Too MUCH compost tea?

[Clayton_Bigsby]

I was reading a thread about organic yields the other day and someone made a comment saying he thinks he hurt his yield by using to much compost tea. At first i just thought no thats probably not the reason for his low yield, but now, two day later im still trying to think how to much compost tea could be bad.

So my question is can to much compost tea be a bad thing?

 

[heady blunts]

if you're making successful ACT then you can't really overdose.

however i wouldn't be surprised if 90%+ of gardeners making ACT are using a fucked up recipe, not using a powerful enough air pump (ie not maintaining high enough dissolved oxygen levels), brewing for way too long, adding random ingredient, etc etc.

it's a certainty that 90%+ gardeners making ACT do not own a microscope and are not trained in identifying the various biology.

i'm always coming accross people on icmag that are under the impression that they are making ACT, but they do not own a microscope, they are following a bullshit recipe, they're modifying the recipe baselessly, they're replacing ingredients with other ingredients, they're brewing for 48 hours, they're adding guanos, they're running an aquarium pump with old airstones in a 5 gallon bucket, etc.

i'd assume that guy either is way off, or he's making fucked up brews.

almost no chance he's making great ACT and it's having an adverse effect.

 

[Clayton_Bigsby]

Ok cool. because i feed my plants tea pretty damn often, but i follow microbemans instructions of Compost, Molasses and EWC for my brew. I use kelp every once in a while also. Im about to start adding Roots Organics Trinity when i get the money though.

I do use Guanos but i sprinkle them on the top of the soil rather than add it to my tea.

 

[BurnOne]

What hb said and/or maybe watering too much.
Burn1

 

[guest2012y]

Wurd to the Headster~

It is possible to overpopulate your micro-herd and exhaust your food supply a bit more rapidly by using properly made ACT on a more than what is needed basis. ACT is a tool...a catylist of sorts....should only need to use it a couple times per cycle if ur scene is together.

 

[Microbeman]

Wurd to the Headster~

It is possible to overpopulate your micro-herd and exhaust your food supply a bit more rapidly by using properly made ACT on a more than what is needed basis. ACT is a tool...a catylist of sorts....should only need to use it a couple times per cycle if ur scene is together.

I'm not so sure that is correct. I've never managed to overpopulate microbes with ACT.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=110620&page=79

post 1178 may help

 

[guest2012y]

I'm not so sure that is correct. I've never managed to overpopulate microbes with ACT.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=110620&page=79

post 1178 may help

Thanks MM..I understand that it's naturally regulated in the soil,yet what I see a lot of is people continuing to apply ACT as if it were a fertilizer....often.
So in other words....now that I've got the man on the line...
...the microbes that are being continuously introduced to a already amended soil over and over during a single cannabis cycle do not eat the available food at a faster rate due to the increased population..?.?

Where do...what do they do if they have to over-compete for food?...encapsulate or die off....or become food?

I've never done it,but lets say Joe cannabis grower applies ACT every watering....where does this get him?


hhhmmmmmm...
BULLSHIT you just wanna put yer gawd damned ACT in tiny little bottles with tiny little disposable air pumps for $300.00 a llitre (of course)...and have all the world buying your stuff ..just dumping it on with no restraint....

 

[heady blunts]

i was thinking that even in that hypothetical situation where the grower is using ACT daily and the increased microbe population "eats" the amendments in your soil at a faster rate, you would not "lose" those nutrients because they would be locked up in the bodies of the microbes.

just a guess until MM gets back.

 

[guest2012y]

i was thinking that even in that hypothetical situation where the grower is using ACT daily and the increased microbe population "eats" the amendments in your soil at a faster rate, you would not "lose" those nutrients because they would be locked up in the bodies of the microbes.

just a guess until MM gets back.

...right,but they run out of food and then?..die off and a final sudden release of nutrients..or encapsulation..I dunno.

Considering that some types of cannabis are heavy feeders and do exhaust the soil fast in containers....and also considering that this is a cannabis cycle where we are forcing indoor vegetative growth and flowering.

 

[Microbeman]

Did you get a chance to read my previous post which I linked?

So in other words....now that I've got the man on the line...
...the microbes that are being continuously introduced to a already amended soil over and over during a single cannabis cycle do not eat the available food at a faster rate due to the increased population..?.?

Nutrient cycling occurrs 'mostly' via protozoa and nematodes consuming bacteria/archaea. I'm unsure the percentages with nematodes but protozoa utilize 30 to 40% of the energy and 60 to 70% is excreted as ionic form nutrients. If one has an ACT which is comprised of 1000:1, bacteriarotozoa or higher then you have an ACT which does function as a fertilizer.

Now whether using ACT so much that it builds up a bacterial/archaeal and fungal population so high that it consumes the organic matter at a higher rate is a question I can only speculate at. One can see the reduction of organic mass in a compost heap or worm box brought about by microbial activity, however is this just being processed into a more compact long lasting food form maybe humus-like? Why don't microbes continue to consume a compost pile until it is gone?

