Noob Tea Maths Questions

_EQ

Active Member
Hey yall! I have acquired my list of organic inputs for my first run at organics. While I wait on the rest of the list, I plan on trying to brew some teas. My questions are these. How do I know how much dry amendment to use per gallon of water? I know this will come down to specific values in the amendments themselves. For example I have some Fish Meal 8-6-0. I would like to make a tea out of it and give it a run with my outdoor plants. How many grams, ounces, cups, etc. of Fush Meal would I use in one gallon of water. At that point also could I make a stronger solution and dilute it down?
 

Red Hard Head

Well-Known Member
Are you aiming for fertilizer or microbe?

Your statement implies making water soluble fertilizer.
1 gallon is 128 ounces. 12.5 ounces will make a 1% solution. If you want it stronger, use stronger ferts. You can increase the concentration of your fertilizer by adding more to your water.

Mix or use a tea bag if needed for your system. Add an aquarium pump and airstone to keep it aerobic. Use after 12-24 hours. You can still use it after 24h but some could argue it might be unsafe microbially. Top dress the fert if not completely dissolved.

But you won't ever know if you have colonies of beneficial aerobic soil microbes or not beneficial microbes, or even any microbes- colonies crashed or never got going due to bad culture environment..... unless you have a microscope to ID and quantify the microbes at certain time intervals. Oh and you need compost to get the microbes, not just manures or guanos.

A compost extract is made fresh in minutes for immediate use. The correct ratio and types olf microbes will be watered in. As well as NPK and many organic acids ( humic fulvic etc).

In a five gallon bucket, fill with water. Place 1- 2 pounds of compost or vermicompost in paint strainer bag. Then jiggle and dunk and squeeze the bag till it runs clear, about 3 to 5 minutes. If not going through irrigation or no risk of clogging just stir it really well in bucket. Then water it in. This can be a foliar feed, leaf clean and powdery mildew prevention by further straining the extract so it wont clog sprayers. Top dress the compost on your plants or out in the veggie garden.

Make ferts for NPK and compost ectract
 
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_EQ

Active Member
Are you aiming for fertilizer or microbe?

Your statement implies making water soluble fertilizer.
1 gallon is 128 ounces. 12.5 ounces will make a 1% solution. If you want it stronger, use stronger ferts. You can increase the concentration of your fertilizer by adding more to your water.

Mix or use a tea bag if needed for your system. Add an aquarium pump and airstone to keep it aerobic. Use after 12-24 hours. You can still use it after 24h but some could argue it might be unsafe microbially. Top dress the fert if not completely dissolved.

But you won't ever know if you have colonies of beneficial aerobic soil microbes or not beneficial microbes, or even any microbes- colonies crashed or never got going due to bad culture environment..... unless you have a microscope to ID and quantify the microbes at certain time intervals. Oh and you need compost to get the microbes, not just manures or guanos.

A compost extract is made fresh in minutes for immediate use. The correct ratio and types olf microbes will be watered in. As well as NPK and many organic acids ( humic fulvic etc).

In a five gallon bucket, fill with water. Place 1- 2 pounds of compost or vermicompost in paint strainer bag. Then jiggle and dunk and squeeze the bag till it runs clear, about 3 to 5 minutes. If not going through irrigation or no risk of clogging just stir it really well in bucket. Then water it in. This can be a foliar feed, leaf clean and powdery mildew prevention by further straining the extract so it wont clog sprayers. Top dress the compost on your plants or out in the veggie garden.

Make ferts for NPK and compost ectract
Okay so you kind of cleared up something that I overlooked, I do realize now that my question is vague in the aspect of if I’m looking to create and feed a microbial colony. Or if I just want to add NPK value. The difference between the two and what you use to create the two are still confusing to me. So basically right now I would like to add some NPK value. I’m not certain if I even have a microbe ecosystem that’s alive enough to breakdown what I plan to introduce. So if I were to feed microbes could I use the list of meals I have? Or should I stick to top dressing with them and than go the vermicompost/compost route to get an ecosystem going in the root zone?
 
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