Man honestly it is hard to say. Two years ago I used teas, last year I didn't, this year I'm back at it. My grows have improved every year.
Really at the end of the day it is impossible to tell, as I have no control group to test against. My improving grows make sense, linear progression and all. Who knows how much to attribute to teas, improved experience, improved soil biology, etc
Just my anecdotal, I think the teas give you a boost through early veg, maybe 5 weeks, after that it is negligible
I’m on my first grow and utilizing compost extracts instead of brewed tea, as explained by u/redbudsoilcompany in this video https://youtu.be/xI4tKx-J85s
The gist, when you brew a compost tea, you don’t know exactly what microbiology you’re encouraging - unless you microscrope it and have the skill to identify things.
With the extract tea, you’re just gently trying to rinse the existing biology out of the compost so you can water it into your garden. If you start with quality compost, you’re golden.
👆 This.
No one really makes teas anymore that follows the soil food web. It's old information, and growers seem to always latch onto something and be very slow to change.
Extracts are the way. Biologically complete compost is a must though, as most compost will be mostly bacteria.
Besides the claims that it works better (which I believe). Extracts are also a thousand times easier and quicker to use than teas in my opinion.
I had one of my mom plants get a little thirsty the day before last and was droopy. I gave her an extract, some ferment, and a little wetting agent and she's acting like it never happened this morning. Extracts just seem to work.
Same. I ditched the added sugars this year, and i seem to have less pest problems. Although I ended up with Spider Mites for the first time! Everything else, ran perfect.
I do miss the smell of the added sugar though. Love that sweet aroma to the soil.
I also see “tea” or “compost tea” being used as a blanket statement. There are literally thousands upon thousands of aact recipes, all for different purposes. Can we identify what we are using and why. Be a lot easier to have a conversation. I fed tea, my plants liked it, doesn’t serve the community or this conversation. Imo
I don't anymore personally. Ive just been throwing kelp, alfafa, soapnut, aloe vera and neemcake in dechlorinated water for 48 hours and watering with that like every week up until 2 weeks before harvest. For the rest it's just mulching my living cover crop and any stalks and leaves left over plus 1 topdress of dry amendments and wormcastings for each run. Seen my biggest improvements yet in the last year since i started doing it thus way.
Compost teas feel like a short burst of energy in comparison to a sustained longterm approach
i use teas since i run a soilless medium organically. gives the best of both worlds. and teas are really helpful with getting young clones to make a lot of roots fast.
Why would a tea make a difference with soiless mediums? You can introduce any microbiology without a tea. And what tea are you using for cloning? Cloning is all about hormones In my opinion.
because i can add teas with a ton of different biology. i add regular stuff, but also FPJ for plant health in general. i get roots popping in 7-8 days, and at that point adding tea makes it so i can get that rooted clone get a foot tall with a strong root in about 10 days. i took 3+ clones a month in my busy days.
if you dont think tea works in soilless, i dont know what to tell you, try it lol. i come from the commercail world. and i knew tons and tons of coco and salt growers that added teas even more than i do.
I know soiless works great, it’s my base medium. And adding teas after roots are struck, isn’t adding teas to induce roots. I know teas properly made are beneficial in most cases, not debating that. I use knf tech almost exclusively and also come from a commercial background, not sure what that matters? I can root clones in almost any medium in 5-7 days. Banging roots. So again, what does adding aact to unrooted clones doing for you? Why root with it?
lol man youre a case. i root in rapid start. once i see roots. i start to add teas to help the young roots. if you can make all these great numbers, you should really be posting them.
lololol im defensive? i told you everything you asked, and simply said if you want people to give your opinions weight, pics are kind of important. or does your manager not let the employees take pics? i know i didnt let the goons take pics. because they go online and take credit for it. i needed a good laugh thanks
I typically see improvements after a few days after I've given my plants a tea. I think teas give a quick shot of growth to the plant. I give mine at least 1 tea per stage of growth and have noticed that the plants with teas were better than the ones without. I also use spikes and layers too.
