Tea questions (in a micro context)

[ScrubNinja]

Hello guys, micro hydro coco grower here. I'm hoping to introduce organics into my new cabs and been reading quite a bit but still got a few questions I'm unsure of the answers. As of a few days ago I have my almost entirely organic potting soil mixed up and resting for a few weeks. Mainly it's for some container vegies outside but of course some mj too.

• How wet should my mix be while it's resting and would it be advantageous to place an airpump/bubble wand in the bottom of the 60 litre rubbermaid tub it's all resting in? (kind of like the OBBT technique). I have added an organic soil activator product and Greenbio which is a "compound microbial soil rebuilder (5 beneficial bacterial strains) and a few other things.
  
• It would be really helpful for me if I could brew small amounts of tea such as 1 gallon or half a gallon and water it straight on the plants. I've seen the recipes and some mention watering down the final mix, some don't. What would be a suitable recipe or ratio that won't need diluting?
  
• This product is the organic soil activator I have. Could this be interchangable with EWCs in tea making and such? I also have organic blackstrap, blood and bone, liquid kelp product, kind of crappy compost from a bag, and plenty of access to rainforest leaf litters etc.

Thank you for any help. I'm keen to get the diluting issue sorted especially as I want to try to save some pea plants that aren't looking too good. Can't wait to start a tea! Cheers!

 

[maryjohn]

heya scrub!

check out the reference library sticky.

good ewc recipe there.

 

[CT Guy]

Couple of things.

1. The "Organic Soil Activator" may or may not be a good product, there's really no hard data, just a bunch of feel-good benefits that are typically associated with a well-made compost in my opinion. I'm not convinced, unless they have more information to support their claims.

2. You can make a good tea, I'd use EWC if you have them or make your own. You'd be using a small handful in a 1-2 gal brewer.

3. You could make a brewer that size using air stones and an aquarium pump. You'll need .08 cfm/gal. (credit to Microbeman for determining the ratio), google it to convert to metrics if you need. Your design would be to have an airstone in the bottom of the container and then another one into the mesh bag holding the compost (suspended in the water). You may be able to get away with free extraction (no bag), as long as the compost is constantly being agitated and none of it is just sitting at the bottom of the container.

Let me know if you need help in coming up with a recipe.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Man, fantastic - thanks so much! I have a dual outlet air pump and each outlet blows 0.16cfm so I should have crazy aeration for such small amounts.

I'm thinking wrap it up in insect mesh layered over a couple of times. Otherwise I have a microfibre cloth I could make a pouch out of. No idea on the microns or anything, it's just an unused cleaning cloth. Admittedly I still have to read up some on what people are actually using in theirs, but feedback welcome regardless.

Was planning on (to half a gallon chlorine-free water) a small handful of the organic soil activator, and a tiny pinch of the greenbio, and a half teaspoon molasses. This I would feed undiluted after a day or two of bubbling to some reasonably developed plants. Any flaws in my cunning plan, please let me know. Appreciate the help, and look forward to starting.

Edit: got it bubbling now I used a bit of t-shirt cloth to make a pouch and put the airhose inside the pouch as well as airstone in the water.

 

[CT Guy]

I'd be more inclined to use a paint strainer as a bag than anything you've listed as materials. Amounts look good, but I'd still consider a different compost source like EWC to replace or supplement the soil activator. I'd shoot for making 2 gallons with your system.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Cool cool. I think I'll need that much when everything kicks into gear. I couldn't find any EWC at the store but I'll hunt deeper. I'm going to try and organise a compost heap in the meantime. Here is a pic, I hope I haven't done it wrong, lol. Reading more at the moment. I had to use the bottle to keep the airstone and pouch down, it's not a very suitable container for such a tiny amount. Kind of rushed setup

 

[ScrubNinja]

Oh yeah, I'm going to sound like a real dropkick here, but I just realised the water I used, I had ph adjusted it the night before to get 5.6 for my coco seedlings and then it rapidly shoots back to higher ph afterwards. Could that miniscule amount of phosphoric acid kill my tea?

