So want to get into brewing my own tea. Any suggestions on where to start. I have been looking at kits online and seems simple enough. Is it as easy as putting compost into a bag and turn on pump? @Niala @Countryboyjvd1971 @garrigan62 @Usmcjojo
Well, yes and no…lol…
Here’s my guidelines for a basic compost tea
I prefer a less microbial one and more fungi, so no sugar, just a little bit of molasses, ke!p and rock dust that you’ll add when you’ll be ready to make your tea…
Make a mix of sprouted barley that you’ll crush blend and add to a half an half mix of worm castings and compost that you’ll have make around 1 week prior to make your tea, to let the chance for mychoz to colonize your mix of compost and worm castings…
I add other things, but that’s a secret, and if I telling you my secret, it wouldn’t be anymore a secret…lol…
And it’s important that you continue to aerate your compost tea if you’re not using it immediately and I don’t keep my compost tea more than 5 days with continuous aeration, after that period, too much risk to have bad bacteria colonizing your tea, I discard left over…
I only make what I need, ounce a week to assure the safety of the products… It can be very dangerous and make you really sick if anaerobic bacteria colonize it… No joke…
In hope that’s you’ll find this helpful my dear friend…
~Al
Thanks @Niala for the info. So that is kind of scary it can be dangerous. Is that from letting it sit too long without bubbles? Or something like that?
You’re welcome @Smokin_ernie
I make only what I need, 99% of the time, I am using only fresh brewed tea for that reason, even if you continue to bubbles it, bacteria begin to die right after the initial brew of 48 hours…
If you want for them to stay alive a bit more, you have to nourish them and it’s right there that the clock begin to tick and the possibility of bad bacteria rise very fast, even if you continue to aerate it…
If you stop aerate it, bad anaerobic bacteria will begin most probably to colonize your tea, and even if you pursue aerate it bad aerobic bacteria also exist and can colonize your tea…
Some poeple keep it and continue the aeration and nourish the bacteria and the fungi, but for me, personally, I am not willing to risk my health to keep a mix that cost nearly nothing to make…
So, if you have only a few plants , remember that you only need 2-3 cups\plant\week, make the calculation and you’ll see that you most probably don’t need a 45 gallons of compost tea…lol…
Better be safe than sorry in this case, mon ami
In hope that’s enlighten you a bit…
~Al
Yes good stuff! It opens up for more questions. I only have 4 plants so I was thinking I would use a 5 gallon bucket. But if I am only giving them 2-3 cups then a smaller setup might work. I much rather brew for each time needed. So if only giving the plants 2-3 cups can I put that in a gallon of ph water? My plants are taking 12-16cups a watering. Or would it be better to water then ad tea?
You know I do there @Smokin_erie lol
By Amy Grant
Compost tea is an extract of compost combined with de-chlorinated water containing beneficial microorganisms that has been used for centuries to encourage soil and plant health. The organic matter and its accompanying organisms chosen are of primary concern when making a nutrient rich compost tea. Clean compost and worm castings used solely or in conjunction are common tea bases, but you can also try making a bat guano tea mix. Composting Bat Manure for Tea Using bat manure for compost tea is one of the most nutrient and microorganism rich options. Bat dung is harvested dry after it has been composted by guano beetles and microbes and is obtained from only the insect and fruit feeding species. It can be worked directly into the soil as an incredible rich, non-malodorous fertilizer or converted into an extremely beneficial bat manure compost tea. Using bat guano tea has the benefit of not only nourishing the soil and plants, but also has been said to have bioremediation properties. Simply put, this means that the bat dung can aid in cleansing soils made toxic by the application of pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. Using bat guano tea on foliage aids in the prevention of fungal diseases as well. Bat Guano Tea Recipe Used as a fertilizer, bat guano provides a higher concentration of nutrients than many other types. The NPK ratio of bat dung is a concentration of 10-3-1, or 10 percent nitrogen, 3 percent phosphorous and 1 percent potassium. Nitrogen facilitates rapid growth, phosphorus