Objections to AACT by grow master!!

I learned a lot from the guy that taught me to grow. But now he tells me that he disagrees with my use of aerated tea to achieve bacteria dominated tea in fungus dominated soil.
He is a sunshine mix/fox farm guy. His plants are lovely. Flower outdoors in soil. Old School.
What on earth could his objections be?
Is there ANY reason to diss an aerated feeding formula?
No seriously, I want to know. Or is he just being a big fat douche?

There are objections to everything mate. Are your methods working for you? Are you satisfied with results? If yes, then just smile and wave man. ACT has been working for me. Second gen living soil with ACT and SST, yeah baby! Kicking ass and taking names.

Agree with top post, he may be old school and grows great herb, but hes super bias and his opinion really means dog ish lol

aisach said:

I learned a lot from the guy that taught me to grow. But now he tells me that he disagrees with my use of aerated tea to achieve bacteria dominated tea in fungus dominated soil.
He is a sunshine mix/fox farm guy. His plants are lovely. Flower outdoors in soil. Old School.
What on earth could his objections be?
Is there ANY reason to diss an aerated feeding formula?
No seriously, I want to know. Or is he just being a big fat douche?

Click to expand...

First off, I have NEVER ONCE read of any negative results from applying a properly brewed AACT to cannabis, whether it's bacterial, fungal, or balanced. Cannabis enjoys a good mix of bacteria and fungi. So there's that... I don't know this old school character, but judging by the fact that he's still using mass-produced, bagged soil, I'm guessing he isn't doing a whole lot of research.

Looking at this a different way... You say you have a fungus dominated soil, and you are applying bacterial dominated teas. This part doesn't really add up. Each time you apply a bacterial tea, you are colonizing your soil with bacteria. I would venture that repeated applications of bacterially dominated tea might RESULT in a bacterially dominated soil, all things being equal. This isn't to say what you're doing is a bad idea whatsoever. Just saying, you may have even better results with a balanced bact/fungi soil and balanced bact/fungi teas.

Yep he's a douche!
He doesn't like it cuz it wasn't his idea.
One minute he talks it down and the next he wants me to run teas for him too.
Make up your mind idiot.

Yea, my plants were lovin it. Clean, healthy, vibrant flowers. Lots of trichs.
Smell, taste, looks, high - I had it all on track.

SpicySativa said:

Looking at this a different way... You say you have a fungus dominated soil, and you are applying bacterial dominated teas. This part doesn't really add up. Each time you apply a bacterial tea, you are colonizing your soil with bacteria. I would venture that repeated applications of bacterial dominated tea might RESULT in a bacterially dominated soil, all things being equal. This isn't to say what you're doing is a bad idea whatsoever. Just saying, you may have even better results with a balanced bact/fungi soil and balanced bact/fungi teas.

Click to expand...

I just meant that I run a mycorrhizal media, and add aerated nutrient tea. Bacteria die off pretty rapidly which is why the tea turns anaerobic.
Do you add mycorrhizae to your tea? I am still open to new perspectives.

aisach said:

I just meant that I run a mycorrhizal media, and add aerated nutrient tea. Bacteria die off pretty rapidly which is why the tea turns anaerobic.
Do you add mycorrhizae to your tea? I am still open to new perspectives.

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, the tea does not go anaerobic because bacteria die off, it goes anaerobic because the living/reproducing bacteria are using oxygen at a faster rate than it is being replenished.

I do not add mycorrhizal fungi to my teas, because this type of fungi requires living roots to germinate and grow. Putting myco innoculant (Great White, Oregonism, etc) in tea is just a waste of money. The best way to use these products is to apply them DIRECTLY to the roots when you transplant.

The fungi that grow in AACT are not mycorrhizal. There should be no need to "add" them, as they are already present in good compost. All you need to do in order to create a fungi dominated tea is to use good compost, limit the bacterial food (molasses), and add some good fungi food (fish hydrolysate, aloe, alfalfa, etc).

I know quite a few growers that have been growing for 30 years. You know that growers who have been growing for 30 years don't know shit and are stuck in their ways. I know some that didn't even know what curing is... They never even heard of using tea's... so you are not doing anything wrong

hyroot said:

I know quite a few growers that have been growing for 30 years. You know that growers who have been growing for 30 years don't know shit and are stuck in their ways. I know some that didn't even know what curing is... They never even heard of using tea's... so you are not doing anything wrong

Click to expand...

Thanks man. Thats who he is. 25 yrs at it. He knows about the new stuff, but doesnt seem to adapt to it. Its a great learning point for a new grower, just the basics. But then one always wants to improve. He always says "You see anything wrong with this"? And like i said, his plants are beautiful.

I got a lot to learn still about soils and teas. Gettin there. Add mycos to the soil. Check. Add fungi food to tea. Not yet checked.

There really isn't a whole lot of "new" stuff out there. An organic veggie gardening book from 40 years ago is likely to be just as applicable to cannabis growing now as it was 40 years ago. The only thing that's changed is that a whole new array of "MJ specific" products have flooded the market and brought piles of misinformation and empty claims along with it.

