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Botanicals

W89

W89

Active member
Veteran
Yesturday I went and collected a bucket full of dandelion leaves and roots, I grated the root and its bubbling atm... the dandelion leaves will be made into a syrup or what ever its called, I just stuffed as much into a 500 ml bottle and pierced a little whole in the top for the juice to run out of... I also done this with comfrey, just wanted to make some nutrients for outside this year and thought the syrups would be my best way to go.. anyone make them?
 
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Old_Headbanger

vonforne said:
English Ivy attracts mites like a magnet!!!!

As far as botanicals go I have the Medicinal Lifetime pack from Horizon Herbs That I will be using this year for my compost making and botanical teas. I have also added a few hundred of the common Comfrey and Lavender that I will be planting.

V
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Thanks Von! I was gearing up to grab a bunch when the snow melts too. Maybe not! :thank you:
 
B

BlueJayWay

Yay snow here too, i cant go anywhere so im gettin Super High and manicuring all day!

Cannabis botanical tea + kelp later next week. I always use kelp in my teas so i guess its only fair to throw it in there to accurately judge the effectiveness.
 
FunTimesIndeed

FunTimesIndeed

Member
W89 said:
Yesturday I went and collected a bucket full of dandelion leaves and roots, I grated the root and its bubbling atm... the dandelion leaves will be made into a syrup or what ever its called, I just stuffed as much into a 500 ml bottle and pierced a little whole in the top for the juice to run out of... I also done this with comfrey, just wanted to make some nutrients for outside this year and thought the syrups would be my best way to go.. anyone make them?
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I've been hacking apart dandelion plants whole and soaking in dechlorinated water for a month before bottling and refrigerating. Definitely hasn't hurt anything, but I might try something different on the next round.

It snowed here last weekend, which is very rare.
 
Scrappy4

Scrappy4

senior member
Veteran
FunTimesIndeed said:
I've been hacking apart dandelion plants whole and soaking in dechlorinated water for a month before bottling and refrigerating. Definitely hasn't hurt anything, but I might try something different on the next round.

It snowed here last weekend, which is very rare.
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I think you guys will be pleasantly surprised by using dandelions. I found its one of those inputs that you can see working, maybe simular to alfalfa. You can't beat the price either.

Just to recap because spring is close, I make one dandelion FPE using just flowers and use it in flower...duh....and one with the whole plant including roots that I use throughout the cycle.

Its one of the few, again like alfalfa that can burn young plants. I judge the strength of FPE by the color. I use a tea colored FPE at 2 cups per 5 gallons of water' and less with darker extracts, more with lighter colored extracts...."scrappy
 
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Seandawg

Member
scrappy

Dandelion is one of those ingredients that I just can't get!
Could I ask your process to making an "FPE"? I'm sure you explained this about 100 times already but I'm more than confident that your FPE process is very different from the quick brew tea method I use.
 
Scrappy4

Scrappy4

senior member
Veteran
Seandawg said:
scrappy

Dandelion is one of those ingredients that I just can't get!
Could I ask your process to making an "FPE"? I'm sure you explained this about 100 times already but I'm more than confident that your FPE process is very different from the quick brew tea method I use.
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My method is very simple. I fill a jug with chopped up whole dandelions including roots and the dirt on those roots and fill to the top with water and cover and let it go a month or two in a spot out of the suns light.

I also do the same using only dandelion flowers, or alfalfa meal, horsetail, and others. Same deal cover the plant material with water and let it rot. Then hold your nose and use it. They do stink. But you can dry these materials and bubble for a couple of days for less stink......scrappy
 
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Seandawg

Member
Botanicals

Two months is a lot longer than I expected. I also recall you stating once before that the stronger the aroma the more potent the extract.

How much concentrate do you make at a time? If you don't mind me asking that is.
 
Scrappy4

Scrappy4

senior member
Veteran
Seandawg said:
Two months is a lot longer than I expected. I also recall you stating once before that the stronger the aroma the more potent the extract.

How much concentrate do you make at a time? If you don't mind me asking that is.
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I'm not sure on the smell question, they all have their own aroma. I go more by color for strength.

Last spring I made fermented plant extracts of horsetail, alfalfa meal and comfrey in five gallon buckets. Each started with about 1/3 of crumbled plant material, except the horsetail was chopped up, and I covered the plant material with water covered the buckets and let them ferment. I forced the plant material down with hardware cloth.

I started using them fairly quick, and as I used each I replaced some plant material and water. I rotated each so each bucket of stank got used about every 10-12 days as food for my vegetable garden. I had my best vegetable garden ever, in a hot dry summer.

In fall I started my indoor crop using the same fermented plant extracts, but did not continue replacing the plant material or water and eventually just combined them. I was not able to monitor the plants each day and left them alone for up to 6 days at a time throughout the cycle. Twice power went out while i was gone, temps went down to 36F. Despite my abuse the plants did great.

I foraged the horsetail from a river bottom area, grew the comfrey and bought 50 lb of alfalfa meal for $11.50. And I did give the plants a compost tea at transplant and at the change.

I still won't give up quicker teas and I want to try malted barely, but I can say FPE work very well. And props to JayKush for so much FPE information that he shared and the little I absorbed.....scrappy
 
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Seandawg

Member
Scrappy4 said:
I foraged the horsetail from a river bottom area, grew the comfrey and bought 50 lb of alfalfa meal for $11.50. And I did give the plants a compost tea at transplant and at the change.

I still won't give up quicker teas and I want to try malted barely, but I can say FPE work very well. And props to JayKush for so much FPE information that he shared and the little I absorbed.....scrappy
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I'm also working on simplifying my grow. Right now I have one tea, it's really dark and very effective! Thanks for the info, I appreciate it!
 
W89

W89

Active member
Veteran
the dandelion liquid is really dark! like a brown sort of color, but when dilute a little bit it goes green
 
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SkunkPatronus

New member
HI, I have been using Paulownia leaves from my trees, they are micronutrient dense and you don't need many as they are huge leaves that fill a bucket. They break down rapidly and my plants love the tea/sludge made from them. I use lacto water to break them down.
 
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Seandawg

Member
Botanicals

Aloha TD
I'm well thank you, seems as though every reputable gardener is making an exodus to IC.

It's good to hear from you, I hope you're well also!
 
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