Hopefully I can figure out gettinga meter and some hydro nutes before long.
...And some beans of a certain description hehehehe... How the hell do I send somebody a PM now?
I just started using that fish fert shit, it smells TERRIBLE, wife hates it, but the plants do love it eh?
How does that vitazyme work you find?
AND DUCK THAT IS SO COOL
That terrible smell is ammonia nitrogen. It is a yes-no scenario when it comes to plants loving it. Basically, plants do NOT use ammonia nitrogen, they need chelated nitrates. Ammonia nitrogen also burns, and in the process of chelation we get ions produced in the soil. This is one of the ways in which micro organisms affect pH.
In an efficient organic rig, you should have only good smells. Sweet soil smells. A stinky stank is either ammonia nitrogen or anaerobic activity. Both are not really what you want, unless you are beating down pathogens then anaerobes are pure power.
To get rid of the stink and chelate your feed all in one go, you have one option basically. You need to harness Lactic Acid Bacteria for your benefit. Very cool bacteria, it is BOTH aerobic and anaerobic. It's main function in nature is the chelation of ammonia nitrogen into nitrates. If using a fishy fert, mix your serum right into the feed. It will still smell a bit at that point, but no more stinky pots!!
Easiest by far is to go out and get some EM-1. Best by far is to keep culturing LactoB for your own home use. Simple method to culture some beneficial indigenous microbes with a dominant LactoB population:
Put some rice in a jar, small mason jar will do fine. Fill with water and shake till the water goes cloudy. Strain and leave water OPEN somewhere no more than 2ft off the ground. After 3-7 days, you will see some fungi growing on it and it will have a funny smell... This is your starter culture.
Mix this filthy water 1:20 with milk, preferably warmish. For the next bit a separatory funnel really helps, even a home made one is recommended. Pour the milk and starter culture into your funnel and leave to stand. You need a decent air-gap of about an inch from the rim, and you also need air exchange so don't seal with a lid.
Now you just wait until the milk separates into curds at the top, and a clear yellow liquid at the bottom. If it is cold it can take more than a week, but usually 3 days is good. Siphon off the yellow liquid, this is your PURE SERUM. Lacto B dominant with a whole host of beneficial microbes indigenous to your area. THIS is very important, you cannot beat indigenous microbes, ALWAYS most potent.
You can use this serum dilute 1:20 as a soil drench, foliar spray to prevent mold (I am going to talk a LOT about what microbes and particularly LactoB can do for a garden), to beat down rust or other pathogens. On your compost heap to speed it up or get rid of smells, you can feed it to your dogs to help digestion, etc etc.
Your pure serum will store in the fridge for 3-4 weeks. For long-term storage, mix up some Blackstrap Molasses and pure water 50/50 as a food-stock, and then dilute your serum 50/50. At room temp the microbes will multiply and cause a little fermentation. That is not bad. In the fridge it will keep for 4 months or so. Use in same dilution as the pure serum, 1:20.
When it comes to feeding I am a HUGE fan of nute teas and ACT. On occasion I like enzyme teas too. Mr Duck, you are talking about Clackamas Coot's (wow, co-incidence of note) Alfalfa Tea. Stuff is like plant steroids. It really is incredible. Between Coot's alfalfa tea and Microbeman's nutrient cycling methods, I am getting just over a zip per gallon of soil mix in less than optimal conditions...