Adjusting Ph in compost tea

[steelcanaries]

so is the consensus that you should not ph the tea and that you bubble only the ingredients suggested in the directions and nothing else? should you never add ferts or cal mag or something to the tea when you feed? or is it better to keep feedings and teas separate? sorry, just need to clarify before i go wasting foliar and root packs...them suckers aint cheap...Im in coco, ammended with light organics (basement mix) cut fifty percent with Tupur (Inert Soiless but looks the same as basement)...I been swinging my ph from 5.6-6.2 when i feed, currently using floranova bloom, cal mag if necessary, floralicious +, and tap water which avgs 164 ppm, and an alkaline ph around 7.5-8 or so...guess I been giving my girls dead tea cuz I been phing the whole thing after a couple hour bubble at least and adding fng or fnb or cm occasionally. before bubbling as well....I understand you are feeding the soil, but doesnt the fact you dont ph it and if it is out of the range you are trying to keep the coco in, wouldnt that throw off the general ph of the pot of medium? am I right in understanding that when the ec goes up, the ph drops in coco, and when the ec drops. the ph goes up??? this coir stuff is tricky...i wanna make sure im using these packs correctly cuz the learning curve on this hybrid coir is hard enough...lol

 

[Lazerus00]

No ph adjustments for teas, if your water is good..(no chlorine or chloramine) your tea will be living.
once its bubbled and added to soil it will populate and amend the soil. the plant will draw the nutes it needs,
and the ph will fluctuate up and down allowing specific types of nutes to be used at different levels.
and the micro life will balance out the soil, mainly ph worry free....so as long as you feed the soil, no bad water and no liquid
ferts, except fish emulsion.

When you say no liqued ferts...what if i am using NFTGs organic nute line that is liquid? also what if i am adding liquid seaweed (kelp)....bad?...

 

[Bannacis]

Thing is when using liquid ferts you can upset the balance that the micro beasties and the bacteria are establishing.
Go very light if you add...I mean very light. usually liquid ferts are concentrated and can over populate your soil.
Also Steelcanaries you are adding tap water, is your water from a city supply? if so, then you have chlorine/chloramine in your water and will kill any living organisms in your tea and soil. plus you are using straight coco, not sure if the medium is sufficient for micro organism to thrive in. I've always used a peat based medium.

 

[steelcanaries]

only chlorine in our city tap...no chloramine...cal and mag arent too high either...its decent tap...most of year excluding summer, it comes from 80 feet down, and is filtered by rocks, near a river...in the summer, we get water from the local town and county reservoirs...the medium Im in isnt pure coco....its a coco based soilless amended with mild organic ferts...per Royal Gold's label on the Basement Mix...its pretty hot, so i cut in half with there Tupur, which is an inert soiless medium that looks and has the same texture as the Basement...Hmmmmm So should i not use the packs because of this medium? This is my first time with a coco type medium, been in soil since day 1...maybe I'll just go back and cut it with more perlite, so it drains like the coco...haha anyways yeah i dont want to use it, if its not going to help....ill just stick to FNB 6-8 ml through out, when necessary, if that's the case....thanks for the tips...Respect...

 

[Bannacis]

If you just have the chlorine in your water, you can let it set out in bucket for 24 hours and it should dissipate from water. chlorine will kill any life in your medium.

 

[G gnome]

I always adjust my tea.
Imo you can def use your p.h. down or up.
Bacteria grow better at a different ph from the fungus. Cannabis benefits from a balance of both so its important to adjust ph to facilitate both beneficial bacteria and the fungus.
I put a bunch of tea info on my "archice seeds code blue and rudeboi thread. I think you'll find your tea will get a better frothier head if you maintain the ph during the brewing process.

If you aerate the water for 24hrs before starting your brewing the chlorine w evaporate.

 

[G gnome]

 

[steelcanaries]

yeahhh, I never use water just right out the tap...got a res of just tap, with an airstone and pump for circulation...i never put nutes in it, its just pure water, bubbled and mixed for 24 hours for the reason you spoke of...letting the chlorine dissipate plus, keep at room temperature....i then mix this water in another res where I mix up my ferts...

hey G gnome...do you ph before you bubble and aerate, but after you have added all ingredients in the tea? I been ph ing the whole thing after it has finished bubbling....was thinking maybe the ph would drift out of range during the aeration/bubbling time...thanks for the tip...will check out your thread...bless...

