. Dillute this to a tablespoon or 2 per gallon of water. You could also add some Sul-Po-Mag or soft rock phosphate to add more goodies. Bubbling this with an aquarium air pump will speed things up.

I usually mix a good soil mix and then only have water in some goodies.

 

radman, you might be working with it better than I did. I might have underused it as I err on the side of caution with all those things. The problem is the price. It is far too high to use regularly when Seaweed Extract and Fish Hydrolysate along with our amendments go so much farther. I also know for sure what the heck is in my dirt.

JaK

 

Going to see if I can source the meals locally and give it a whirl on some of the plants for my next grow..

I live in a town very close to farm country and since my little grow room is in a barn, I have access to a shitload of horse and cow manure ..

Going to find a recipe and give that a primary go for the next round for sure..

Working on a small library in my journal now.. Pointing this thread to it also..

 

so i am using BMO line and they also have writing on the side saying that there mix in the bottle is alive and should b left open a lil so that they can breath. how is this? is this just false advertisement? i got it because there was some good reviews and the price. but when i got to reading i feel i could of got better ratio with all natural nutruient teas and microbe teas. what do you think about this brand?

 

I don't know what the BMO line is. I've never used any 'bottled nute' so I'm not too much the expert on them. .. .

I think you would have better growth with all natural nutrient teas and microbe teas as well.

 

Unless you kill off your micro herd with chlorinated water, synthetic ferts, or by some other means, you really only have to add them once twice during a grow. Essentially you are 'infecting' your soil with bacteria/fungi.