Questions About My Compost Tea

[Jimmyp123]

Use your fulvic as a foliar with your kelp , and use your tea as an inoculat

 

[Bulldog11]

I am surprised people are going away from Molasses. Molasses has other benefits other than just sugar. My best, most alive teas come from pure, fresh EWC and molasses. Simple and effective.

 

[Seamaiden]

So do other sugars, which is why I emphasize unrefined. Outside the malted barley extract, that's a somewhat refined sugar form.

 

[Jimmyp123]

Malted barley also has other benefits (enzymes), so barley would also be a good choice but I believe slightly lower in carbohydrates more of a simple sugar

 

[Jimmyp123]

If the barley is sprouted(sst) just to clarify ... Both are good carb sources ;)

 

[Seamaiden]

Have you tried it yet? It's so easy to get various forms of 'ose', glucose, sucrose, fructose, etc, that it sometimes it seems to me that we're overthinking the whole thing. The presupposition with malted barley is that it's been sprouted, then malted. :)

I don't know that plants can uptake complex carbohydrate forms, but I know that they can uptake simple sugars, at least glucose is one I know they can uptake directly.

 

[Jimmyp123]

Well put as with other replies seamaiden

 

[Jimmyp123]

Hopefully what you have taken out of this is that keep your tea simple with good ingredients . Vermi compost from a know source and any kind of simple sugar carboydrate... There are diff one to choose from , most use organic unsulfered blackstrap molasses because it's the easiest to find and works extremely well.. But don't be afraid to find others as you will no doubt learn many things in your research on findings theses simple sugar sources

 

[Jimmyp123]

@Seamaiden were u asking if I have used sst??

 

[Bulldog11]

I swear I remember Tim (microbeman) saying that he has tested most sugars, and he says molasses reigns supreme. Maybe I can get him over here to talk..........

 

[eastcoastjoe]

I am surprised people are going away from Molasses. Molasses has other benefits other than just sugar. My best, most alive teas come from pure, fresh EWC and molasses. Simple and effective.

Me too bro , I really don't see any reason to switch personally. It's not like we can reinvent the wheel using Some exotic sugar source like sucanat or yacon. If something was superior as far as results I could understand it , but I seriously doubt there is much difference if any at all. my first question would be why ? Why complicate it versus keeping things simple

 

[Jimmyp123]

To fully answer or to be thorough plants can only absorb or uptake only simple carbohydrates. Polysaccharides, monosaccharides, ur 6 carbon glucose , are you simples ... Plants can not uptake complex sugars... The next question would be is there a process in which complex sugars can be broken down or altered to be utilized ????

 

[Jimmyp123]

@ bulldog I remember a similar conversation ... Not the details but do remember him expressing his like for it and not knowing why there is controversy about using it

 

[Jimmyp123]

@eastcoastjoe and it's a by product of making sugar so it's not like it's hard to find or expensive

 

[eastcoastjoe]

Ok but what does that have to do with molasses as a food source to feed bacteria and fungi ? I have no doubt other sugars can be more useful to plants than molasses. I also agree on the malted barley being beneficial , I do SST in my garden pretty often. Sounds like what your talking about is the beginning of a new discussion though because my comment pertains to using molasses as a food stock for microbes in compost tea. Im not using it for a particular benefit or element for the plant so why is the absorbtion of one sugar versus another even important in this conversation ? my question was, why ? why complicate something so simple that has proven to work ?

To fully answer or to be thorough plants can only absorb or uptake only simple carbohydrates. Polysaccharides, monosaccharides, ur 6 carbon glucose , are you simples ... Plants can not uptake complex sugars... The next question would be is there a process in which complex sugars can be broken down or altered to be utilized ????

@eastcoastjoe and it's a by product of making sugar so it's not like it's hard to find or expensive

 

[Jimmyp123]

I agree with you on new topic for complex carbohydrates... For the other comment more so related to over all usage of molasses as opposed to a divert sugar/ carb source as opposed to another for sheer ease of sourcing it may be easier

 

[Jimmyp123]

So otherwise not much ha sorry didn't mean to muddy up the thread

 

[eastcoastjoe]

I'm sorry bro I wasn't trying to be rude, my comment reads worse than how I meant it lol. It's the beauty of the cyber world and texting, so much room for misinterpretation hehe.

I agree with you on new topic for complex carbohydrates... For the other comment more so related to over all usage of molasses as opposed to a divert sugar/ carb source as opposed to another for sheer ease of sourcing it may be easier

So otherwise not much ha sorry didn't mean to muddy up the thread

 

[Jimmyp123]

No worries brother

 

[Seamaiden]

@Seamaiden were u asking if I have used sst??

Specifically if you've used malted barley extract. I really like it except it's incredibly thick, so I have to thin it down, which can make a mess because... that's how I roll. Kinda messy. :/

I swear I remember Tim (microbeman) saying that he has tested most sugars, and he says molasses reigns supreme. Maybe I can get him over here to talk..........

It would be WONDERFUL if you could get him back here! But I don't think he'll come back. I don't recall having the sugar discussion with him, most of our discussions have been focused on other things, especially how many passes through an impeller pump can microbes take.

Me too bro , I really don't see any reason to switch personally. It's not like we can reinvent the wheel using Some exotic sugar source like sucanat or yacon. If something was superior as far as results I could understand it , but I seriously doubt there is much difference if any at all. my first question would be why ? Why complicate it versus keeping things simple

Perhaps something like coconut sugar is exotic, but something like piloncillo really is not, it's just solid cane sugar that hasn't been processed into nice, white crystals. You're looking at it as a complication, I'm looking at it as being married. Do I want to be married to molasses, when I have all these other sugars available to play with? No, no I don't. And in doing that playing, I've found that no one has to be married to molasses, they can use all sorts of simple sugars and you never know what benefits you may reap. This is how I came to start playing with malted barley extract, LONG before I'd heard of sprouted seed teas and the effects of their enzymes.

Depending on how each sugar is derived and produced, you'll get a different suite of nutrients. Coconut sugar is derived from the nectar of coconut blossoms, IIRC (it's also DELICIOUS!! I made carjeta with it and OMG, I just eat it with a spoon!).

So, why? Why did I start playing with other sugars? Pure and simple--I'm cheap. I didn't want to spend the gas to go drive down to the market specifically to get molasses, which I needed at that time. I decided to start digging around in my cupboard, and I found an old beer brew kit that had a quart of this MBE in it. I figured, "Well, why not??" And here I sit, ready to tell anyone who's curious why they can, and maybe even should.

To fully answer or to be thorough plants can only absorb or uptake only simple carbohydrates. Polysaccharides, monosaccharides, ur 6 carbon glucose , are you simples ... Plants can not uptake complex sugars... The next question would be is there a process in which complex sugars can be broken down or altered to be utilized ????

A la fermentation? I don't see it being possible without using microbes. Which is what we're working with in general here. How complex a carbohydrate are you talking about here? The baby oatmeal Microbeman recommends to help grow more fungal hyphae kinda complex carbs? (Which is something I haven't actually done to this point.)