Frequency of tea application

[D.I.trY]

first of all Hello, this is a new forum board for me.

I dont not grow mj organically, but i have just started making teas for my entire garden -veggies, trees, lawn etc.

My understanding so far is this: tea's are not a fertilizer but rather a thriving diverse population of beneficial bacteria and fungi. Tea's may have small npk values and valuable trace elements but their purpose is not as a fertilizer - correct?

Please can you explain why i see it is common practice from threads in this board to make and apply teas every three days for example. Surely once you have already introduced a thiving colony with your first tea all that remains is to provide the fertilizer and food for the microbes (eg mollasses) so that they can meet the plant's demands.

It seems to me making teas so frequently is first of all a big hassle but with little benefit. I have been learning from bruce deuley for example, that once the soil is healthy and populated with the good micro-organisms you only need to apply teas months apart for the same benefit.

Thankyou, I hope you can help me further on my understanding of compost teas, what they are, and what they are not.

 

[jaykush]

your going to get more opinions than you need, let me be the first to say. do what works best for you. if your using it in your veggie garden i would apply a compost tea around once a month. you can get by with less, and you can apply more if you want. your not hurting your soil by adding more. if anything the microbes die and add biomass to the soil.

one kind of tea you can apply more is like a nutrient tea, this is where people extract water soluble nutrients out of things like guano, or plant meals. then apply them to the soil where your "established" colony gets to work. they probably do have some biology but no where near as diverse as a proper compost tea.

so obviously you dont need to give it to your trees as often as your veggies and the lawn doesnt need it as often either. you could even just top dress your lawn with compost and let the grass grow through it. no need to make a tea. like i said theres so many ways to do it, do what works best for you. start with less and if you need more simply add more.

 

[D.I.trY]

thankyou very much for the response. I am having a sort of organic spiritual awakenning at the moment you could call it. The revelation was realising that it actually works - i was an ignorant chemical veg grower with frequent disease and pest trouble. Nature doesnt need to be exploited to meet our needs but rather harnessed!

If you were making a nutrient tea as you call it, but rather than steeping it in water you aerated it like a normal aerated compost tea (for example adding some manure as an additional ingredient) does this adversely effect the biology you are trying to breed?

Can you get nutrients and microbiology, is it one or the other, a comprimise - if you see what i mean. Applying nutrient to the soil is a method i am happy with but im curious if you can deliver them together via a tea. thankyou

 

[jaykush]

thankyou very much for the response. I am having a sort of organic spiritual awakenning at the moment you could call it. The revelation was realising that it actually works - i was an ignorant chemical veg grower with frequent disease and pest trouble. Nature doesnt need to be exploited to meet our needs but rather harnessed!

thats great to hear, it works wonders, but like always there are a few bumps in the road. so don't get discouraged. you have to learn to work with nature now instead of going against it.

If you were making a nutrient tea as you call it, but rather than steeping it in water you aerated it like a normal aerated compost tea (for example adding some manure as an additional ingredient) does this adversely effect the biology you are trying to breed?

well with a nutrient tea your not really shooting for a biology rich liquid. it will have some no doubt about it, its impossible to be sterile with organics. but its the soluble nutrients in the tea your after. you brew compost teas for the diverse biology. nutrient teas are more like food for the soil.

Can you get nutrients and microbiology, is it one or the other, a comprimise - if you see what i mean. Applying nutrient to the soil is a method i am happy with but im curious if you can deliver them together via a tea. thankyou

i dont know about everywhere else but i have to apply nutrients more often than i do microorganisms. so really i dont have to brew them at the same time. there is no point, once you get things going, you really just need to feed say every other watering and apply biology every now and then say once a month for a boost.

but then again, there are people who use only compost tea every watering, and have huge beautiful plants ( i can think of a few but mainly one person here )

and like i said, there are so many ways to grow organically. the possibility's are endless as long as you follow a few rules. find what works best for you and stick to it.

 

[D.I.trY]

thanks for all the help. Now that I have attained appreciation of the power of microbes and the knowledge of how to get the best of them with teas I have turned my attention to looking for a good source of nutrients. By good i also mean not expensive!