pushes healthy root systems and bloom development, and potassium aids in a plant’s general health. Bat guano tea is suitable for a wide variety of plants and is simple to make. A simple bat guano tea recipe consists of one cup of dung per gallon of non-chlorinated water. Chlorine in water kills beneficial microbial life, so if you have city water that is chlorinated, just leave it in an open container for several hours or overnight to allow the chlorine to naturally dissipate. Mix the two together, let sit overnight, strain and apply directly to your plants. Other bat guano tea recipes can be found all over the Internet. They can get more complex by adding additional ingredients such as unsulfured molasses, fish emulsion, worm castings, seaweed concentrate, humic acid, glacial rock dust and even specific species of bat guano — such as Mexican, Indonesian or Jamaican dung. As a foliar spray, apply the bat guano tea using a fine mist either in the early morning or pre-dusk. For root application, apply at the root zone followed by watering in to facilitate nutrients into the root system. Bat guano tea is not a fertilizer, but promotes a healthy biologically diverse soil with more efficient nutrient absorption, thereby eventually reducing the amount of fertilizer needed and promoting overall healthier plants. Use the bat guano tea as soon as possible. It will lose its nutritive power even as soon as overnight, so use it right away.
Thanks great stuff! I am starting to get it. So with the guano do you brew it with aeration or just mix it with plain water. Will phing the water effect the tea? I thought I read that the water should be ph before adding tea?
Your answer is water…here is something that’s awesome for your plants
In the ongoing debate between supporters of “organic” marijuana versus hydroponics
marijuana, you often hear about “compost tea.”
You get faster marijuana growth, larger/stronger marijuana roots, detoxified soil
and root zones, and protection against root zone diseases and pathogens when you
use bioactive compost tea.
If you use compost tea as a foliar spray, your marijuana plants gain some protection
from powdery mildew, gray mold, mites, thrips, and other organisms that commonly
plague marijuana plants.
Compost tea contains nutritional elements that feed marijuana through roots and leaves,
but important benefits also come from microorganisms active in compost that transfer
into the tea.
Compost tea is made from compost…a solid-material “fermented” mixture containing things
like leaves and other yard waste, discarded food items (such as banana peels, egg shells,
coffee grounds, veggies), and base materials such as old newspapers.
You combine such materials in the proper ratio, and then continue to maintain proper conditions
(aeration, ambient temperature, pH) so the mixture microbially decomposes into a material rich
in nutrition for cannabis plants.
Making compost is complex and time-consuming.
If your compost pile is improperly made or maintained, you get bad smells, and you may not get the
decomposition temperature range (130-157 degrees Fahrenheit) that’s just right to create rich compost
free of pathogens and bugs.
And if you live in an apartment, condo, or most urban/suburban neighborhoods, there are likely
regulatory codes (or neighbors with noses) that inhibit your ability to make compost.
You could buy an expensive plastic contraption to minimize the smell and hassle of making your own
compost, but sometimes even that doesn’t work.
In those situations, you buy compost.
If you’re growing marijuana in soil, you mix in compost with your other growing media, but not much,
because compost is rich in nitrogen that might burn your marijuana roots.
If you’re growing marijuana hydroponically in any type of hydroponics system—aeroponics, deep
water culture, ebb and flow—the benefit of compost tea is that it flows easily through your fertigation system.
When I first heard about compost tea, I spent about $75 getting supplies for making it.
You need buckets, a pump, tubing, a special valve called a “gang” valve, molasses (to feed the microbes),
aerator stones, and a screen to pour the tea through at the end of the process.
You also need reverse osmosis water.
You can’t trust municipal water because it has chlorines and chloramines that kill beneficial microbes in compost.
Nor can you trust well-water because it likely contains pollutants, heavy metals, poisons, iron, salts,
or calcium… none of which are good for your marijuana roots or for making compost tea.