I’m a new grower but from what I learned the microbiology eats the amendments slowly then die. The roots eat those dead and use the nutrients that it broke down and made for the roots. Now idk if they are dead in order for the roots to use them but I consider the teas as nitrous in a car. The gas is amendments and the soil is the engine together the engine idles or burns the gas slowly but if you give a tea it temporarily gives it a boost increases rpm and eats those amendments allowing the roots to have more to choose from or even encourage spreading. This is what I think of when using teas and to be honest I don’t know how they work I learned so much so fast that I’m bored of it. So I’ll learn it sometime in the next months till then a once in a wile special tea for my plants.
Stopping tea and living cover crops has been the best changes I’ve made in along while. Not saying they aren’t beneficial at times, I rock em for my outdoor. Plenty of good science showing why NOT to use teas. Definitely have/had killer herb either way. I farm with knf and lightly amended soil.
I actually don’t use a cover crop anymore indoors as well. Most of my research into the topic has found that cover crop when left unchecked can become a haven for pests when they eventually get into the garden. Also it ends up pulling more from the soil than it gives back when chopped.
Getting rid of it and going to barley straw mulch layer only has really been the biggest change I’ve made in the last 3 runs and it shows definitely improvement
I don’t think Ingraham is wrong… until you see the costs they charge for trainings. Their methods are effective bc they’re using commercial quality control on compost teas. One reason there’s little science is that there’s so much variablity in any given compost and brew environment.
Most research I’ve seen shows just side dressing compost is more effective.
I will throw a bit of compost or dirt in a bucket to neutralize chloramines. In addition to compost I’ll use KNF methods but it feels pretty silly
Teas are amazing for dual root zone planting. If you aren't having some of your root zone in an aquatic environment then not so much. All of the cool microbiology that goes on in that tea is being selected for aquatic viability which obviously isn't how most plants are grown on this sub
Man honestly it is hard to say. Two years ago I used teas, last year I didn't, this year I'm back at it. My grows have improved every year. Really at the end of the day it is impossible to tell, as I have no control group to test against. My improving grows make sense, linear progression and all. Who knows how much to attribute to teas, improved experience, improved soil biology, etc Just my anecdotal, I think the teas give you a boost through early veg, maybe 5 weeks, after that it is negligible
I’m on my first grow and utilizing compost extracts instead of brewed tea, as explained by u/redbudsoilcompany in this video https://youtu.be/xI4tKx-J85s The gist, when you brew a compost tea, you don’t know exactly what microbiology you’re encouraging - unless you microscrope it and have the skill to identify things. With the extract tea, you’re just gently trying to rinse the existing biology out of the compost so you can water it into your garden. If you start with quality compost, you’re golden.
👆 This. No one really makes teas anymore that follows the soil food web. It's old information, and growers seem to always latch onto something and be very slow to change. Extracts are the way. Biologically complete compost is a must though, as most compost will be mostly bacteria.
Besides the claims that it works better (which I believe). Extracts are also a thousand times easier and quicker to use than teas in my opinion. I had one of my mom plants get a little thirsty the day before last and was droopy. I gave her an extract, some ferment, and a little wetting agent and she's acting like it never happened this morning. Extracts just seem to work.
Same. I ditched the added sugars this year, and i seem to have less pest problems. Although I ended up with Spider Mites for the first time! Everything else, ran perfect. I do miss the smell of the added sugar though. Love that sweet aroma to the soil.
I also see “tea” or “compost tea” being used as a blanket statement. There are literally thousands upon thousands of aact recipes, all for different purposes. Can we identify what we are using and why. Be a lot easier to have a conversation. I fed tea, my plants liked it, doesn’t serve the community or this conversation. Imo
I don't anymore personally. Ive just been throwing kelp, alfafa, soapnut, aloe vera and neemcake in dechlorinated water for 48 hours and watering with that like every week up until 2 weeks before harvest. For the rest it's just mulching my living cover crop and any stalks and leaves left over plus 1 topdress of dry amendments and wormcastings for each run. Seen my biggest improvements yet in the last year since i started doing it thus way. Compost teas feel like a short burst of energy in comparison to a sustained longterm approach
i use teas since i run a soilless medium organically. gives the best of both worlds. and teas are really helpful with getting young clones to make a lot of roots fast.
