Red Frog Compost tea review

Found this red frog compost tea ad on RIU & sounds like really great stuff. I ordered a 3 lb bag of the bloom formula which is supposed to do 11 five gal batches or a single 55 gal batch of compost tea. I also bought their recommended air diffuser which is supposed to aerate the tea at a high rate. Air diffuser was $14 and the tea was $38 shipped...kinda pricey but if it's very active as it is advertised to be my plants will thank me.
So everything came in and arrived 2 days before estimated which was nice. The tea mix itself is very granular; not clumpy like the castings I get outta my worm bin. It contains a sugar source already so no need to mix in molasses. I'm hoping because the grains are very fine that more surface area of tea will be exposed to the water/air resulting in a nice foamy super active mixture. I started a 3 gal brew with the new air diffuser and I added a fish tank heater to get things nice & tepid. Here's a pic before I dropped in the tea bag which is a cutoff 220 mesh from an old bubble bag tied off to a stick with hemp twine. Gonna give it 48 hrs brew time & will take another pic to see how active it gets - stay tuned y'all

Day one...gettin foamy

Richard Drysift said:

Found this red frog compost tea ad on RIU & sounds like really great stuff. I ordered a 3 lb bag of the bloom formula which is supposed to do 11 five gal batches or a single 55 gal batch of compost tea. I also bought their recommended air diffuser which is supposed to aerate the tea at a high rate. Air diffuser was $14 and the tea was $38 shipped...kinda pricey but if it's very active as it is advertised to be my plants will thank me.
So everything came in and arrived 2 days before estimated which was nice. The tea mix itself is very granular; not clumpy like the castings I get outta my worm bin. It contains a sugar source already so no need to mix in molasses. I'm hoping because the grains are very fine that more surface area of tea will be exposed to the water/air resulting in a nice foamy super active mixture. I started a 3 gal brew with the new air diffuser and I added a fish tank heater to get things nice & tepid. Here's a pic before I dropped in the tea bag which is a cutoff 220 mesh from an old bubble bag tied off to a stick with hemp twine. Gonna give it 48 hrs brew time & will take another pic to see how active it gets - stay tuned y'all

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whats up man?
that's pretty expensive my brother, and you have your own wormbin so i'm not sure what the purpose of it is..
also if you are using these ingredients (copied from their website)

Worm Castings, Forest Humus, Organic Compost, Hydrolyzed Fish, Sea 90, Kelp, Humic Acid, Demerara Sugar, Azomite, Alfalfa Meal, Kelp Meal, Humates, Fish Bone Meal, Fish Meal, Feather Meal, Soybean Meal, Cameline Meal, Fossilized Kelp, Rock Phosphate, Langbenite, Volcanic Ash, Green Sand, Sulfate of Potash.

I wouldn't use those in bold for the tea, most of those aren't even water soluble...
fish boen meal, azomite, rock phosphate, feather meal (arsenic in it), soybean meal (acidic and VERY GMO'd)
keep it simple my man.
you are sitting on a gold mine, just use your wormbin.

save your money man, save your money.

You are right but some of those ingredients I assume are what's added to their compost while its er um composting. Alotta these do need to be broken down before given to plants and they should clarify when they are added. I agree the price is kinda high for what it is. The purpose is to see if this shit is better than what my worms can make - don't worry got plenty of money bro lol. I am more interested in getting super active mix all in my containers than an extra $38 in my pocket; I'll get a return on this investment I believe in time. I needed a new airstone anyway and the one I got from red frog is working better than the Walmart aquarium stone I was using before so I'm already a happy customer.
I wanted to try this out of convenience. My own worm bin produces a tray of castings about every 3-4 weeks but sometimes that's just not enough to treat my recycled soil bin and still have enough to brew up a batch of tea. My perpetual grow needs a constant supply of castings that my worms sometimes cannot keep up even though I've added several more trays to the stack. I like that I don't have to mix in molasses or anything else and if a 3lb bag does 11 five gal batches this supply oughta last me quite awhile. I used to spend way more than that on nutrients.

Richard Drysift said:

- don't worry got plenty of money bro lol. .

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did I ever tell you that by far you are the coolest person on this site?
I haven't?
ahh... well shit man...

Richard Drysift said:

View attachment 3672345 Day one...gettin foamy

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Saponins...

Why would they put ingredients in this product that aren't even water soluble?

greasemonkeymann said:

keep it simple my man.
you are sitting on a gold mine, just use your wormbin.

save your money man, save your money.

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Ive decided to stop giving out advice regarding $$$. It seems as if even the most down to earth potheads can't have there ego 'underminded' and are still driven by specious claims with ridiculous products like this..

So fuck me, right?


Typical..

I mean, The feather and Bone meals are one thing, but azomite???... In a tea? It would be obvious to me wether this product would be worth the high price just by looking at the ingredient list..

But then again I'm just the dick who undermined your ego by advising you to keep it simple and not waste your money on non-sense like this..

Richard Drysift said:

I agree the price is kinda high for what it is. The purpose is to see if this shit is better than what my worms can make - don't worry got plenty of money bro lol.

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To answer you blatantly, No a product like This will not come close to what your worms can produce, quality-wise. Seems you have plenty of cash, so I won't tell you how to spend it, but I wouldn't 'invest' in this waste of a product anymore..

Being an organic grower you should know that anything bought commercially is not going to match up to your castings quality wise.. Isn't this why you make them in the first place?

greasemonkeymann said:

View attachment 3672695

did I ever tell you that by far you are the coolest person on this site?
I haven't?
ahh... well shit man...