Using a multi-day process, you “brew” the tea by aerating it constantly after feeding the mixture molasses.
Then you turn off your pump, remove your tubing and bubblers from the bucket, settle the tea, and pour it
off through a screen.
The tea is microbially active only for a very short time, so you have to use it right away.
If you’ve used the right type of compost and your tea-brewing process worked, the nutrients and beneficial
microbes are active, and they’ll help your marijuana roots, leaves, metabolism, and root zone.
It was a fun experiment, making compost tea, but there was no way to know the nutritional composition of
what I made, or if the beneficial microorganisms were alive in the tea.
The good news is I discovered you don’t need to make compost tea yourself.
In the hydroponics store I found and purchased Mother Earth Super Tea.
It cost about the same as the materials I bought for making my own tea.
I also purchased beneficial microbes made specifically for marijuana roots.
These are called Tarantula, Piranha, and Voodoo Juice.
The grower tech support department for the manufacturer of Mother Earth Super Tea said to use as an
additive in any type of marijuana growing system soil or soilless, as a stand-alone base fertilizer,
and as foliar spray.
The tea works well for roots, and so do the wide range of beneficial bacteria and fungi you get when
using Tarantula, Piranha, and Voodoo Juice.
Marijuana roots are stronger, faster-growing, more densely branched, faster at nutrients uptake and
more resistant to disease, temperature problems, drought, and overwatering.
Mother Earth smells like tea, and gives my marijuana roots an all-organic feed program in soil, soilless,
or any other type of hydroponics garden.
After harvest, marijuana roots fed Mother Earth Tea can easily be seen as thicker, whiter, healthier.
Thanks again! I look into those thanks again
You can also make, brew, your compost tea in a 1 gallon bucket, 12 cups lead you to 0.8 gallon, mon ami
https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-Bucket-diameter-7-25-height/dp/B01BZ452DY
If you have other plants than cannabis that could benefit from a compost tea, you also can do it in a 2 gallon bucket
https://www.amazon.com/LD-Carlson-5111-Primary-Fermenter/dp/B06XH2P4PM
In hope that’s responding to your question, brother…
~Al
P.s. You always have to dechlorinate first and use as pure water as possible, RO, distilled or five stage filtered water are strongly recommend to not kill the beneficial bacteria…
Ask your city, if you don’t already know if they use chlorine or chloramine, chlorine can easily be evaporate but chloramine needs a chemical treatment or a RO filter that’s designed to do it or five stage filter like ZeroWater, to remove it. It’s really important that you know…
https://www.amazon.com/Viagrow-Chlorino-All-Purpose-Chlorine-Chloramine/dp/B01NBHADBA
I have well water so I have to check it out. Thanks again
So regardless of how I get the tea whether I brew it or buy it. Do you use it all the way through flower till the end? I normally just use pHed water the last couple weeks.
@Sirsmokes thank you for tagging me here, when I make tea I add a 1/2 strength dosage- late in flower will do 1/4 strength - shake it up well. I water with plain water 10-20 minutes before applying tea. I stop giving 7-10 days before harvest at minimum, sometimes more, depends on plants.
Sometimes I will let it sit overnight, however, I’m too busy most times.
I think hes more wanting to know how you actually brew and what you use
But thank you for your reply
During vegetative growth, I like to use bat guano, 7-3-1 or 8-2-1 and the high nitrogen seabird guano, maybe 10-10-1. I don’t like to add any fertilizer for at least 10 or 12 weeks as soil has plenty. For flowering phase I use various higher phosphorus bat guano, and seabird guano teas - 1 tablespoon per gallon, I mix 4 gallon batches. During flowering I sometimes add 1 or 2 tablespoons of higher nitrogen bat guano per 4 gallons of water a few times along with some higher phosphorous stuff.
1/2 dose one tablesppon per gallon.
1/4 dose 1/2 tablespoon per gallon.
Mileage may vary depending on fertilizer.