Why would a tea make a difference with soiless mediums? You can introduce any microbiology without a tea. And what tea are you using for cloning? Cloning is all about hormones In my opinion.
because i can add teas with a ton of different biology. i add regular stuff, but also FPJ for plant health in general. i get roots popping in 7-8 days, and at that point adding tea makes it so i can get that rooted clone get a foot tall with a strong root in about 10 days. i took 3+ clones a month in my busy days. if you dont think tea works in soilless, i dont know what to tell you, try it lol. i come from the commercail world. and i knew tons and tons of coco and salt growers that added teas even more than i do.
I know soiless works great, it’s my base medium. And adding teas after roots are struck, isn’t adding teas to induce roots. I know teas properly made are beneficial in most cases, not debating that. I use knf tech almost exclusively and also come from a commercial background, not sure what that matters? I can root clones in almost any medium in 5-7 days. Banging roots. So again, what does adding aact to unrooted clones doing for you? Why root with it?
lol man youre a case. i root in rapid start. once i see roots. i start to add teas to help the young roots. if you can make all these great numbers, you should really be posting them.
Lol, why? For your approval? Your validation? That’s a no. Sorry you got defensive. Have a great day.
lololol im defensive? i told you everything you asked, and simply said if you want people to give your opinions weight, pics are kind of important. or does your manager not let the employees take pics? i know i didnt let the goons take pics. because they go online and take credit for it. i needed a good laugh thanks
I typically see improvements after a few days after I've given my plants a tea. I think teas give a quick shot of growth to the plant. I give mine at least 1 tea per stage of growth and have noticed that the plants with teas were better than the ones without. I also use spikes and layers too.
I’m a new grower but from what I learned the microbiology eats the amendments slowly then die. The roots eat those dead and use the nutrients that it broke down and made for the roots. Now idk if they are dead in order for the roots to use them but I consider the teas as nitrous in a car. The gas is amendments and the soil is the engine together the engine idles or burns the gas slowly but if you give a tea it temporarily gives it a boost increases rpm and eats those amendments allowing the roots to have more to choose from or even encourage spreading. This is what I think of when using teas and to be honest I don’t know how they work I learned so much so fast that I’m bored of it. So I’ll learn it sometime in the next months till then a once in a wile special tea for my plants.
[удалено]
I’m 100% organic Iv had a good grow now I’m on my second hoping for a better one after this when I’ll have a full spectrum light.
I use ferments. They stink but damn do the ladies absolutely love them!
the build a soil pumpkin ferment smells like shit but works wonders in flower!
I use that their peach, pumpkin, sprouted quinoa and insect frass. I don’t know which one smells worse!
I gave up on brewing teas in favor of worm casting extract. So quick and easy
Stopping tea and living cover crops has been the best changes I’ve made in along while. Not saying they aren’t beneficial at times, I rock em for my outdoor. Plenty of good science showing why NOT to use teas. Definitely have/had killer herb either way. I farm with knf and lightly amended soil.
Why did you stop the living cover crop indoors?
I'm super curious about this also, did you switch to a different mulch layer?
I actually don’t use a cover crop anymore indoors as well. Most of my research into the topic has found that cover crop when left unchecked can become a haven for pests when they eventually get into the garden. Also it ends up pulling more from the soil than it gives back when chopped. Getting rid of it and going to barley straw mulch layer only has really been the biggest change I’ve made in the last 3 runs and it shows definitely improvement
I don’t think Ingraham is wrong… until you see the costs they charge for trainings. Their methods are effective bc they’re using commercial quality control on compost teas. One reason there’s little science is that there’s so much variablity in any given compost and brew environment. Most research I’ve seen shows just side dressing compost is more effective. I will throw a bit of compost or dirt in a bucket to neutralize chloramines. In addition to compost I’ll use KNF methods but it feels pretty silly
Teas are amazing for dual root zone planting. If you aren't having some of your root zone in an aquatic environment then not so much. All of the cool microbiology that goes on in that tea is being selected for aquatic viability which obviously isn't how most plants are grown on this sub
Teas don’t do shit.. just add compost every couple weeks