 

[G gnome]

I add all my makins then maintain the ph during the brewing process in order to insure Im breeding the right ratio of microbes. Cannabis likes an even fungus to bacteria ratio. I don't use chlorinated water. Currently using well water that in ran through R.O.

 

[steelcanaries]

so do you find your ph swinging during the 48 hour brewing time? does the ph go up and down during? once it has started brewing, do you check ph and adjust if needed, and its stays stable where you want it? never thought of adjusting as it brews....interesting...

 

[G gnome]

Its just a theory I've been working on. It tends to wanna raise as it brews. I assume as the compost dissolves it raises the ph.

 

[Bannacis]

If you are using all organic in your medium and teas you should not have to adjust ph. A true living organic medium will self adjust its ph as the microbes and bacteria feed and die. As long as there is no synthetics or high chelated liquid nutes added, and water is chlorine/chloramine free.

 

[G gnome]

I am not using all organic...

If you are using all organic in your medium and teas you should not have to adjust ph. A true living organic medium will self adjust its ph as the microbes and bacteria feed and die. As long as there is no synthetics or high chelated liquid nutes added, and water is chlorine/chloramine free.

Are you saying that your tea once brewed is at an acceptable ph range or do you just use it no matter what the ph happens to be or do u not even worry about checking it? What is the ph of your tea?

 

[steelcanaries]

i dont think he worrys about ph...like he said...if hes all organic...the living soil regulates the ph and swings so the plant uptakes exactly what the plant needs...but because he is feeding the soil with the tea, not the plant, I dont think ph matters...Bannacis, if I am understanding this wrong...please correct me...thx for your input...Bless..

 

[steelcanaries]

Bannacis...curious...what is your soil mix like?

 

[G gnome]

Thing is when using liquid ferts you can upset the balance that the micro beasties and the bacteria are establishing.
Go very light if you add...I mean very light. usually liquid ferts are concentrated and can over populate your soil.
Also Steelcanaries you are adding tap water, is your water from a city supply? if so, then you have chlorine/chloramine in your water and will kill any living organisms in your tea and soil. plus you are using straight coco, not sure if the medium is sufficient for micro organism to thrive in. I've always used a peat based medium.

I disagree w this. I'm not saying my way is better but I def use the opposite philosophy.
I brew my tea diluted 3 or 5 to 1(basically as much tea as i can spare) Then mix my fertilizers accordingly approaching up to 2000ppm by wk8 of a 10wk cycle at which point i begin flushing. I water w full strength every time no plain water ever. No salt lock or anything.
Since i have employed this technique 1 1/2yrs ago I have maintained an average yield of 1 7/8lbs per 1k but up to 2 1/4. No c02. Three different
strains btw. I assume that due to the abundance of microbial activity the plants are able to metabolize the non organic liquid nutes at a much more accelerated rate. My leave stay green till about wk 9 after a week of plain water.
Check out some garden pice on my grow diary thread archives codeblue and rudeboi

 

[G gnome]

I fill a 64gal res w 48 gal.
In a 32 gal res i brew my tea add half the tea to the big res and nutrient solution as if the tea wasn't even there.
First 2 wks of flower im at 1050ppm of a transitional mix (half bloom half veg mix) and then gradually raise the solution at ever watering as long as the plant responds well (they usually do ) and by adout week i I'm usually up to about 1900 or so. Then its flush time. btw I also reuse my soiless mix.

 

[G gnome]

Btw i add 64 gal worth of fertilizer to my res then adjust ph to 6.0
I don't know how it works. It just does. Like a posi-trac rear end on a Plymouth

 

[steelcanaries]

bahahahaha... G gnome...what kind of soiless medium do you use, and do you ever measure your runoff ec or ph?

 

[G gnome]

Ph is usually good maybe a touch higher than what i put in 6.2.+or-.1 I generally only refer to my runoff after i flush to insure the med is clean so I'm reallynot getting much ppm info there.
As far as med goes its a home made blend of coco, peat ,grow stone ,perlite and castings. The castings i make on site.