So these started October 1st, one of the clone and one is from seed and they were both transplanted into seven or 10 gallon fabric pots about a week and a half ago. They are both in fresh ffof. So what I’m wondering is if I can give them banana peel tea at this stage? I’m probably not going to flip them to flower for at least another month or so and I am not adding any nutrients, I have only watered them once since they’ve been in there new home. But I’ve been having this tea brewing in the fridge for about 2 weeks and I’m just wondering if I can use it for these vegging babies, also wondering about molasses as well
You can use teas almost any time, but you need the right ingredients and procedure to make them useful. Especially if your trying to make nutrient tea you need to foster the the microbes that decompose organic matter into nutrients that the plant can make use of.
@Gl1tch Foster it into it? Can you run that by me a little easier to understand?
I’ll try to keep it as basic as possible.To go from banana peel (Organic matter) to usable plant food (nutrient ions) it takes a lot of different microscopic critters that eat those big organic compounds and digest them into smaller and smaller pieces until small and simple enough to be sucked up through the plants roots. Usually the purpose of tea in this context is to breed a bunch of those organisms really fast then add them to the soil. This only takes a day or two under the correct conditions. Much longer than that is counter productive. Once in the soil they will eat the complex organics in the soil and the plant will eat their poop. To feed your plants it’s more effective to make a compost tea then add the milled up organic matter to the soil for them to eat. There is a lot more to it, but that’s about as simple as I can make it. This is the basis of organic or living soil methods. If your trying to get away from mixing synthetic nutes you need to feed and develop the soil to get the best results. The build a soil website and youtube channel has lots of good info to get you started.
Banana is appropriate for flower as it’s high in P and K. Not for vegging plants. Also; @Not2SureYet reported severe burning of plants with a banana tea.
Banana peel tea and molasses can be great for vegging plants, but use them cautiously. The tea, after two weeks, might have gone bad, so check for any off smell before using. For molasses, dilute 1-2 tsp per gallon of water for occasional feeding to boost microbes. Always observe your plants’ response!
My only issue with it was figuring out what was to strong for my pants. They were in autopots. I found if I made the tea. Then took another jar and diluted it down to 500ppm or less. I was ok. @neofirebird is having great luck using humic acid pretty often through the whole grow. I always forget about that. The bud buster pro is the one thing I found that really helps your plants all through the grow. It kind of jump starts them. My words there. I have even had some questionable looking plants come back after just one use. I try and keep things as simple as I can.
I like the sound of that tea, would you share the recipe. I have some black nanners in freezer I was going to save for banana bread but I like making teas
I heard of mashing up different vegetables also for teas Never tried it , only earthworms and compost teas I made
Found one
I used the recipe in this article with good results and had posted about it on the forum a few months back. Someone had made note that the enzymes in banana tea are helpful for “finishing”, so best used in the last 4-6 weeks of flower. I started using it a bit earlier than that, but had no issues. Also noticed the buds get way more sticky after adding it in.
What did you decide to do?
If you are set on a tea I would chop fresh spinach and drain it off before watering. It’s super rich in nitrogen. Since you are veging. You should only run tea for 24-48 hours max. The max diversity of microbes is in the first 1-2 days. After that you find less diversity. The dominant microbes like trichoderma take over and mosh all the others off the dance floor. The idea of tea is rapid multiplication of all the microbes. By day three you are just down to a few dominant species. Microbe monoculture.
Pour off the old stuff on the veggies, flowers, and fruit trees outside. If it’s ever outdoor plants then I would not sweat old tea. But it’s still not diverse once the brew is older.
If you are vegging, I am a big fan of coffee grounds. Many growers dislike them. I find them useful. The main problem with them comes when you top dress. The spent grounds make coffee ground concrete on the first dry back. All the water will run off like it’s a slab of patio. No good.
The trick is to chicken scratch in a few table spoons with the surface soil. On bags I like to excavate a tad around the outside of the bag, then spread it lightly into the edge trench. And then fill it back in. Never layer it on the surface. Ideally you put a few tablespoons in the hole at uppot from the starter cup. Down below the roots like you would a powder myco product.
Which leads me to the next perceived problem. Spent coffee grounds fire up the microbes. Specifically, you WILL see hyphae of saphrogilic fungus engulf the top layer of soil for a couple days to a week. This is beneficial and expected. If you are not used to living soil this can be off putting or worrisome to new growers. This belief could not be further from the truth. Ha, except when you top mulch w coffee grounds. Those fungus hyphae become the glue to really make that water proof concrete a finger deep layer of nute and water repelling he@!. So don’t do it. Or skip the spent coffee grounds.
But I am telling you it’s a lovely lil microbeboosting nitrogen boost. With a touch of P and K. I think it’s got a bad rep unfoundedly. Not telling you how to grow, just sharing what I found. Happy growing. .
@noddykitty1 I just ended up throwing it away since it has been in there for so long whenever I flip the flower I’m just going to brew some more. Now I am wondering I have like a half a bag of worm castings and wondering what I should do with it. I am in two week old ffof and plan on flipping to flower as soon as these nutrients start lowering in my ffof. But I have a few clones and seedlings and just wondering how I could use these worm castings to give a quick hit