Equipment needed for making teas? A few questions

[Beeb Beebman]

Looking to get started in brewing my own teas for use in my soil garden. read all the various posts and recipes but looking for some more input. What equipment will I be needing? What do I put the worm castings or guano in? Does pantyhose really work or is there something better? How strong of a pump can I use or should I get. I've heard having too strong a pump can disrupt or disturb the beneficial microbes in the brew. Correct me if I'm wrong!! I've also heard that having an airstone was not necessary either. I was thinking of acquiring most of the supplies from walmart (the pump,tubing, round rubbermaid type resevoir for holding solution) In anyones experience can a decent quality pump be found there or even a pet store? Hoping I can find one locally as I'm pretty excited to get started in doing some AACT's. I'm currently using the GO line with the plants growing in 50/50 FF OF and Roots Organics. As I don't have many plants, 12 is my legal limit, I bought the General Organics GO box. When those run out, thats when I'd like to get into making my own brews. So far I'm thinking of a little brew to supplement the Go line with someting along the lines of Some Worm castings, Molasses, and some kelp extract. Just a little brew so I can give them a rest yet continue to feed my soil. Any help from you "tea brewers" out there would be welcomed. When I acquire the stuff, I will be chronicling my adventures in "tea" in my first ever grow(journal in sig) Sorry if i'm comin off as longwinded, but any help is appreciated. This is a great community.

 

[Trunk5]

best tea you can buy... Organic Compost Tea by Bountea - Harness the Natural Growing Power of your Soil its an all veganic tea and so far i have yet to see any other home made tea compare to this one.

 

[nibec]

i acutally brew a tea for my DWC to keep root diseases away.

one thing that was reccomended to me was using airstones... but i find they dont last long. they plug up after not too long.

i make a gallon at a time, and use a 35 gallon per hour fountain pump to keep it oxygenated..

i put my worm castings in a thin sock, and tack it to the lid of my bucket. then, i disolve half a tbsp of blackstrap molasses into the gallon of water, add 10 ml aquashield (bacteria) and 1/8 of a scoop of ZHO powder (fungi), mix it up real well.

then i place my pump in, and let it shoot the water up, and into the sock, and then it falls back down, and continues that journey for 48 hours.

seems to work great... then i store my tea in the fridge for up to 10 days.

i'd like to get a bigger pump next time i go to the store, probably closer to 70-100gph.

obviously thats not the recipe you would use, but, thats how i brew mine.

 

[Hash Hound]

I use a 5 gl bucket with an aquarium pump with dual line output.

I have tried both the pantyhose and just mixing the ingredients in to the water, and I think it brewed better without the pantyhose. I think the mass of nutes in the pantyhose is to thick to really get all the ingredients cooking right.

Now I put a cup or two of a powdered organic nute like Dr Earth Bud and Bloom, 2 tbsp molasses and a tbsp of Stump Tea powder mix (it has some of those microbe things in it. I have also used Humboldt Myco Madness which is about the same.) And I have used those Bountea tabs also. I brew it for 24 hours and use it. You can barely see in the pic, but there is a little spigot on the bottom of the bucket. I just attach a small hose and water.

I have tried letting all that sludge stay on the bottom of the bucket and brew it again, but it doesn't work. It smells bad. Now I take the left overs and top dress it on the plants.

Notice the large bubbles. That is when I used the pantyhose. But when I don't use it I get a much thicker foamy head with smaller bubbles.

 

[Concrete Seed]

Get Miko, Bat Guano and Molasses. Put into res and aerate it. It should foam up in 6-12hrs. If it doesn't foam up, then its not activated-tea. I heard Botanicare carries a good pre-mix tea nute but i've always done my own. Good luck. Feed ever 7-10 days and if you properly fed the soil, you may only need regular water and the tea every 7-10days for the first 30-50days depending on what soil yer using and how strong yer microbiology is in the soil.

 

[up side down]

Get Miko, Bat Guano and Molasses. Put into res and aerate it. It should foam up in 6-12hrs. If it doesn't foam up, then its not activated-tea. I heard Botanicare carries a good pre-mix tea nute but i've always done my own. Good luck. Feed ever 7-10 days and if you properly fed the soil, you may only need regular water and the tea every 7-10days for the first 30-50days depending on what soil yer using and how strong yer microbiology is in the soil.

I'm from New Zealand, what is Miko?

I make my own organic liquid plant food for my veges, and am excited to try it on my plants, I should have seeds in a couple of weeks, and then I'm underway.