HELP...IM BREWING ACID

[iniquity]

ok so i have recently made the switch to organic teas for my girls. why is my tea PH at 4.5 when its done brewing? recipe i used is as follows-

1/3 cup EWC
2 tbs molasses
2 tbs high N guano
1 tbs liquid humus
1-2 tbs of maxicrop liquid seaweed.

all that in about 2 gallons of tepid water. brew for 36 to 48 hours then dilute 50/50 with tepid water. PH after dilution is 4.5. WTF? i used some canna rhizotonic to bring my ph up to 5.9 to 6.1.

 

[maryjohn]

Take out the guano it doesn't belong in a microbial tea. No manure does.

The ph is not a big deal, but it will go up minus the manure. You can just top dress the manure or make a slurry, which will also be acidic which is no big deal.

 

[iniquity]

when should i add the guano? all the recipes ive seen on here usually have guano in them. im brand new to teas and dont want to damage my girls. is a micro tea different from a feeding tea?

 

[maryjohn]

Check CT guy. He is the CT guy.

Basically IMO those who put guano in tea do not understand the purpose of tea. You are trying to flood the medium with beneficial microbes- kind of like hitting the reset button.

Save your guano for when you need to fertilize, or just top dress and let it be gradual. Trust your soil.

To make tea you need microbes (compost) and you need a food source, water, and air. If you have a micro grow like me, you don't need to bother. Just put compost in water at a higher rate, stir a bit, wait a bit, and pour.

 

[iniquity]

do you have a good recipe for a feeding tea?

 

[Finepointcanon]

And here I was expecting this hugely detailed thread about someone's attempt at LSD

 

[iniquity]

LMFAO. good one

 

[DARC MIND]

CheckCT guy. He is the CT guy.

Basically IMO those who put guano in tea do not understand the purpose of tea. You are trying to flood the medium with beneficial microbes- kind of like hitting the reset button.

IMO tea is tea and its purpose can very. A compost tea like ACT would be to add beneficial microbes, while a green tea is made to drink.. J/K
But a manure tea (yes ther is such a thing) can work as a fertilizer and add microbes if aerated.
Tea's IMO can be used for more then a inoculant, but adding beneficials IMHO is its best use when growing in organic amended soils.
a manure guano based tea, does help a soilless media like LC mix and when using some of burn1's tea recipes but the same tea can cause problems to a more humus based potting soil w/ a nice microbe herd.

the low PH can be sign of fungal growth,(i think) but i wouldnt look to ph for info on what microbes are dominant in your tea.
What was the ph of water before the brewing the ingredients?
Are you adding this tea to soil?
if so what is your soil mix made up of?
I dont check the ph of my tea's but i have added a tea something like yours to recycled amended LC mix, with no ill effect. (diluted of course)
Actually plants loved the tea, No tea is the same but i would test the tea on one plant and see what happens. In my garden and grows, PH is not the way of determining how productive my tea’s or Organic crops are.

do you have a good recipe for a feeding tea?

if your soil is amended, just use compost tea and if needed top mulch with organic matter or dry amendments. keep in mind, less is best
if using a soilless medium check burn1's sticky on top (organic soil reference library)

 

[iniquity]

my waters ph before brewing is 6.4. my medium is 2/3 rinsed coco and 1/3 ROOTS NATURAL AND ORGANIC POTTING SOIL. the roots has coco fiber, peat moss, perlite, pumic, compost, mulch, wrom castings, bat guano, kelp meal, fish bone meal, soybean meal, feather meal, greensand, leonardite and alfalfa meal in it (according to the label). man my lucas formula w/gen hydro products just seemed soooo much easier. my girls are about 3 weeks old and about 6 to 7 inches tall. im not necessarily basing everything on ph but i dont want to give them anything thats too acidic. i dont put my dry ingredients in a sock or anything i just throw all my ingredients into a 5 gallon bucket along with the water and 2 large airstones. i do use a paddle pit and a drill to give the brew a good stir about every 6 to 8 hours.

 

[jaykush]

Basically IMO those who put guano in tea do not understand the purpose of tea. You are trying to flood the medium with beneficial microbes- kind of like hitting the reset button.

those who says things like this must have not tried using guano in teas.

 

[BurnOne]

those who says things like this must have not tried using guano in teas.

It's not about microbes. It's about getting the solid organic material suspended into a liquid so it can be deposited on the roots.
And I'll say this again for the 1,495,285,693rd time...

Organic pH issues

I hear a lot of people asking or talking about the pH of their organic soil mix or organic nute solution and how they might correct or adjust it. pH in organics is not an issue like it is in synthetic growing.
The best place to settle the pH issues in organics is within the grow medium. A medium rich in humates (humus) is the place to start. Humates work to "buffer" the pH of organic mediums and the nutes you pour (or mix) into it.
Humates come from compost, worm castings and bottled humus. If you use a peat based medum, use dolomite lime to raise the pH of the acidic peat. Dolomite should be used in any soil or soiless medium to provide magnesium and calcium. But since we are talking about pH here, I'll mention dolomite lime's pH correction benefits.
A medium of coir has a pH near neutral (or 7.0). But humates are still neded to allow uptake of organic nutrients that are outside a near neutral pH range.
With an active medium rich in humates you can pour in nutes like Pure Blend Pro, Earth Juice and guano teas way outside the optimum pH range without worry. The humus will allow the nutes to be taken up through the roots, even at such an extreme pH reading.
So throw those pH meters away folks and enjoy the ease and safety of organic gardening.

