Making Tea - is EZ.... & Cheap !

so would i just weigh down the end of the plastic tubing? what do you use to weigh it down?

I made a separate post for this question...I think i should have stuck the question here.

Rabbit Food vs Rabbit Poo
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I was thinking about making a batch of organic tea to feed to my vegging plants. I was looking at the various values I have gathered from this site about the NPK if different organic amendments.

Alfalfa Pellets
NPK 3-1-2

Rabbit Crap
NPK 2-1-.5

If these values are correct...the alfalfa pellets appear to have more nutritional value. Do any of you know...Is there unseen benefits in using rabbit crap over the cleaner and easier to use pellets. Thanks for any help.

I was looking for any knowledge of the bacterial advantages or other benefits of using rabbit crap instead of alfalfa pellets?

somebody041 said:

so would i just weigh down the end of the plastic tubing? what do you use to weigh it down?

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Good question. I've been wondering the same thing.

to serve man said:

Good question. I've been wondering the same thing.

Click to expand...

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Guys... At the end of the day, NPK is NPK, which ever source is cheap and more available, would be the one I'd use.
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The processed alfalfa pellets will be less bioactive (having very few live microorganisms in them), compared to the bunny manure which will be full of micro-life. Add some worm castings, or a handfull of clean, healthy soil to it and it works out..........pretty much the same......
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Hope this helps....
Keep it Real....Organic.....
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Ohsogreen said:

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Guys... At the end of the day, NPK is NPK, which ever source is cheap and more available, would be the one I'd use.
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The processed alfalfa pellets will be less bioactive (having very few live microorganisms in them), compared to the bunny manure which will be full of micro-life. Add some worm castings, or a handfull of clean, healthy soil to it and it works out..........pretty much the same......
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Hope this helps....
Keep it Real....Organic.....
.
.

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Haha, no no, sorry. Not about the NPK reply. I was wondering how to weigh down the tubes when you put them in the compost water. They keep rising back up to the surface!

I used BMO for my last grow, but I never made aeriated teas with them, just straight mixed them, so I'm not sure if that was good or not, but hey, I got dank buds from it to last us a while, so I'm not complaining.

Im working on a sugar recipe to supplement my organic tea. I have heard of using : sucrant, honey, sugar in the raw, molasses, apple juice and even 7-Up. I know for sure im not using 7up, but the others i'm open to trying esspecially if it means better resin production.

Any thoughts or a good recipe I can use in my first grow? Im in about day 30 or so of flower and day 1 of flower.

I got the best advice on how to weigh down tubes. I took a pot lid or another peice of heravy crockery and make a loos knot around. I coffee mug will work. Then dunk. Some aquarium silicone is a good idea, from home depot, and a peice of metal. A no money knot is a worker, but remember hydro and all that aquarium silcone smelling like BO? I love organic. I just got a 600 Lumatek. That was my walking around money for 2 weeks so I get 2 brag. Ladies gonna have to pay

slippery P= remember the sugar is only their to get the bacteria moving. I would just stick with the 1 tbsp molasses a gallon to feed the bacteria. It is a recipe after all and the explosion of bacteria from all that not to mention whatever the frick, or frack, that is in 7-up might not be cool. I have heard and seen some successful use of applejuice from wal-mart by -DirtBag- on this site to flower better for flavor. Check him out.

I would use with your BMO, batguano, fish emulsion, compost, worm castings, liquid karma, steer manure or any other for all the wins you can imagine. I would only worry about to much N prolonging veg and not letting flower start right away. IDK, this is just my guess or, experience, as that is what I did and am having the best grow. My trees are three days in flower and looking great. Also hanging mylar around the hood ald loosely on the plants canopy is actually a pretty big bonus. That extra % is visible.

Also I wonder what you guys think about that product guardian tr at hydro stores. Is it worth it or are the goods we find just as good. I am betting on worm castings and compost and manures and BMO being more than cool.

I love this thread, it has been so instrumental in the way I think about fertilizers. I just made this quick recipe, gonna go out and make it soon, figure I post it here for the input.

