Anti-fungal foliar spray test of aerated worm compost tea

[cbdhemp808]

Hey Growmies, this is my contribution to @Azimuth 's thread, here: Bud Rot & Mold vs. Microbes

This is a test to see if foliar spray of aerated worm compost tea will prevent mold on leaves and bud rot.

I have two kush clones of the same pheno that have recently been moved to my flower greenhouse. I will spray one with the tea, and leave the other as a control. When I have flowered this pheno in the past, it usually does have mold and bud rot problems. I usually also flower a Maui Wowie at the same time, and the MW always has much less mold problems, and almost no bud rot.

I started a batch of aerated worm tea tonight in a 5 gal bucket. I used the following ingredients:

• fresh worm compost from my worm bins, 10 cups
• 2 cups bat guano (N)
• 2 cups seabird guano (P)
• 1 cup dolomite lime (Ca, Mg)
• 1/2 cup potassium sulfate (solution grade; K, S)
• 1/4 cup Langbeinite (solution grade; K, Mg, S)
• 2 tbsp fulvic acid (solution grade)

I'm a bit rusty with brewing this stuff, and I sort of fumbled with the ingredients and method. First, I don't like to use a mesh bag or nylon panty hose to contain the worm castings and other ingredients – I just mix it all together and fill the bucket with water. All of the non-soluble ingredients tend to muck up the bottom of the bucket and the air stone. Second, this was an old recipe of mine... next time I won't add any non-soluble nutes (guano & dolomite) – just the solution grade nutes. Next time I think I will just mix the ingredients and water very thoroughly, then run it through a nylon panty hose filter a couple times, then start the brewing with the filtered liquid.

I ended up reaching in and pulling out handfuls of muck from the bottom of the bucket. I tried a new air stone that I just bought recently, and it malfunctioned – not the first time I've had problems with this brand of air stones. So, I used one of my old air stones that does work, and it's a disc-shaped one that fastens to the bottom of the bucket with 4 suction cups.

I harvested a couple buckets of worm compost from my worm bins.

This is a typical method to separate the worms out. Make little piles and wait a while – the worms will retreat from the light and heat to the center of the piles. Then carefully remove the compost from the piles with your fingers and put in a container. Works best in the bright sun (this was done at night in my veg greenhouse).

Here's the air stone I used.

Ready to pour into the bucket on the right. I should have filtered it!

This will brew for 48 hours. A few hours before it's finished, I'll add a couple tablespoons of apple juice to give the microbes some sugar.

I also made a big batch of recycled soil tonight and up potted 4 plants: 2 Blue Dream-X in 6.5 gal pots, 1 Gelato-X in a 6.5 gal pot, and a CBD pheno in a 5 gal pot (a clone mom that I won't flower).

 

[StoneOtter]

Thanks cbdhemp! Nice comparison!

 

[Azimuth]

Hey Growmies, this is my contribution to @Azimuth 's thread, here: Bud Rot & Mold vs. Microbes

This is a test to see if foliar spray of aerated worm compost tea will prevent mold on leaves and bud rot.

I have two kush clones of the same pheno that have recently been moved to my flower greenhouse. I will spray one with the tea, and leave the other as a control. When I have flowered this pheno in the past, it usually does have mold and bud rot problems. I usually also flower a Maui Wowie at the same time, and the MW always has much less mold problems, and almost no bud rot.

I started a batch of aerated worm tea tonight in a 5 gal bucket. I used the following ingredients:

• fresh worm compost from my worm bins, 10 cups
• 2 cups bat guano (N)
• 2 cups seabird guano (P)
• 1 cup dolomite lime (Ca, Mg)
• 1/2 cup potassium sulfate (solution grade; K, S)
• 1/4 cup Langbeinite (solution grade; K, Mg, S)
• 2 tbsp fulvic acid (solution grade)

I'm a bit rusty with brewing this stuff, and I sort of fumbled with the ingredients and method. First, I don't like to use a mesh bag or nylon panty hose to contain the worm castings and other ingredients – I just mix it all together and fill the bucket with water. All of the non-soluble ingredients tend to muck up the bottom of the bucket and the air stone. I ended up reaching in a pulling out handfuls of muck from the bottom of the bucket. I tried a new air stone that I just bought recently from the local grow shop, and it malfunctioned – not the first time I've had problems with this brand of air stones. So, I used one of my old air stones that does work, and it's a disc-shaped one that fastens to the bottom of the bucket with 4 suction cups. When I realized the new air stone wasn't going to work, I then had to dump my bucket into a second bucket, then completely cleaned out and rinsed the first bucket so that I could set up the disc-shaped air stone with it's suction cups on the bottom of the bucket. Next time I think I will just mix the ingredients and water very thoroughly, then run it through a nylon panty hose filter a couple times, then start the brewing with the filtered liquid.

[under construction]

Looking forward to the test!

