Tea Advice

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

Hey IC!

I know there is a plethora of tea advice on the forums. I have read over quite a few of the more lengthy post but I am still left with no real answer to what I am looking for.

I am looking for a good tea recipe to keep the micro life thriving in veg and flower. If one tea would work for both veg and flower that would be more desireable. I want a recipe that is simple and gets the job done. After reading of all the different recipes and methods and additives everyone uses it just gets more and more confusing.

I am growing in an organic mix, and the only additives I use is the General Organics line and mollasses, used seldomly and in small amounts. I mix my waterings up in a 40 gallon container, so when talking recipes lets talk 40 gallons.


The mix:

Canna Coco 2.0cft
Happy Frog 2.0 cft
Ocean Forest 1.5cft
1/2 Bag Chunky perlite
.75 cups Lime
1.25 cups Bone Meal
1.25 cups Blood meal
30# EWC

Willing to take any advice on the mix as well.


Is there a simple recipe for veg and flower teas? One that is better for veg and better for flower?

On hand I have:

EWC
bone meal
blood meal
lime
mollasses
humic acids
liquid karma
General Organic line (camg+, bio root, bio bud, bio weed, bio marine, bio thrive, bio grow)

Each 40 gallon watering container has its own air stone coming from a commercial air pump that does pretty good. When I leave my General organic mixtures for 20+ hours it def gets a strong poopy smell with foam.

I need a tea that will keep my herd thriving, not burn my plants, and be easy to not fuck up. I have a microscope on hand but have no idea wtf to look for so any links on that specific subject with photos let me know.

I appreciate any feedback and I know alot of this stuff has been covered. I tryed searching "Tea" in the search titles only and it is to short of a word. I hate that part of the search function it happens all the time!

I have grown in this mix for quite a while now but now that I am solely focusing on organic soil at the moment I want to do what I need to take it to the next level. I have never been to knowledgeable when it comes to organics myself but I love how easy it can be. Lets keep it simple!

 

[rasputin]

A simple compost tea would work fine.

To keep the microbes happy just water your soil mix with EWC/molasses. Floralicious+ is a much better alternative to LK, IMHO. It's much more concentrated so you use much less per watering, more humic acid, and to my eye much happier plants.

Personally, I wouldn't use humic acid or blood/bone meals in compost teas. Same with any kelp-based liquids. Credit MicrobeMan for putting me onto that. Those are best used either mixed directly into your soil or watered in separately as a nutrient solution.

If the GO stuff smells like that after 20 hours your pump might not be strong enough. It shouldn't smell like shit, more of an earthy/rich smell in my experience. That stuff should be good to go right out of the bottle, anyhow.

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

Right on rasputin, yeah I def would not want to use anymore meals at all, just thought I would list what I had on hand. I do have floarliscous + on hand and before buying had read good reviews.

So for 40 gallons of water, how much EWC, how much mollasses, and how much floarlicious? Sorry to be such a noob like said before this shit is dicsussed everywhere but it seems most people have alot of ingredients and I really want to keep it simple. The EWC shouldn't add to much nitrogen in flower? Hoping to find something I can use weekly with no overfert issues. How long should I let this stuff bubble? 24 hours I assumme? I will add more air stones to the barrel to make sure I get good oxygen.

 

[rasputin]

No need to be sorry dude, nothing wrong with asking questions. The basics are straight forward once you get them down and keeping it simple is as easy as water, EWC and molasses. The floralicious+ is just a nice bonus. Good as a foliar, too.

You can add it right before watering or brew it, I don't think it's enough by volume to cause any trouble being bubbled. My plants don't seem to mind, at least. Someone with a scope might argue otherwise. It's certainly not necessary but keep your nose open to see if it starts smelling a little boozy. Toss it if so.

There's a 1001 ways to skin this cat so read what's available with that in mind. My advice is to experiment. Best returns come when you dial things in for your own environment, genetics, grow style.

18-24 hours is good. Sometimes I use it without any brew time and other times I'll bubble the water then add compost & molasses then use it. Good results all around so don't feel you have to bubble it though that obviously helps. I've rarely gone past 36 hours but have read some guys going as long as 48, others even maintain a constant brew they top off with additional food over time.

As for rates... here's a solid baseline to start from.

