Soil Food Web Gardening with Compost Teas

Fresh Aloe would be much better, then skin and filet it like a fish lol. I'm going to try this, thanks Rrog.

a nice gooey aloe filet for the ladies. sounds great. thanks spliff

Sure thing! Im going with the suggestion of using when I transplant, maybe once on my first transplant in veg.

It can be used as a rooting gel. The benefits of Aloe to plants is crazy. It stimulates the plant's natural immune response. SAR Systemic Acquired Resistance. The secondary metabolites of these super simple little Teas really keep the plants immune system in tip top shape, and on alert. This drops the reaction time to squat if there might be a pathogen or pest arriving.

If you do the aloe, coconut or Barley sprout teas, please try them as a foliar also. Beneficial bacteria, nematodes, fungi should be alive and well in the Phyloshphere.

Not sure if the coconut water has any added water, but if it were straight coconut water right fromthe coconut, you'd use a 1:15 dilution. 1 cup to make 1 gallon

Rrog said:

It can be used as a rooting gel.

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Have you ever used Aloe to root cannabis cuts? If so, how effective is it? I know of people doing this with their vegetables, and I'm curious because as of now Clonex is the only thing that ain't organic in my garden.

Rrog said:

Not sure if the coconut water has any added water, but if it were straight coconut water right fromthe coconut, you'd use a 1:15 dilution. 1 cup to make 1 gallon

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Next time I go to the beach I'm going to grab some; thanks bro far out! So 1 cup of coconut water to a gallon of water? I'll feed the coconut meat to my worms, which will be dessert for them haha

Spliff, I myself don't do cuttings, but one of the gentlemen in my signature does.

I'd add a cup of coconut water to a gallon jug, then fill it to a gallon with water

Rrog said:

It can be used as a rooting gel. The benefits of Aloe to plants is crazy. It stimulates the plant's natural immune response. SAR Systemic Acquired Resistance. The secondary metabolites of these super simple little Teas really keep the plants immune system in tip top shape, and on alert. This drops the reaction time to squat if there might be a pathogen or pest arriving.

If you do the aloe, coconut or Barley sprout teas, please try them as a foliar also. Beneficial bacteria, nematodes, fungi should be alive and well in the Phyloshphere.

Not sure if the coconut water has any added water, but if it were straight coconut water right fromthe coconut, you'd use a 1:15 dilution. 1 cup to make 1 gallon

Click to expand...

Excellent information to be gained from this post.

Thanks Rrog!

-Snafu

Hi everyone. This is a very cool thread. Just started an ACT with EWC/alfalfa meal, sea weed, nettle, comfrey & horsetail. All in a paint strainer bag. Forgot to put oyster shell flour in the bag so some was just added to the bucket along with molasses. It will all bubble away for about 18 hours. Plants are in week 6 of flower. Really would like to get the buds to swell a bit. They are fine looking, just not very big. No yellowing on leaves or anything.

Hey Tweety- Thanks for stopping by. The most knowledgeable guy I know on this topic insists we keep ACT simple:

3TBS compost

1/2 gallon water

3 tsp molasses 

1/4tsp fish Hydrolysate 

1tsp kelp meal

1/4 tsp rock phosphate

Cann said:

Wow...that EWC is going to be insane my friend...highest quality castings I could imagine for real....

And how did you start up your bokashi? Did you buy bran or just use EM-1 to start a culture? I'm looking to start a bokashi bucket ASAP

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you can buy EM here http://gardenerspantry.ca/ , you can buy it activated or non-activated ,... if you know how to activate it, it's 20 times cheaper. (I bought 1 of each and I just finished the activated one,... gonna have to look into that soon)

I don't buy microbes any longer. You can collect your own. BIMs

This is one of those really not so funny things...I found out the compost I was using is not compost...it is organic potting soil! Not sure what is in it. I must have been having a bad day when I picked that up. Anyway, went looking for compost, as mine isn't ready to use. Wrong time of year to look for compost in this city. The only place at the moment is the city's eco centre and I can only get there one Saturday, soon hopefully. So I'm using ewc & herbs as the compost part...sort of... I will try your recipe very soon, when I can actually get some compost. lol.

One of the irritating things is that a lot of ingredients for soil are very seasonal here and shipping is cost prohibitive. I've been asking for kelp meal/sea weed powder and people are looking at me like I have two heads. One lady at a hydro shop told me to go to a grocery store. lol. Ok, but the cost of people grade kelp is pretty high. Can't find bat or bird guano for under $35 for 2.5 lbs. Forget that. No way to get crab meal even in the summer for a reasonable price. Sigh...this summer will be time for me to stock up on anything that might be needed in the winter.

The recipe you provided is for a 1/2 gallon, so how much is it diluted for a drench?

Rrog said:

Hey Tweety- Thanks for stopping by. The most knowledgeable guy I know on this topic insists we keep ACT simple:

3TBS compost

1/2 gallon water

3 tsp molasses 

1/4tsp fish Hydrolysate 

1tsp kelp meal

1/4 tsp rock phosphate

Click to expand...

You would apply as-is after brewing. 2-3 cups per application. You should know that a lot of very heavy duty science types never use ACT, instead focusing on the quality of their worm castings. In my opinion, anyone serious about getting the best stuff should raise their own worms and make the best compost possible.

I agree the best is your own. I have a compost started, but it will be a while. Worms...I can't do it. They are fine outside in the garden where I only see them when I'm digging around. Just can't get over the ick...bit of a phobia about slithery things & other creepers. I don't have any help growing either so its not an option to get some help with them. Anyway, I'm about 3 weeks from harvest & all the canna bits will go into the indoor compost, along with the non-vegan stuff like bone & blood meal.

SpliffAndMyLady said:

Next time I go to the beach I'm going to grab some; thanks bro far out! So 1 cup of coconut water to a gallon of water? I'll feed the coconut meat to my worms, which will be dessert for them haha

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Hey Spliff- Watered with 100% coco water more than once and noticed no bad effects, except ants showed up the next day for a day......I'd think a 1:10 percent solution would be better.....

I'm kind of new to organic soil gardening. I have many hydroponic harvests under my belt, anyways I'm not a noob into growing just organics lol... Here's what I use for my tea

EWC in panty hose
Hi Brix Molasses
Kelp Meal
Caps bennies - foliar, nute and root packs

Oh I'm using subs super soil recipe for flower and vegging in roots 707

Any recommendations ?? Think I should add anything?

I don't buy EM-1 either, results are getting better each time I collect my own BIM, last time I forgot about it for three days lol. Thanks Surfd, Im gonna give it a go fer sure! Once in veg and once in flower, Rrog suggested 1:15. I didn't know Aloe was illegal now, I called my nursery to see if they had any and she gave me the spiel, I guess all medicinal plants are going to be made illegal? Ridiculous..Anyway, hows that Bokashi coming Rrog? It's better to squeeze out too much moisture, than too less remember that. If the bokashi start getting a green or yellow soil web, it's too wet.

Aloe=illegal wtf?

Scrap the CAP. Use your own stuff. Better and cheaper.

Barley Tea:
2 tablespoons of seeds (1 oz.) Soak for 12 hours. Drain that water and throw away. It’s full of growth inhibitors. Add 1/2 gallon of water to the sprouts for the 48 hour soak. Strain and use 1 cup of this to 1 gallon of water. Use as a drench and as a foliar