Tea Recipe

[liketosmoke]

I don't think any of them would work to well. I'd try this paint strainer approach.

outwest

I use a bag from (keep it simple compost) ,If you us a paint strainer or nylon stocking it causes damage to the bennies. this is a fact backed up by microscope testing.

 

[Capulator]

Cap, how would I incorporate the teas in my regimen? Feed the plants weekly feeding, then use the tea as a watering in between? How are people using the teas with their regimen, anyone can chime in also.. Thx Cap. I'm on ebay now!!

I personally aply 1x per week. I use the root and foliar for hydro plants. the nute pack I do not make a tea with, I mix in with my coco and the few soil plants I take care of.

I brew the tea on the day I change my res (weekly change out), and the next day I add the tea @ 1 cup for every 5 gallons, and sometimes I use the concentrated tea as a top drench if I see any gnats. This has not hurt my plants at full concentration.

 

[leadsled]

right no cap, congrats on the scope!!

 

[Pinky Lee]

I use bouquet garni (or yogurt bags) from my kitchen for straining. I don't think that the critters are getting abused at that mesh size and as long as my room is rocking and almost bug free, I really don't want to know. lol
I found you on eBay, Capulator, and I'm a very happy camper. The whiteflies have vanished, the gnats get knocked out within days when they show up and I've cut my nute dosing by about 1/3 per feeding. Thank you, sir.

 

[click80]

I don't know if this means much to others but my springtails are back. Which to me is good, I know some people get really large numbers of them and freak, but I have never had that problem. I also have heard they are actually a sign of things being in balance. I had first noticed them a couple years ago when someone gifted a mom to me and at first i freaked but then found out what they are really about. Actually most of it I learned from a thread on here that Seamaiden had posted to and let some people know what was what with these little critters. So anyway I am happy to see them back. Anyway, to make a long story short, I have not seen them in a very long time in my soil plants. I found them happily rooting around and aerating the soil for me and I was very glad. I can't say for sure that it is from starting to use Caps Bennies but it sure is awful freaking coincindental.

All fungus gnats are now gone for sure. I did a very very good inspection. I did find out that if I would have tried your tea in that one table that I never could get right I would have saved it. Tonight, just to make sure I didn't have Root Aphids going on, i went outside and got the bag with all the plant bases in it and went over it with one of those pocket microscopes. I found an extremely gross amount of gnat larvae, which had tunneled into the base of the main stem, right above top of root ball which was also a little above the flood line, so i am thinking that made it soft enough for them to do that. I did not know that the larvae could burrow. I thought they just ate roots, not burrowed into stems. Live and learn.

Feeling stoked about starting my tables up running the tea for sure now.

 

[cctt]

I don't know if this means much to others but my springtails are back.

I also have just noticed an indoor springtail explosion, which is new to me (I see them all the time outside, though).
As I understand they feed on microbes, so these regular inoculations with spores fed with sugars seems likely related.
Glad to hear others have had good results with a large springtail population, as it seems damn near impossible to get rid of them now if I wanted to.

 

[click80]

I also have just noticed an indoor springtail explosion, which is new to me (I see them all the time outside, though).
As I understand they feed on microbes, so these regular inoculations with spores fed with sugars seems likely related.
Glad to hear others have had good results with a large springtail population, as it seems damn near impossible to get rid of them now if I wanted to.
View attachment 213179

I have found that springtails are not only beneficial, but also are now known to eat harmful fungi and other pathogenic microbes and they also help Mycorrhizae by stimulating growth and helping to spread spores throughout the soil.

I found one reference about one species of springtail that we don't worry about as they always are causing problems in Greenhouses that grow Evergreen seedlings and are probably not using Integrated Crop Management (which means that they don't buy Cap's Bennies), in other words, there is an imbalance in the soil microbes because in all other reading I did on these arthropods they are actually indicators of good soil health and their presence means you have an appropriately varied microbial cycle going on and all this works together and they control each other.

Yeah, I associate them with the healthiest mom I ever had, and that is the same time I became interested in listening to more people from this forum about the right way to do stuff.

Here are some shit to read if your bored, I gotta go wash Hydroton....which means I am also considering just getting drunk.
Our Friend the Springtail
Illustration courtesy of the
Texas A&M University Cooperative Extension


"Oh no! Help!" a novice gardener cried out in alarm. "I have little teeny jumping buggies in the soil of my garden! Are they killing my plants? How can I get rid of them?"

The short answer is "They're springtails. They're harmless. Don't worry about them."

Here's a more complete answer:

Not only are springtails harmless to the garden & do not bite, but their presence indicates good soil health. Their diet consists of decaying matter, fungus, & bacteria, & their activity helps keep nitrogen in the soil. A healthy garden & especially a healthy compost pile has them in abundance.

A radical explosion in their population might be an indicator that something in the organic balance is out of wack, though it probably means only that there is decaying mulch that delights them, or there are excesses of mushroom spoors which can increase springtail populations since springtails go after the mushroom spoors like kids after candy. A black variety of springtail called "snowflea" even hops around after snowfall gathering up fungal spoors from the surface of the snow.

