OGlover1224
- 156
- 43
Short answer is yes.
Also, are you able to get to the tap before the water softener, or is it plumbed in such a manner that even outside hose bibs are on the softened route? If so, then you can easily start mixing the store-bought water (you should be getting RO/reverse osmosis, not distilled, distilled water is a solvent, leaches minerals and nutrients out of soils, etc). That very well may be a huge part of your problem.
Many of the things you list are excellent additions to the soil. The SRT (soft rock phosphate) is not biologically available for around 2yrs, so if you use it then you want to be reusing that soil. IMO and IME organic is the best way, especially if you use NO chemical salts in the media at all, because that means no flushing.
What I like to do is brew my tea and add stuff like liquid kelp (though I actually use a powdered form most often), guanos, etc, just before it's fed to the plants.
Just remember that the more stuff you add to the tea, the greater a microbial concoction it becomes and if it EVER smells badly, then you know you've probably got bad critters goin' on in there. That's why Microbeman's or Cap's basic teas are the best way to start, and then stuff like extra sugars (grow bacteria, not fungi, for example, whereas hydrolized fish grows fungi) at the end and let the microbial action occur in the media.
Btw, the above is really mostly my opinion, not fact. There are many, many others who do things differently than I and they do just fine. EG brew guano teas often. There are many ways to skin that cat.
Huh, they're packaging RE in glass bottles now? Used to be metal, that's what I have.
You can keep the kelp back from the tea and just add it at the end, it does nothing beneficial during brewing.
The bit about distilled water is what I learned during my many years as a fish-thing. It's fine if you add stuff to it, but if you're using only that for watering, you're pulling nutrients out of the soil (water soluble, of course). Distilled water is the *only* pure water form, RO is simply very well filtered but it is not pure water, that's the deal there. Even RO/DI isn't pure, it's just extremely low EC, which means it still has, though extremely low, some matter in it, whatever that may be.
No, I don't think it will negatively affect the brew, it just doesn't add anything, either. If the brew's smelling earthy then that's what you want! Those 'earth' microbes are part and parcel of what gives good friable soil it's wonderful 'earthy' scent. :D
Yeah, you absolutely *will* know when it goes off. Even I can tell... sometimes. Ok, I admit, there are have been times that my husband will come across my tea and ask me what that awful smell is and I can't smell it.
Who'da thunk bein' bitten by a little ol' green rattlesnake coulda caused all that trouble?
Yeah, you absolutely *will* know when it goes off. Even I can tell... sometimes. Ok, I admit, there are have been times that my husband will come across my tea and ask me what that awful smell is and I can't smell it.
Who'da thunk bein' bitten by a little ol' green rattlesnake coulda caused all that trouble?
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