compost tea

[surreptitious]

so, i went to the hydro store today to pick up some more buckets, hydroton, some bamboo sticks, and a bunch of other stuff (it's an hour drive away so i like to have a bunch of stuff to get to make the drive worth it)

anyways, i was talking to one of the guys there, who just happend to be the owner (been there a bunch of times and never met him). he seems like a cool guy. very knowledgeable. he suggests that i take some of their store made compost tea. the first gallon on each visit to the store is free. i told him that i didnt know much about compost tea. he said something about micro-organisms in the tea that would help my plants. anyways, i picked up a gallon (it was free...i dont turn free stuff down)

i was curious if any of you guys use compost tea. i'm a hydro guy myself. he suggested that i pour it right over the hydroton into my roots. also maybe someone could explain exactly what compost tea is. i'm gunna use google right now.

happy growing!

 

[Tact]

Don't drink it.

Unless you have crumpets! :hubba:

 

[surreptitious]

Don't drink it.

Unless you have crumpets! :hubba:

zing! lol

 

[Tater]

Uhhh no do not pour it over your hydroton into your route zone unless you use a drain to waste system. All those dudes hanging out in that tea are great for your plant true, but they are not conducive to a happy reservoir unless you are already running a hydro system on organic nutrients and have addressed all the issues that come with it. Put it on your house plants or your lawn it will work wonders, but its a no no for hydro in a recirculating reservoir or a DWC setup.

In fact if you are running a DWC setup DO NOT DO THIS, the O2 rich water will be a haven for all that microbial life and it will soon take over.

Ignore all of the above if you drain to waste and have fun, but if you follow it up with synthetic nutes I don't see the point as the salt will kill the micro beasties.

 

[surreptitious]

Uhhh no do not pour it over your hydroton into your route zone unless you use a drain to waste system. .

lol, that's why i ask before i do!

i use a recirculating system. i've got drippers that drip over the hydroton into the root. is there is a formal name for this system? i dont see too many people doing it. so far, it's been good to me.

i'm also using GH's floranova series nutes. I just flipped the lights to 12/12 and am feeding them part grow, part bloom, and koolbloom for transition (per GH's recircuilating schedule)

 

[Tater]

But if you are using synthetics it will kill the beneficials will it not? I've never heard of that product, but I can see no good come from mixing organics and synthetics considering the products he is using. I could be crazy though.

 

[legalize_freedom]

I did some research on this not to long ago and IF I understood it right, the synthetics won't kill the organisms, but it doesn't give them the environment to thrive, when using synthetics and organic, you need a good balance...now how to go about doing this I'm not sure, and the stuff I was reading was way over my head to...kinda hard to understand 6 sylably words and all...lol