bacterial tea and fungal tea

I have read a few threads telling which substances make which kinda tea and ho to properly feed the microbial life in each tea..but I'm new to this and u have a few questions...I'm almost 100% sure this question had been asked but I can't find it so I thought it would be easier to ask...can I brew both a fungal tea and bacteria tea together ...I'm thinking no...and if not about how often should one or the other be used...one more than the other...I'm assuming bacteria teas should be seeing as how mj like it better...right?...I'm sure both needs to be used but which one would be used the most and how often...also do you drench with both ..I'm sorry these question may be dumb but Maybe someone will feel bad for me and help me out..thank you

Or skip the teas and just top dress. There's already a balanced microbial system in place in the soil. The exact microbes required / requested by the plant are already there.

The trade / communication system between plant and microbe is already optimal. Why flood their universe with anything other than amendments? Maybe a drench now and again.

My opinion.

Fruit bearing plants prefer to grow in bacterial dominate soils, like canna or other veges. Non fruit bearing plants like trees prefer fungi dominated soils, think of a forest of trees and all the dead wood being consumed by fungis in the forest. There really is no need to shoot for fungi teas but a rule of thumb 18-24hours brew time for bacterial dominate tea, and about 36 hours for fungal dominate tea.
And why use teas? In an indoor environment, you dont get quite the interaction of microbial life you do outdoors. There was a thread a while back about bim (beneficial indigenous microbes), dont recall the cat who posted all his stuff but the idea was collecting bennies from different sources to being to his grow. Its a tough sell telling me that everything that could benefit your plants is already in that bag or shovel full of soil. I agree though, top dressing does do wonders, if you never have, just throw a couple handfuls of worm casting on top and water.

I have top dressed everytime I have every grown ...bat shit I have collected from barns...rabbit shit ...worm castings and a lot of other stuff...iv seen a lot of ppl using aact on the Web and it looks like they work ...and I'm asking if they can be brewed together..not if you prefer them...I just would like to know from someone who has used teas for awhile with success. ..I grow outdoors btw. ..my understanding on why someone would use teas is to increase the microbial life in the soil. ..not keep it where its at ...right?... the more they interact with the stuff you feed them the more they multiply thus giving your plant more food and a healthier root system....that's what iv gathered....I have used teas everytime I have grown too just not aact...they work...that's a fact

And since iv been searching around I keep finding recipes for balanced fungal and bacteria teas so I guess you can...I guess the question is now does anyone think that giving them the balanced teas are better or giving them a strictly bacteria tea then a strictly fungal tea later...I'm sure u give more bacteria teas in the end but if anyone has experimented with this or knows the answer I would like to hear please

Rrog said:

Or skip the teas and just top dress. There's already a balanced microbial system in place in the soil. The exact microbes required / requested by the plant are already there.

The trade / communication system between plant and microbe is already optimal. Why flood their universe with anything other than amendments? Maybe a drench now and again.

My opinion.

Click to expand...

Spot on!

Banana444 said:

Fruit bearing plants prefer to grow in bacterial dominate soils, like canna or other veges. Non fruit bearing plants like trees prefer fungi dominated soils, think of a forest of trees and all the dead wood being consumed by fungis in the forest. There really is no need to shoot for fungi teas but a rule of thumb 18-24hours brew time for bacterial dominate tea, and about 36 hours for fungal dominate tea.
And why use teas? In an indoor environment, you dont get quite the interaction of microbial life you do outdoors. There was a thread a while back about bim (beneficial indigenous microbes), dont recall the cat who posted all his stuff but the idea was collecting bennies from different sources to being to his grow. Its a tough sell telling me that everything that could benefit your plants is already in that bag or shovel full of soil. I agree though, top dressing does do wonders, if you never have, just throw a couple handfuls of worm casting on top and water.

Click to expand...

Also spot on!
For simple clarification on the bacterial and fungal topic....
Annuals benifit and prefer bacterial dominated soils. This is primarily due to their short life span. They rely on the fast nutrient assimilation. Whereas trees are very long term and highly benifit from fungal. Fungal colonization takes time, and trees need the fungal to hyper extend deep into the soils.

Fungi are good to use and include into any cannabis garden but the true workhorse is bacteria.

I completely agree on the top dressing over tea brewing. If the microbes are present, why add more?

Something to note if aiming for a fungal dom tea........the fungi do not multiply in the brew process, they only grow bigger. If you want to brew fungal dom tea you need all the fungi to be in there before brewing. This can be done by mixing your wormcasts with some moist oats a few days before brewing. I've never felt the need to try this though, as stated earlier, annuals prefer bact dom.

