Total Noob using teas and I am a believer

Sounds like a plan bro, a place where you can source all the organic amendments needed, one shop with a nice variety, im probably going to visit like 8 shops before i gather all i need here in this place man.

Im struggling with these things at the moment bro :

Crustacean Meal
Cant source Neem meal anywhere ( will use neem oil )
Good Fish Meal
Little weary about the GMO Alfalfa meal, not to sure how many organic sources i can find.
I do however know that the Bird feed shops sell Sea Shells, could they be any good crushed up ?

Im just a little confused on how to mix and substitute the stuff i dont have according to the mixes i have seen.

I am pretty much finished with compiling a list with all the amendments i have gathered around the country.

Some of the stuff i can find is however another problem because of bulk.

Finding it a challenge, not only because of how rare it is but also because im a little unsure of the quality unless its Certified Organic.

OK I can help you a lot here... Firstly, you really don't need any of that. If you have a high income and you don't mind growing at high cost then go for it. I left out all those things from my mixes, no substitutions needed.
All you need to worry about is maybe oyster shell if you want to live without dolomite lime, but I leave that out too.
Focus on structure and humic material. One third aeration, one third Supaflora, one third compost. The higher quality your compost, the better your bud.
Screw amendments, get your worm farm going ASAP. This is the single mist valuable tool a city gardener can ever have. With one of those at hand, you just need the peat and perlite. Get to know the All Purpose Tea and you are set for perfect health.

Mad Hamish said:

OK I can help you a lot here... Firstly, you really don't need any of that. If you have a high income and you don't mind growing at high cost then go for it. I left out all those things from my mixes, no substitutions needed.
All you need to worry about is maybe oyster shell if you want to live without dolomite lime, but I leave that out too.
Focus on structure and humic material. One third aeration, one third Supaflora, one third compost. The higher quality your compost, the better your bud.
Screw amendments, get your worm farm going ASAP. This is the single mist valuable tool a city gardener can ever have. With one of those at hand, you just need the peat and perlite. Get to know the All Purpose Tea and you are set for perfect health.

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Hamish is the man. I'd listen to him and then some. The All Purpose Tea is insane. Yummy.

Mad Hamish said:

Firstly, you really don't need any of that. If you have a high income and you don't mind growing at high cost then go for it

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yep kind of my reasoning for moving away from hydro 50$ a bottle snake oil, couldnt agree more

Mad Hamish said:

Get to know the All Purpose Tea and you are set for perfect health.

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by all purpose tea i take it you mean ewc, molasses , kelp meal , rock dust , fish hyrol? Or this could also be kept simpler
like ewc and molasses?

Mad Hamish said:

OK I can help you a lot here... Firstly, you really don't need any of that. If you have a high income and you don't mind growing at high cost then go for it. I left out all those things from my mixes, no substitutions needed.
All you need to worry about is maybe oyster shell if you want to live without dolomite lime, but I leave that out too.
Focus on structure and humic material. One third aeration, one third Supaflora, one third compost. The higher quality your compost, the better your bud.
Screw amendments, get your worm farm going ASAP. This is the single mist valuable tool a city gardener can ever have. With one of those at hand, you just need the peat and perlite. Get to know the All Purpose Tea and you are set for perfect health.

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What is supaflora and can you expand a little more on your soil mix and recycling/composting system? Would love to use a minimalist type of grow system. Thanks in advance, hamish.

Mad Hamish said:

OK I can help you a lot here... Firstly, you really don't need any of that. If you have a high income and you don't mind growing at high cost then go for it. I left out all those things from my mixes, no substitutions needed.
All you need to worry about is maybe oyster shell if you want to live without dolomite lime, but I leave that out too.
Focus on structure and humic material. One third aeration, one third Supaflora, one third compost. The higher quality your compost, the better your bud.
Screw amendments, get your worm farm going ASAP. This is the single mist valuable tool a city gardener can ever have. With one of those at hand, you just need the peat and perlite. Get to know the All Purpose Tea and you are set for perfect health.

Click to expand...

What is the all purpose tea? Wouldn't that include kelp meal, alfalfa meal, etc? If so, he would need to buy those items anyway ..... so then it just becomes a matter of which you prefer: Amending a soil with those ingredients, or brewing a bunch of teas with those ingredients.