In veg
EWC - 10-15mL/gal
BSM - 5-10mL/gal
Flora+ - 1mL/gal

In bloom
EWC - 15-30mL/gal
BSM - 5-15mL/gal
Flora+ - 1mL/gal

 

[odogyouknow]

I was looking on micromans site @ www.microbeorganics.com/ which has some great recipes/basic guidelines for amounts of EWC, Molasses, etc.

He has no doubt spent tons of time researching.

Thanks, Microman!

A/ Recipe for a Diversity of Microbes; Nutrient Cycling
- measurements do not need to be precise; expressed in different units in brackets.

Per 50 Gallons

*compost/vermicompost – 2.38% max. (4.5 liters), (19 cups US), (4.5 quarts US) – reduce as required according to brewer and water quality

*unsulphured pure black strap molasses - I recommend using 0.50% (just under 1 liter), (4 cups US) (1 quart US) [but you can use a maximum 0.75% (1.4 liters), (5.9 cups US), (1.4 quarts US)] – reduce as required according to brewer and water quality

*fish hydrolysate(high quality) - 0.063% - (120 ml); (4 ounces)
Do not use chemically deodorized liquid fish!

*kelp meal - 0.25% max. (0.5 liter or 500 ml), (17 ounces US), (0.5 quart US), (2 plus cups)
NOTE: This is a maximum amount of kelp and you can experiment using less. This is using regular grade kelp meal for livestock. If you have soluble kelp, I recommend using smaller amounts. Sometimes kelp meal can initially delay bacterial multiplication.

*soft rock phosphate granules/powder - 0.063% - (120 ml) (4 ounces), (0.5 cup)
We grind up the granules into a powder with a coffee grinder

A bunch of extra info on the site in regards to brew time, temps, etc.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

So you've got a bare minimum of 40gals of soil and you only use 12 tbs of lime. That's less than 1/3 tbs per gal. That my friend is a recipe for deficiencies.

That is unless you are using ca/ mg often. Much easier to add 1.5tbs to 2tbs (depending on water source) per gal of soil. This will also provide a buffer in your soil so you can add teas or whatever without the slightest worry about pH. Hope that doesnt start a war.

Peace
Rocky

 

[Microbeman]

Organic matter does much more to buffer pH than lime. We used 'approximately' 1 cup of dolomite per 4 cubic feet = 29 gallons; or 16 tablespoons per 29 gallons or just over half a tablespoon per gallon. This was all the lime that was ever added for at least 5 years to a living soil. Of course in the initial mix there were some other rock and clay powders which undoubtedly contributed to calcium levels, plus we mixed in and continuously topdressed vermicompost which has calcium, plus our ACT was made with vermicompost and molasses (another source of calcium I believe)

Different styles of growing call for different inputs.

 

[BurnOne]

Right off I see you have about six cubic feet of mix.
You have no Potassium. Add three cups kelp meal.
Not enough dried blood. Use three cups dried blood.
Not enough bone meal. Use six cups bone meal. You can't make teas with bone meal. It has to be in direct contact with the soil.
Your lime must be powdered dolomite. Use six cups powdered dolomite lime. Can't make a tea with dolomite either.
That's all you need for a complete grow start to finish. Wet it down with a mix of Liquid Karma as directed on the label.
Water to harvest with worm casting tea and molasses.
HTH
Burn1

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

Thank you for the advice everyone, I made 80 gallons of tea and drenched the girls tonight, they do look like they enjoyed it already. Rasputin I followed your recipe except instead of floralicious+ I used the floralicious organic bloom enhancer which is similar but not so strong. I also added a small amount of GO black diamond, EJ Microblast, small dose of of GO Biobud, and a small dose of GO Biothriveflower. I have read the GO lines works great with teas.

Burnone thanks for the soil advice. When I first was given this recipe I was like where is the K? I have made do with PK boosters and even went without. The soil mix as is has been quite successful despite the lack of K. I have been using pelleted epsoma lime, it is supposed to be the shit but I am open to advice. I used to get sunleaves soil sweetner, I liked the consistency much better. I do like the soil mix to be close to running out I don't mind a mild feeding here and there. I will give your advice a try though and mix one batch this coming round and run a couple girls in it.

I feel like a tard in the organic forums most the time so thanks for all the help. I got started with this soil recipe for it's ease of use and nows it's dependability.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

So MM, let me get this straight. You've only added 1/2 tbs per gal of lime in 5 years of growing with the same mix?? What is the ppm of the water you are using??? Mine is 262ppm, approx. 60ppm of calcium. I've skipped the lime before when it came time to recycle my soil, added the regular dry nutrients, some coco and 20% vermicompost (with dozens of eggshells) and guess what???