I can only speculate that when there is an over population of fungi it is consumed by bacteria/archaea which are in turn consumed by protozoa (& nematodes). Some of this energy is hypothetically stored in humus. Both protozoa and bacteria/archaea have dormant phases (cysts, etc) which can remain in suspension until (needed) homeostasis (&/or electrobiochemical signals) returns. In this way, hypothetically, the needs of the living soil are regulated. (Regulators! Mount up!)

I've never done it,but lets say Joe cannabis grower applies ACT every watering....where does this get him?

This Joe did pretty much that in a 20K multi-garden vertical bin configuration and did not encounter any known negatives. Some other things were used (as you know) and I don't know what the difference would have been without. This was no-till, living soil so a relatively minor amount of soil remaining undisturbed (not re-amended except for topdress) over several years. An associate growing in the ground found, over several years that using ACT became a waste of energy.

hhhmmmmmm...
BULLSHIT you just wanna put yer gawd damned ACT in tiny little bottles with tiny little disposable air pumps for $300.00 a llitre (of course)...and have all the world buying your stuff ..just dumping it on with no restraint....

I wish....Swami SKU #438952

Heady: Sometimes brewing 48 hours is a good thing.

 

[guest2012y]

Beautiful^^^...thanks MM

 

[heady blunts]

thank you mm! that makes sense.

if i had a microscope and i was able to identify and distinguish between bacteria/archaea, fungi, protozoa, and nematode, i would probably experiment with running longer brews that have a higher ratio of protozoa, and (if i'm reading this correctly), a reasonable amount of soluble nutrient value.

even still, the total nutrient value cannot be more than the scoop of compost plus the mlcrobe food. is it simply made more readily available?

 

[Microbeman]

thank you mm! that makes sense.

if i had a microscope and i was able to identify and distinguish between bacteria/archaea, fungi, protozoa, and nematode, i would probably experiment with running longer brews that have a higher ratio of protozoa, and (if i'm reading this correctly), a reasonable amount of soluble nutrient value.

even still, the total nutrient value cannot be more than the scoop of compost plus the mlcrobe food. is it simply made more readily available?

The microbes are the nutrients. Read the post I linked and my webpage. The reason for making ACT is to multiply protozoa otherwise it is no where near as useful. Where do the nutrients come from which feed an old growth forest?

We have been brainwashed about nutrients.

 

[guest2012y]

"Where do the nutrients come from which feed an old growth forest?"

...and there you have it... and thus light turns on with this question.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

I just started an experiment where I am feeding every watering with a compost tea in the soil, and also foliar sprayed. I was wondering what the results would be, so i thought I would see what happens. I do use guano in my tea's so there will be more of a nutrient boost than just a plain tea. I am 11 days into it, and so far every strain is flowering a little faster than normal. I have not noticed anymore growth than would normally occur.

I have to say as far as putting guano into your tea being a dumb idea, I beg to differ. To each their own.

I am in the process of looking at microscopes, and have been meaning to hit up MM about them. I am looking for something in the $600 range. Do you have any suggestions?

This should be an interesting discussion as it progresses.

 

[Sinkyone]

Guano in your tea can inhibit microbial growth. There is a HUGE difference between ACT and a nutrient tea or leachate, combing the two tends to works poorly. You want your nutrient levels LOW with ACT, otherwise you are totally defeating the purpose of using it.

 

[mapinguari]

I wonder if anyone has made heady's subpar tea and thought it actually *hurt* their plants? Given that farmers have used unaerated leachate for centuries, weakly aerated tea seems unlikely to do any harm, even if it doesn't help much.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

Guano in your tea can inhibit microbial growth. There is a HUGE difference between ACT and a nutrient tea or leachate, combing the two tends to works poorly. You want your nutrient levels LOW with ACT, otherwise you are totally defeating the purpose of using it.

This issue does not seem to be as black and white as you say. that is why I am buying a microscope so I can check the results for myself, and post them for all to see. I see these lump statements being made by people all over the place. However almost all of these people do not own a microscope, and are repeating things second hand.

Remeber playing the telephone game when you were a kid?

It starts out with purple car, and ends with neo-nazi skin head, gang bangers bustin' caps in the barrio, while listening to Celine Dion.

I believe there to be a happy place where the leachate, and the ACT can come together, and live in harmony. The only way to find this place is through a microscope.

I could be very wrong. regardless of the results it will be a very educational process.

I knew this thread was going to be a good one.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

I wonder if anyone has made heady's subpar tea and thought it actually *hurt* their plants? Given that farmers have used unaerated leachate for centuries, weakly aerated tea seems unlikely to do any harm, even if it doesn't help much.

What I find interesting is there is literally only a handful of people doing research on this subject. There is still so much to learn.

Also the people that are very well versed on the subject, ingram, mm, and a few others do not dumb down any of their research for the common man. I feel that is the reason why their research has spread more slowly than it should have.

Read through Ingram's field guides, and then remember why you did not go to college.

 

[Ground Up]

Heres a tea recipe i have used for years, i have stop reading up on the subject matter years ago after getting this ...