Can EWC tea hurt your plants?

[t33to]

I've been spraying my ewc tea onto my plants in fairly large quantities, they don't appear to be suffering from in it in anyway, in fact they look really perky but I'm concerned because of these stains I see on the leaves. I'm assuming it's from all of the organic matter or molasses in the tea. The stains on the leaves look like whitish water spots you might see on a window or something.

Should I try washing these blemishes off? I was thinking if I skipped a tea feeding and just sprayed on some warmish water maybe that would be like a natural summers rain?

Also curious if it's OK to spray with ewc tea every day? Maybe I would stop spraying in the last 5 weeks?

 

[dogfishheadie]

eh...to me, I would think a top dress of EWC / hitting it with an EWC aact once a week would be more beneficial than a EWC foilar as the plant only takes up what it needs, sort of throwing a lot at it everyday with the EWC foilar.

I'd personally go with a silica / aloe / LAB foilar vs a EWC on the regular.
sure someone else more scientific than me can offer a bit more insight. focus on feeding / watering the microbes throughout the soil and you'll have no problems.

 

[il19z8rn4li1]

I run FULL strength AACT brews on ALL OF my plants, seedlings
to adults.

I even spray the leaves with them.

a properly brewed TEA wont burn a plant.

 

[t33to]

eh...to me, I would think a top dress of EWC / hitting it with an EWC aact once a week would be more beneficial than a EWC foilar as the plant only takes up what it needs, sort of throwing a lot at it everyday with the EWC foilar.

I'd personally go with a silica / aloe / LAB foilar vs a EWC on the regular.
sure someone else more scientific than me can offer a bit more insight. focus on feeding / watering the microbes throughout the soil and you'll have no problems.

I also have EWC in the beds, as well as a bunch of other organic goodies and anytime I water my beds they are fed the very same EWC tea mix.

I run FULL strength AACT brews on ALL OF my plants, seedlings
to adults.

I even spray the leaves with them.

a properly brewed TEA wont burn a plant.

Do you ever find weird splotches on your leaves like I'm experiencing?

 

[OrganicOzarks]

I get sploches sometimes from the compost in my ACT, but it has not done much of anything except for once. My dumb ass took the liquid from the bottom of the bucket, and I did not dilute it. It was more sludge than liquid. It was early in the morning, and I had my head up my ass. I foliar fed this, and my plants stopped growing for about 3 weeks. They were in flower, and they just stopped for 3 weeks. Needless to say yields were much lower.

 

[t33to]

I get sploches sometimes from the compost in my ACT, but it has not done much of anything except for once. My dumb ass took the liquid from the bottom of the bucket, and I did not dilute it. It was more sludge than liquid. It was early in the morning, and I had my head up my ass. I foliar fed this, and my plants stopped growing for about 3 weeks. They were in flower, and they just stopped for 3 weeks. Needless to say yields were much lower.

Ah, well I should be good then. My brewing machine consists of a 55 gallon plastic drum and an aggressive pump that lifts it the surface and showers it back down. Very foamy!

 

[il19z8rn4li1]

you should look into AIR LIFT setups for your Compost Tea Brewer.

I have a 500gallon compost Brewer that I use only an AIR PUMP to move
the water.

Google, "Air Lift compost tea brewer", youll be happy you did




As for the SPLOTCHES, no I never get them because I make sure the
tea has been completely worked through by the microbes, careful using the BOTTOM SLUDGE stuff.

If your making compost TEAS, dont use the BOTTOM SLUDGE, when you do this
your not really feeding your microbes, COMPOST TEA, instead all your
doing is pouring on a LIQUID TOP DRESSING on your soil that will stay stagnant.


You see.. when you use your compost teas, your suppose to TURN the brewer OFF
for about 20mins before you start pulling from the TOP of it.

You gotta let all the sediment settle to the bottom, and all the microbes
are swimming freely in the liquid/solution.


Compost Teas are all about the TINY TINY Particles, DUST, and soluble
materials.
Pouring off the SLUDGE onto your plants, WILL most likely burn them as
that SLUDGE isnt broken down completely yet. Best thing
to do with the SLUDGE at the bottom of the compost brewer, is to
just mix it into a compost pile outside, or some of your spent soil
that your waiting to recycle.


Properly broken down compost and compost tea that is populated
by beneficial bacteria will NEVER burn your plants.
SO in short, "HOT" compost/teas will burn your plants if you dont DILUTE them
when you foliar feed.



another tip...
Use Panty Hose for TEA BAGS... they are 100% worth it, then
you barely get any sediment.

 

[bigshrimp]

I see some N+ symptoms from ewc tea in my hottest mixes. Some leaf wrinkle and over lushness but no big deal really.

Edit: by ewc tea i mean putting a handfull into a five gallon bucket and watering in. No aeration or brew time.

 

[Microbeman]

The most benefit from ACT is had by applying it to your soil. Depending upon your preferred method of application, you may allow it to settle and pump from above as mentioned or you may stir it up and drop your sump pump into a mesh bag [we use about 800 micron mesh]. We like to leave the unit running while emptying because this prevents back flow into the air system. If you allow everything to settle, you are likely leaving about 90% of your fungal hyphae behind so if you have done this then just topdress your soil with this 'goo' afterwards.

If you have something hot enough to burn your plants in compost tea then you do have something to worry about besides your method of application.