The "old school" guys bought into this new market BIG TIME, but many of them never picked up a gardening book along the way. Bottles, bags, bring it on! It's made for growing weed, right?!? Right.... :/

SpicySativa said:

There really isn't a whole lot of "new" stuff out there. An organic veggie gardening book from 40 years ago is likely to be just as applicable to cannabis growing now as it was 40 years ago. The only thing that's changed is that a whole new array of "MJ specific" products have flooded the market and brought piles of misinformation and empty claims along with it.

The "old school" guys bought into this new market BIG TIME, but many of them never picked up a gardening book along the way. Bottles, bags, bring it on! It's made for growing weed, right?!? Right.... :/

Click to expand...

I ll tell you one thing old school guys are missing out on(not all of them...) They are missing out on genetics!! I know guys that have been running Burmese or Romulan for 30years and will never change, they think ordering seeds online is crazy ...

Going back to teas, I was all over them just over a year ago but then I got buzy and or lazy and sometimes my garden is more work than I want to put into it so I have neglected ACTs for a while now I gotta say, I dont really see a difference, I am re-using my soil now too... nothing but water and most plants are happy. Keep it stupid simple!!

GreenSanta said:

I ll tell you one thing old school guys are missing out on(not all of them...) They are missing out on genetics!! I know guys that have been running Burmese or Romulan for 30years and will never change, they think ordering seeds online is crazy ...

Going back to teas, I was all over them just over a year ago but then I got buzy and or lazy and sometimes my garden is more work than I want to put into it so I have neglected ACTs for a while now I gotta say, I dont really see a difference, I am re-using my soil now too... nothing but water and most plants are happy. Keep it stupid simple!!

Click to expand...

I feel ya on the busy/lazy thing...

Regarding your results with/without teas... Teas really can't add much to a well built soil that ALREADY has a diverse microbial population. If something is lacking, THATS when you'll see a big improvement after the tea. If you are recycling your soil, you've probably already got all that going on...

SpicySativa said:

I feel ya on the busy/lazy thing...

Regarding your results with/without teas... Teas really can't add much to a well built soil that ALREADY has a diverse microbial population. If something is lacking, THATS when you'll see a big improvement after the tea. If you are recycling your soil, you've probably already got all that going on...

Click to expand...

If your soil is healthy and alive this is true. Particularly fans of ROLS reach a point where ACT is not needed pretty soon. EWC and Bokashi alone can keep populations very healthy. Guys like Gascanastan don't really bother with ACT much, but use SST at every water because enzymes are a little harder to keep in the soil. But like you say your soil has to be tip top shape then no worries.

GreenSanta said:

I ll tell you one thing old school guys are missing out on(not all of them...) They are missing out on genetics!! I know guys that have been running Burmese or Romulan for 30years and will never change, they think ordering seeds online is crazy ...

Click to expand...

A year in prison for GROWING a plant is crazy too. But he's coming around, and just ordered seeds on his own. But yes, he still laments some strains that he and his growing buddies ran for 20 yrs.

I need to study up on my teas and soil blends. I thought I was headed in the right direction, but I realize after this discussion that I still have much to learn.
Any how, I did get him to start using mycorrhizae finally. But he wont aerate.
You know that book about the soil relationship that was popularized in the last few years?

I have to say, there was a little magic in the oldschool reefer that is just not there with most newschool dank. The stuff was like 8 percent THC but it really made you feel on top of the world. Like you were living in heaven. It is hard to explain. Flavours on a lot of the old herb were also soooooo DANK. Blueberry that tastes like blueberry muffins yum yum yum. Flavours were STRONG.
I read an article on DJ Short where he also feels the same. There is something about the oldschool, it had something hard to define that has gone missing, a good coupla breeders have noticed too. Guys like Gage are hunting it down by using oldschool landraces, Bodhi is breeding with a G13HP from the 80's, Swami is working with a clone from the 70's...

Sounds awesome.
Strains that make you feel like the first time. A worthy endeavor.

aisach said:

A year in prison for GROWING a plant is crazy too. But he's coming around, and just ordered seeds on his own. But yes, he still laments some strains that he and his growing buddies ran for 20 yrs.

I need to study up on my teas and soil blends. I thought I was headed in the right direction, but I realize after this discussion that I still have much to learn.
Any how, I did get him to start using mycorrhizae finally. But he wont aerate.
You know that book about the soil relationship that was popularized in the last few years?

Click to expand...

I think the book you are looking for is ''teaming with microbes'' and it's a great read!!

The second one (Teaming with Nutrients) is also a good read.

I find teaming w nutrients to be better. Allows you to inderstand what happens when uou feed it this and how to get it to your plants faster. I love teas and use them as much as I can. I usually stick to a 1 tblsp per gal method.

Ahhh... I did not know there were two books. I have Teaming with Microbes.
Have to look into the second book for sure. Thanks.
Maybe then I can explain the process better to 'him'.