Calcium to tea

Thebanktella

Thebanktella

Well-Known Member
you guys ever try crushing egg shells and throwing em in your aact to up the calcium in the tea ? So it'll be castings, molasses , crushed egg shells some used tea bags and fishy stuff Super tea ..... used tea bags for nitrogen and crushed shells for calcium
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Thebanktella said:
you guys ever try crushing egg shells and throwing em in your aact to up the calcium in the tea ? So it'll be castings, molasses , crushed egg shells some used tea bags and fishy stuff Super tea ..... used tea bags for nitrogen and crushed shells for calcium
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unless the tea is on the slightly acidic side, they're not going to do much. your soil mix should have plenty of calcium in it. i've never had a Ca def. using recycled living soils.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Eggshells are a good source of just about everything including Ca but they won't break down in a tea. Eggshell can take forever to become available even when sitting in worm compost. I suggest first composting the eggshells and tea bags; then use that compost to brew your teas. Worm bins are really great for this.
I found rust spots on a few plants when I first started out with fresh bagged mix. It is because I used distilled water collected from a dehumidifier that lacks macronutrients. Now that I have been adding eggshell to my worm bin and amendments like garden gypsum that provide macros to my mix directly when recycling I no longer need to add external soluble macros. I also have access to a better water source now so I have not replaced the calmag after the last bottle went empty. However I did use general organics cal mag plus for a couple years. If you have a somewhat green mix soluble cal-mag might be a consideration especially if you are using RO/distilled water; if using rain or well water you may not need to add anything at all.
 
Bubba's girl

Bubba's girl

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Eggshells are a good source of just about everything including Ca but they won't break down in a tea. Eggshell can take forever to become available even when sitting in worm compost. I suggest first composting the eggshells and tea bags; then use that compost to brew your teas. Worm bins are really great for this.
I found rust spots on a few plants when I first started out with fresh bagged mix. It is because I used distilled water collected from a dehumidifier that lacks macronutrients. Now that I have been adding eggshell to my worm bin and amendments like garden gypsum that provide macros to my mix directly when recycling I no longer need to add external soluble macros. I also have access to a better water source now so I have not replaced the calmag after the last bottle went empty. However I did use general organics cal mag plus for a couple years. If you have a somewhat green mix soluble cal-mag might be a consideration especially if you are using RO/distilled water; if using rain or well water you may not need to add anything at all.
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Just to clarify, the CalMag by General Organics is ok to use with organic soils recipe? It was recommended by The Rev in his TLO book, fwiw.
 
Heil Tweetler

Heil Tweetler

Well-Known Member
Bubba's girl said:
Just to clarify, the CalMag by General Organics is ok to use with organic soils recipe? It was recommended by The Rev in his TLO book, fwiw.
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The simplest clarification is a soil test. Its counterproductive to add amendments without knowing where you stand. Whilst its hard to overdo straight up Ca its a common, and easy fuck-up to bombard your soil with Mg or K.

You can dramatically up your game for like 25$.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Bubba's girl said:
Just to clarify, the CalMag by General Organics is ok to use with organic soils recipe? It was recommended by The Rev in his TLO book, fwiw.
Click to expand...
Yep it's safe for living soil. It can cause salt buildup if given at the dosage recommended on the bottle. All you need is 6-10 drops per gallon. At this dosage you can give it at every watering without issue.
Does anyone actually send out soil samples to a lab? Healthy plants IMO are the best test; I could see doing this if you had problems or a large scale commercial grow but seems like overkill for the average joe. I mean it's true you can fuck up your soil grow royally with soluble high P or K products which is why no organic grower should ever use them. Just add fresh worm castings and everything else will pretty much take care of itself...
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Yep it's safe for living soil. It can cause salt buildup if given at the dosage recommended on the bottle. All you need is 6-10 drops per gallon. At this dosage you can give it at every watering without issue.
Does anyone actually send out soil samples to a lab? Healthy plants IMO are the best test; I could see doing this if you had problems or a large scale commercial grow but seems like overkill for the average joe. I mean it's true you can fuck up your soil grow royally with soluble high P or K products which is why no organic grower should ever use them. Just add fresh worm castings and everything else will pretty much take care of itself...
Click to expand...
i'm considering sending one in for the no-tills that are getting close to a year of crops. probably send one in after the next run, just for shits and giggles. 35$ just to see what's happening... totally worth it! There will be something to gain from the test... if not, then just confidence that your methods are working!
 
kingzt

kingzt

Well-Known Member
Is insect frass a good source of calcium. The insect frass website says to add gypsum but I thought it should be high in Ca already.
 
