Compost Tea Soil! (first post)

Ok so this is my first post Yay me!
Ive been doing research on compost tea, thought it was a cool idea so I had to give it t a try. I only made a small batch as I only have a few test subjects and used compost (obviously) about two cups worth, a Tbl spoon of worm castings, a Tbl spoon of an organic dry mix that includes alfalfa, bone meal, blood meal, glacial rock dust whatever the hell that's for, sulphate of potash, rock phosphate, greensand, kelp meal and gypsum. Mmm tasty! I mixed that all together and added a water/honey solution. I would have liked to not include blood or bone meal but for now as the greenhouses in my area aren't stocking anything much I have no choice also I would rather use blackstrap molasses but I figure honey is a great feeder too so that's what the microbes get to munch on. So following the compost tea method I got a black watery goo and used the water for my plants, thus far they seem to have improved in vigor.
So I was left with the remnants of mush and I figured that I may as well mix it 50/50 with potting soil (that includes a good ratio of thoes white rock things, my god I can't remember what it's called oh yah pearilite!) jeez ud think I was a beginner any ways Im in the process of transplanting my new seedling into this mix and figure it would enjoy having "real soil". Has anyone tried this? I can't be the only one who would experiment with this.
Feedback and constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated.

sounds a bit much for new plants , if I was yiu a would grow them for 4 weeks and then add your mix to your plants when you repot them , just a good compost mix soil for young plants is the way I went and it worked for me , after 4 weeks I repotted and added my tea mix a few ways after,

I use compost teas for plants of all ages.. Bacterial teas for veg stage. Plants love it, & no need to PH. You can brew a strong tea, or something light to keep the organisms happy. Foliar feeding is awesome w/ teas.

Thanks allot guys. So the debate continues: how young is too young for nutrients? It seems the organic way tends to allow more leeway for the grower to experiment without doing allot of harm to a young plant.
Although I have heard of nute burn occurring with particular pre-mixed organic soils...So is there a difference between compost tea and bacteria tea in ingredients? I thought compost tea pretty much is bacteria. What concoctions do you use for flowering? I'm hoping to do this all organically and preferably vegan although I'm off to a non-vegan start. Any suggestions or helpful hints? I'm gunna do my research as I go along but nothing beat good ol' expierience!

Jimminee said:

Thanks allot guys. So the debate continues: how young is too young for nutrients? It seems the organic way tends to allow more leeway for the grower to experiment without doing allot of harm to a young plant.
Although I have heard of nute burn occurring with particular pre-mixed organic soils...So is there a difference between compost tea and bacteria tea in ingredients? I thought compost tea pretty much is bacteria. What concoctions do you use for flowering? I'm hoping to do this all organically and preferably vegan although I'm off to a non-vegan start. Any suggestions or helpful hints? I'm gunna do my research as I go along but nothing beat good ol' expierience!

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Compost tea is a lot of things, and bacteria is definitely a key component of a good tea. There's a ton of great info over at Simplici-Tea, probably more than you care to look through, but I learned a lot from the materials there. I get from there that what makes a good compost tea is largely inclusion of a representative species of each level of the SoilFoodWeb, excluding anything larger than a nematode. So that includes protozoa, bacteria, fungi, and some more I can't recall right now. As far as what teas to use in veg, flower, etc., I plan on experimenting until I nail a solid baseline recipe, and then just add organic amendments that fit my plant's requirements per stage. I guess the approach is the same as coming up with a good soil recipe.

Just about any tea that is <1 n-p-k is generally ok because it's too mild to burn for an established plant (ie, has true leaves). You'd have to know what has gone into it. Composted material and wormcastings are almost always <1 n-p-k and therefore usually safe. Alfalfa tends to run hot (why it's usually only used in teas) so would be careful there. Whether your plant will benefit or need teas depends also on the strain. If you tried it and your plants responded well then you can't really argue with results.

The bacteria are what are more beneficial than the nutrients. The tea will help activate your soil and that's the biggest benefit for a young seedling. You can activate the soil before the seedling is even planted though (and should). Once the soil is activated you don't need to keep feeding additional teas as long as the organisms have some organic material in the soil (like wormcastings) to live on and break down.

its p and k the seedling needs, to lay down roots. a little weak kelp tea at second set of true leaves. then added n, at 4th set. one fellas method.....

let your super soil compost together a bit. meld and mellow and stabilize. build up to it, by mixing in a bit with each transplant; just a taste. the true SS type method (bottom of pot rich SS,etc) it shouldn't be until the final pot. and then the feeding must stop. ph'd water is all that is needed. my SS is just one part of my mix. peaterlite:SS........2:1:1/2. i feed my micro-herd with teas, and my plants with light foliar feeds.

Ive use worm tea mixed with fish tan water does wonders on plants also picked up a good book on microbes and the soil food web called "Teaming with Microbes"

Zedgreen said:

Ive use worm tea mixed with fish tan water does wonders on plants also picked up a good book on microbes and the soil food web called "Teaming with Microbes"

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Same authors have put out "Teaming with Nutrients."

I've been amending my soil with used compost from my teas for about a year now. I originally did a side-by-side and got some good results using 1 cup of leftover compost (EWC, seabird guano, bat guano, alfalfa meal) mixed into the bottom of my 5 gal flowering pots. BTW, I hear honey as antibacterial properties so it isn't ideal for teas.