So, my first go around with supersoil. I have several Agent Orange that are two weeks from seed. Im currently vegging them in solo cups with plain roots soil. I'm feeding just plain r/o water. Everything is looking great, nice growth, healthy, no deficencies. I can't help but think that there is something I could be adding to really boost growth. Like I said, they seem to have everything they need, but I was wondering if they are to young to apply a tea to give an extra boost. If they are not too young, what's a good veg tea recipe for plants this young? Thanks for all help and suggestions in advance.
How soon to use a compost tea?
- Thread starter djeap
- Start date
camdengolf
Well-Known Member
From what I have studied, it depends how many true leaves your plants have to determine fertilizing, but a compost tea of just ewc you could give to seedlings even, because the worm castings won't burn your plants, they are very gentle. But to more directly answer one of your questions, I recommend you do a veg tea of: earth worm castings, alfalfa meal, and maybe kelp meal. But for sure worm castings and alfalfa meal. The alfalfa because it contains a natural growth hormone for the plants, called triacontanol. It is also known as a gentle fertilizer. hope this helps
RetiredMatthebrute
Well-Known Member
if you want to boost growth its whats outside the container that you need to change, not whats in the soil.
make sure your temps are 76
make sure your room is enriched with CO2
make sure you have good lighting
make sure humidity is around 60% RH
Make sure your PH is correct. (yes i know this is in the soil)
these things will give you more growth than adding anything to your super soil.
Using RO water will mean you need to suppliment CA/MG (generally) the plants wont need this every week and im not sure what is in the super soil for CA/MG but be on the watch for cal mag deficiencies as you progress through your grow.
as far as AACT goes the above statement is pretty on key, you can really use tea at any stage of growth. the purpose of the tea is not to provide available nutrients (though it does provide some) it is to inoculate the soil with microbial life and increase the productivity of your soil.
a supersoil is a organic method of growing, this is why your supposed to let the soil "bake" this allows the soil food web to get nice and active and start breaking down all those ammendments you put in the soil to make the super soil.
When you brew a AACT your providing a enviorment for the benificial organisms to flourish and reproduce at a verry high rate. The reason people use worm castings is because it is verry high in these organisms and it introduces them to your tea, the molasses is used to feed the organisms, they reproduce at a high rate in the tea and then you add them to your soil to break down the goodies in the soil into usable nutrients for the plants.
just be aware that using molasses will lower the PH of your soil so you dont want to use alot, just a tablespoon in a 5 gal bucket is more than enough. Because it lowers the PH you want to stay away from using compost tea's every week. I generally like to use them every 3 weeks if im going to use them.
the point of super soil is to provide a nutrient rich medium that will sustain the plant from start to finish. if you followed the recipe correctly you should have just that. theres no need to add anything to "boost growth" as your plants are going to grow just as fast no matter what you add to the medium (supersoil)
like i said above, if you want to see improved growth rates check your enviormental factors...these are the main contributers to how fast or slow your plants grow. make sure everything is at optimal conditions and you will see the fastest growth the plants are capable of.
my 2¢
these nutrient companies will tell you what you want to hear to get you to buy thier products. dont get sucked into the nutrient hype...your super soil is all them plants need.
lights
temp
humidity
CO2
^^ get these 4 things in check and you will be verry pleased.
make sure your temps are 76
make sure your room is enriched with CO2
make sure you have good lighting
make sure humidity is around 60% RH
Make sure your PH is correct. (yes i know this is in the soil)
these things will give you more growth than adding anything to your super soil.
Using RO water will mean you need to suppliment CA/MG (generally) the plants wont need this every week and im not sure what is in the super soil for CA/MG but be on the watch for cal mag deficiencies as you progress through your grow.
as far as AACT goes the above statement is pretty on key, you can really use tea at any stage of growth. the purpose of the tea is not to provide available nutrients (though it does provide some) it is to inoculate the soil with microbial life and increase the productivity of your soil.
a supersoil is a organic method of growing, this is why your supposed to let the soil "bake" this allows the soil food web to get nice and active and start breaking down all those ammendments you put in the soil to make the super soil.
When you brew a AACT your providing a enviorment for the benificial organisms to flourish and reproduce at a verry high rate. The reason people use worm castings is because it is verry high in these organisms and it introduces them to your tea, the molasses is used to feed the organisms, they reproduce at a high rate in the tea and then you add them to your soil to break down the goodies in the soil into usable nutrients for the plants.
just be aware that using molasses will lower the PH of your soil so you dont want to use alot, just a tablespoon in a 5 gal bucket is more than enough. Because it lowers the PH you want to stay away from using compost tea's every week. I generally like to use them every 3 weeks if im going to use them.
the point of super soil is to provide a nutrient rich medium that will sustain the plant from start to finish. if you followed the recipe correctly you should have just that. theres no need to add anything to "boost growth" as your plants are going to grow just as fast no matter what you add to the medium (supersoil)
like i said above, if you want to see improved growth rates check your enviormental factors...these are the main contributers to how fast or slow your plants grow. make sure everything is at optimal conditions and you will see the fastest growth the plants are capable of.
my 2¢
these nutrient companies will tell you what you want to hear to get you to buy thier products. dont get sucked into the nutrient hype...your super soil is all them plants need.
lights
temp
humidity
CO2
^^ get these 4 things in check and you will be verry pleased.
Great post with some good info. My environment is in check, and I pretty much know all of the above mentioned. My plants are only two weeks from seed and are in my base soil, which is roots, so they are not in supersoil yet. I'm going to try out the mainlining technique, so these are going to be trained and vegged for a bit before they are placed in supersoil. So basically I guess, is are they to young at two weeks from seed to add a tea, since they are only in straight roots soil right now? And if not, whats a good veg tea?