Using pantyhose as an extractor mesh is not advised, as the mesh size is often too restrictive for fungal hyphae. A decent mesh size is 400 microns but you can do well enough using a paint strainer from the hardware store.

If you are experiencing spotting on your leaves, besides the filtering mentioned, it could be that you are not brewing long enough for the foods to be used up by the bacteria and fungi.

 

[il19z8rn4li1]

The most benefit from ACT is had by applying it to your soil. Depending upon your preferred method of application, you may allow it to settle and pump from above as mentioned or you may stir it up and drop your sump pump into a mesh bag [we use about 800 micron mesh]. We like to leave the unit running while emptying because this prevents back flow into the air system. If you allow everything to settle, you are likely leaving about 90% of your fungal hyphae behind so if you have done this then just topdress your soil with this 'goo' afterwards.

If you have something hot enough to burn your plants in compost tea then you do have something to worry about besides your method of application.

Using pantyhose as an extractor mesh is not advised, as the mesh size is often too restrictive for fungal hyphae. A decent mesh size is 400 microns but you can do well enough using a paint strainer from the hardware store.

If you are experiencing spotting on your leaves, besides the filtering mentioned, it could be that you are not brewing long enough for the foods to be used up by the bacteria and fungi.

Hey MM, heard a lot about you my friend, all amazing things

Your a man with A LOT of know

Thanks for correcting my post with a little more clarity.
I wasnt aware of the Panty Hose being a ill choice, must have
over looked that portion if it was mentioned on microbeorganics.com.

I havent been around much at the ICMAG, im going to
have to go through all of your threads now Microbeman

 

[Granger2]

Properly made ACT sprayed on the foliage likely gives more disease resistance, but spraying everyday is, IMO, asking for problems. Weekly or bi-weekly should be sufficient. Good luck. -granger

 

[Microbeman]

19Z8; Thank you for your open mind.

 

[dogfishheadie]

19Z8; Thank you for your open mind.

this.

 

[t33to]

The most benefit from ACT is had by applying it to your soil. Depending upon your preferred method of application, you may allow it to settle and pump from above as mentioned or you may stir it up and drop your sump pump into a mesh bag [we use about 800 micron mesh]. We like to leave the unit running while emptying because this prevents back flow into the air system. If you allow everything to settle, you are likely leaving about 90% of your fungal hyphae behind so if you have done this then just topdress your soil with this 'goo' afterwards.

If you have something hot enough to burn your plants in compost tea then you do have something to worry about besides your method of application.

Using pantyhose as an extractor mesh is not advised, as the mesh size is often too restrictive for fungal hyphae. A decent mesh size is 400 microns but you can do well enough using a paint strainer from the hardware store.

If you are experiencing spotting on your leaves, besides the filtering mentioned, it could be that you are not brewing long enough for the foods to be used up by the bacteria and fungi.

Thank you everyone for chiming in on this subject. Currently I have a medium sized pond pump pumping water from the bottom of a 55 gallon plastic barrel and then spraying it back down through a watering wand shower head. It creates massive amounts of fluffy bubbles when I add in black strap molasses, I presume this is a good sign that things are working correctly. There is a cheese cloth like bag that holds ewc suspended in the bucket.

Please clarify for me:

1. Is it Ok to just keep adding in more molasses? I do this every time I appear to be low on the fluffy bubbles. My theory is that this keeps all the little microbes happy and sustaining and prevents me from having to continually dump EWC into the suspended bag.

2. I sprayed two days in a row and that's when I noticed the splotches. Me and my garden partner have decided once a week sounds good and we plan to spray them asap with some warm decholorinated water to simulate a natural rain to try and wash some of the splotches off.

3. Is there any harm if some molasses is sprayed onto the plant, or fed to the soil? If so, there must be an ideal time to harvest EWC tea, and it must be right before the microbes run out of molasses to eat?

 

[Microbeman]

Thank you everyone for chiming in on this subject. Currently I have a medium sized pond pump pumping water from the bottom of a 55 gallon plastic barrel and then spraying it back down through a watering wand shower head. It creates massive amounts of fluffy bubbles when I add in black strap molasses, I presume this is a good sign that things are working correctly. There is a cheese cloth like bag that holds ewc suspended in the bucket.

Please clarify for me:

1. Is it Ok to just keep adding in more molasses? I do this every time I appear to be low on the fluffy bubbles. My theory is that this keeps all the little microbes happy and sustaining and prevents me from having to continually dump EWC into the suspended bag.

2. I sprayed two days in a row and that's when I noticed the splotches. Me and my garden partner have decided once a week sounds good and we plan to spray them asap with some warm decholorinated water to simulate a natural rain to try and wash some of the splotches off.

3. Is there any harm if some molasses is sprayed onto the plant, or fed to the soil? If so, there must be an ideal time to harvest EWC tea, and it must be right before the microbes run out of molasses to eat?

I've sent you a PM with a couple of links. It seems that you have some misconceptions about compost tea. Read the Tea sticky above and note the section concerning foam. Just ignore the recipe from SFI as it is not very good.

 

[t33to]

I've sent you a PM with a couple of links. It seems that you have some misconceptions about compost tea. Read the Tea sticky above and note the section concerning foam. Just ignore the recipe from SFI as it is not very good.

Got it, thank you very much.