Tea Article

[MrFista]

That is fucking extraordinary if true - you have an heretofore unseen phenomenom going on in your compost tea LOL. Awesome please take more photos.

The 'mushroom' at the back and the front left both look suspiciously like they are growing out of that substrate though. Please flip them and take photos or have they perished. It is possible you did not see them till after the pour your concentration pre-pour being on the tea itself and after pour on the soil you added it to. The mind can play tricks with temporal perception and mix chain of events. More pics!

I suspect if they did grow in the tea they are an aggregate of some microbial species or collective of species as opposed to one structure. More pics!

 

[Tactical Farmer]

That is fucking extraordinary if true - you have an heretofore unseen phenomenom going on in your compost tea LOL. Awesome please take more photos.

The 'mushroom' at the back and the front left both look suspiciously like they are growing out of that substrate though. Please flip them and take photos or have they perished. It is possible you did not see them till after the pour your concentration pre-pour being on the tea itself and after pour on the soil you added it to. The mind can play tricks with temporal perception and mix chain of events. More pics!

I suspect if they did grow in the tea they are an aggregate of some microbial species or collective of species as opposed to one structure. More pics!

Crap - I buried the evidence in the soil

Sadly though thats the only pic I took, didn't realize it was going to be a controversial rare phenomenon

Im 100% sure they were in the tea before the pour, seen something in there but wasn't sure what it was till my tub was drained.

Grabbed the slimy triplets & placed them on the soil for the photo.

Made sure they were flipped to show both sides.

Looks like I better run the experiment again.

 

[Microbeman]

I have seen something similar, although globe shaped. I was completely perplexed but assumed that it may have been some form of fungal tissue but not a developed fruiting body (per se). I may have photos on my other computer. I'll take a look.

 

[jaykush]

ok thats my last try, anyone see them now?

 

[Billy DeLions]

Jay,

working here... Thanks for posting those, really helped me better understand what I am looking at/for....

 

[MrFista]

Looks like a small version of the blob from lacto b. I'm sure I've read or heard about this so long ago it's tinkling wind chimes not ringing bells.

I grow a very similar 'cap' when I fail to wash my coffee cup.

 

[3rdEye]

yep i can see your pics Jay

I think it might be mycelium, but not fruiting body related. Perhaps when the soil chunk was placed into the tea it washed away the soil, but left a more or less intact mycelia mat? That would explain such rapid formation and the curious symmetrical structure. I could see a mycelia mat forming in an aerobic environment in short order. Maybe something to the idea?

Something else that came to mind is that, if it was a mycelial mat, then it could have produced a cap under those conditions i would think. My reasoning is that, if the mat were about ready to fruit and had been kept in an anaerobic/CO2 rich environment, then, upon being placed into the highly aerated environment of the bubbling bucket it could have initiated hyphal aggregation/fruiting body development? The condition change would mimic the changes normally needed for fruiting. Lowering of CO2 levels, more light, temperature shifts, etc...

Tactical you did say that the pic you posted shows both sides is that correct?

 

[Tactical Farmer]

The biggest mass / cap had a dome shape which made me think the dark side was the top.

The white sides on the other two smaller ones seemed to be the bottoms.

It seems to me that the idea of the mycelia chunk being ready to fruit at the time it was introduced to the ideal nutrition / environment of the tea makes good sense, minus the part that shrooms apparently dont grow in water. lol

Im going to try to redo the expiriment but it will take about 2 weeks to get to that point.

 

[spurr]

Looks like a small version of the blob from lacto b. I'm sure I've read or heard about this so long ago it's tinkling wind chimes not ringing bells.

As an example do you mean a "SCOBY" (aka "Mancunian mushroom") from Kombucha? If so I agree, however, I culture Kombucha (and SCOBY) for my own ingestion and most SCOBY's I produce do not have such a mushroom cap appearance as in TF's pics (but that is probably due to my unique method of culturing Kombucha).

I agree it does look like in TF's pics that the 'mushrooms' seem to be growing from the media.

l agree with you and MM that the 'mushrooms' could be some sort of microbial product (e.g. a SCOBY) or a mass of fungal mycelia...

SCOBY = "Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeasts"

Pics of some very clean SCOBYs:

 

[spurr]

@ TF:

If you did somehow have mycelia fruit when suspended in water you would be the first I have ever heard about and it would be major news in the mycology world. If that happened you would gain instant fame/notoriety by mycologists and open a whole new area of mycologlocial study.

