Organics ?'s

Would like to thank all my fellow growers here at RIU in advance for the feedback.

Background
I have mainly been a store bought chemical fertilizer kind of guy. Always in coco coir with perlite 50/50 mix. Most of my products were from General Hydroponics, mainly because of the prices, although I did add additives from other lines. I've researched and read a lot of articles and stickies here and this is what I've come up with for my own tea recipe.

AACT recipe
2.5 cups of Happy Frog potting soil
1 cup earthworm castings
1 cup Peruvian seabird guano
60ml of molasses
40ml of BioWeed
40ml of Diamond Black

I brewed it for 24 hrs and mixed 750ml tea to 1 gallon of water. Then the next day I feed them the same tea that had been brewing for 48 hrs. Fed at 750ml/gal for both areas?

Questions
Is this formula good for veg, flower, both or neither?
Is this tea good for bacteria and as a nutrient source?
Is feeding them a portion that's brewed at 24hrs and then another at 48hrs ok, good or bad?
Does this aact thing work even without compost and built soil mixes?
When do I stop using teas in flower?

I know these maybe noob questions but the taste from organic bud has been hooked. Thanks in advance

Hey LilT211. I can't answer all of those for you but I can answer 1. I have read that when using organic teas, you don't need to stop watering when your girls are flowering. You can water right up until harvest. No need to flush.

I use a veg tea of 2 cups ewc, 1 cup organic alfalfa pellet and 2 tablespoons bsm in 5 gallons water bubbled for 36 hours. For flowering I boil 4 organic banana peels in 2 liters of water with 1 tablespoon bsm. Then I dilute 1 to 1 and water once a week. To finish off I dissolve 1 tablespoon bsm in 1 gallon water and use that once a week until harvest. Of course all water is rainwater.

And the organic buds are well worth it I might say!!!

LilT211 said:

Would like to thank all my fellow growers here at RIU in advance for the feedback.

Background
I have mainly been a store bought chemical fertilizer kind of guy. Always in coco coir with perlite 50/50 mix. Most of my products were from General Hydroponics, mainly because of the prices, although I did add additives from other lines. I've researched and read a lot of articles and stickies here and this is what I've come up with for my own tea recipe.

AACT recipe
2.5 cups of Happy Frog potting soil
1 cup earthworm castings
1 cup Peruvian seabird guano
60ml of molasses
40ml of BioWeed
40ml of Diamond Black

I brewed it for 24 hrs and mixed 750ml tea to 1 gallon of water. Then the next day I feed them the same tea that had been brewing for 48 hrs. Fed at 750ml/gal for both areas?

Questions
Is this formula good for veg, flower, both or neither?
Is this tea good for bacteria and as a nutrient source?
Is feeding them a portion that's brewed at 24hrs and then another at 48hrs ok, good or bad?
Does this aact thing work even without compost and built soil mixes?
When do I stop using teas in flower?

I know these maybe noob questions but the taste from organic bud has been hooked. Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

you're doing a couple different things my friend.
For an AACT, it ONLY needs wormcastings, molasses and air.
Also I never dilute my AACT.
For nutrients teas, its all about whatever soluble nutrient you want to dissolve.
personally I don't differentiate the difference for vege or flower.
When I did use teas, I used fish hydrosylate, kelp, and alfalfa.
I also like comfrey and dandelion ferments.
Guanos will work as well, I just preferred different inputs.
One thing to note, is I don't use teas much anymore. I prefer to build the soil with a bunch of meal-based nutrients that breakdown over time, giving the plant a fairly constant supply of "food" during it's life.
I highly recommend not looking at the plant as needing two types of nutrients (flower vs vege) it's simply a wive's tail/hydro store myth that the needs of the plant is that different.
In other words, a hydrosylate, kelp, and alfalfa tea would be great, all the way till the end.
if you were convinced it'd need more phosphorus you could always add guano.
I never did though, but my soil was/is pretty amended

kkt3 said:

Hey LilT211. I can't answer all of those for you but I can answer 1. I have read that when using organic teas, you don't need to stop watering when your girls are flowering. You can water right up until harvest. No need to flush.

I use a veg tea of 2 cups ewc, 1 cup organic alfalfa pellet and 2 tablespoons bsm in 5 gallons water bubbled for 36 hours. For flowering I boil 4 organic banana peels in 2 liters of water with 1 tablespoon bsm. Then I dilute 1 to 1 and water once a week. To finish off I dissolve 1 tablespoon bsm in 1 gallon water and use that once a week until harvest. Of course all water is rainwater.

And the organic buds are well worth it I might say!!!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply kkt3
I saw somewhere someone else using banana peels. Does it change the scent or flavor of your buds? Definitely seems like it would add a lot of potassium to the mix.

greasemonkeymann said:

you're doing a couple different things my friend.
For an AACT, it ONLY needs wormcastings, molasses and air.
Also I never dilute my AACT.
For nutrients teas, its all about whatever soluble nutrient you want to dissolve.
personally I don't differentiate the difference for vege or flower.
When I did use teas, I used fish hydrosylate, kelp, and alfalfa.
I also like comfrey and dandelion ferments.
Guanos will work as well, I just preferred different inputs.
One thing to note, is I don't use teas much anymore. I prefer to build the soil with a bunch of meal-based nutrients that breakdown over time, giving the plant a fairly constant supply of "food" during it's life.
I highly recommend not looking at the plant as needing two types of nutrients (flower vs vege) it's simply a wive's tail/hydro store myth that the needs of the plant is that different.
In other words, a hydrosylate, kelp, and alfalfa tea would be great, all the way till the end.
if you were convinced it'd need more phosphorus you could always add guano.
I never did though, but my soil was/is pretty amended

Click to expand...

Awesome! I was so confused between nutrient, fungal teas thanks for the clarifications. So the guano and other extras aren't necessary for the plant? I did feel that I was buying a little too much. Did you find that there is a noticeable difference between plants grown in built soil compared to reg soil mixes without amendments? Most of my girls are already rooted in 2 gal grow bags is it too late to build soil during transplant?

LilT211 said:

Awesome! I was so confused between nutrient, fungal teas thanks for the clarifications. So the guano and other extras aren't necessary for the plant? I did feel that I was buying a little too much. Did you find that there is a noticeable difference between plants grown in built soil compared to reg soil mixes without amendments? Most of my girls are already rooted in 2 gal grow bags is it too late to build soil during transplant?

Click to expand...

I can't say it's not necessary, too many variables to say that for sure, but for me it wasn't, but like I said, I have a REALLY amended mix, my leaf compost pile is like magic.
There is a noticeable difference when I use the compost pile, humus is some special stuff, and perhaps the most often overlooked.
To build and amend/age a soil mix i'd recommend at least 30-40 days for it to cycle.
Which just so happens to fit in nicely between harvests.
Guano is good stuff, just I don't use it because I have so much stuff to cover the nutrients needs of my plant.
I also sorta don't like soluble nutrients, generally.
I like a little more control over where and how much of the nutrients is going.
Nothing wrong with teas at all though, I just prefer my mix instead.

Haven't really noticed a banana flavor. But you sure know your smoking organic bud!!! I can certainly say you nailed that one on the head Grease. I planted some tomato plants in 100% compost soil a few years ago and my freaking eyes were popping outta my head. The difference in the plant was like night and day, and the difference in the tomatos was unbelievable.