Heil Tweetler

Heil Tweetler

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
i'm considering sending one in for the no-tills that are getting close to a year of crops. probably send one in after the next run, just for shits and giggles. 35$ just to see what's happening... totally worth it! There will be something to gain from the test... if not, then just confidence that your methods are working!
Click to expand...

knowledge for the informed gardener:
 
OzCocoLoco

OzCocoLoco

Well-Known Member
Thebanktella said:
you guys ever try crushing egg shells and throwing em in your aact to up the calcium in the tea ? So it'll be castings, molasses , crushed egg shells some used tea bags and fishy stuff Super tea ..... used tea bags for nitrogen and crushed shells for calcium
Click to expand...
Take the egg shells crush them up and toast them in a frying pan or bbq grill then add them to jar of non distilled apple cider vinegar or brown vinegar at a 1:10 ratio and cover the top of the jar with cheese cloth or a tea towel for around 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks strain of the egg shells and use the left over liquid at 2ml per litre.
 
W

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Yep it's safe for living soil. It can cause salt buildup if given at the dosage recommended on the bottle. All you need is 6-10 drops per gallon. At this dosage you can give it at every watering without issue.
Does anyone actually send out soil samples to a lab? Healthy plants IMO are the best test; I could see doing this if you had problems or a large scale commercial grow but seems like overkill for the average joe. I mean it's true you can fuck up your soil grow royally with soluble high P or K products which is why no organic grower should ever use them. Just add fresh worm castings and everything else will pretty much take care of itself...
Click to expand...
A couple of thoughts here:

Fresh VC does pretty much take care of everything. Vermicompost is the only compost that goes in my mixes, no thermal type compost of any sort. Disclaimer: I DO use a good bit of Black Kow during the season as a top dress, not in the mix, but consider it more as a manure than a 'compost'. The worms love it.

Soil tests: Yeah, sorta, kinda, but I agree more with the J. Benton Jones quote that HT has in his replys. A plant analysis is going to be MUCH more informative than any soil test IMO.

Also from HT: That vid pretty much backs up what I've yapped about for years concerning the bad rap that Dolomite lime got about too much % of Mg and causing problems. That SOIL study was done, IIRC, in the U.P. of Michigan which already has high levels of Mg. Good info if you're a Yooper farmer, but pretty much irrelevant AFA container mixes go. The only Mg in container mixes is what one adds, it's not native to the mix.

Wet
 
Heil Tweetler

Heil Tweetler

Well-Known Member
Wetdog said:
A couple of thoughts here:

Fresh VC does pretty much take care of everything. Vermicompost is the only compost that goes in my mixes, no thermal type compost of any sort. Disclaimer: I DO use a good bit of Black Kow during the season as a top dress, not in the mix, but consider it more as a manure than a 'compost'. The worms love it.

Soil tests: Yeah, sorta, kinda, but I agree more with the J. Benton Jones quote that HT has in his replys. A plant analysis is going to be MUCH more informative than any soil test IMO.

Also from HT: That vid pretty much backs up what I've yapped about for years concerning the bad rap that Dolomite lime got about too much % of Mg and causing problems. That SOIL study was done, IIRC, in the U.P. of Michigan which already has high levels of Mg. Good info if you're a Yooper farmer, but pretty much irrelevant AFA container mixes go. The only Mg in container mixes is what one adds, it's not native to the mix.

Wet
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Mg and K and possible Fe will quickly build to excessive levels, blocking other cations and compromising yield and quality, for nearly everyone who is recycling container mixes. So no, its the opposite of your statement "irrelevant". Fresh vc like any compost is just as likely to exacerbate problems like high Na, Fe and K. Using compost as unicorn urine, will in many cases, raise your K to quality killing levels ask any agronomist or fruit farmer. With high OM mixes, common to recycled media, imbalances Fe::Mn are cause for concern. Its extremely improbable that you can address that critical issue with castings or compost. Its more likely that adding organic material will make things worse.

You are operating blindly, spraying and praying unless you have a soil analysis.
 
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