The Witches Brew Thread ( Soil Tonic Info )

[JackTheGrower]

Hey hey hey....


I am outside with charcoal in the BBQ and I am making a witches brew.

That is term I use to describe a hot brew that is a soil Tonic rather than a liquid Fertilizer.

In this case Wikipedia's define is

A usually liquid drug given to improve health

is a good definition for a Witches Brew or Plant tonic as we can include natural plants in the brew.

Where I have gone with this is a Hot water seep. But I also will boil things I don't fear will degrade in the heat of the fire like Coffee.

I start with a dedicated pot and a small portable ( cheep ) BBQ unit.

Having started the coals I place the pot on early as I figure why waste the heat of the start-up?

In this I have placed various things like Bone meal, fresh ground coffee, alfalfa, kelp meal, azomite, high P sea bird and whatnot.

I encourage folks sharing ideas for Witches brews. Natural plants would be great if you know what and how of them.

So this will heat and then sit and cool. I will strain and off to the compost bin the dregs will go. On to the soil the Brew will go!

I believe the coffee is a base? Is that right? So if that is true the pH will be offset for acidic things.

In this case a Rusty pot is a good thing ( iron ).


With Coffee I expect nitrogen and a pH buffer for things like guanos.
The kelp, the alfalfa, are plants that will add to the concept of a Tonic I trust.
Azomite is useful always I believe, and the Bone, High P Sea Bird .. well I am Tonic-ing flowering plants this time.

So hey.. Share away.. It's different from a liquid fertilizer feed in that I expect it to serve the soil rather than the plant directly but as organic soil people we know that also serves the plant through the natural system that is Organic Soil.



Ernst

 

[big ballin 88]

You could always throw some fish in it. Even if you lose all the fats and oils they'll be somewhere within that mix, either organic matter or liquid.

 

[JackTheGrower]

Yeah I think so.. I find that the fish emulsion is good to add to the cooled down brew for vegging plants.

Ernst

 

[mad librettist]

fyi ernst,

I just stuck a pH strip in my coffee and it read 4.5 or so.

 

[vonforne]

Ok, this kind of goes along with this. I have not done this since I lived in Florida. My buddie used to go fishing every day or at least it seemed like it .....any way he used to give me all the left overs from the fish. Amber Jack most of the time.....oily fish. I took these scraps and added them to a 5 gallon bucket with about half way with water with some molasses and an air pump with 2 hoses and stones. For the first week you could not take the smell but after that it was better. After about 10 to 15 days it was just a paste in the bucket and then divide in half and fill both buckets with tepid water. The higher temps in Florida helped I think to speed the decomposition rate.

I would dilute this and use it on the outside plants. LOL a little to strong for inside.

Nice thread Ernst.

V

 

[mad librettist]

von I can smell that from here!

nasty!

I'm allergic to fish so won't be experimenting, but I wonder if some of the asian fermentation methods might not be helpful. I noticed in the advanced EM guide you can use fish or shrimp paste.

Also interesting. Bonito flakes from a asian groceries is pretty cheap. Paper thin and dry. Maybe a good amendment in small amounts?

 

[vonforne]

I first done it with a recipe from the Garden Web site. You can use Sardines and Herring fish in a can also. It is whole and oily. Good stuff.

Thanks I will check out hte info on that ML

V

 

[mad librettist]

If you get shaved bonito (i'm not allergic to it for some reason, even though it would kill me fresh), remember to steep some in hot brown rice vinegar with a bit of sugar.

Tastiest oil free dressing ever.

 

[dune]

So When would you add you witches brew?

and

Does it work better then a normal Tea From B1's sticky?

 

[big ballin 88]

Ok, this kind of goes along with this. I have not done this since I lived in Florida. My buddie used to go fishing every day or at least it seemed like it .....any way he used to give me all the left overs from the fish. Amber Jack most of the time.....oily fish. I took these scraps and added them to a 5 gallon bucket with about half way with water with some molasses and an air pump with 2 hoses and stones. For the first week you could not take the smell but after that it was better. After about 10 to 15 days it was just a paste in the bucket and then divide in half and fill both buckets with tepid water. The higher temps in Florida helped I think to speed the decomposition rate.

I would dilute this and use it on the outside plants. LOL a little to strong for inside.

Nice thread Ernst.

V

I gotta agree with you Von. Making fish hydroslate is now for the faint of heart. I still don't even like the smell of the end product. Not until a couple days after being diluted and cleaned out does it smell like fish. Sad thing is i like fish sauce, this is essentially super stinky fish sauce. Its nice to live in Florida when it comes to making things for organics such as compost as hydroslates.

I agree with using this outside, even super diluted fish smells worse than my bathroom after taco bell. Not to mention the smell easily sticks around if done indoors.

 

[guest2012y]

Quote: "even super diluted fish smells worse than my bathroom after taco bell"
LOL, I have come to appreciate the smell of good fish hydrolysate compared to something like that Alaskan stuff. The idea to make your own is great,how this compares to the professional brands????? I have not educated myself enough to say.