Mad Hamish said:

OK I can help you a lot here... Firstly, you really don't need any of that. If you have a high income and you don't mind growing at high cost then go for it. I left out all those things from my mixes, no substitutions needed.
All you need to worry about is maybe oyster shell if you want to live without dolomite lime, but I leave that out too.
Focus on structure and humic material. One third aeration, one third Supaflora, one third compost. The higher quality your compost, the better your bud.
Screw amendments, get your worm farm going ASAP. This is the single mist valuable tool a city gardener can ever have. With one of those at hand, you just need the peat and perlite. Get to know the All Purpose Tea and you are set for perfect health.

Click to expand...

Many many thanks Mad Hamish, really appreciate the help bro. I realise now that you dont need 20 different amendments to make a good soil and grow professionally like you do & thinking in the long run your mix is really perfect for me.

Oyster shell will not be a problem, cheap & easily sourceable atleast.

Your 100% right though, i could spend the money on a worm farm & really get my moneys worth in the long run, ive been looking into the worm boxes, really keen although unsure if ill move soon, really wouldnt want to disturb the worms too much but otherwise i totally agree that its a real golden tool in the garden.

Ive got a few sources of different compost here although im going to ask locals around for the best source : ) Cant wait to bubble up some All purpose tea bro, read about them alot but have never made some, Much Respect & a very kind Thank you bro !

Gandalf it sounds too yummy & Hamish you are the man ! Cannot thank you enough for the simple yet very helpful advice !

Stow&grow no doubt man, i have a few amendments i can source as in Alfalfa,Kelp,Gypsum,Zeolite,Trace minerals,Inoculants, bat guano etc. From what i see it would be better to feed them tea's as you giving the roots more oxygen as apposed to just watering ? Probably other benefits involved aswell that i cannot mention ? Peace : )

StOw, I tweaked it to a South African version, and fortunately kelp and molasses we can get from the corner store here, not the meals but as per Microbeman I leave kelp out of brews. I forgot to mention about alfalfa, we call it Lucerne which is actually a higher N source than alfalfa. We get the little blocks I forgot the name though, but finding dry to crush down is no problem. Ask at pet stores.
The All Purpose Nute Tea MH tweak is as such:
one cup EWC
2 tbs Blackstrap Molasses
quarter tsp calmag if a coco based soil, I leave it out for sphagnum mixes (Supaflora us the trade name for Canadian peat here)
2 tbs fish hysrolysate
2tsp Rapid Raiser (organic chicken shit fert)
bubble 24 hrs
add 50ml Lacto B Serum
bubble final,24 hrs.

There are endless variations possible to thus, but it is enough to prevent or treat all the nute defs I have run in to.

This run I have only fed once. Third generation ROLS. Kicking so much ass.

whoops, forgot to mention, Southern Soil that tea is brewed in 5 litres of water. If you convert from American Relative measures you will see my teas are a little more dilute than the 3.8 litre American Relative measures. I found them too potent so I use the same tsp and tbs measures to a 5l amount. males tweaking very accurate going over to metric.

Wow awesome mix bro, so i take it the kelp is a little overkill with all the other amendments added ? The lucerne ive found in block form is used to feed horses also known as ( Lucerne Chaff ) from what ive seen.

Really exciting just looking at this tea ! Much respect man.

So i take it ill leave out the Calmag bro.
Bio-bizz Fish mix should do the job then ?
Rapid raiser will not be a problem & ive found some lacto b serum supplier so all good : )
Bro one last question, do you think its worth it adding the oyster shell powder to the soil or tea's ?


"There are endless variations possible to thus, but it is enough to prevent or treat all the nute defs I have run in to.

This run I have only fed once. Third generation ROLS. Kicking so much ass."

Mad Hamish,Today at 8:14 AM

Perfectly said !!! Just what im looking for bro, legend ! Thank you x10 man.

Will definitely stick to the 5 litre method. I can already smell the tea !

I was like now im like . Bless you my friend !

It will take a while, but all the hair splitting on amendments can be found on this thread... Kelp inhibits microbial multiplication. Have you read Teaming with Microbes?...

