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Compost tea with spent pot leaves
- Thread starter Skizzle42
- Start date
ive noticed this too,man
for whatever reason, the plants love the left over water from ice water extraction
/shrugs
@OP/ if nothing else, you could just run the leaf through a bubble bag and use that water on your plants
yep i think its all the yeasts and whatnot that live on and in the plants. the telltale sign is usually a nice odor and the frothy white foam that forms after you mix it around a bit.
growingcrazy
Well-known member
I like to put mine directly back onto the soil surface. Let it break down and integrate naturally. If you have that ability...
Can anybody elaborate on why/what certain pathogens and/or disease could be spread by brewing in tea?
Can anybody elaborate on why/what certain pathogens and/or disease could be spread by brewing in tea?
I just drink that water
Basically the leaves are a vector for disease in two ways.
1. If making a tea, any fungal spores or bacteria could potentially grow out in the tea to where you may not have seen noticeable plant damage or stress but they were present in the room. The tea could increase their numbers, damaging the plants when applied. Now this may not be a high risk per se but it exists.
2. When allowing dead leaves to stay on your soil you’re increasing food source for saprophytic microbes and potentially providing more habitat for pathogens as well as beneficials.
My litmus test for ideas like this is to look into what commercial horticulture does and why. Usually there’s a logica reason behind why they do things the way they do.
Any weed that I grow that doesn't get smoked ends up on the surface of my beds or in my worm bin. It's been this way for years.
If it were a vector, I probably would have had a problem before it wasn't part of a plant anymore.
Obviously if I had fucked up diseased plants, I wouldn't use the material.
If it were a vector, I probably would have had a problem before it wasn't part of a plant anymore.
Obviously if I had fucked up diseased plants, I wouldn't use the material.
I have been putting all unused plant material into my worm bin for several years. Every bit of root, leaf and stem eventually goes into the soil of future grows. One of my favorite additions to the bin is the "mash" or leftover bud and trim from making bubble hash. When I make compost tea, which isn't as often these days, the composted plant material is integrated into the EWC component.
I have also used the bokashi method to pre-ferment the plant material before adding to the worm bin and it works very well. Plant matter decomposes rapidly and worms really love bokashi treated compost and the effective microrganisms used for bokashi are healthy and useful additions to the soil.
I have also dropped leaves and chopped up stem pieces directly to the soil and let them compost in place over the course of the grow, serving as mulch and getting incorporated into the soil that way without any negative issues.
I have never just put uncomposted leaves into an ACT, however.
My soil is over 5 years old now and just keeps getting better.
Lapides knows what he's talking about.
I have also used the bokashi method to pre-ferment the plant material before adding to the worm bin and it works very well. Plant matter decomposes rapidly and worms really love bokashi treated compost and the effective microrganisms used for bokashi are healthy and useful additions to the soil.
I have also dropped leaves and chopped up stem pieces directly to the soil and let them compost in place over the course of the grow, serving as mulch and getting incorporated into the soil that way without any negative issues.
I have never just put uncomposted leaves into an ACT, however.
My soil is over 5 years old now and just keeps getting better.
Lapides knows what he's talking about.
DEATH BY SNUSNU
Member
Use it all!
Stem
Trim
Ash
Even my resin clogs go back into my soil....the worms love that shit!
Stem
Trim
Ash
Even my resin clogs go back into my soil....the worms love that shit!
Pot leaves are stock full of nutrients, especially if you have a well fed healthy plant. Think of all the extra trace minerals and nutrients you feed the plant, ends up in the leaves. If your like me, your canna plants are more well fed than anything else in the garden. So the leaves are some of the richest green material you have available.
I chop and drop my cuttings outside. Mulch, nutrients, worm food, etc.... I think its beneficial, but I also do agree it can raise the risk for problems. As in, if you had something bad already present in your soil, it may speed up the process. As well, the fungus that you don't want to attack your alive plants, may thrive more in canna leaves and stems than compared to say alfalfa(this is just my theory).
I think if your nervous about it, a safer practice would be fully composting or EWC'ing the leaves away from the plants, then apply them to the soil. Myself, I am to lazy, and have to many clippings to collect, so they get chopped and dropped. Large stems, I will cut them up a bit. End of the year, I use a chipper. Chip everything we don't harvest directly on top of the soil. Worm food for the winter!
Back to the OP question.. in a compost tea. Personally I like my compost tea simple. Compost/EWC, Molasses, maybe some fish hydro slate, alfalfa and rock dust if I have it on hand. A purist, microbe tea.
My theory on the bubble hash water. Some of the nutrients are leeching into the water. So the water is like a light version of a nutrient leachate. Similar to soaking alfalfa over night and watering with it.
I think a FPJ, would work great. The leaves get fully digested, and fed back to the soil with increased speed. To lazy this season. I will give it a whirl next year.
Mr^^
I chop and drop my cuttings outside. Mulch, nutrients, worm food, etc.... I think its beneficial, but I also do agree it can raise the risk for problems. As in, if you had something bad already present in your soil, it may speed up the process. As well, the fungus that you don't want to attack your alive plants, may thrive more in canna leaves and stems than compared to say alfalfa(this is just my theory).
I think if your nervous about it, a safer practice would be fully composting or EWC'ing the leaves away from the plants, then apply them to the soil. Myself, I am to lazy, and have to many clippings to collect, so they get chopped and dropped. Large stems, I will cut them up a bit. End of the year, I use a chipper. Chip everything we don't harvest directly on top of the soil. Worm food for the winter!
Back to the OP question.. in a compost tea. Personally I like my compost tea simple. Compost/EWC, Molasses, maybe some fish hydro slate, alfalfa and rock dust if I have it on hand. A purist, microbe tea.
My theory on the bubble hash water. Some of the nutrients are leeching into the water. So the water is like a light version of a nutrient leachate. Similar to soaking alfalfa over night and watering with it.
I think a FPJ, would work great. The leaves get fully digested, and fed back to the soil with increased speed. To lazy this season. I will give it a whirl next year.
Mr^^
Klompen
Active member
I have used it for mulch in the past. If you think about it, in nature the leaves from any given type of plant tend to fall to the base of that plant. Generally they are well-adapted to consume that mulch without issue. Some plants have some weird issues, such as tomatoes tending to blight from their own rotting fruit from the previous season, but most plants do not suffer anything negative from mulch produced by their lost foliage.
Switcher56
Comfortably numb!
All leaves that get discarded, get discarded to the compost bin. I recycle my soil (after cleaning) to a tub to be used outdoors, vice buying new soil. From there, the soil will de disposed of to a flower bed after it has done its deed.
You, my friend, have unwittingly started down the path of Korean Natural Farming. You should continue down the rabbit hole...
7
707OGBUSH970
They always go in my worm bin.
OldSchoolGrow
Member
Worm bin for the win.
