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Fermented plant extracts

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
stronger isnt always better, some extracts you want concentrated, some you dont. nettles you want extra strong so you get the most out of it. the lavender is more of quick light and effective.
 

MrFista

Active member
Veteran
Those strawberries I sprayed several months ago (camellia flowers FPE) keep fruiting. They have been fruiting for 6 months!

Not a lot of fruit now the temps are down and sun not so potent, but it's still there, flowers, half formed fruit, and delicious berries to eat. Non stop action.

This is not normal, but my whole garden is a FREAK this year. I'm still pulling tomatoes and zuchinnis.

Meantime, the temps are down and the fungi are up. Well mulched organics kicks ass.
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
yea our strawberries did amazing last year, they kept on going and going and going.
 

heady blunts

prescription blunts
Veteran
omg the nettle smells so serious, like penguin vomit or something weird like that. but the plants love it!
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
you get used to it over time. i can take big whiffs of nettle tea now. before it made me gag.
 

heady blunts

prescription blunts
Veteran
i foliared with it today and the fan blew a big mist of it right in my face. it was gross hahaha. good thing it was super diluted.
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
theres a good story from one of the people who brought FPEs to the worlds view. gil carandang.

it goes something like hes at a friends house here in the states, there going out to his shed where he has his various FPEs, BIMs and such. the guy had a lid on them and the pressure built up. when they opened it the bottle exploded all over them. then gil says something like look at it this way, if this was a bottle of toxic chemical ferts, we would be on our way to the hospital. when really they washed it off and noticed how smooth there skin felt afterwards.

point being your not dealing with toxic crap, its ok to get some on you, i know i ALWAYS spill FPE on me whenever i apply it.
 

heady blunts

prescription blunts
Veteran
i like that story.

yea i actually considered using the lavender fpe as a cologne when i first made it. it smells delicious. :D

certainly makes more sense to apply a non-toxic, biologically processed concentrate than a highly toxic chemical as plant food.

I was wondering the other day... since fpe is soluble nutrients, doesn't it bypass the soil food web? what are the implications of that?
 

cyat

Active member
Veteran
I know they're not fermented, but has anyone tried using pure essential plant oils?
 

DARC MIND

Member
Veteran
heady
less is more,use it like you would some bottle nutrients
when using FPE as a supplement to top mulching,ACT,amended soil;the media and more importantly root zone will be able to balance & possibly store/convert them soluble nutrients to SOM,biology...

poop and piss are part of the natural food web as well
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I was wondering the other day... since fpe is soluble nutrients, doesn't it bypass the soil food web? what are the implications of that?

well according to what science believes today yea it should because the nutrients are soluble, BUT ive seen it do nothing but stimulate the soil biology and in turn the plant.
 

self

Member
Loving this thread and the organic soil/recycled soil stuff in general. I've been learning so much from you guys, jay and mr.fista, and suby, everybody experimenting and advancing. Good stuff.
anyway, I've got some some seaweed (mostly rockweed) fermenting in sugar maple sap and LAB in a sealed 5 gal bucket, is there a ph I should look for when to use it? or is it good to go, being about a month old (maybe more, i forget)? smells pickled.
I'm also considering pouring off most of the liquid through a strainer, then refilling the bucket with water or sap and more LAB and maybe throwing in some fish chunks. this would be basically hydrolised fish fert, right?
much respect, you guys are changing my game, and I like it.
~self
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
no need for the syrup really, the plant matter becomes the food source.

i wouldnt add the fish or add more syrup.
 

self

Member
not syrup, raw sap, very lightly sweet when unconcentrated, and from what I've found from researching, it contains lots of vitamins and minerals, nitrogen, and has some indigenous microorganisms, including a couple of lacto bacilii. PH around 6.5. also, although this is totally unsubstantiated, it must have some plant hormones in it...as it fuels the first leaf buds of spring, anyway, i've just been using it in place of water in some of my teas. certainly hasn't caused any harm... i'll try to do a side by side tea comparison next sugar season.
have a good one
~self
 
S

Stankie

I made an random weed FPE today. Just used what was in my garden that needed to be removed. 2 different looking Dandelions, Carrot, Redstem Filaree, Mallow, Groundsel, Henbit, Lambsquarters, and 2 different looking thistles. Also added 2 cups of alfalfa and a cup of kelp. I got about 2 gallons of plant/root matter, 2 gallons of water, and a half gallon of EM added in a bucket. I made an air lock out of aquarium tubing and a gallon jug.

One thing I noticed is almost every dandelion I pulled out of the ground had a worm right next to the tap root. Some had 4-5, even more in the soil around them. I wonder what is going on? Maybe some sort of spring feeding?
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
thats going to be one strong brew from the sounds of it, dilute appropriately.

dandelions are great soil builders, and along with soil building plants comes soil building life.
 

mad librettist

Active member
Veteran
I was wondering the other day... since fpe is soluble nutrients, doesn't it bypass the soil food web? what are the implications of that?

I don't see how it would be any different from using a guano with lots of nitrate.

no big deal.
 
C

CC_2U

From what I've learned in the last few months it appears that if you're using an FPE to extract an element vs. a compound you're in good shape.

Where the deal falls apart is when using fermentation processes to extract compounds, i.e fermentation breaks the molecular structure of these compounds into their base elements.

Want phosphorus? Fermentation is a good method.

Want a compound? Not so much.

HTH

LD2
 
G

greenmatter

what is better for FPE, true comfrey or the bocking 14 ? is there any real difference? which grows better in dryer climates?
 

jaykush

dirty black hands
ICMag Donor
Veteran
From what I've learned in the last few months it appears that if you're using an FPE to extract an element vs. a compound you're in good shape.

Where the deal falls apart is when using fermentation processes to extract compounds, i.e fermentation breaks the molecular structure of these compounds into their base elements.

Want phosphorus? Fermentation is a good method.

Want a compound? Not so much.

HTH

i think it totally has to do with length of fermentation. eventually like your saying everything is broken down into its base components.

BUT!!! i feel the short soaks like the lavender extract for mites dissolves water soluble compounds.

what is better for FPE, true comfrey or the bocking 14 ? is there any real difference? which grows better in dryer climates?

both work the same, its a matter of do you want comfrey popping up everywhere from seed or not. if not go bocking, if you got land and dont care, buy regular comfrey.
 
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