Need help with compost tea

M

Mico4479

420 Member
I'm switching to organic growing and I cant decide on what is exactly necessary. I'm getting down to earth 444 and dr earth bloom amendments for the soil itself. But for the compost tea I'm having problems. I know for sure I'll use worm castings and I was thinking of getting just bat guano, seagull guano, and langbeinite from down to earth nutrients. I was thinking with these 3 I could change the ratios for my teas depending on stage. But I've heard a lot of people say that kelp and alfalfa meal are also necessary. So do I need to use alfalfa, kelp, and bat guano as my main 3 and add seagull guano and langbeinite just for phosphorus and potasium during flower? Or if I just use the 2 guanos and langbeinite will that replenish the microbes and boost my flowers. At 20 dollars a box I dont want to buy stuff I dont need. Anybody who knows about compost tea the help would be appreciated.

Kelp 1-0.1-2
Alfalfa 2.5-0.5-2.5
Bat guano 7-3-1
Seagull guano 0-11-0
Langbeinite 0-0-22
 
A good compost is good to use as well. Have a handful in a mesh bag that the bubbles can agitate. This site is a touch weird about posting links. I will say that Microbeman has a site you should check out. He talks about the difference between nutrient teas and compost tea. I would add the amendments in soil. Let cook for a month. Add compost teas once every week or month. Then keep their populations bolstered with monthly molasses soil drench.
When adding all those inputs you need to be sure not to add too much, as it can go anaerobic on you.

And welcome to the the site @Micro4479
 
also how many plants do you need to feed
will the water be from your tap ?
I am starting a compost tea bin in a few days , its better to have an air pump , a fish tank heater and a tying net to hold the compost

i just use good quality compost , about a litre 90 litre bin
volcanic rock dust half cup ( the finer the better )
molasses 4 large table spoons
seaweed extract half cup
worm cast half litre
there are loads of other recipes :) you will be spoilt for choice:goodluck:

P1080882 (1).JPG
 
Check out this link. Otter and I like a book called True Living Organics, and the author, The Rev, offers some great tea recipes for the various stages of growth.

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Highya SO, Emmie, guys, Love the picture of the barrel on wheels! Such a great design! I don't envy mixing all that dirt, lol! I just set my little girls in the coldframe a couple days ago, and they're looking great. I used to use a cement mixer to mix up sheep feed. Worked great! Was fun...
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You can also purchase a product like RealGrower's Recharge, that will give you all the microbes you need, without having to go through the time, expense and mess of making your own teas.
 
Patient puffer said:
A good compost is good to use as well. Have a handful in a mesh bag that the bubbles can agitate. This site is a touch weird about posting links. I will say that Microbeman has a site you should check out. He talks about the difference between nutrient teas and compost tea. I would add the amendments in soil. Let cook for a month. Add compost teas once every week or month. Then keep their populations bolstered with monthly molasses soil drench.
When adding all those inputs you need to be sure not to add too much, as it can go anaerobic on you.

And welcome to the the site @Micro4479
Click to expand...
Yea I was planning on putting the 444 and dr earth straight in the soil and as a top dressing every month. And thanks man I was reading a bit of his website, and it has good information. The kelp meal apparently slows down microbe growth if you use too much.
 
TheNuttyProfessor said:
bat and seagull might be very acidic together ( maybe an over kill )
P, puffer i agree Molasses would benefit in teas and bring ph up a tad from too acidic

guano becomes strongly acidic, reaching pH levels of 2.7–4.1
Click to expand...
Is there anything else I could use to add some extra potassium and phosphorus during flower that's not so acidic? Preferably in a tea brew
 
TheNuttyProfessor said:
also how many plants do you need to feed
will the water be from your tap ?
I am starting a compost tea bin in a few days , its better to have an air pump , a fish tank heater and a tying net to hold the compost

i just use good quality compost , about a litre 90 litre bin
volcanic rock dust half cup ( the finer the better )
molasses 4 large table spoons
seaweed extract half cup
worm cast half litre
there are loads of other recipes :) you will be spoilt for choice:goodluck:

P1080882 (1).JPG
Click to expand...
Itll be 6 plants in 5 gallon pots. I was thinking of just making a tea with 3 gallons and diluting it 50% so each plant gets a full gallon. I live in texas so I have an ro filter, the tap water is too hard here. I've seen people use the rock dust I'm not really clear on what it does. What I want is being able to make teas that can boost nitrogen for veg and potassium and phosphorous for flower. Or is that even possible since it's not going straight into the plant? I just see people using dozens of stuff in organic grows and the more I look into it the more expensive it keeps getting.
 
Hi @Mico4479 and welcome to the forum! :welcome:

You and the others on here so far are not understanding the purpose of a properly made compost tea. A tea is so as to grow microbes that you can introduce into your soil, specific microbes that feed on and process the specific minerals that your plant needs at this particular time. To do this, the tea is "seeded" with those specific minerals, in small amounts, so as to feed the microbes that you want to produce, allowing them to thrive in the mix as compared to other microbes that will not be so helpful at that time. A compost tea is not supposed to be strong enough to feed the plants... it is not a nutrient tea. It is all about the microbes.