I use an air lift brewer that can help get around the "muck in the bottom of the barrel" issue. And I run all the inputs through a wire screen filter before they go in so there is less chance of stagnant sections. Mine is built for a 5 gallon bucket but same concept works for a 55 gallon drum for those like @Mycelium Farmer with bigger needs.

I never liked the air stones. If you don't clean them fast enough when you're done the biofilm can harden and make them less effective for next time.

Good luck with the test. Maybe we can get @danishoes21 to try a non-aerated version for comparison.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Looking forward to the test!

I use an air lift brewer that can help get around the "muck in the bottom of the barrel" issue. And I run all the inputs through a wire screen filter before they go in so there is less chance of stagnant sections. Mine is built for a 5 gallon bucket but same concept works for a 55 gallon drum for those like @Mycelium Farmer with bigger needs.

I never liked the air stones. If you don't clean them fast enough when you're done the biofilm can harden and make them less effective for next time.

Good luck with the test. Maybe we can get @danishoes21 to try a non-aerated version for comparison.

Thanks. Yes, I was checking out one of those airlift vortex brewers on YouTube... looks cool.

My first post is complete now, with photos.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Thanks cbdhemp! Nice comparison!

Yeah, it's going to be an interesting test.

My first post is complete now, with photos.

 

[Danishoes21]

Anyone said microbes? Mind if I stay around and check this experiment. Sounds really interesting.

 

[InTheShed]

This is a test to see if foliar spray of aerated worm compost tea will prevent mold on leaves and bud rot.

I have two kush clones

You had me at clones.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Hey Growmies, I harvested the compost tea tonight, and gave one of the two kush clones a thorough spray-down. This tea is known as actively aerated compost tea (AACT).

Here's some pics...

The two clones of the same kush pheno, in 5 gal pots. I foliar sprayed the test subject (i.e. the one on the right*) tonight after dark. The one on the left is the control. Spraying after dark is recommended, so that microbes don't get killed by UV light, or be subjected to heat that would dry out the tea too quickly on the leaf surfaces. (*I swapped their positions before spraying, so the sprayed plant is actually on the left now.)

There's 3 other plants in the flower house – the tall one in the left foreground is Maui Wowie (in a 6.5 gal pot), and the two little ones are clones of the same CBD pheno.

I harvested the tea at about 7:30pm, after about 46 hours of brewing. It was a rich brown color with good odor. The tea was a bit warm to the touch, indicating good microbial growth. I forgot to mention before – I used pure rainwater, ppm 25. At around 5:30pm, I added 4 tbsp of organic pear juice to give the microbes some sugar. Why pear juice? The store didn't have apple juice.

I filtered twice through a pantyhose. For the first pour, I poured carefully and slowly, in order to keep the solids at the bottom, which I then transferred to my muck bucket for later use as a soil top dressing.

Here's the filtered tea, full strength. Chunky Boy was enjoying hanging out with me in the greenhouse, and running around in the cool night air... 76°F.

The full strength tea was 1400-1600 ppm. My pH pen is not calibrated and gave bogus readings of 8.3 and 7.1. I checked the pH of distilled water and the pen showed 8.45 – can't be right.

I used the left bucket to mix up a gallon of diluted tea. I added pure rainwater until the ppm was about 900. Then I put the diluted tea in my 1/2 gal sprayer, ready to spray the test subject.

After spraying the one kush plant, and ALL my other plants except the OTHER kush plant, I turned the bubbles back on to preserve the tea. Tomorrow I'll dilute the remainder of the tea and water the plants with it (except the kush plants).

 

[cbdhemp808]

Here she is, sprayed with actively aerated compost tea (AACT). For this test, I'll be doing just one application of the tea. I did a super thorough spray-down of the entire plant, including undersides of the leaves. This plant was transferred to the flower house about 10 days ago. She is just starting to flower, but buds have not formed yet.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Hi @Teddy Edwards ,

The like icon has disappeared.

UPDATE: The like icon is back.

 

[cbdhemp808]

I use an air lift brewer that can help get around the "muck in the bottom of the barrel" issue. And I run all the inputs through a wire screen filter before they go in so there is less chance of stagnant sections. Mine is built for a 5 gallon bucket but same concept works for a 55 gallon drum for those like @Mycelium Farmer with bigger needs.

I never liked the air stones. If you don't clean them fast enough when you're done the biofilm can harden and make them less effective for next time.

I'm thinking that the pump required for airlift would use too much power for my off-grid situation. I'm currently using a dinky pump that uses very little power, but it's enough to produce the stream of tiny bubbles required for the brewing to work. I totally understand the need to pre-filter, but according to some of the info I'm reading, it's better for the solids to soak in the water during brewing, to liberate more microbes into the tea. So, what I wanted to do is suspend a small stone a few inches above the bottom of the bucket – i.e. the muck zone. BUT... the stupid stone malfunctioned and was spitting out big bubbles around the base where the tube connects to the stone. I have ordered a slightly more powerful pump, and some other air stones.