I did try a wormery about 2 years ago but I eventualy lost all interest in the maintenance of it all. One of the reasons was that they were fussy with what waste they could have. You're not supposed to put citrus peels, meat, oily stuff etc. All the kitchen waste in this house goes in one bin, so theres a problem right there. Only last night i found out about bokashi fermenting, which is an anaerobic process and you can make use of all your kitchen scraps.
Either bury it, or you can also feed it to the worms. You do need to buy a continuous supply of expensive bokashi starter which is bran that was fermented and dried and is coated in this dormant anaerobic fermenting bacteria. However I then found this - this guy makes his starters from newspaper. http://bokashicomposting.com/?page_id=51

I'm going to try this despite those im living with comming to the conclusion ive gone completely mad - and also buy a good wormery to make maintenance less hassle. executive wormcity is one ive looked at. I should have lots of great homemade worm castings. Great for use as an innoculant for tea, and as nutrient for the soil.

A treat for you, check out this video. Its bloody amazing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=AU&hl=en-GB&v=BXGqJbFZzCo

 

[maryjohn]

if you make your own bokashi bran it is pretty cheap. and easy.

 

[neongreen]

maryjohn - you don't even need the bran. See the link D.I.trY posted.

D.I.trY - you've probably heard it before, but the basis of organics is "feeding the soil". Feed the soil, and the soil supplies more or less everything the plant needs.

I've just been feeding with EWC tea (plus seaweed extract most times), and the growth I get as a result seems great (this is my first season with true organics). I have yet to start playing with guano teas, although my fist tea had a little. This thread has reminded me that I should probably start giving a bit of guano.

If you're giving teas, you should also amend your soil properly too. I don't think teas can supply everything that your plants need to grow.

Personally, I think the key is feeding light, often, and varied ingredients (more so when amending). That means plants don't get too much of any one thing (also important for keeping a balanced and diverse micro herd in your soil), and can find all the micro-nutes they need.

 

[vonforne]

but then again, there are people who use only compost tea every watering, and have huge beautiful plants ( i can think of a few but mainly one person here )

I use compost teas at every watering but rotate the ingredients. One time Fulvic acid and the next time Humic. EWC and molasses go into each and everyone. Works great for me.

And my tomato plants are 4 to 5 feet thins year and I got them in late.

V

 

[maryjohn]

maryjohn - you don't even need the bran. See the link D.I.trY posted.

sign of the times - bran is actually easier to come by for me than newspaper is. I read all my news online, so what newspaper I can get my hands on I use for worm bedding. I also like the bran because it reminds me of the nuka zuke jar I used to keep. Think bokashi, but edible, and using the microorganisms from your hands. It has to be mixed by hand every day, and my time on the road precludes that.

soon plastic shopping bags will be the same way, and I will have to buy bags for walking the dogs.

 

[habeeb]

well having the name with DIY in it? you will want to make sure you are on par to make teas. most think they can just throw in anything and out comes magic. it does not work like that. there is a science behind it and I would go with a KIS brewer for simplicity. or if your into DIY you cna check out this page for more info: http://www.microbeorganics.com/

you are wanting to multiply the microbes in the compost, so when you add it to your soil you will have more biology working for you. tea bubbles out the microbes into the water, then the oxygen you pump in aloows them to breathe and they do there thing, of course with food so they can eat. pretty basic example and someone correct me if I'm off but the main thing is to multiply microbes so you can get them working for your soil. remeber in "organics" the micro biology is the workhorse, as in chemical its fed directly to the roots, in organics most food has to be broken down by the microbes then the roots can feed. check out teaming with microbes book, if your into more of the heart of "organics"

as for your question with frequency, you do not need to make ocmpost tea every three days, you can make it once, you can make it twice, you can make it everyday if you wish, but the main benefit I would say is at least 2 times throughout your cycle. do what works for your schedule and pocketbook. as long as you have one application you will be better off. experiment and have fun with it. there is no right or wrong way with "organics" as everyone has there methods and what works for you, works for you