Guano/EWC tea how-to

[Mr Piggy]

@ride- the reason for the air stone is you get constant oxygen in the solution while it brews for 24/48 hours. Just shaking it won't give you the microbe reproduction you're looking for.

@juan- This recipe recently burnt my MI5s and was a bit hot on the phos and nitrogen. For photos it would have been a light recipe, it's for flowering. Teas are something you have to learn to manipulate just like any other nutrient. Start out unnecessarily light and slowly work your way up. I've been experimenting with recipes for years now and the simple ones get it done.

 

[Juan]

Mr. P thanks for sharing your expertise. I have about 20 different grows under my belt but seem to always run into the same problem. My nutes get out of balance, I think. Most of the plants I grow will have leaves that turn yellow, curl or turn white, etc. So far I've made one successful correction by spraying Iron but that was just dumb luck. It is difficult for me to ascertain the problem using a "Plant Problem Solver" because many of the plant's ailments look the same to me. The other problem I have, is once I think I have identified the problem I don't have a clue how to mix a solution that may correct the problem. I grow in coco and use Dana-Gro products. Your thoughts about this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Again

 

[pher]

Great thread and teas really are great for your plants! Love organics and love the info MrPiggy!

 

[pher]

i have used Botanicare Aquashield, Liquid Karma and their Sweet Raw or molasses, along with some ZHO, Plant Success Soluble or Great White in teas with a handful of EWC. i add some kelp extract too. can add guanos to suit your needs. always seemed to work well.

Can mushroom compost work in a tea??

 

[Torched]

Mushroom compost will work great. It will make a fungal dominant tea, rather than a bacteria dominated tea. I think you need to add stuff for the fungi to live on like a little oat, alfalfa meal, or straw, not as certain about that though. Fungal teas are great for soil conditioning and refreshing your fungal life in your soil.

 

[DIRT]

Here's some info I found..copied and pasted...hope it helps.

Fungi-dominant tea compost should be mixed together and kept very wet for three to seven days prior to brewing. Store it high in a room, near the ceiling and in the dark. The microlife and fungi populations will really bloom if you place a heating pad-set to low-below the container (shoot for 68-75 degrees fahrenheit;20-24 degrees celsius). After three days,it will be visibly booming with fungus (what I call “Santa’s Beard”). Put this in your tea brewer and bubble it (in place of regular compost).

Fungus Dominant (halfway through flowering) Recipes:
* 1/2 cup Earthworm Castings *:
See above.
* 1/2 cup Mushroom Compost *:
This is fungus waiting to happen.A rich source of fungal spores and dense organic matter that fungi like to eat.
* Two tablespoons Powdered,100% Natural rolled oats *:
Fungi love this nutrient and will deliver it to the plant roots.
* Two teaspoons Kelp Meal *:
I use kelp meal for several reasons.It’s organic matter that fungi like to attach themselves to.Fungi love kelp extracts as a primary food source and the rich trace elements and potassium it introduces.
* 1/4 teaspoon Micronized (soft) Rock Phosphate *:
Fungus attach to the rock phosphate and grow on it.Also a prime source of phosphorous,magnesium and sulfur.
The earthworm castings,mushroom compost,oatmeal,and kelp meal are first mixed together and made very wet.After fungus has grown on this blend,place it in your tea bubbler for 24 hours with some additional liquid (or water soluble) kelp/seaweed extract and Micronized (soft) rock phosphate.


I wish you luck.

 

[Mr Piggy]

Hell yeah Dirt, thanks for sharing! Makes me glad I used mushroom compost in the last soil batch, can't wait to get back and give this a try.

 

[pher]

Thanks a lot Torch404 for the info!

Nice recipe DIRT! i will give this a try sometime.

MrP i tried some mushroom compost in my last soil mix too.

 

[kamko15]

Do earthworm castings in a compost tea add nitrogen? My girls are about 3 weeks from harvest and they're leaves are starting to yellow. I made a compost tea and fed last week comprised of

1/2 cup earthworm castings
1.5 tbsp Hollands land o giants soluble humic acid
1.5 tbsp Hollands land o giants soluble seaweed powder
1 tsp indonesian bat guano
1.5 tsp of unsulphered molasses

Bubbled 1 gallon for 3 days with the dry mix in an old cloth that had very fine porous holes. Some of the solids got through but I didn't even use the whole mix so it went to the tomaters.
The leaves seem to show first signs of green returning about 3 days after the feed. Was my dose of nitrogen to low or is it just a slower absorbing nutrient? I dont remember the ph of the tea, but it came out at 6.6

 

[JM]

sounds like a good mix mate... yes... my "wiggly worms" earth worm castings states 1-0-0 so 1 part nitrogen.

organic teas and such definitely are much slower than "liquid nutes"

I find 5-7 days for organic nutes and liquid nutes I see response the next day or as little as 10 hours...