I will be reading through this forum bro, just want to get a soil going so while im reading i have a plant growing : )

That is something i didnt know bro, ill be keeping the kelp out of the Tea then, ive got teaming with microbes on a pdf but i really want to buy the real book. Thank You bro !

SouthernSoil* said:

Wow awesome mix bro, so i take it the kelp is a little overkill with all the other amendments added ? The lucerne ive found in block form is used to feed horses also known as ( Lucerne Chaff ) from what ive seen.

Really exciting just looking at this tea ! Much respect man.

So i take it ill leave out the Calmag bro.
Bio-bizz Fish mix should do the job then ?
Rapid raiser will not be a problem & ive found some lacto b serum supplier so all good : )
Bro one last question, do you think its worth it adding the oyster shell powder to the soil or tea's ?


"There are endless variations possible to thus, but it is enough to prevent or treat all the nute defs I have run in to.

This run I have only fed once. Third generation ROLS. Kicking so much ass."

Mad Hamish,Today at 8:14 AM

Perfectly said !!! Just what im looking for bro, legend ! Thank you x10 man.

Will definitely stick to the 5 litre method. I can already smell the tea !

I was like now im like . Bless you my friend !

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Avoid the BioBizz stuff if possible. Way over-priced and not the best on the market out here. For fish emultion, go for Seagro, it is cold processed and thick as can be, the BioBizz is this thin weird fishy liquid, not my favorite. Keep an eye out for Biogro products, they have the Neem oil, Pyrol, organic PK boosts, beetroot extract etc etc... They import good shit.

I have to say this: Triple root-canal on Tuesday, my face is still looking and feeling quite mangled. NO reefer helps for this. Latvian Vodka. Yeah baby. Makes pain it's little bitch. They should give you little tubes with that stuff that makes your cheeks melt off for when you get home. Or just a lollipop laced with the stuff to suck on. What is that stuff called anyway? Seriously, it would sell like a mofo in lollipop form. Botox has NOTHING on dental anesthetics.

Oh man best of luck ham! I I am a bitch when it comes to dentist.

My gag reflex is dangerous IMO. Good luck Bro.

Mad Hamish said:

Avoid the BioBizz stuff if possible. Way over-priced and not the best on the market out here. For fish emultion, go for Seagro, it is cold processed and thick as can be, the BioBizz is this thin weird fishy liquid, not my favorite. Keep an eye out for Biogro products, they have the Neem oil, Pyrol, organic PK boosts, beetroot extract etc etc... They import good shit.

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Thanks bro, Ive seen the sea gro around, ive also come across a person who does a 50/50 mix of fish hydrolysate and fish emulsion not sure how good it is although it will be much simpler to get the seagro : ) Bio gro have some cool stuff indeed bro !

Hope the pain has subsided shit bro a root canal must be intense ! are there no alternatives for such situations bro ?

Yeah, you can pull it out, pretty much only alternative.

Mad Hamish said:

I have to say this: Triple root-canal on Tuesday, my face is still looking and feeling quite mangled. NO reefer helps for this. Latvian Vodka. Yeah baby. Makes pain it's little bitch. They should give you little tubes with that stuff that makes your cheeks melt off for when you get home. Or just a lollipop laced with the stuff to suck on. What is that stuff called anyway? Seriously, it would sell like a mofo in lollipop form. Botox has NOTHING on dental anesthetics.

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Holy crap bro. Never trust a man who puts his hands in your mouth. A root canal. Triple canals. I'm guessing it was a molar. I feel for you. I hate dentists. Bastards. Are you on antibiotics? You are in my thoughts. Good grief.

GandalfdaGreen said:

Holy crap bro. Never trust a man who puts his hands in your mouth. A root canal. Triple canals. I'm guessing it was a molar. I feel for you. I hate dentists. Bastards. Are you on antibiotics? You are in my thoughts. Good grief.

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Funny as hell, the surgeon taught me new composting methods while working lol... The man is an artist though, this molar is in better condition than ever before. I think the worst part was the anesthetic really, injecting onto bone always makes a lump from hell.
We can use more composting canna loving surgeons around here