 

[maryjohn]

If you can't find ewc your local Agway or garden center may have bags of compost.

Now is a good time to build a worm bin bag. Know anyone who can sow?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Worm_bin_bag_for_indoor_vermicomposting_and_easy_s/

 

[h.h.]

Seems there's trouble finding castings.
In southern Cal near Hemet there is Ramona Worm Castings 760-668-2972. He was selling at the farmer's market in Joshua Tree. Ten pounds for 6 bucks. Hope that helps somebody. Maybe others have local sources?

 

[ScrubNinja]

Thanks guys, to tell the truth I only went to one store, sort of like a home depot clone we have here in australia, and I suspect that's the last place I'd find EWC So I will hunt further, we have a lot of smaller nurseries and stuff around. That's a very trippy design, maryjohn! My buddy has a worm farm so I'll shoot the breeze with him and get some local info.

Any comments on dropping the bubble wand at the bottom of the 60 litre rubbermaid I have my soil mix resting in? Air could only help, right? It's about 12 gallons of soil. Also, it's still just slightly moister than ambient like the ingredients came. I was going to water it with my tea just so it's slightly moister, not soaked, and leave the airstone at the bottom, then place it in a dark, dark room. Yay or nay?

 

[maryjohn]

If it's too wet you may get anaerobic pockets, even with the pump. And if the pump works things won't cook any faster overall.

I would just continue turning the pile.

 

[ScrubNinja]

Gah I just got back from laying the bubble tube! Oh well, I wouldn't think it would be detrimental at least. My tea seemed to turn out okay. It didn't foam at all and I added more molasses and some liquid kelp and bubbled a few minutes extra before I poured it on. Soil is just slightly damp, kept fairly dark, with 280 litres per hour from a tube in the bottom centre.

Just curious Mary, have you looked at the OBBTs at all? A couple of months back I was hoping to do it but it didn't happen for various reasons. That's where the bulk of my miniscule organic knowledge comes from so maybe I have things a little twisted. But if you have something that's aerobic, that you have to stir to add oxygen manually to encourage, surely you'd stand a chance of better results if you supplied a constant supply of fresh oxygen? Am I trippin' or what?

Obviously there's some major differences between how I'm doing it and an OBBT's system, but I figure a supply of oxygen is a supply of oxygen. Btw I was still planning to turn it every 2 days or so. This would just be supplemental.

Not arguing or anything, I just don't understand.

 

[maryjohn]

well, we may not be picturing the same thing...

I was picturing a load of soil with some muck at the bottom and something bubbling the water. You want to be able to get at the soil, so it is not full of water. So you have a puddle of oxygenated water at the bottom, and you are relying on diffusion (osmosis?) to carry o2 to every area of the bin. do I have that right?

In my minds eye, depending on who your soil aggregates, I can picture pockets of soil cut off from bubbled water and sort of sealed in. Too wet to crumble.

I did say "may" because I think it would depend on how your medium winds up interacting with the water. Maybe it will work! Hell, if someone else is doing it and it works, why am I even talking?

I can tell you this: just mixing, moistening, and occasional mixing again works great, and it is very easy. maybe not as fun as playing with pumps and such...

 

[ScrubNinja]

Ah it's cool, just a mixup I guess. There's no pools of any water, the soil is not that damp. It's just how I would have had it with no air. It's just a single line of flexible air hose along the bottom centre length of the 60 litre rubbermaid style container - so I realise I'd only be hitting a tiny portion of the soil...but I had a spare outlet on the pump that's running so I figured what the hey. So really it's just the same as normal, except isolated pockets would be getting fresh oxygen. Know what I mean?

But I will make sure I still stir it anyway. Cheers.

 

[maryjohn]

I think bubbling water works because of cohesion and the way bubbles disturb the surface, increasing gas exchange between air and liquid.

In soil, the same thing theoretically can happen, but you need enough air to make the soil act like a liquid. They did it on mythbusters once with sand.