Buggins
Active Member
So after a lot of reading about AACT, I think I may be more confused than anything.
What I do understand is this; that during veg, bacterial colonies in the soil help break down organic nitrogen and make available to the plant.
For this, I simply add a cup of EWC into a 5 gallon bucket of warm water, and then add a couple tablspoons of molasses and then let her bubble for 24-36 hours. Whenever I see peak foam production on the top of the liquid, I then feed it to all my veg plants without dilution.
But for bloom, I'm not so sure. From what I read, my understanding is that the organic amendments high in phosphorous require specialized fungi to somehow break-down or shuttle the nutrients into the plant. Without these beneficial fungi, all the fertilizer in the world wont help because the plant can't access it.
Now, here is what I did for my bloom tea. After making a batch of EWC tea, I left the EWC in the bottom of the pail with about a litre of water. To this I added another tablespoon or more of molasses, as well as a couple tablespoons of rock phosphate and greensand. This is all mixed together and bubbled in a 5 gal pain for a few days and then fed to plants undiluted.
Now, prior to mixing up the tea, I took a cup of EWC and a few tablespoons of oat flower, mixed them together, added a little left over EWC tea, and molded into a big ball. I then broke this cake into a dozen pieces, and place between two plastic seedling trays in the dark, sitting on a heat mat. In 25 hours I had this massive colony of fungi forming.
I then tossed this into the tea brewing pail, and she's been bubbling away for about 24 hours now.
So this is my attempt at sorting through all the info to find the basics for both bloom and veg teas.
How am I doing? What should I change, or what do I have wrong, if anything?
The goal here is just to make a soil inoculate of both bacteria and fungi, so they can go to work helping plants get their nutrients.
I am not making teas as liquid fertilizers, just inoculates.
Appreciate any input you can offer. Thanks very much.
What I do understand is this; that during veg, bacterial colonies in the soil help break down organic nitrogen and make available to the plant.
For this, I simply add a cup of EWC into a 5 gallon bucket of warm water, and then add a couple tablspoons of molasses and then let her bubble for 24-36 hours. Whenever I see peak foam production on the top of the liquid, I then feed it to all my veg plants without dilution.
But for bloom, I'm not so sure. From what I read, my understanding is that the organic amendments high in phosphorous require specialized fungi to somehow break-down or shuttle the nutrients into the plant. Without these beneficial fungi, all the fertilizer in the world wont help because the plant can't access it.
Now, here is what I did for my bloom tea. After making a batch of EWC tea, I left the EWC in the bottom of the pail with about a litre of water. To this I added another tablespoon or more of molasses, as well as a couple tablespoons of rock phosphate and greensand. This is all mixed together and bubbled in a 5 gal pain for a few days and then fed to plants undiluted.
Now, prior to mixing up the tea, I took a cup of EWC and a few tablespoons of oat flower, mixed them together, added a little left over EWC tea, and molded into a big ball. I then broke this cake into a dozen pieces, and place between two plastic seedling trays in the dark, sitting on a heat mat. In 25 hours I had this massive colony of fungi forming.
I then tossed this into the tea brewing pail, and she's been bubbling away for about 24 hours now.
So this is my attempt at sorting through all the info to find the basics for both bloom and veg teas.
How am I doing? What should I change, or what do I have wrong, if anything?
The goal here is just to make a soil inoculate of both bacteria and fungi, so they can go to work helping plants get their nutrients.
I am not making teas as liquid fertilizers, just inoculates.
Appreciate any input you can offer. Thanks very much.