I’ve been making some teas in a 5-gallon bucket with a paint strainer “sock” that has elastic to hold it around the bucket lip. I throw in a 4 cups of worm castings, same amount of alfalfa pellets, a cup or two of kelp meal, and two or three tablespoons of molasses. I use an aquarium bubbler stone to aerate the mixture for a day or two, then strain the sock out, put that “waste” around various plants as mulch, or in the compost pile, then dilute the tea in a 2-gallon watering can and soak the roots around all my plants (of all kinds).
I’ve been kind of winging it, but I wantred to ask, based on my ingredients, how much would you all put in a 2-gallon watering can? And how long will the tea “keep”, with a lid on tightly?
The bucket sits outside in Central VA, where it’s been in the high 90-s (fahrenheit) for a while.
Worm tea provides beneficial bacteria.
As long as you keep feeding them molasses and oxygen via a bubbler it should keep for several days.
However in a nice environment air born bacteria and yeasts will also thrive and quickly.
I use it once its ready as I dont want to mess with it repeatedly.
Thanks. How often do you use it? I’ve been doing once-weekly, just to make sure the soil has beneficial microbes. I have a mix of containers, raised beds and in-ground.
The only way I feed the garden is with teas. Once per week. Once I found a mix that worked for me I never turned back.
I will tag you in my grow so you can check it out. We will get you to become a home brewer in no time
Gotta love that home brew.
I think Spiney is indoors. If im readin right @ezwicky is outside brewing the icky juice. @Mrcrabs has a couple threads playing with worm teas. He isnt around as much as he used to be but im sure i could tag u into a few and he’ll be around to chime in a bit.
@anon84397802 has some big ass outdoor stuff going on himself and @Big123 is another one. Lucky mofos
Yes, I was talking about outdoors, although I just started two White Widows indoors, and I will also use the tea on them.
Outdoors I have a mix of grow bags and small separate raised beds watered by a drip system on a timer. I made those for veggies as I have a tiny urban yard and need to maximize space. This area is against a south-facing brick wall and gets the most sun.
I started with autos because they seemed like a good beginner option. They are almost ready, very small though. I check the trichommes daily with a loupe and they’ve been clear with no signs of amber yet. The Lowryder in the grow bag looks the best. The other two Lowryders are in between large tomatoes and are too shaded by them. The two Wedding Cak ones, I read somewhere to remove fan leaves and I did too much. Now they look like what we in the '70s called Thai Stick LOL.
The other one on the patio in a grow bag is a WW photoperiod that I’m giving to my buddy. The ones in grow bags on the roof are on the same drip system as my raised-bed system. The two on the left are WW photoperiod, the two on the right are Granddaddy Purple photoperiod.
My aim for the tea is to keep beneficial microbes in the soil, but if it also serves as a fertilizer I consider that a bonus.
I mix up about 47 gallons or.so at a time. I pre messrue the season into water bottles. Lol saves me time in the long run.
*1 bottle molasses unsulfured.
*1 bottle oceanic hydrolysate. Gish, crsb & shrimp. (I will forever use this product)
*1/3 bottle bat gyano.
*About 4 cups worm castings. (In a big tea bag)
*About 4 cups humus. (In a big tea bag.)
*About 1 1/2 cups bio live.
Thats about it for veg brew. I tweak it a bit for flower. Good healthy humus is key for the entire time. Weak humus = not so healthy tea.
We all have out own style. This is what works for me.
Pacific Gro also has some great soil blends. I have never used them but they look pretty solid.
Hmm… maybe I could send growers a box a natural humus. Kinda seems like a hard thing to locate for some.
Mr. Dewey Booker. Oh boy is he a hand full
