first time compost tea ?? HELP !!

100precentorganic · May 31, 2012

hello i want to make a simple compost tea recipe instead of adding bone meal and all those goodies for a start can i just do something like a 5 gallon bucket with a couple air stones and some compost in a mesh bag since i do not have the moolah for all the goodies in this batch thanks !!

ThegrowerMOJO · Jun 1, 2012

you can buy premix tea's such as budswell which are pretty reasonable around 20 bucks at my store. here's a link it's cheaper than going and buying all the ingredients.http://www.hydroponics.net/i/132393

JayBio420 · Jun 1, 2012

I'm not a pro, but from what I have read you may also require some molasses as a food source for the myco. Also make sure your water is not fresh tap water. Filtered and a day old or reverse osmosis. Distilled is okay but lacking some minerals.
Go find some worm castings the day after it rains for free poo.
Also, bone meal is nOt a regular tea additive as it's nutrients are calcium bonded and are not easy to break down in the short time yOu brew teas in, so don't worry about that.

100precentorganic · Jun 2, 2012

i will look in to the "pre made " tea !! and would you guys rec. brewing for one or two days for highest amount of micro organisms ?? thanks !!

scroglodyte · Jun 2, 2012

.................yes................

scroglodyte · Jun 2, 2012

throw in a handful of soil from a garden or from a forest (even better), and hit it with some cider vinegar and molasses. click my sig

Heisenberg · Jun 2, 2012

JayBio420 said:
I'm not a pro, but from what I have read you may also require some molasses as a food source for the myco. Also make sure your water is not fresh tap water. Filtered and a day old or reverse osmosis. Distilled is okay but lacking some minerals.
Go find some worm castings the day after it rains for free poo.
Also, bone meal is nOt a regular tea additive as it's nutrients are calcium bonded and are not easy to break down in the short time yOu brew teas in, so don't worry about that.

Great advice, except for the molasses feeding the mycos. Only roots feed mycos, or rather, mycos will not germinate until they contact roots, so the tea only serves to soften them up and prime them for germination. Molasses will feed virtually everything else, such as other fungi and bacteria, so it's still good advice.

To the OP: If you are looking to make a tea specifically for microbes, you may want to check out the thread in my sig for some ideas.

JayBio420 · Jun 2, 2012

Thank you for that clarification Eisenberg.

+ WitchDoctor + · Jun 3, 2012

ThegrowerMOJO said:
you can buy premix tea's such as budswell which are pretty reasonable around 20 bucks at my store. here's a link it's cheaper than going and buying all the ingredients.http://www.hydroponics.net/i/132393

Bottled teas aren't compost teas, they are not even close to beneficial in the same way. Budswell is good stuff, but not the same thing. Once you cut off the oxygen, everything in that bottle is dead. Compost tea is about LIFE. :lol:

100precentorganic said:
hello i want to make a simple compost tea recipe instead of adding bone meal and all those goodies for a start can i just do something like a 5 gallon bucket with a couple air stones and some compost in a mesh bag since i do not have the moolah for all the goodies in this batch thanks !!

You certainly can. Just throw in a cup of compost, a gallon of water, and a TBSP on molasses. Like Scrog said, if you've got some forest humus, or GO makes Alaskan Forest Humus for like 13 bucks, it's awesome and lasts forever.

But yea, it's as simple as throwing some compost in a bucket with some water and bubbling it with molasses if that's what you've got for supplies. I wouldn't recommend buying any of the bottled teas. Some of the powder ones make a good base for a tea, but eh...

100precentorganic · Jun 3, 2012

Thanks all you guys posts are extremely helpful !!!!

ThegrowerMOJO · Jun 3, 2012

budswell is a powder.at least what they sell at my hydro store is. problem is very few people have a proper compost pile going usually just some yard clippings,i've beenn working on mine for a year now and my worm bin is finally doing it's job as well ,But if you read on the ingredients in bud swell got everything you'd want in a tea (almost)and i am confident would have much better results than just throwing some simple compost in a bucket .But pot will grow in a ditch so to each their own.

+ WitchDoctor + · Jun 3, 2012

ThegrowerMOJO said:
budswell is a powder.at least what they sell at my hydro store is. problem is very few people have a proper compost pile going usually just some yard clippings,i've beenn working on mine for a year now and my worm bin is finally doing it's job as well ,But if you read on the ingredients in bud swell got everything you'd want in a tea (almost)and i am confident would have much better results than just throwing some simple compost in a bucket .But pot will grow in a ditch so to each their own.

I suppose it would depend on the compost, you're right. I shouldn't assume it's mostly food scraps. But he's already got the compost so I'm pretty sure that's his cheapest route, and if it happens to be compost from food scraps, then it's a win win. I'm sure he can use budswell in addition to the teas though.

first time compost tea ?? HELP !!

100precentorganic

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