Vegetative Growth Tea:

1 Gallon filtered water (reverse osmosis)
1 Tablespoon Blood Meal
1 Tablespoon Bat Guano (High N)
2 Tablespoons Fish Emulsion
2 Cups worm castings
1/4 Teaspoon of Superthrive

Let sit in the water for 3 days and shake several times a day.

Apply once every 2 weeks until time to flower.

In addition, I might top dress the area with a mix of worm casings and guano.

Sound good to you fellas?

silly question here... but i was just thinking about this randomly:

the universal advice is to use compost teas immediately upon completion of bubbling. OK, fine... but isn't it odd that the BMO product range is (as i understand it) highly concentrated teas that are then to be mixed with water... yet they have a shelf life of a couple months.


what gives? what is BMO adding to their teas to make them storable? or is it just that their particular mixtures happen to last longer?

anyone have any thoughts on this? wouldn't it be nice to brew really hot "base teas", store them for months at a time, and then just add them to water and molasses (and bubble a bit if you like) for quick and easy feeding?

billdo said:

silly question here... but i was just thinking about this randomly:

the universal advice is to use compost teas immediately upon completion of bubbling. OK, fine... but isn't it odd that the BMO product range is (as i understand it) highly concentrated teas that are then to be mixed with water... yet they have a shelf life of a couple months.


what gives? what is BMO adding to their teas to make them storable? or is it just that their particular mixtures happen to last longer?

anyone have any thoughts on this? wouldn't it be nice to brew really hot "base teas", store them for months at a time, and then just add them to water and molasses (and bubble a bit if you like) for quick and easy feeding?

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The SPT stays good for 2 years it says on the bottle.

slipperyP said:

The SPT stays good for 2 years it says on the bottle.

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so why does their tea stay good for 2 years in this case, but the stuff we are making is more of the "use immediately" variety?

Good question. Never thought of that. I'd like to know the answer as well. I'm guessing that the microbeasties stay somewhat dormant until you add oxygen for a couple days, then they get working again. Not sure.

billdo said:

silly question here... but i was just thinking about this randomly:

the universal advice is to use compost teas immediately upon completion of bubbling. OK, fine... but isn't it odd that the BMO product range is (as i understand it) highly concentrated teas that are then to be mixed with water... yet they have a shelf life of a couple months.


what gives? what is BMO adding to their teas to make them storable? or is it just that their particular mixtures happen to last longer?

anyone have any thoughts on this? wouldn't it be nice to brew really hot "base teas", store them for months at a time, and then just add them to water and molasses (and bubble a bit if you like) for quick and easy feeding?

Click to expand...

i believe that BMO's method to making their tea concentrates is to brew all ingredients together, then zap them to kill all living things in there, and once it is sterile they add their own endo/ecto bacteria and fungi.

billdo said:

so why does their tea stay good for 2 years in this case, but the stuff we are making is more of the "use immediately" variety?

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Billdo... That is an excellant question. I asked the guy who invented the stuff, basically the same thing.
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He explained, they control all aspects of the production, using certain temps, certain pressures, and only a few very specific bacteria / fungi strains.
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During the process, they inject dead anaerobic bacteria into their mix. This causes the good bacteria to excrete some kind of substance to combact the bad, anaerobic bacteria, but since they are already dead, the stuff stays in suspension.
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Later they pastuerize the mix, and add only certain other bacteria / fungi. The fungi stay dormant until they come in contact with a substance only excreted by the roots of plants. The bacteria, stay dormant, because they are in this large volume of this excreted substance that was used to combat (the already dead) bad, anaerobic bacteria.
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It's pretty amazing how they manipulate the solution the bacteria / fungi are in. Beyond that, he said " Trade Secrets, Sorry ".
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I wish I had the receipe, I wonder if they keep it in a safe ? I wonder if their dog knows it, like the Bush Beans pooch......
Anyway, that's part of the reason why, I don't know the rest..... Trade Secrets......
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Keep it Real.....Organic....
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This is my first grow and Im only using SPT. I am thinking of using the other products...What are the musts to know about BMO products?

