Capulator said:

It will just make you shut up about the foaming. ;)

My recipe will foam everytime. I noticed when I added fish and kelp (neptunes harvest), I got no foam at all. I just stick with the original recipe now. I have even stopped using alfalfa since getting pure tricontanol.

Click to expand...

pure tricontanol huh?.....I love this thread.

cooking oil will prevent foaming. (like a tbsp in a 5 gal bucket)

fish emulsion stops foam because its greasy.

So I made a batch yesterday with only molasses and the root pack and foliar pack. 36mL per gallon. Instead of the usual 50mL per 5 gallon. I have a shitload of bennies 24 hours later in the brew.

I did not use any alfalfa or EWC this time, so it is an easier, cleaner tea. I am very impressed with the results to say the least.I also had a discussion with the Dr. who makes these for us, regarding the bennies in hydro applications, and synthetic ferts killing microbes etc.

This is the skinny:

The reason why synthetic ferts are not recommended when using compost teas and beneficials is not necessarily because the ferts themselves kill the bennies. Well, let me clarify, they will at high concentrations. For example, a broadcast of synth N powder will surely kill bennies in the vicinity due to the high concentration of salt.

The main reason why it is counterproductive is that synth nutes do not build a soil, they deplete it of organic matter. How do they deplete? Bacteria are responsible for breaking down organic matter in to usable nutes for plants. If they are eating, and they are not getting food repalced vis a vis organic inputs, then they will eventually deplete all the organic matter and carbon (their food source), and die. This is why if only synth nutes are used the depletion of organic matter will eventually "kill" soil.

So I thought about this, and I thought that in a hydro setting using only synthetics, the bacteria must have a tough time with not much to eat other than the initial tea recipe.... UNLESS we supply them with a food source. Molasses has plenty of carbon and therefore is an ideal food source for the bennies to survive and thrive. Now most people who are experienced in bennies and the soil food web are not experienced in hydro. There is not a lot of info on the the two together. The Dr. and I though are confident that the bennies will be fine in a hydro solution @ less than 5% v/v, as long as we feed them molasses @ 20mL per gal once per week. I know this sounds like a lot, so I will be experimenting with food/population upkeep starting now, and keep everyone posted. I use 5mL per gallon through flower anyway, but I will bump to 20 next cycle to see what effect it has.

Here is a shot of the tea with molasses only @ 36mL per gallon plus root and foliar packs at 1 tbs/gal each :

That's a lot of bennies. If you could see this live it's amazing to see the diversity and the density of the microbes on a single swath.

right on cap keep up the good work.peace

I feed AN CarboLoad with every feed, but today just feed with the molasses, going to be way cheaper then the AN carbs............:cool:

oscar169 said:

I feed AN CarboLoad with every feed, but today just feed with the molasses, going to be way cheaper then the AN carbs............:cool:

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your bennies got switched around. the root pack is the nute pack. the nute pack is the root pack. Hopefully you got my message early on enough.

Capulator said:

your bennies got switched around. the root pack is the nute pack. the nute pack is the root pack. Hopefully you got my message early on enough.

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I mix them all at the same time into the tea, so all is good, what happen were you over doing it on the meds ? & put the wrong lable on the packs....:p

Just brewed a kelpless, foamless tea. So it didn't shut me up! Any thoughts?

Capulator said:

I thought that in a hydro setting using only synthetics, the bacteria must have a tough time with not much to eat other than the initial tea recipe.... UNLESS we supply them with a food source. Molasses has plenty of carbon and therefore is an ideal food source for the bennies to survive and thrive.

Click to expand...

I like this idea but was always under the impression that molasses is not clean enough for hydro and will lead to clogged lines and such. I've never tried it, though, and have been using GH's FloraNectar (sugarcane/unflavored) for carbs, which is much less viscous (and way more expensive!). Are you suggesting pouring blackstrap right in a res?

cctt said:

Just brewed a kelpless, foamless tea. So it didn't shut me up! Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

I'm having that same problem right now, just made a new air deal to go into the bottom of my tea brewer that I have always used, brewed for 24 Hrs some foam but not shit compared to what I was getting, hell it would flow out the top, so I'm trying the tea the second way I brew it, just watered the girls with the tea I just made using the Dairy Doo, next batch is with the humic dirt, if no foam this time around then I'm going to go with just the worm casting with molasses & see if that it, if not going to go back to the air stone, but I can't seem to think that the problems hell I have tons more air the water looks like a hot tube !!!
here is the tea I use its the custom tea that ALIEN Posted..........Thanks Again ALIEN !!!!!!!!!!!
My custom tea mix:

1. 4 gals of RO or bubbled chlorine-free tap water
2. 4 TBSP Root pack, 4 TBSP Nute pack, 4 TBSP Foliar pack
3. 100ml earth juice hi-brix molasses
4. Stocking full of 3 handfuls earthworm castings and 3 handfuls Bu's Blend compost <or Alaskan Humisoil>
5. 1 to 1.5 handfuls Alfalfa meal if desired
6.. 50ml Liquid Kelp

Notes:
Alfalfa Meal can also be added to the stocking containing the 3 handfuls earthworm castings and 3 handfuls Bu's Blend compost if desired.

Also, if you are looking to brew a tea with more Humic in it, just switch the 3 handfuls of Bu's Blend compost to 3 handfuls of General Organics Ancient Forest Alaskan Humisoil. I always use the earthworm castings as my base and switch between the other 2 ingredients.

