Ripshot
Member
While on my travels the other day I happened on a pet store that was going out of business. 40% off everything says the sign the guy is holding at the side of the road.
Now Ive been reading up on making compost teas lately and im interested in the way they feed the soil, create benificial fungi and whatnot, but I havent had the cash to spend on the equiptment like air pumps, hose and stones.
So I go into the store and sure enough, find a decent air pump for a 30 gallon tank, double outlets, 12 bucks.
ugly clam shell shaped blue airstones, two bucks a piece.
16 feet of airline, 4 bucks.
Pretty sweet deal. Their loss is my gain.
Any way i went home and started a batch of tea in a 5 gallon bucket. filled the bucket up with water from my well. Butchered a piece of mesh from an old tent thats been lying around for a decade, and filled it with some composted chicken manure and barley straw. added a few tablespoons of blackstap molasses, tied the pouch to a stick and turned on the pump.
Its been brewing for about 24 hours now. Dosent really smell strong, smells faintly of earth. today I went out and bought a bag of worm castings, and added about a cup straight to the water. Ive removed the pouch too.
but something dosent seem right, there is no foam building at the top and it dosent seem to be getting darker in color or anything.
I think the problem is the temperature is too cold. As you can see here, its about 19 degrees.
another thing that puzzels me is the ph of this stuff. seems way high. Ive thought about adding some ph down to it but wouldnt that kill the bacteria and fungi and therefore defeat the purpose of the tea? or will the ph drop as the bacteria take hold?
Im not sure if im gona feed this batch to my 4 blackberry plants or not. I could always dump this batch on something in my vegtable garden.
heres a shot of my 4 girls. Ive been feeding them 5-1-1 fish emulsion for their whole lives, and flushing with plain water every other time. the water I use for my fertilizer is creek water, and it tests out to 6.5 after adding the ferts. I havent been adding any ph up or down.
Any input would be appreciated.
Now Ive been reading up on making compost teas lately and im interested in the way they feed the soil, create benificial fungi and whatnot, but I havent had the cash to spend on the equiptment like air pumps, hose and stones.
So I go into the store and sure enough, find a decent air pump for a 30 gallon tank, double outlets, 12 bucks.
ugly clam shell shaped blue airstones, two bucks a piece.
16 feet of airline, 4 bucks.
Pretty sweet deal. Their loss is my gain.
Any way i went home and started a batch of tea in a 5 gallon bucket. filled the bucket up with water from my well. Butchered a piece of mesh from an old tent thats been lying around for a decade, and filled it with some composted chicken manure and barley straw. added a few tablespoons of blackstap molasses, tied the pouch to a stick and turned on the pump.
Its been brewing for about 24 hours now. Dosent really smell strong, smells faintly of earth. today I went out and bought a bag of worm castings, and added about a cup straight to the water. Ive removed the pouch too.
but something dosent seem right, there is no foam building at the top and it dosent seem to be getting darker in color or anything.
I think the problem is the temperature is too cold. As you can see here, its about 19 degrees.
another thing that puzzels me is the ph of this stuff. seems way high. Ive thought about adding some ph down to it but wouldnt that kill the bacteria and fungi and therefore defeat the purpose of the tea? or will the ph drop as the bacteria take hold?
Im not sure if im gona feed this batch to my 4 blackberry plants or not. I could always dump this batch on something in my vegtable garden.
heres a shot of my 4 girls. Ive been feeding them 5-1-1 fish emulsion for their whole lives, and flushing with plain water every other time. the water I use for my fertilizer is creek water, and it tests out to 6.5 after adding the ferts. I havent been adding any ph up or down.
Any input would be appreciated.