Burn1

 

[BurnOne]

Happy Haloween

Happy Haloween

 

[DARC MIND]

those who says things like this must have not tried using guano in teas.

yea guano tea's worked wonders on a few of my grows but i have burned plants with dif soil mixes and ratio(rookie mistake)

my waters ph before brewing is 6.4. my medium is 2/3 rinsed coco and 1/3 ROOTS NATURAL AND ORGANIC POTTING SOIL. the roots has coco fiber, peat moss, perlite, pumic, compost, mulch, wrom castings, bat guano, kelp meal, fish bone meal, soybean meal, feather meal, greensand, leonardite and alfalfa meal in it (according to the label). man my lucas formula w/gen hydro products just seemed soooo much easier. my girls are about 3 weeks old and about 6 to 7 inches tall. im not necessarily basing everything on ph but i dont want to give them anything thats too acidic. i dont put my dry ingredients in a sock or anything i just throw all my ingredients into a 5 gallon bucket along with the water and 2 large airstones. i do use a paddle pit and a drill to give the brew a good stir about every 6 to 8 hours

since your soil is rich with amendments i wouldn’t trip on ph. the soil microbes in your soil should be able to take the goods of the tea with no problem. I would dilute the tea just in case, if your plants look like they needed more, then dilute less and less.
i never grew hydro but im sure if i switched my methods, i would think my old routine would be easier too. Organics is really easy from a/my point of view, many like to make it more complicated then it really is.
IMO try just using ACT (aerated compost tea) on your plants, unless you see your plants need a little boost then amend your ACT with nutrient rich ingredients. Guano is just one of oh so many ways to feed our soil, who then feed our plants.
have you tryed foliar spraying? ACT, alfalfa tea, fish emulsion, kelp tea all help speed up my grow threw veg. foliar feeding helps feed the plants with out messing with soil biology, great tool for organic gardener like me self

It's not about microbes. It's about getting the solid organic material suspended into a liquid so it can be deposited on the roots.
And I'll say this again for the 1,495,285,693rd time...
Burn1

the great burn1 and the always good advice
i didnt know you kept count 1,495,285,693rd LOL

 

[iniquity]

do you have a good recipe for a foliar tea darc mind. i have never used foliar feeding and i have been growing for 10 years. i guess your right about my old routine being easier....i was just used to it. so it sounds like your saying i could just use a micro tea since my soil has alot of stuff in it already. is it ok to add liquid humus to my teas? i bought Medina brand Humate. its concentrated liquid humus. or should i use the humus in a different way?
btw...thank you to everyone that has put in their 2 cents to help me. i hate stressing about my plants.

 

[DARC MIND]

do you have a good recipe for a foliar tea darc mind. i have never used foliar feeding and i have been growing for 10 years. i guess your right about my old routine being easier....i was just used to it. so it sounds like your saying i could just use a micro tea since my soil has alot of stuff in it already. is it ok to add liquid humus to my teas? i bought

Medina brand Humate. its concentrated liquid humus. or should i use the humus in a different way?
btw...thank you to everyone that has put in their 2 cents to help me. i hate stressing about my plants.

bud i foliar like mad threw veg,
first be sure you have good air flow, second you dont want to spray with strong light on. I veg under fluorescent and still turn half of the lights off. it dont rain during a full sun day, it gets cloudy so try to dilute the light when spraying. some times a hps and water on leaf surface can cause water spots (burn)
a great recipe would be alfalfa meal or pellets, brewed in water for 12-24 hrs.
4 -5 gallons of distilled water
1 cup (16 TBSP) of alfalfa meal or pellets/ comfrey works just as good
1 TBSP molasses
brew and get to spraying, i dilute the mix 1/5 w/ water

you can mix or use as an alternative to alfalfa, with kelp meal or powder, chamomile, dandelions, nettles, buckwheat, comfrey, borage, wheat grass to the above recipe. I use all ingredients threw out veg and all i get is happy very healthy plants.
fish emulsion bottle products should have a foliar recipe on the back of bottle, or just add 1-2 tbsp per gal of water
im sure liquid humus is good to add, IMO fresh compost is better

 

[iniquity]

thank you so much. ill try a foliar feeding this week. ill need to pick up some alfalfa before i do. the only compost i have acces to is EWC. is this a good form of compost? or are ewc not considered true compost?

 

[DARC MIND]

thank you so much. ill try a foliar feeding this week. ill need to pick up some alfalfa before i do. the only compost i have acces to is EWC. is this a good form of compost? or are ewc not considered true compost?

yes EWC is great for foliar and ACT
to me its compost, compost is decomposition done by soil microorganism
worms are soil organisms, just not microscopic but EW pooh contains microorganism who help decompose organic matter, so imo yes EWC is true compos.
alfalfa is good for more then tea's or foliar spraying, just as all the other alternatives i recommended..
good luck bud

 

[iniquity]

ok i will try that recipe. i will have to cut it down since right now i have 7 girls in 2 gallon grow bags under a 250 watt 6400k metal halide. my space is only 28" x 22". i only need to brew like 1 gallon of water esp if im diluting this in a ratio of 1 to 5(tea to water). how does this sound for ratios-
4 tbs alfalfa
1/4 to 1/2 tsp molasses

once again i cant say thank you enough. i always turned out top quality bud in my hydro set ups but would like to achieve a cleaner taste and i have always heard that organics will do just that. not to mention the possibilities of better color and resin production.

 

[iniquity]

man if we lived close to each other id give ya pick off my seed list in my signature for your help and valuable info.

 

[jaykush]

yea guano tea's worked wonders on a few of my grows but i have burned plants with dif soil mixes and ratio(rookie mistake)

3 key words when using guanos.....

little but often.....