Soil Food Web Gardening with Compost Teas

Rising Moon

Well-Known Member
Elliot Coleman is a big believer in clays for long term soil fertility as well.

Ever seen inside his greenhouses?

Oh MY GOD!!!

Absolute closed loop perfection!
 

Rising Moon

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I've got a great local herb/tea shop. Everything in bulk!

All the great teas herbs as well, certified organic and good prices.

3 types of powdered clays.
 

Rrog

Well-Known Member
I have not, but am grateful for the lead.

What do they sell these clays for? Soil amendment?
 

Redbird1223

Active Member
would good old Arizona clay/dirt work as well? I always have a little wash into my mix when I grow outdoors, and I heard a small amount is good for biology.

what are these hormone/enzyme teas you're talking about? what do they do? is it noticeable? /necessary?
 

c ray

Well-Known Member
I recently made a batch of CMC compost containing 5% of 2 types of locally mined high Si clay, in 400 gallon smart pots, shovelling back and forth between 2 of the 400 gallon smart pots every day or two for 3 weeks then a month or so to rest.. was made with 3 bales peat, 3 bags organic alfalfa pellets, micronized soft rock phosphate (from idaho), humalite superfine powder, high-Ca lime, gypsum, trace sulfate based minerals and hydrated with 50 gallons water + a gallon or so AEM and a 1/2 lb biozome, plus some biodynamic preps.. I mix it 1 part compost to 6 parts pro-mix hp on the average plant, more or less depending on their needs..

so far so good, I am curious how much compost tea do I really need to add to a soilless mix that has it's fertility based on compost? do I really need to keep adding CT or is adding microbial foods to the plants just the same since the root zone is aerobic and fully alive? out of curiousity I put 1 cup of the compost-pro-mix hp blend in a cup of distilled water and measured the ppm and it was around 4x higher compared to the uncomposted ingredients in the same test
 

Rrog

Well-Known Member
Redbird-

local powdered clay would seem to be OK. Clay powder is what we're looking at. I've heard of trouble adding lumpy clay.

Teas:

Barley Seed Sprout Tea
Misc. Seed Sprout Tea
Corn Seed Tea


2 tablespoons of seeds (1 oz.) Soak for 12 hours. Drain that water and throw away. It’s full of growth inhibitors. Add 1/2 gallon of water to the sprouts for the 48 hour soak. Strain and use 1 cup of this to 1 gallon of water. use as a foliar or soil drench.

Alfalfa, Nettle, Dandelion, Comfrey Teas:

Take a handful of any of these greens and add to a little bucket of water. Have a little bubbler there to keep aerobic. After 36 hours, drain off the water and use as a foliar or soil drench.

Coconut water:

Plain-ol coconut water diluted 1:15. use as a foliar or soil drench.

Aloe Tea:


Use fresh Aloe Leaf and squeeze out about 2 tablespoons of Aloe Gel to 1 gallon of water. Use as a foliar or soil drench. These techniques extract delicate, short-lived molecules that do powerful things for our plants. Many of these Secondary Metabolites, plant enzymes and hormones degrade very quickly, so these teas cannot be purchased and must be used quickly. These molecules trigger plant growth and vigor. They stimulate the plant's natural immune response system. Etc, etc. Amazing.

The results are instantly noticeable. Try some!
 

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
would good old Arizona clay/dirt work as well? I always have a little wash into my mix when I grow outdoors, and I heard a small amount is good for biology.

what are these hormone/enzyme teas you're talking about? what do they do? is it noticeable? /necessary?

Headtreep in the AZ section starting doing them using mung beans he bought in the organic section at Fry's ( AZ grocery store chain ) .. Shoot him a PM.. I'm going to start using them soon too. I started using the aloe tea.
 

Redbird1223

Active Member
sweet, I'll give em a try. thanks! would these be better in veg or can they be used anytime?

I try not to spray my plants with anything after stretch
 

Rrog

Well-Known Member
You can use these in flower, just avoid foliars. Also maybe avoid Alfalfa, Comfrey and other high-N sources in flower.
 

Redbird1223

Active Member
after watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead....I've been juicing like a madman again.

anyone ever use juice for their plants? or make alfalfa juice lol
 

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
after watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead....I've been juicing like a madman again.

anyone ever use juice for their plants? or make alfalfa juice lol

I know dude I'm 30 soon to be 31 and need to really start making a life style change......I dont make Alfalfa tea but I think I get all my barley nutrients from Miller Lite lol...
 

Rising Moon

Well-Known Member
You guys just need to pick up a really good veggie seed catalog.

Try and look through those things without wanting to grow everything!!!

After growing your own veggies, everything else sucks, and won't taste as good.

Gardening was the Thing that made me change my diet, so hard to resist all the beauty you can grow and eat!
 

Rising Moon

Well-Known Member
Never too late!

I was a fat ass all through high school, now all these years later, I have my shit together, and run into people of old, they always comment about how much better I look.

All it takes is brown rice and veggies + a reconnection to the earth human symbiot via psychedelic mushrooms...

depending on who Im talking to I may or may not leave out that last part. Lol.
 
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