bigbadbiddy
Active member
Howdy folks,
so I am in the process of building my first ACT brewer and am preparing to brew my first tea today.
I was wondering if y'all would be so kind to help me with the recipes and help me decide what kind of teas I should brew and help me decide if I might need some additional components.
Here is what I have:
- Earth Worm Castings
- Diastatic malted Barley
- Alfalfa seeds
- Kelp
- Bloodmeal
- Bonemeal
- Epsom salt
- Neemseedmeal and Neemseed extract
The issues my plants are having:
- Yellowing from the bottom, working upwards. Bottom 30% of the plant basically have to be lollipopped or they will just grow into a tiny, yellow mess before crinkling and dying off. Old fan leafs further up also seem to be affected over time. New growth at the top seems unaffected and always looks healthy.
Watering with EWC slurry has helped in the past (during veg, yellow leafs did not bounce back but following growth did not yellow as long as watering with EWC) but I would have to water every time with EWC slurry or at the latest every second watering.
- Sometimes leafs further up the plant are affected in a way that makes me think of Magnesium or Potassium deficiency. I have used epsom salt in the EWC slurry in the past with no negative effect on the plants but no discernable positive effect either.
The plants are now in first week of flower and I plan to make a EWC and malted barley tea over the weekend, water them with it monday or so.
My plants also had no worms in their pots (unless some survived in the EWC I mixed into the soil) and I will add them today. A hand full per pot (just 5 gallon smart pots). Then topdress EWC and sow clover seeds and top with hay and start mulching with old leafs that I pluck etc.
So here are the questions:
- I read 1 tbsp/gallon malted barley for an ACT. Is that correct? How much EWC should I add? Should I add some alfalfa seeds into the same tea (considering I believe I am mainly N-deficient)? How much? Should I add some epsom salt? Anything else from what I have available?
- I am quite a noob when it comes to humic and fulvic acid. I just never really got it/what it is about. I know I will add hella enzymes to the soil with the malted barley ACT and I know the worms will help along with creating a better soil food web. But I read elsewhere that especially at the start, fulvic acid has to be added. Is that correct? Can anyone suggest a fulvic acid product in EU? Do I add it to the tea? How much/gallon?
Thanks a bunch y'all. If pics are needed, I will provide. But the plants look healthy for the most part and since the EWC slurry helped in veg, I have no reason to assume anything but an N-deficiency at the moment.
I also recently heard that rice hulls and buckwheat hulls as a perlite replacement in organic soil are known to leech N from the soil. Was not aware of this and it makes sense to me if true as that would explain the continuous deficiencies in my soil that seem not too bad overall but not really going away either.
Thanks for your help and suggestions.
BBB
so I am in the process of building my first ACT brewer and am preparing to brew my first tea today.
I was wondering if y'all would be so kind to help me with the recipes and help me decide what kind of teas I should brew and help me decide if I might need some additional components.
Here is what I have:
- Earth Worm Castings
- Diastatic malted Barley
- Alfalfa seeds
- Kelp
- Bloodmeal
- Bonemeal
- Epsom salt
- Neemseedmeal and Neemseed extract
The issues my plants are having:
- Yellowing from the bottom, working upwards. Bottom 30% of the plant basically have to be lollipopped or they will just grow into a tiny, yellow mess before crinkling and dying off. Old fan leafs further up also seem to be affected over time. New growth at the top seems unaffected and always looks healthy.
Watering with EWC slurry has helped in the past (during veg, yellow leafs did not bounce back but following growth did not yellow as long as watering with EWC) but I would have to water every time with EWC slurry or at the latest every second watering.
- Sometimes leafs further up the plant are affected in a way that makes me think of Magnesium or Potassium deficiency. I have used epsom salt in the EWC slurry in the past with no negative effect on the plants but no discernable positive effect either.
The plants are now in first week of flower and I plan to make a EWC and malted barley tea over the weekend, water them with it monday or so.
My plants also had no worms in their pots (unless some survived in the EWC I mixed into the soil) and I will add them today. A hand full per pot (just 5 gallon smart pots). Then topdress EWC and sow clover seeds and top with hay and start mulching with old leafs that I pluck etc.
So here are the questions:
- I read 1 tbsp/gallon malted barley for an ACT. Is that correct? How much EWC should I add? Should I add some alfalfa seeds into the same tea (considering I believe I am mainly N-deficient)? How much? Should I add some epsom salt? Anything else from what I have available?
- I am quite a noob when it comes to humic and fulvic acid. I just never really got it/what it is about. I know I will add hella enzymes to the soil with the malted barley ACT and I know the worms will help along with creating a better soil food web. But I read elsewhere that especially at the start, fulvic acid has to be added. Is that correct? Can anyone suggest a fulvic acid product in EU? Do I add it to the tea? How much/gallon?
Thanks a bunch y'all. If pics are needed, I will provide. But the plants look healthy for the most part and since the EWC slurry helped in veg, I have no reason to assume anything but an N-deficiency at the moment.
I also recently heard that rice hulls and buckwheat hulls as a perlite replacement in organic soil are known to leech N from the soil. Was not aware of this and it makes sense to me if true as that would explain the continuous deficiencies in my soil that seem not too bad overall but not really going away either.
Thanks for your help and suggestions.
BBB