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.....and you are the most knowledgeable- thanks for the positive vibes

MistaRasta said:

Saponins...

Why would they put ingredients in this product that aren't even water soluble?

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Some of the ingredients listed are composted in - you guys are right ya can't just dump fish bone meal into your tea mix; it hasta be composted first but that's not clear from what's listed on their site. Lotta this stuff I already add globally to my mix during recycle

MistaRasta said:

Ive decided to stop giving out advice regarding $$$. It seems as if even the most down to earth potheads can't have there ego 'underminded' and are still driven by specious claims with ridiculous products like this..

So fuck me, right?


Typical..

I mean, The feather and Bone meals are one thing, but azomite???... In a tea? It would be obvious to me wether this product would be worth the high price just by looking at the ingredient list..

But then again I'm just the dick who undermined your ego by advising you to keep it simple and not waste your money on non-sense like this..




To answer you blatantly, No a product like This will not come close to what your worms can produce, quality-wise. Seems you have plenty of cash, so I won't tell you how to spend it, but I wouldn't 'invest' in this waste of a product anymore..

Being an organic grower you should know that anything bought commercially is not going to match up to your castings quality wise.. Isn't this why you make them in the first place?

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No ego here man just sharing my experience with this product. So how do you know for sure it's better than my own castings without checking it out? It smells totally different than the tea I usually brew from my own castings not sure that makes a difference. Thought I was being righteous by sharing this but if you are not interested in the results that's cool like I give a fuck. Maybe I did just waste money on a ridiculous product. Maybe I have grower friends without a worm bin that want to make their own tea- that's really who this is product is intended for but I wanted to do a control study first to see how it matches up. Thanks for chimin in

After 35+ hours bubbling....not really impressive; I'll have to do the Pepsi challenge against my original recipe with homemade castings for comparison in the name of science, bitch

Richard Drysift said:

Thought I was being righteous by sharing this but if you are not interested in the results that's cool like I give a fuck.

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Thought I was being righteous by giving my opinion on a poorly researched and put-together product... Come on, store bought commercially made junk with a high markup over good homemade castings?...What world do you live in?

Richard Drysift said:

View attachment 3673076 After 35+ hours bubbling....not really impressive; I'll have to do the Pepsi challenge against my original recipe with homemade castings for comparison in the name of science, bitch

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LMAO!
You're of the crowd that still thinks bubbles are from microbial activity... No wonder you bought this waste of a product.. Bubbles come from saponins and oxygen, nothing more.

Richard Drysift said:

So how do you know for sure it's better than my own castings without checking it out?

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Considering you have to dump cal mag all over your soil I'll have to go out on a whim here and say it probably is better than your castings now that I'm thinking about it.

I'm confused, so it lists the ingredients that they compost? Or are those the ingredients that come in the bag?

I noticed that I get more bubbles and foam from my homemade castings than the store bought. I'm making tea again this weekend so I'm going to do a side by side to see for sure.

Thanks for testing out this product. I do know some beginning grower's who would use it if it's worth it.

Thanks for trying it out man and sharing! This could help people deciding whether to buy it or not. Don't listen to the tool bag trying to start shit, he's got nothing better to do with his life

Red Frog is a RIU sponsor. I do support this site by clicking on ads that interest me from time to time. Mr. Rasta not sure why you are actively trying to shit all over my thread but you are certainly welcome to your opinion.
You also might be right in that my own home made castings are superior. I'm not really impressed with the activity after 48 hours and yeah if I'm an idiot for thinking foam equates to microbial activity correct me if I'm wrong; even if you are kinda being a dick about it- my goal on RIU is to gain knowledge; preferably without the fuck you attitude.
I have an updated pic from 48 hrs bubbling but it won't let me post it right now. I don't have a microscope to physically see the microbes either so not sure how else you would assess activity. I will pull some fresh castings from the worm bin and do a 48 hr bubble for comparison as soon as I can. Thanks everyone for your positivity & stay tuned more to come

Rasta Roy said:

I'm confused, so it lists the ingredients that they compost? Or are those the ingredients that come in the bag?

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They list the ingredients but do not divulge their composting and/or mixing process. I doubt all that stuff is just mixed together or it wouldn't appear like compost. It is very earthy sweet smelling and moist just like fresh castings though finely granulated to like a sand texture. It is red in color unlike the castings I get from my worm bin which are black; dunno if that means anything

Well there you have it - after 48 hrs bubbling it's a bit less foamy than at 35. When I bubble my own fresh castings with guano I get a 6" layer of foam on top.

Richard Drysift said:

They list the ingredients but do not divulge their composting and/or mixing process. I doubt all that stuff is just mixed together or it wouldn't appear like compost. It is very earthy sweet smelling and moist just like fresh castings though finely granulated to like a sand texture. It is red in color unlike the castings I get from my worm bin which are black; dunno if that means anything

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I got a bag of this stuff called earth syrup sitting in my closet that sounds similar to the product you've got. I've never used it, I bought a bunch of grow gear at a police auction a year ago and it was part of the package. I haven't tried it or even opened the bag to be honest but it lists the same ingredients as yours so I wonder if it looks the same inside. I'll have to pop open and look. I never bothered cause I always thought it all mixed together would be a mess. It makes more sense if it's ingredients that they compost into one product.

It's also a all in one compost tea product.