Yeah, bingo out comes the bottle of cal/mag. I hate the bottle of cal mag.

PK- Nearly everyone on here will tell you to use powdered dolomite lime. B1 already did. He knows what he's talking about.

Peace
Rocky

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

What are some good brands of the powedered dolomite? I haven't seen any at my local store. I have asked but Epsoma is all they have. I will do some looking around we have a bazillion grow stores here. The one I go to only has hydrated powder, not touching that. I ranted and raved when my store got rid of sunleaves soil sweetner.

 

[Microbeman]

So MM, let me get this straight. You've only added 1/2 tbs per gal of lime in 5 years of growing with the same mix?? What is the ppm of the water you are using??? Mine is 262ppm, approx. 60ppm of calcium. I've skipped the lime before when it came time to recycle my soil, added the regular dry nutrients, some coco and 20% vermicompost (with dozens of eggshells) and guess what???

Yeah, bingo out comes the bottle of cal/mag. I hate the bottle of cal mag.

PK- Nearly everyone on here will tell you to use powdered dolomite lime. B1 already did. He knows what he's talking about.

Peace
Rocky

My water was 21 to 35 ppm = fairly pure

We are talking living soil here. pH worries are stuck in the chemical growing paradigm IMO. The soil was notill living.

 

[Microbeman]

What are some good brands of the powedered dolomite? I haven't seen any at my local store. I have asked but Epsoma is all they have. I will do some looking around we have a bazillion grow stores here. The one I go to only has hydrated powder, not touching that. I ranted and raved when my store got rid of sunleaves soil sweetner.

Dolomite is a mined product. Just look for the cheapest 100%

 

[Neo 420]

To the best of my knowledge pelleted dolomite takes longer to break down to become nutrients for the plants. Powder dolomoite breaks down way faster..

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

MM- Not trying to give ya a hard time man...I'm really just curious/amazed. I couldn't give a shit about pH.
But half a tablespoon of dolomite lime per gal in 5 years, if I'm following you right, is astounding. All I was trying to say is that if I tried that I would be looking at Cal/Mag deficiencies.

PK- brand doesn't matter. It's all of a sudden become difficult for me to source...used to find it at Lowes for about 2 bucks for 40lbs. Begged and pleaded with the grow store owner to get it for me looking like 8 bucks a bag now.

 

[Treetroit City]

PK, if you happen to have an "English Gardens"(popular in my area of MI) store nearby they sell 50 pound bags of dolomite for like ten bucks.
I don't really see it in grow stores, more farmer supply and local mill stores

 

[BurnOne]

What are some good brands of the powedered dolomite? I haven't seen any at my local store. I have asked but Epsoma is all they have. I will do some looking around we have a bazillion grow stores here. The one I go to only has hydrated powder, not touching that. I ranted and raved when my store got rid of sunleaves soil sweetner.

Ebay sells powdered dolomite lime.
Burn1

 

[organiclover]

hey guys
i've been using a water filter for years but someone recently told me that it did not filter out chloramine - do you guys worry about chloramine in OG gardening ?
i got an additional filter for only $20 and hooked it up to my preexisting and noticed a happier garden - does bubbling water take out chloramine or just chlorine ?

thanks

 

[SneakySneaky]

I find that making a general tea mix works wonders. Amend your soil for the veg and flower cycle and let the tea feed your plants. I use a quart jar of Alaskan humisoil or BounTea, shot glass of kelp, half a shot glass of powdered humic acid and a shot glass of molasses to make a 5 gallon batch. If you want, add some bio marine about an hour before you stop brewing your tea. I add it at the end to make sure the bacteria I want have flourished and in case of bacterial jihad from the bio marine lol. It's simple and effective. People over complicate tea, throw good amendments in the soil and let the tea feed the plants.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

OC- yes, chloramine is a problem in organic growing. No, it can't be bubbled out. I don't personally have to worry about it. But even when i'm trying to bubble out chlorine...I'll throw a handful of compost in my rez...this overpowers the chlorine....it can't kill all the compost. Hope that makes some sense. Same can be done for chloramine....otherwise you need to invest in an r/o setup.