 

[Azimuth]

I'm thinking that the pump required for airlift would use too much power for my off-grid situation. I'm currently using a dinky pump that uses very little power, but it's enough to produce the stream of tiny bubbles required for the brewing to work.

I don't think the pump needs to be all that powerful since you're just using the bubbles to carry the tea up and the bubbles want to do that normally. The output of the pipes is just above the water level so as the bubbles burst at the surface they spill over and back into the bucket.

It's supposed to be one of the best designs for brewing tea, at least from those in the know. The pump I'm using for it is an Ecoair Commercial 793 gph, 2.9 psi, 0.25A of current, 1/4" tubing.

I have a regular fish tank pump I got to make a bubble cloner I could use to hook it up and see how that works if that would be helpful.

I totally understand the need to pre-filter, but according to some of the info I'm reading, it's better for the solids to soak in the water during brewing, to liberate more microbes into the tea.

That makes sense. I usually soak the inputs in water for a while to help loosen everything up but it makes sense that leaving them in might liberate more into the mix. But I figure the whole point of brewing an aerobic tea is to multiply the microbes anyway so if I don't get them all to begin with I figure they get replaced during the brew.

Also, because my brewer uses pipes, larger pieces have a better chance of forming blockages which I discovered the first time it tried it.

I made a 4 gallon batch this summer and stored what I didn't use right away and have been using it as more of a Jadam anaerobic tea ever since with no apparent ill effects.

 

[cbdhemp808]

I don't think the pump needs to be all that powerful ...

Thanks. I'm gonna stick with the air stones for now. I will probably repeat this test with a couple other clones, and document here. Or possibly with one clone of the Gelato-X, since the seedling I grew and flowered had a lot of bud rot. I've got some other possible plants for this test, too.

That makes sense. I usually soak the inputs in water for a while to help loosen everything up but it makes sense that leaving them in might liberate more into the mix. But I figure the whole point of brewing an aerobic tea is to multiply the microbes anyway so if I don't get them all to begin with I figure they get replaced during the brew.

In fact, I think what I read is that it's the action of the bubbles that removes the microbes from the solids and into the tea. An air stone pumping fine bubbles, suspended above the muck zone, will keep the muck from building up on the air stone, and also facilitates manual mixing of the batch while brewing. I'm feeling like 32 hrs is a good brewing time for 5 gal bucket.

 

[Azimuth]

I've seen some compost tea makers users put the solids in a suspended bag with a small air stone in it and another larger air stone at the bottom of the bucket. That keeps the muck contained but still aerated, and the lower stone keeps the overall mix moving. Don't know if you'd have to replace the air stone in the bag more frequently though they're pretty cheap even if you did.

Could use a splinter in the air line or a pump with a dual outlet for that setup. If you did you just want to be sure both air lines are the same length to get an equal air output from each.

 

[cbdhemp808]

I calibrated my pH pen.

The leftover tea still bubbling was 1790 ppm. pH 7.5.

My rainwater out of the tank is pH 8.3.

Today I diluted the tea with water 4:1 and watered plants with it. 650 ppm. pH 7.7.

 

[Azimuth]

My rainwater out of the tank is pH 8.3

Really? Wow. Our rainwater here on the mainland is acidic (east coast at least).

Interesting.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Really? Wow. Our rainwater here on the mainland is acidic (east coast at least).

Interesting.

Assuming my pH pen is giving an accurate reading. I was surprised too... I'll try to test it another way.

 

[Azimuth]

I looked it up and ocean water is 8+ so it sounds right. I was just surprised as I assumed all rain water was slightly acidic.

 

[cbdhemp808]

I looked it up and ocean water is 8+ so it sounds right. I was just surprised as I assumed all rain water was slightly acidic.

We have always heard here that the rainwater is acidic, but I never tested ours, from that tank. We also have a drinking water catchment that goes directly into a 5 gal plastic water bottle, so I'll check that water with the pen.

 

[cbdhemp808]

This is a test to see if foliar spray of aerated worm compost tea [AACT] will prevent mold on leaves and bud rot.

Here are photos of the mold that I'm hoping the tea will prevent. Can anyone identify this mold?

The last batch of plants I had in my flower house had lots of this mold on the leaves.

Today, after I plucked the two leaves shown in the photos, the plants in the flower house – including the two test plants – are now basically mold free. Yesterday, I foliar sprayed all of the plants in the flower house except for the one kush that's the control. So, we'll see very quickly if the tea is able to prevent this mold.

On the top of the leaf, the affected areas appear yellow and will become necrotic.

Close-up of the yellow areas.

The underside is where the mold starts growing.

Close-up of the mold – dark grey and fuzzy.