Has anyone tried to grow beneficial bacteria and fungi?

[headfortrinity]

I've been wanting to do this to save the cost of buying them. What do you think?
I've got a bucket going right now and it looks good but I'm not certain it's the right beneficial organisms that are growing.

 

[5to1]

check bigtokes topics. he never adds any bacteria. i'm impatient, so i've bought my own, but only to jump start the system and then it's on its own. they're not that expensive here so i don't bother waiting for 2 weeks or whatever..

 

[jammie]

the commercial stuff is so good and inexpensive i just buy it. subculture 1 oz pack that treats 250 gal h2o is $15, micorrhizal fungi from fungi.com is $8. why risk your plant or your health trying to make it.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

the commercial stuff is so good and inexpensive i just buy it. subculture 1 oz pack that treats 250 gal h2o is $15, micorrhizal fungi from fungi.com is $8. why risk your plant or your health trying to make it.

Yeah that.

If you want you can re-innoculate your current culture with the store bought stuff and keep it around. That way you know you're getting the right stuff.

 

[215Z]

Your local soil has benes acclimated and to your area. I put a handful in several layers of pantyhose and suspend in the bubbly water.

 

[cali mike]

Your local soil has benes acclimated and to your area. I put a handful in several layers of pantyhose and suspend in the bubbly water.

Why dont you just take all the pests, parasites and their eggs that live in outdoor soil and place them directly on your plants roots? Oh yea... I guess putting them in the rez is the same thing except more efficient.

You would be CRAZY to do that.

 

[Citizen024]

Organism soup

Organism soup

I have started making my own lately. It is seriously easy. Not going for nutrient, simply a good dose of microlife for my coco.

I was buying the Vermi-T at the shop. Talked with the rep, use the stuff, like it and all. But it adds up real fast. I could drop $60-120/month on it. No way compadre. They sell a home brew kit for $400 some odd dollars.

The fuck with that too. I gave it a real good look as it was running and got it all figured. Saw their large tea brewer as well.

When you get down to what it really is, and what you REALLY need, its quite simple. For less then the price of a couple gallons of tea I can brew much much more of it right at home. $40 for all this, and thats mostly the cost of the culture starter.

1 5-Gal Bucket
1 2- line air pump
Couple feet of air line hose
2- 6" airstones
a dress sock
1-2 cups of coco
1-2 cups of earthworm casting
1-1-1 1/2 tsp unsulphured molasses
2-6 tbs culture starter- I happen to be using Roots Organic Oregon(ism) cause its cheap. Great White looks nice as well. There are some excellent granulars, but I would rather add those to a dry mix.

Kelp powders can be added as well.

If your totally scared of messing up, go buy the pre-made Vermi-T cartriages and starter. All it is the same ingredients as above. Trust me, I went over all of the stuff with the guys at the shop who brew it everyday.

4 1/2 gallons of water and air stones in the bucket. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, adding in organism powder. Pour into sock. Tie the sock to the bucket handle, with the ingredients right at the surface of the water. Place in a spot where the bucket water temp will stay below 68 degrees.

Brew for 24 hours minimum, IMO best at 48 hours, and use it up for sure by 72 hours. It can be bottled and put in the fridge up to a week.

Use liberally, it has little nutrient value. Some nitrogen from the castings, as well as micros. Adding kelp can boost the mirco content.

Plenty of life in that brew. Smells sweet the first day, and really rich and earthy the second. To me that tells me life has taken foot. I usually use half at 24-48 hours, then half again 24-48 hours later.

 

[LadyLargely]

Hehe, way to go Citizen024!

There is a simpler way to get a more specific beneficial bacteria colony on the cheap. This stuff is great, stores well for a long time if you feed it molasses.



This is my supercharged Lacto B starter culture. Check out the full run-down on how to do one over in the Grow Show. This is super-cheap, super-easy and the resulting culture is one of the baddest-ass found in nature!