Soil Food Web Gardening with Compost Teas

One thing I do notice is my some of my plants that have blumats are too far for me to apply ACT often. They look just as healthy as my other ones. My soil is brand new and I didn't even cook it lol.


cook= let sit

Edit: I personally don't have enough data to discount ACT, as ever since I ever used it improved things ten fold. I used as often as every other watering.

headtreep said:

But am starting to see where these guys say they don't need to use ACT often. Check this, I have another room that I don't hang out in as much that I don't ACT because it's too much of a pain. I have blumats with these ones and just a real nice soil with 2 inches of vermicompost. My results are looking the same as the ones I hit with ACT often. hmmm.........

Click to expand...

That's wassup man! I'm the same as well as a gang on other ppl on here.
And a lot of us don't have the microscopes and equipment neccessary to see what we're brewing, and be able to analyze the contents of our teas further...
So what's to say that each time we're brewing, we use the optimum ratios and achieve optimum results??
I can't say for sure...Prob like the majority of us...
And with that said, I experiment more and more based on observation...
Take note of what works and what doesn't and move on..

So for those guys getting the same results using and not using, what's to say they're brewing effective teas at all times??
I know I don't...I throw them out without thinking twice and go water only sometimes, based on the color and smell of the tea..
But I know guys on here who are using them and are blowing it away....As well as a lot of guys on Grasscity which is were I started browsing forums...
So it works both ways ya know?

It's all on you...


After that last convo I had on here about dude telling me that using AACTs are pointless,
I went back to hunt for info and I found what I was looking for.

I posted the info in one of the last couple pages of the Fox Farm Soil thread.
The gist of everything tho was that by caring selective your ingredients, you can without a doubt brew AACTs for nutritional benefit.

When you brew an AACT, the microbes within can make things "plant ready", just as they do in the soil.

headtreep said:

One thing I do notice is my some of my plants that have blumats are too far for me to apply ACT often. They look just as healthy as my other ones. My soil is brand new and I didn't even cook it lol.


cook= let sit

Edit: I personally don't have enough data to discount ACT, as ever since I ever used it improved things ten fold. I used as often as every other watering.

Click to expand...

And basically bro....I look at it like this...
At home, with our DIY brewers and everything else involved, there's so much room for human error that it's not possible to say that we're brewing the best tea when can each time..It's "a to each his own" type thing.
The more we learn and share, the more we can tweak things..Rather than nay-saying.

I also know that you're recycling your soil too, so you can't go wrong using AACTs...
Bacterially dominant during veg and fungally dominant during flower. Balance them and use them whenever.
It's all pro-life.
We ALL know that over time soil gets better when you take care of it..

I can't think of a reason why applying AACTs would be detrimental when done the right way, and I can't see how and why it wouldn't work EVERYTIME you use one.
Not worried about over crowding my soil with microbes tho.
That's was a possibility 20 pages ago because I hadn't thought of it before, but not today as I've learned that's not gonna be the case.

Just takes a little care.

Here really soon I'll start posting more here...With my next run at the end of May.
I'll use an AACT every watering, and AACT sometimes, and an AACT not at all with three of the same clones, under the same conditions!

& I will be sure to share!

why not just topdress? its the same nutrient payload. thats what I don't get.

no need to rush the microbes into doing something in ~24 hrs that they would do over the course of a few weeks in the soil. unless your plant is extremely sick/in need, in which case an ACT can help. like I said, I use ACTs once or twice a cycle...more of a microbe establishment technique than anything else.

headtreep let us know if you ever see a difference between the two rooms. I am curious.

Topdress doesn't work right away. It works over a period of time.

For ppl who aren't no-till, it's not the same.
And why not rush the microbes to do something if we can?
Faster is better right?! You seen the AT&T commercials lol?!?

I'm thinking of being able to take advantage of the fact that I've got the best buffer available at my disposal.

But hey, its all good that you believe what you do...Can't knock you for it, but you can't discount what I do...Or shun someone else when they share something and then say they thread title is misleading lol. No it is not.
Just seems that way lately!

But thanks for the info regarding the aloe, barley seed, and comfrey and nettles info in the mean times!

You say AACTs once or twice and any more is pointless. I say careful AACT use at all times is warranted!
Agree to disagree sir.

@ the both of youse and everyone else. I'll let those pots with the blumats just hang with getting water and no ACT. We will see what up. Would love some more free time

Besides that I like everyone here and enjoy everyones opinion even though I'm always right lol..