Brew for 24-48 hours hours.

I dilute all 4 gallons into a 55 gallon reservoir and water in as normal.

Capulator said:

The Dr. and I though are confident that the bennies will be fine in a hydro solution @ less than 5% v/v, as long as we feed them molasses @ 20mL per gal once per week. I know this sounds like a lot, so I will be experimenting with food/population upkeep starting now, and keep everyone posted.

Click to expand...

Increasing beneficial bacterial levels from a lot to a whole shitton sounds great, but along with consuming all that food they'll also be going through a great deal of oxygen. In an actively aerated tea brewer setup this might not be an issue, though I picture in many of the farm's hydro growers' reservoirs there may not be enough fresh O2 to keep up. Then the anaerobes come along and everything goes downhill...
A sort of combined res/brewer might be perfect here, and would probably fit well with the RDWC/undercurrent setups that I hear a lot of you are using. Myself, I'm ebb and flowing, and already consider keeping O2 levels up somewhat harder than I'd like.
I will follow your experiments with great interest.

cctt said:

Increasing beneficial bacterial levels from a lot to a whole shitton sounds great, but along with consuming all that food they'll also be going through a great deal of oxygen. In an actively aerated tea brewer setup this might not be an issue, though I picture in many of the farm's hydro growers' reservoirs there may not be enough fresh O2 to keep up. Then the anaerobes come along and everything goes downhill...
A sort of combined res/brewer might be perfect here, and would probably fit well with the RDWC/undercurrent setups that I hear a lot of you are using. Myself, I'm ebb and flowing, and already consider keeping O2 levels up somewhat harder than I'd like.
I will follow your experiments with great interest.

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Yes. I agree. I ran a bunch of molasses in a smaller res, and it got pretty funky. The whole res was foaming and getting fungi all over the sides and pumps/hosing. . 2 mL per gallon was what I was running before with no issues, so I will go back to that for now.. My next thought is to crown feed a little molasses to each plant halfway through a res change. That should do the trick.

oscar169 said:

I'm having that same problem right now, just made a new air deal to go into the bottom of my tea brewer that I have always used, brewed for 24 Hrs some foam but not shit compared to what I was getting, hell it would flow out the top, so I'm trying the tea the second way I brew it, just watered the girls with the tea I just made using the Dairy Doo, next batch is with the humic dirt, if no foam this time around then I'm going to go with just the worm casting with molasses & see if that it, if not going to go back to the air stone, but I can't seem to think that the problems hell I have tons more air the water looks like a hot tube !!!
here is the tea I use its the custom tea that ALIEN Posted..........Thanks Again ALIEN !!!!!!!!!!!
My custom tea mix:

1. 4 gals of RO or bubbled chlorine-free tap water
2. 4 TBSP Root pack, 4 TBSP Nute pack, 4 TBSP Foliar pack
3. 100ml earth juice hi-brix molasses
4. Stocking full of 3 handfuls earthworm castings and 3 handfuls Bu's Blend compost <or Alaskan Humisoil>
5. 1 to 1.5 handfuls Alfalfa meal if desired
6.. 50ml Liquid Kelp

Notes:
Alfalfa Meal can also be added to the stocking containing the 3 handfuls earthworm castings and 3 handfuls Bu's Blend compost if desired.

Also, if you are looking to brew a tea with more Humic in it, just switch the 3 handfuls of Bu's Blend compost to 3 handfuls of General Organics Ancient Forest Alaskan Humisoil. I always use the earthworm castings as my base and switch between the other 2 ingredients.

Brew for 24-48 hours hours.

I dilute all 4 gallons into a 55 gallon reservoir and water in as normal.

Click to expand...

cctt said:

Just brewed a kelpless, foamless tea. So it didn't shut me up! Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

My first batch of the new order did not foam up. I rewed again with triple the molasses and got lots of foam.

Capulator said:

My first batch of the new order did not foam up. I rewed again with triple the molasses and got lots of foam.

Click to expand...

Do you think there is something wrong with the new batch you got ??
I just switched out that pvc homemade air diffuser for the two air stones that I had been using to see if that get the foam I was getting before.

I dont think there is anything wrong. same formula as last time. I scoped it see above post). lots of life there. I am brewing another batch now with some EWC root and foliar packs, and 20ml/gal earthjuice hibrix. I will let you know in 24-48 hours how it looks.

the last time i brewed a tea was just with the packs, no EWC or anything else and I saw no foam. i have a batch brewing now that has some EWC & alfalfa, and it foamed all over the floor.

So I found out it is not a bad idea to start the tea at a neutral pH of 7.0. THis will help with foam.

My molasses is acidic. perhaps adding a little pH up to adjust back up to 7.0 before adding bennies will get the foam back. My last batch only foamed a little. Under the scop though, it still looked good.

how do you guys feel about yeast growing on surface of your molasses? do they compete with the benes? I get mol in 5gal buckets which don't seal well..

my water starts at 7.5 and i always have foam with the basic recipe + alfalfa.

The dr. actually recommends yeast and glucose as a food for the bennies. that or molasses.

I will try checking/adjusting the pH of my teas in the future. I'm using weekly but still have a fungus gnat issue that just won't go away, so I may check into a scope to make sure the tea is as active as it should be to work properly. The foliar pack is fungal, though, as far as I know, so as I don't think molasses provides much for that kind of growth I may just switch back to putting the spores directly into a sprayer, and just use the root pack in my tea.