I have looked over my recipe and realized it really didn't add up to a well balanced fertilizer. After doing more research I have two recipes that I will use. Each one will be applied every two weeks and will be bubbled for 3 days before use, about 1 quart will be given to each plant. The solids that are left will top dress the plants, about 5 inches out from the stem.

Recipe for Veg:

1 Gallon of filtered Water (reverse osmosis)
2 Tablespoons of Bat Guano (N)
1 Tablespoon of Bat Guano (P)
1 Cup Ash from Hardwood (K)
1 Cup used Coffee Grounds
1 Tablespoon Fish Emulsion
1/4 Teaspoon Superthrive
4 Tablespoon Worm Castings
1 Teaspoon Molasses

Recipe for Budding:

1 Gallon of filtered Water (reverse osmosis)
1 Tablespoon of Bat Guano (N)
2 Tablespoons of Bat Guano (P)
1 Cup Ash from Hardwood (K)
1 Cup used Coffee Grounds
1 Tablespoon Fish Emulsion
4 Tablespoon Worm Castings
1 Teaspoon Molasses

I might just add the ash in the mix twice, once in mid June, then once in mid July. I might add more worm casings and/or molasses as well. But I believe this will be a safe blue print so far. SPT could be nice but I don't know where to get it, not too sure how useful bacteria will be in clay soil either.

you have bacteria in there already. Bacteria is what breaks down your NPK containing ingreds in your soil right now and feed it to your plants, as it is, in your plan right now.

A clay soil is still soil. Can you add sand? I just got some at lowes. It is cheap. Also I found alsaska morebloom. Fish is 5-1-1. Morebloom is 0-10-10. Cool.

I see you are adding molasses and brewing with air. That is creating your bacteria infusion right now. This will supercharge your bacteria already in your soil naturally. To supercharge your soil with bacterial infusions is what goves us in organics extra killer plants. In chem people just feed the already broken down NPK to the plants. Chem is bacterial harmful.

SPT is available on eBay. It is marketed oddly as I found it hard to find unless I typed in "Super Plant Tonic". It sounds corny but it is not and is pretty cool. It is a super infusion of extra bacteria from key sorces that they pro added to get a killer mix. It is a highly recomneded extra to worm casting and manure and compost bacteria, also fungi ( I cannot remember).

I am obsessed with aerobic bacteria for my girls as I have interstimgly read that between bacteria and fungo annuals like mj love the bacteria better and while both are useful it is that 20 hour bacteria formation that is studly. I mean that when around 20 hours a lot of bubbles start to show in my bucket I know that my tea is almost ready.

There is also a product called guardian bacteria tr that I would like to try. SPT is so cheap though and I am sure as good that I will shut my mouth. It is a quiet company that has no add revenue.

Also I read again that you use 1 tsp molasses a gallon. I recomend 1 TBSP of molasses a gallon and then stick an air hose in your bucket, no stone, for 18-24 hours. This will give you a nice froth of bacteria. A say no stone as small bubbles will kill bacteria I have read.

Also, I see you are using fresh coffee grounds. I am sketchy on using thoughs. I have read that they are too hot. Also I see like me that you cant resist all those tea ingreds. I added BMO, fish, guano and ocasionally a drop or so of bio bizz. I can only thank my lucky stars that I did not burn anything, which I have found almost impossible in organics, or more likely delay flowering. I gave some veg teas to my LR2 and they never flowered.

welcome aboard riu.

I should have clarified about the coffee grounds. The sole purpose of adding the coffee grounds is to balance the PH after adding the ash. I actually got this idea from someone else on the forum, one cup of used coffee grounds for each cup of ash, so they neutralize each other.

I decided to add the ash/coffee only twice during the season, in mid June and mid July. It will not be in my flowering schedule. I have seen both teaspoon and tablespoon of molasses. Perhaps I should use a teaspoon for veg just to give the bacteria some food, and a tablespoon in flower to help give the plant a carbo load.