I do agree with the topdress method though. I only use aact now if I've mixed a new batch of soil or notice a specific problem with my plants(deficiency or lockout), an aact is then my 1st go to solution

grow your own fungal dominant compost.... fresh is always best...
store bought compost are usually old and most of the bacteria and fungi are gone/dormant....
got to re-energize the compost with tea

using good quality compost instead of ewc in your soil mix, works just as good or better... saves you $..
remember your aiming for bacteria/fungi...

this book is a must...

I agree that dry amendments should be mostly all you need but I have been in situations where brewing a tea was more suited as a remedy than waiting for a mix to be ready. For instance it's happened where I've had clones rooted in my aerocloner ready to be transplanted yet my mix is still cooking & not quite ready for prime time for a number of weeks so I have used recycled unamended mix to get by with added teas to keep the plants all happy.
Anyways in the AACT sticky there are a bunch of different types of tea recipes: you have to kind of navigate through to read them all but if one wanted a fungal dominant tea there's just a couple extra steps needed as donbrennon has noted you must add the fungi & let it grow before brewing it.
Add a tsp of baby oatmeal to about a cup of fresh EWC & then hydrate generously. Leave it in a warm dark spot for a few days until you see mycellium breaking through the surface. Then it can be bubbled & given directly to the plants root system which seems to help younger plants in veg. Bacterial dominated teas are even easier & don't require the extra step- no idea how to make a tea that is equal parts fungi or bacteria but I'm not sure you really need to either. It is vastly better to add all they need to the mix & give it time to begin breaking down but teas are great for when maybe that didn't happen for whatever reason.

fungal tea
some ewc, mushroom compost or fungal compost, oat flour, kelp meal... mix it
let it set,,,, then brew it...
b4
after

I have found that in both AACT and organic hydro, a "perch" is good to give the fungi something to cling to. Because they don't multiply, but rather grow longer mycelium runs, they almost need something to cling to and colonize from in a aqueous environment.
I've had good luck using a piece of sponge in my hydro rezi with mycos. But technically once they hit the roots, they got their perch so the sponge may have been unnecessary.

Beemo said:

fungal tea
some ewc, mushroom compost or fungal compost, oat flour, kelp meal... mix it
let it set,,,, then brew it...
b4View attachment 3604362
afterView attachment 3604363 View attachment 3604364

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I'm just waiting for the cubensis to pin.
That is a mix I'd use for shrooms, with some grain and vermiculite.

Richard Drysift said:

Add a tsp of baby oatmeal to about a cup of fresh EWC & then hydrate generously. Leave it in a warm dark spot for a few days until you see mycellium breaking through the surface.

Click to expand...

Beemo said:

fungal tea
some ewc, mushroom compost or fungal compost, oat flour, kelp meal... mix it
let it set,,,, then brew it...
b4View attachment 3604362
afterView attachment 3604363 View attachment 3604364

Click to expand...

Good stuff! I learned something today!!!

I guess baby oatmeal is powered oatmeal right...from what iv read that's the best thing to use

GoRealUhGro said:

I guess baby oatmeal is powered oatmeal right...from what iv read that's the best thing to use

Click to expand...

Find the right person that has food stamps lol, they have cabinets full of the stuff!


I mean WIC

Same thing right?...where I live it's about every other person you see...I'm gonna go pick some of that shit up when I go to the store before I forget...

There's a starving baby somewhere...but on the bright side your mix will harbor much fungi; tax dollars well spent

you can get oat flour at whole foods.
dont forget to get some coconut water powder while your there...

But fungi was already in there doing its thing. The exact fungi the system wants

What has been accomplished with a fungal tea? Other than it's fun.

Richard Drysift said:

I agree that dry amendments should be mostly all you need but I have been in situations where brewing a tea was more suited as a remedy than waiting for a mix to be ready. For instance it's happened where I've had clones rooted in my aerocloner ready to be transplanted yet my mix is still cooking & not quite ready for prime time for a number of weeks so I have used recycled unamended mix to get by with added teas to keep the plants all happy.
Anyways in the AACT sticky there are a bunch of different types of tea recipes: you have to kind of navigate through to read them all but if one wanted a fungal dominant tea there's just a couple extra steps needed as donbrennon has noted you must add the fungi & let it grow before brewing it.
Add a tsp of baby oatmeal to about a cup of fresh EWC & then hydrate generously. Leave it in a warm dark spot for a few days until you see mycellium breaking through the surface. Then it can be bubbled & given directly to the plants root system which seems to help younger plants in veg. Bacterial dominated teas are even easier & don't require the extra step- no idea how to make a tea that is equal parts fungi or bacteria but I'm not sure you really need to either. It is vastly better to add all they need to the mix & give it time to begin breaking down but teas are great for when maybe that didn't happen for whatever reason.

Click to expand...

Have you ever brewed a tea and got a negative reaction or killed a plant with it? Like the tea multiplied too much rhizopus or fusarium or other bad fungus? How do you guys keep it safe?