Nice lol! And I wish I could say the same man...But I love it here on RIU nonetheless

You know you're AACT brew is going well when it smells nice and earthy in the end(although kelp and fish hydro give off a fishy twang but not too bad), and it's much darker than when you started it! I'm talking the color of a VERY RICH SOIL!

#FACT

Brew Tea. Use Tea.

My tea smells fishy at first but then smells like sweet earth and is frothy like Guinness.

Mine usually does to boss! I feel like it's the kelp meal that gives it the hint, and if you use fish hydro it's even stronger.
And I feel like the molasses give it the sweet smell which is a duh lol!

But once bro, I overdosed on molasses trying to use it as more than a carb in the tea...And the smell was EXTRA sweet to the point that is was STANK! Lol But being for whatever damn reason I used the tea anyways and screwed things up for a solid week....
Had to bring my girls back by brewing balanced teas for the following weeks rather than mixing it up like i'd been..

But in the process I learned that there is still Sulphur in "unsulphured" Molasses...The Unsulphured part of it refers to the processing, so when you over do it you can throw a lot of things out of whack! I was just experimenting tho, and I failed lol...I feel like if you use too large a concentration of Molasses, it'll end up being solubilized in the teas...What do you think??

But Im just giving a heads up that if you ever brew a tea that smells too sweet or just off in the slightest, I wouldn't use it! Just dump it and brew again!

Better to be safe than sorry right?!

#omgcompostteas!!!!

Cann said:

#omgcompostteas!!!!

Click to expand...

#OMGYESSSSS!!!

The organic solution to the bottled nutrient!
The DIY nute machine!
The MICROBINATER!!!!!!!
Yesss!!!

The AACT

#HELLSYES!

Cann said:

and the "veganics" threads are also stickied. notice that Matt Rize is a mod? hmmmm......

wonder why that is...

not everything that is sticky is good information, or even truth. many in the organics section are based in myth and not in horticulture.

in fact, i disregard most of the stickies on here.

Click to expand...

...the proof is in the puddin'
[youtube]Uj4FL0u1wvg[/youtube]

That's super-cool Fiend! However, The same nutes are being delivered with a VC top dressing, just not immediate. With soil, unless there's a problem, there would be no need for speed. But that's an old record of mine.

Seen the new AT&T commercials right?! Faster is better. It's not that complicated!


This thread is about gardening with compost teas, and you guys keep mentioning top dressing rather than using the compost tea..

Nice share in regards to the video!

There's nothing wrong with ACT per say. Just not needed. But we all do a lot of things that are not needed. No harm, no foul.

I just drop these little comments so that the anonymous readers out there don't get the impression that ACT is a requirement.

I make use ACT for a few reasons. I love it to kick start seedlings and since I'm a pheno hunter, I'm always playing with new gear. I also like use it as a sort of IPM and since I add a tad bit of kelp meal I love to use it to foliar. My leaves are very green

I do have old soil in a bin that I like to feed ACT to and some new stuff that I keep moist with ACT. I still for now will have ACT around until I see that it's no longer needed. If anyone has any issues with my plants or tips please let me know.

All of that makes great sense headtreep. ACT has great stuff in it.

Cann said:

why not just topdress? its the same nutrient payload. thats what I don't get.

no need to rush the microbes into doing something in ~24 hrs that they would do over the course of a few weeks in the soil. unless your plant is extremely sick/in need, in which case an ACT can help. like I said, I use ACTs once or twice a cycle...more of a microbe establishment technique than anything else.

headtreep let us know if you ever see a difference between the two rooms. I am curious.

Click to expand...

I think the assumption here is that one way is better then the other, which is farthest from the truth. When something starts to go sideways nutrient wise, one must ACT pardon the pun, who want's to subject their plant's health to a couple of weeks for the top dressing and it microbes to work their way through. I see ACT as a quick boost to address a nutrient situation and to provide additional nutrients to push the edge. Where as the soil is the entree and a top dressing seconds, ACT is like having a juice man juicer for instantaneous boost of readily absorb-able nutrition with no bad after effects. Just MHO... didn't realize I walked right into a turf war (pardon the pun again) as to whose method works best or doesn't. I believe each method is viable and sustainable for maintenance and growth. And since you can't really over ACT except the over watering part, I would say combo it, use the top dress with super soil and boost and address deficiencies with ACT.

So I am calling this procedure TOP ACT!

I don't disagree at all. My strategy in many things in life is to strip things down to the basics. Only do things that make a big difference, and focus less on things that may or may not provide a small improvement. A lot of precious waking hours can be lost chasing little things. So if I can avoid processes and devices, then that's my choice.

I wouldn't blend a fruit that I could eat whole, but there's sure nothing wrong with a smoothie!