Tea Bag your DWC Heisenberg tea by SmokzAlot

SmokzAlot;1678629 said:

What we have been waiting for...

The core of these recipes are known on the net as "Heisenberg Tea".

recipe #1 (most aggressive)
- 1 ga water (if tap, let sit 24 hours or aerate)
- 1 tsp (5mL) Mycogrow soluble
- 1 tsp (5mL) ZHO powder
- 3/4 tbsp (11.25 mL) unsulfured molasses
- 1/8 cup (30 mL) Ancient Forest EWC

recipe #2
- 1 gal water
- 15-30ml Aquashield
- 1/4 scoop ZHO (enclosed scoop small end)
- 1 handfull of EWC
- 3/4 tbsp unsulfured molasses

recipe #3 (simplest but not as aggressive)
- 1 gal water
- 1 handfull EWC
- 3/4 tbsp unsulfured molasses


The products listed can be substituted for similar items, but the chosen items have been found to be cheapest/best/most diverse. Great White powder and Roots Excelurator are stupid expensive. (Not to mention Roots Excelurator contains anaerobic bacteria and specifically says not to use it with airstones). Most anything containing sugar can be used in place of molasses, it just provides food for the bennies.

These products do have their own dosage and application directions, ignore them and brew the tea. It will be more beneficial and make more efficient use of the ingredients than using them separately.

Small amounts brewed at a time are best as the tea remains usable for 7-10 days after brewing (only if refrigerated to slow bacterial/fungal growth!). If unrefrigerated must be used immediately or the bennies fight amongst themselves and the biological diversity degrades.

Add recipe to container, mix thoroughly, keep temperature 70-80F if possible, aerate for 48 hours.

- unless water pH is way off do not pH adjust before or after brewing
- a biofilm of foam should appear indicating good biological activity
- foam may not appear if water is too cold to 'wake up' the bennies but tea may still function at some level
- certain fungi will 'activate' in the tea but not reproduce and multiply, a small extra amount of ZHO powder (or any product with only fungi) can be added to the tea just before use to add additional fungi (but not at all necessary)
- tea is best brewed at the reservoir temperature it will be used at to ensure the different types of bennies are in the same ratio at the end of brewing as they will be when in the hydroponics system (however temperatures below 70F will not work as well)
- straining can be accomplished by running tea through a cheesecloth or similar, pour directly on roots, through netcups/hydroton, and directly into reservoir to innoculate the system

Application Rates
- 1 cup per gallon of total system water for fixing problems
- 1 cup per 10 gallons for general system health maintenance
- add a cup or so directly to roots every 3 days or so

Leftover tea can be refrigerated for use up to 7-10 days. The cold will slow down biological activity and keep the population diverse. If tea starts to smell like anything besides "mossy" or "earthy", throw it away. Especially if it smells like shit.

After inoculating hydroponics systems with bennies make sure to dilute any pH adjusters before adding them as the concentrate can kill them (good practice anyway to avoid nutrients being forced out of solution aka flocculation).

This tea can be applied as a foliar spray to fight PM and provide general health.

---

You can substitute just about any product you want. Any EWC will give you a good base of microbes. Any product or combo of products which contain mycos, bacillus, and trichoderma will do the trick. Don't worry about matching the exact ingredients. The exception is AN microbe products. Stay away from AN microbe products!


If you notice a dark sort of slime form after you treat with tea, stay the course. As long as you see new shoots growing you are on your way to recovery. The after-slime is harmless and will not expand or stall roots. New root tips are what you want to see.

Do not use tea with h202, sm-90, Zone or any type of sterilizing product. Do not filter tea beyond 400 microns.

If you have slime attacking plants with very small roots, adding housing to your res like a lava rock, hydroton, or a koi pond mat will make a big difference. Place the housing in your tea brew for the duration and then move it to your res. I accomplish this by soaking my air stones in the tea as it brews then transfer it into the res, don't forget to pour through the net pot to inoculate the roots. No one has reported sprayers clogging from using regular tea. But, if you are concerned you can also try Aquashield by itself without brewing. High pressure nozzles will kill most microbes, medium pressure and simple sprayers are fine.

Take care of improper res conditions FIRST. Even the tea will not save you from disease if you do not have enough oxygen or proper temperatures. Res water should be around 72-75f with bennies. Air pump should be at least 1wt per gallon. As always with DWC check those air stones often. I freshen mine up in a h2o2 bath then rinse and reuse. When fighting the slime the air stones will require more checking. Something you should be doing anyway if you are battling the nasties. If the plants are in stress due to lack of nutrient uptake, foliar feed them. Your recovery and halting further damage is worth the effort. Feed them..

What do I stand to gain from this?

explosive root growth, general plant heath, lower nutrient ppm levels necessary, and higher safe reservoir temperatures

Click to expand...