 

[JackTheGrower]

So When would you add you witches brew?

and

Does it work better then a normal Tea From B1's sticky?

Organic soil folks all do things as they see fit so you are welcome to try your own ideas but, I will top dress a large box of soil; a planter bed I made for indoors, with materials such as meals, guanos rice flower, fresh coffee.
Now before i do that I usually have drenched the soil with water first. Important to water the soil first so as to reduce plant stress IMO.

So I would top dress after watering and then apply the brew on top with a sprayer unit. Being uniform over a 16 sf surface.

In smaller containers I still see top dressing is useful especially micronized materials ( coffee bean grinder or heavy duty blender ) so I would follow the water , top dress, apply the Tonic.

I am suggesting that it be considered a stimulant to microbial activity rather than a feeding of the plant. But, one can add what they want to boost things.

I admit a nice brew for bloom is akin to "Hot Shot" ( using schultz or such ) but in the realm of organic soil rather than chemical feeding.

 

[JackTheGrower]

fyi ernst,

I just stuck a pH strip in my coffee and it read 4.5 or so.

In a Bevis and Buthead voice "Uh He said Strip.. ugh huh huh huh...."


Back to normal now.. Cool I was wondering.. I don't have a pH anything well that cheep soil meter but who know if that works right.

So maybe some micronized oyster shell in the hot brew process?

Huh.. Well the truth of pH in organic soil is that as long as we're reasonable with our materials the forces of nature seem to handle and balance it.

Still I'd like to be closer to neutral if I am adding fish emulsion.

Hey also has anyone noticed how watery some of the fish emulsions are now? That's a major rip off!

 

[dune]

Thanks im making some new beds for the veggies and it sounds like a fun project to test out and see which bed does better. Organics are like cooking food, a little more a little less and something special usually make the dish better. Or you end up eating taco bell.

 

[mad librettist]

Jack, i mean, ernst, it's only 4.5

OJ is like 3.5

bacterial action should be enough to buffer that. polysaccharides, baby.

 

[vonforne]

The Vis Mix from Bio-Bizz is thick and so is the Alga-mic. I had some Plagron here and did not think much of it, it was pretty thin.

V

 

[JackTheGrower]

Update:
I took some white rice added kelp and ground coffee, and I put on a second pot after the first was done.
The result was the rice cooked to goo and the stirring caused it to dissolve more. Then after a few hours I stirred again and most of it dissolved into the liquid which was thicker now because of the rice.

Since I experiment I decided to mix the first pot full and the rice pot together in a 5 gallon bucket. I added more guano for flowering.

In the garden I watered first with plain water, top dressed with some dry cannabis plant mulch and then applied this Brew mix onto the top of this 16 sq ft soil box surface.

CC turned me on to kelp meal over liquid kelp and I am in turn turning you on to brewing coffee and kelp meal with other things to make a soil tonic.
My rule of thumb is feed what will feed microbes as well as plant.

Top dress with mixes of materials like plant meals or flours mixed with minerals, guanos and the odd things like coconut powder, ground coffee or whatnot and wet that with a Brew to stimulate the microbes into action.
A brew that has molasses in it for example.
I feel that is a fair organic soil way to speed up decay in a natural way and in turn load up the natural soil food cycle.
Sort of like the frosted as in frosted flakes to microbial life I hope.

I have been caring for this soil for 9 years. Nothing exact about the ratios of anything so we shall see if my gardeners sense is a positive or negative thing this time. Always willing to learn if I have things wrong..

Ernst

 

[JackTheGrower]

The Vis Mix from Bio-Bizz is thick and so is the Alga-mic. I had some Plagron here and did not think much of it, it was pretty thin.

V

Thanks.. I am going to be picky now.. The crap they are pushing local is all about making money for nothing IMO.

I mean it's the solids that the microbes work on I figure..

 

[guest2012y]

Thanks.. I am going to be picky now.. The crap they are pushing local is all about making money for nothing IMO.

I mean it's the solids that the microbes work on I figure..

You're kind of a mad man Jack,but I'm paying attention. The whole "cooking" thing,is this good to break down things this way....won't heat destroy things? Tune me in.

 

[JackTheGrower]

You're kind of a mad man Jack,but I'm paying attention. The whole "cooking" thing,is this good to break down things this way....won't heat destroy things? Tune me in.

Well try the coffee and kelp meal.. when cool mix in the fish emulsion and see.
I have done boil and just "hot." so we can decide how we want to manage things. Boil is put it on and come back later. Just hot is to watch it close and take it off sooner.
There may be some loss of nutrients from heat. I think of it as a spray over the materials I am really feeding the soil. I'll add molasses to the liquid mix and we all know that will increase microbe activity.
No worries on suggesting you try this from me..
How this will work for your style of organic growing I can't say exactly.. I have a big box of soil and that is a different dynamic from a small container system.

Make a small batch and see. Be honest and post about it.

If it is useful we will all know. If it's dumb then I'll learn something too. What is it, is safe to use on organic soil afaik..

Ernst