If you can re-produce what you did, and show it is mushrooms from mycelia suspended in water you would rock the mycologlocial world AFAIK. That would be very cool if it's really a mushroom from fungi suspended in water!

 

[MrFista]

MEMEME - I volunteer as the first mycologist to work on them if they're fungi! But scoby - that sounds like it. Still, nature is always breakin the rules to keep us guessing.

 

[Tactical Farmer]

wow - well damn, looks like I better get to work.. lol

Better get some coffee going first.

* Got 4 different compost cultures started today, will post the info in my Fast Fungi thread to keep this thread focused on teas.

 

[MrFista]

Better get some coffee going first.

That's how my scobies started. Just leave about 1/3rd a cup of cofee neglected for a week or so.

I can't work it, though I'd love to, as I'm onna other side of the world, but if it's unique I'm sure spurr would be interested.

 

[BorkBorkBork]

Whew!

Powered through this thread over the last 2 days, good stuff! Lot's of good info, and I'll be picking up a stronger air-pump ASAP. Even with a wimpy pump, my simple tea seems to be doing wonders.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Sourbear]

So currently... for 3 gallons of water im using about a half cup of EWC, 6 table spoons of Hibrix Molasses and my general organics nute feed depending on the week. And bubbling it all then feeding my plants.

What else can i add to my tea to help improve my plants that does not cost a shitload?
I heard to use seaweed extract but thats like 80 bucks a small container, along with the guano's they are not cheap either.

 

[vonforne]

Here you g.....check out this guys site......affordable and he is a nice man also.



K.I.S.

 

[Sourbear]

awesome, he is selling it @ 13 a pound... much better than anyone else....

Well besides seaweed/ewc/molasses what else is a good additive for my plants?

I'm cloning and flowering as soon as they get roots, minimum veg time is 5 days
All in one gallon pots with Earth Juice Amazon Bloom and chunky pearlite.

With a normal table nute feeding off the General Organics suggestions and the EWC/Molasses, what else would be good for my plants.

 

[h.h.]

What do you have in your yard? Google it all.
I'd skip the nutes in the tea. I use them alternately and then only about half strength. Took me awhile to learn that less is more regardless of how often it is repeated here. I get most everything I need from the tea. The nutes are only for insurance of a well rounded diet and to add some P&K in the end. As my tea improves, I use less and less. Most of it comes from compost in different states of decomposition, some aerobically, some anaerobic, plant material, char from different plant materials, some wood ash depending on what I'm burning. Termite infested stuff, ant hill dirt. Mostly stuff off the property. Oats, brown rice, molasses,stuff off the shelf. Alfalfa, stuff from the feed store. Horse shit. Small amounts of manure, chicken shit.Bird shit. Eye of nute. Witches brew. Get crazy. Remember though, Google is your friend. Not really, but use it along with your imagination, a couple of totes, and you might not ever go to the store again. You'll become a recluse and a bitter old man, but that's getting off subject. I'll let you know when the biography is out.

 

[jaykush]

big bear what source of castings are you using?

one way to save cash would be to ditch the bottles.

 

[CT Guy]

awesome, he is selling it @ 13 a pound... much better than anyone else....

Well besides seaweed/ewc/molasses what else is a good additive for my plants?

I'm cloning and flowering as soon as they get roots, minimum veg time is 5 days
All in one gallon pots with Earth Juice Amazon Bloom and chunky pearlite.

With a normal table nute feeding off the General Organics suggestions and the EWC/Molasses, what else would be good for my plants.

Humic acids can be a good addition. It's a little more expensive, but the LC-10+7 is already chelated with minerals and I think you could ditch a lot of the other bottled products in lieu of ACT, seaweed, and optionally the LC-10+7. I've gotten really good feedback on it from a few different people on here, as well as my own success using it on my container vegetables and houseplants. Here's the link to the pdf. http://www.simplici-tea.com/images/LC-10Plus7Label.pdf

FYI, if you just want the seaweed, KIS can fit up to 3 lbs. in a flat rate envelope with USPS for 5.80 S/H. Keep in mind that you're looking at rates around 1/2 tsp./gal. of water, so a little goes a long way. There's approx. 2.5 cups in a lb.

Hope that helps!