What are your favorite ACTs?!

MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
In order to brew up a really good tea IMONutrient teas cannot provide all your plants need at once like compost based teas can.
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This is not true.

Alfalfa- nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, trace minerals, growth hormones etc..

Kelp- nitrogen, potassium, EVERY trace mineral, growth regulators, cytokins, metabolites etc..

These two amendments give me EVERYTHING I need and more..
These two together also give me more benefit than my vermi teas do for sure. It's about establishing a population from the beginning and keeping it around, not dumping more and more populations on top..

Not saying compost teas don't do anything, I just think they're good for a fix or if your pot dried out or something.

I like top dressing my vermicompost and giving an alfalfa/kelp tea. Or you can just pre amend your compost so it's ready to go. I noticed when I pre amend my compost it smells really sweet and attracts a lot of gnats. Good sign of fungal growth
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
Soil... a regurgitation of something i wrote in another thread

5 basic functions of soil:
-medium for plant growth (anchor point)
-system for water purification
-habitat for organisms
-modifier for the atmosphere (carbon cycle/hydrologic cycle/nitrogen cycle)
-recycling system (composting)
a 6th function is of engineering standpoint for foundation. but that's a whole nother perspective.
geologists and archeologists have their own definitions having more to do with the parent material/rocks and minerals.

definition of soil from my understanding of the soil management class: having the ability to retain water, and provide for the growth and habitat of plants and organisms. soil is alive!

dirt = the stuff you sweep up off of your floors in your house.

highly organic soil is anything with more than 25% OM. anything less is considered a mineral soil. but again that is for a natural soil, weathered parent material.

the more you break it down, the more technical you can get.
 
B

bankcee

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
This is not true.

Alfalfa- nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, trace minerals, growth hormones etc..

Kelp- nitrogen, potassium, EVERY trace mineral, growth regulators, cytokins, metabolites etc..

These two amendments give me EVERYTHING I need and more..
These two together also give me more benefit than my vermi teas do for sure. It's about establishing a population from the beginning and keeping it around, not dumping more and more populations on top..

Not saying compost teas don't do anything, I just think they're good for a fix or if your pot dried out or something.

I like top dressing my vermicompost and giving an alfalfa/kelp tea. Or you can just pre amend your compost so it's ready to go. I noticed when I pre amend my compost it smells really sweet and attracts a lot of gnats. Good sign of fungal growth
Click to expand...
how do you make your alfalfa kelp tea? and what phase do you use this tea in? veg or flower?
 
MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
bankcee said:
how do you make your alfalfa kelp tea? and what phase do you use this tea in? veg or flower?
Click to expand...
I use this tea in early veg all the way up to the 4th week of flower.
Don't look at in phases. Veg/flower, bacterial/ fungal doesn't matter when dealing with true Organics. You want an all around tea that's going to give your soil AND your plant everything it needs.

Since implementing this tea a number of years ago, EVERY one of my strains develops bud and resin faster, clones better, and branches stronger.

Use this tea once a week and you'll see a notable difference right away.

To 5 gallons of water add:
1/4 cup kelp
1/8 cup alfalfa

Brew for 18-24 hours

Warning though, alfalfa is really hot stuff and can mess your harvest up if not careful. Implement in at smaller ratios and build up from there. A lot of people use more alfalfa than this, but I can't ever see my self using more than 1/8 cup. I get my alfalfa from a distributor out of Oregon (feed grade) and its some GOOD stuff. Reall really hot, i burnt up my whole garden once using a 1/2 cup to 5 gallons. It was pretty bad, I didn't know how strong it was then.
 
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Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
This is not true.

Alfalfa- nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, magnesium, trace minerals, growth hormones etc..

Kelp- nitrogen, potassium, EVERY trace mineral, growth regulators, cytokins, metabolites etc..

These two amendments give me EVERYTHING I need and more..
These two together also give me more benefit than my vermi teas do for sure. It's about establishing a population from the beginning and keeping it around, not dumping more and more populations on top..

Not saying compost teas don't do anything, I just think they're good for a fix or if your pot dried out or something.