If you want to boost nitrogen or p or k, fine... fertilize. That is not the purpose of a compost tea. If you want to run an organic grow, where by definition you don't fertilize, but allow the microbes to feed the plants for you out of what is already in the soil, or amended into it in your case, then make your teas in order to supply the correct microbes or just supply ready made microbes via a product such as RealGrower's Recharge, Voodoo Juice or URB, or even go with the shotgun approach by brewing multi microbe concoctions using compost or worm castings as your microbe base... but in all these cases, the compost tea will not be what would normally be considered a nutrient mixture... it is only microbes.
 
I dont think it's exactly organic. Its how mr canucks grows on youtube. Amending with 444 and dr earth bloom when I first plant and them tope dressing with the same 2 every month but changing the ratio. And then just replenishing or I guess helping the microbes out with a tea every 2 or 4 weeks. So would the extra phosphorus and potassium not do anything for the plant if I put it straight into the tea to brew? Or in veg the bat guano is for the nitrogen would that also just be a waste of money.

Because I wont add anything at all other than those 2 I use to amend and what is put in through the tea. The tea was going to have worm castings, molasses, alfalfa meal cause fuck it, and azomite for cal mag I think. It would have those 4 in every single tea, and then I'd put in bat guano for nitrogen, seagull guano for phosphorus, and langbeinite for potassium. So say for veg I'd do like 3 gal of water 2 cups worm castings, molasses, 2 tbsp alfalfa, 2 tbsp azomite, 2 tbsp bat guano, and 1 tbsp of seagull guano and langbeinite. Then for flower it's all the same except 1 tbsp bat guano. And 2 of the seagull and langbeinite.
Would that work and provide those higher levels of nutrients to pack on mass? Or should I just keep one simple tea for the whole grow and save a couple hundred dollars on nutrients.

I'm sorry if I'm just missing the point of what yall are trying to tell me. I'm just not that smart and the whole organic thing has got me really confused.
 
I told you what I know about compost teas and I do not use them to feed the plants... that is the job of your Dr. Earth and your 444. Mr Canucks might have a different philosophy, but strangely a lot of folks who watch his videos end up here trying to figure out their problems... grows don't always go like his do for some odd reason.

What exactly makes you think you even need to add extra n, p and k? Have you seen any deficiencies? Are you just assuming that the 444 and dr. earth are not up to the job?
 
Well rn I'm growing with synthetic and I noticed that I really have to ramp up the p and k or else they just dont put on enough weight, even if theres no signs if deficiency I still add extra bloom nutrients and they get bigger. Would that not work with like this? I mean the microbes would break it down and the plant still ends up with the extra boosts they need to put on mass. That's how I thought about it. I figured the extra stuff put into teas adds what's not in the in ammendments. Like azomite is for calcium and magnesium right? Say for synthetic, yes I could probably grow without cal mag but the plants still need it right.
 
nope... organic grows and compost teas don't work like that... the microbes and the plants work together to get what is needed to the plant, nothing less, and nothing more. If you force feed available nutrients into the mix, like that 444, bypassing the organic feeding process, you can upset the balance, and kill off vital microbes who also rely on exudates from the plant to survive. If you are feeding the plant with external available nutes, you effectively starve your microbes. And, if you throw in extra azomite and other raw nutrients, without the microbes to process them, or if the plant cant use this extra stuff, they just sit there, wasting your money and effort. Without the microbes doing their part in this feeding cycle, all you are getting from these raw nutrients in overabundance in a tea, is whatever small portion of them are water soluble... the rest is just sitting there, no matter how long you brew it. And, brew a tea too long, and without active aeration, and the bad microbes increase in number... you can actually kill a grow with a bad tea.
 
So why even bother with teas and microbes if the 444 and dr earth feed the plant? Or if the microbes are doing all the work why add azomite and kelp meal and this other stuff
 
Dr. Earth will not work without microbes... it is raw nutrient in an unavailable form. 444 is ready to go supplement... commonly used to enhance soils, and it would not need the microbes in order to work.
When you add azomite or kelp meal to a compost tea, you are creating an environment where only the microbes that feed on those elements thrive in your tea... everything else is starved out. Then, when you add these specialized microbes to your soil, they go to work on the azomite and other raw materials already in your soil, contained in that Dr. Earth that you periodically add to the soil.
 
Ah I see. I thought the down to earth was the same as the dr earth flower girl. I'm using them because I cant find the gaia green he uses. So if I use the dr earth flower girl and premium gold (444) and worm castings to amend the soil and as a top dressing I will still need a compost tea so that those microbes break down the flower girl and premium gold and make it usable for the plant right? Would I need to add something else to the soil itself or will just those 3 do the job? Apart from what's in the tea.
 
It is my belief that the Dr. Earth alone will provide everything you need nutrient wise, you just need to supply the microbes. If you are able to get it where you are at, look up RealGrower's Recharge and see how easy it is to get ready to go microbes, without having to mess with compost teas and all the expensive components.
91WFYQLqdrL._SL1500_ (1).jpg

91WFYQLqdrL._SL1500_ (1).jpg

microbial super pack
 
It's a bit expensive on amazon. 200 for 5 lbs. And it needs to be fed every week. Would you recommend using the recharge or a simple tea like the one nutty professor posted earlier? Or a simple compost tea and just add some recharge to it?
 
dont buy it on amazon... buy it direct. It is cheap compared to making proper teas. It takes 1 tsp per week... it will last for a long time... you don't need 5 lbs. Nutty's tea works for him... i would never use it... that is why I recommended The Rev's recipes... they are targeted for the stages of the grow, and the directions allow you to grow mostly beneficial microbes. I would also never add recharge to an already brewed tea... talk about a battle royal!
 

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