I like top dressing my vermicompost and giving an alfalfa/kelp tea. Or you can just pre amend your compost so it's ready to go. I noticed when I pre amend my compost it smells really sweet and attracts a lot of gnats. Good sign of fungal growth
Click to expand...
Fair enough
 
B

bankcee

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
yeah you can use that. sounds like a similar product to boogie brew. don't forget to add the molasses! TBSP per gallon of h2o and make sure you dissolve it in a couple cups of water before you dump it in your bucket, just easier that way. if you have a good compost resource (someone you know maybe?), you can use that to brew microbe tea as well.

something else you can get is fish hydrolysate, just make sure it's from a reputable company like neptune or something. remember aloe and kelp both ease stress on plants, are low in NPKs and high in micronutes/vitamins/minerals.
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@ShLUbY so if I have a 3 gallon brewer I would do 3 tablespoons of molasses and how much ewc cause one of my homie came through with some wiggle worm castings.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
I use this tea in early veg all the way up to the 4th week of flower.
Don't look at in phases. Veg/flower, bacterial/ fungal doesn't matter when dealing with true Organics. You want an all around tea that's going to give your soil AND your plant everything it needs.

Since implementing this tea a number of years ago, EVERY one of my strains develops bud and resin faster, clones better, and branches stronger.

Use this tea once a week and you'll see a notable difference right away.

To 5 gallons of water add:
1/4 cup kelp
1/8 cup alfalfa

Brew for 18-24 hours

Warning though, alfalfa is really hot stuff and can mess your harvest up if not careful. Implement in at smaller ratios and build up from there. A lot of people use more alfalfa than this, but I can't ever see my self using more than 1/8 cup. I get my alfalfa from a distributor out of Oregon (feed grade) and its some GOOD stuff. Reall really hot, i burnt up my whole garden once using a 1/2 cup to 5 gallons. It was pretty bad, I didn't know how strong it was then.
Click to expand...
that's weird.. I use a TON of alfalfa in my compost, and it does nothing but great things..
wondering why just a half cup was too much?
I mean, I'm serious man, I used probably about 3 CUBIC feet of fresh alfalfa...
(it was in the winter, so I couldn't find grass clippings foor my greens, used fresh alfalfa)
 
MistaRasta

MistaRasta

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
that's weird.. I use a TON of alfalfa in my compost, and it does nothing but great things..
wondering why just a half cup was too much?
I mean, I'm serious man, I used probably about 3 CUBIC feet of fresh alfalfa...
(it was in the winter, so I couldn't find grass clippings foor my greens, used fresh alfalfa)
Click to expand...
Fwiw I used to use the "GrowMore" alfalfa brand and was easily able to add a cup per 5 no problem. I buy this new stuff at the feed store one day and it's day and night difference. I implement alfalfa into my soil as well as my compost, it's definitely nice, but I'm growing quite fond of neem as a replacement for alfalfa tbh
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
bankcee said:
@ShLUbY so if I have a 3 gallon brewer I would do 3 tablespoons of molasses and how much ewc cause one of my homie came through with some wiggle worm castings.
Click to expand...
yeah tbsp per gal. 1/2-3/4cup is fine. generally 1cup per 5 gal bucket. so adjust accordingly.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
MistaRasta said:
Fwiw I used to use the "GrowMore" alfalfa brand and was easily able to add a cup per 5 no problem. I buy this new stuff at the feed store one day and it's day and night difference. I implement alfalfa into my soil as well as my compost, it's definitely nice, but I'm growing quite fond of neem as a replacement for alfalfa tbh
Click to expand...
hmmm, was the alfalfa "soaked" in molasses?
Or treated with anything?
that's weird man..
I bough a whole friggin bale of it at the feed store, and went to town..
I did de-stem it though...
reminded me of buying mexi-brickweed as a kid
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
bankcee said:
@ShLUbY so if I have a 3 gallon brewer I would do 3 tablespoons of molasses and how much ewc cause one of my homie came through with some wiggle worm castings.
Click to expand...
approximately a cup and a half of castings will do the trick, it's not too scientific though, a lil more or a lil less isn't going to hurt anything.
Just don't add anything else.
brew for 48 hrs, depending on your ambient temps
 
B

bankcee

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
yeah tbsp per gal. 1/2-3/4cup is fine. generally 1cup per 5 gal bucket. so adjust accordingly.
Click to expand...
greasemonkeymann said:
approximately a cup and a half of castings will do the trick, it's not too scientific though, a lil more or a lil less isn't going to hurt anything.
Just don't add anything else.
brew for 48 hrs, depending on your ambient temps
Click to expand...
k one last question do I just throw the castings in the bucket like that or in some kind of drain bag?
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
i just throw em in and stir every so often. i strain at the end with a kitchen mesh strainer.
 
B

bankcee

Well-Known Member
ShLUbY said:
oh i never used a brewer. i just use air stones. so i'm not sure. you can use pantyhose i think. or get a burlap sack or some cheesecloth or something.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna buy some tomorrow at work. I threw it in there so I hope it doesn't mess it up. lol I'm gonna pull it out and just use the stones as well.
 
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