If springtails vanish that means the microflora is probably also missing or soil is never sufficiently moist to support either springtails or microflora. In which case the plants, too, will be at greater risk.

It is sometimes recommended to get rid of them by letting the garden dry out, since they are susceptible to dessication, & tend to remain hidden except after rainfall or garden-watering. But attempting to get rid of them by drying out the garden would be equally harmful to microflora, except that the springtails would weather the drought better by moving to moist areas, possibly even inside the house, where they will accumulate in bathrooms & near kitchen sinks for the sake of moisture. They won't stay indoors if they can help it, because humidity inside houses is too low for them, & the decaying matter that makes up their diet is scarse. So they will either die off, or leave as soon as it's moist outdoors.

A large indoor infestation without an outdoor drought can be a warning-sign of mold problems inside the structure or leaky plumbing somewhere undetected. Insecticides won't get rid of them if there are condensation or moisture problems in the house, but correcting leaks & moisture problems or installing a dehumidifier does get rid of them.

Most springtails are so small (one or two millimeters) they will never be seen by the moderately farsighted. Tinier-than-average varieties are encountered in potted indoor plants, but they restrict their activity to the soil & don't spread elsewhere in the house, & are not harming houseplants.

There is one North American exception to the general harmlessness of the genus. A rounded stumpy flea-like springtail (Bourletiella hortensis) eats the delicate roots of evergreen tree seedlings, so if you are growing evergreen seedlings & had a population explosion of this flealike pest, that could be bad news.

Few are the gardeners with lots of tree seedlings, so the primary bad history for this critter is in tree farms & ornamental tree nurseries of the Pacific Northwest, where their feeding habits reduce seedling emergence or cause deformities of western hemlock, sitka spruce, & other evergreens, & cause lesions in developing bark, where harmful fungus can be established. They are most active in summer. When present & active they are easily detected by laying a white piece of paper on the soil & then blowing on or fanning the soil around the edges of the paper; if they are present in sufficient numbers to be harmful to evergreen seedlings, several will jump onto the white surface of the paper.

But if what one sees are elongated springtails (& most of the numerous species are elongated) then these are invariably harmless.

A similarly primitive hopping insect (far older than true insects) is the jumping bristletail. They're very nocturnal & feed primarily on the types of algae & lichens that grow on forest floors in leaf & needle litter. They can be very common in moist coastal forests where fallen leaves & debris are thick, which material jumping bristletails help turn into topsoil. They are rarely numerous in gardens. If there were many, you'd see them by turning over a piece of lumber or flat piece of bark. As with springtails, bristletails are harmless, & though they do eat living plant matter, it's only algae & lichens, not higher plants.

Although springtails are a sign of good healthy soil, many vendors of various pesticides nevertheless recommend getting rid of them. This is because chemical vendors don't care to distinguish between what is helpful & what is harmful, they just want to sell more of their products. Any garden pesticide that lists springtails or bristletails among the arthropods you should get rid of are lying to you about more than just that. They are lying to you about the abject safeness of their product, the primary effect of which will be to upset the organic balance of the garden creating more rather than fewer inroads for pests & diseases.

Even if there were an imaginary reason to control springtails, the method would be to clean up the leaf-litter from the garden. I'd never do this because springtail activity in leaf-litter constitute little factories for garden nutrients that help to limit the need to artificially fertilize. But if I had a phobia about springtails I'd sweep up all the leaves & that would automatically lower the springtail population.

 

[nangonug]

I use a bag from (keep it simple compost) ,If you us a paint strainer or nylon stocking it causes damage to the bennies. this is a fact backed up by microscope testing.

Looks more like a way to sale a 2 dollar paint strainer for 10 bucks.. lol

 

[outwest]

Looks more like a way to sale a 2 dollar paint strainer for 10 bucks.. lol

My paint strain has a larger mesh than that one.

outwest

 

[EVOKE]

yo cap props on ur bennies i gotta try this product of urs...

 

[liketosmoke]

Looks more like a way to sale a 2 dollar paint strainer for 10 bucks.. lol

Some paint strainers are fine,but nylon stockings,tea shirts ,socks not the best to use. here is where i recommend for your soil testing to see how your bacteria is doing in your soil,it is the best place on the west cost to test.

 

[Capulator]

Some paint strainers are fine,but nylon stockings,tea shirts ,socks not the best to use. here is where i recommend for your soil testing to see how your bacteria is doing in your soil,it is the best place on the west cost to test.

good shit man!!!

 

[Capulator]

I also have just noticed an indoor springtail explosion, which is new to me (I see them all the time outside, though).
As I understand they feed on microbes, so these regular inoculations with spores fed with sugars seems likely related.
Glad to hear others have had good results with a large springtail population, as it seems damn near impossible to get rid of them now if I wanted to.
View attachment 213179

I have these too in my coco. my plants don't seem to mind. I also have little centipedes here and there.

I started using tea concentrated instead of diluted to see what happens.

 

[mal]

Should I only mix the nute into the soil or will the root and foliar also help, I've been mixing all 3 into my soil. Getting things ready for outdoor and I have several 45 gallon smart pots with soil i've amended, just wondering if I should just use the nute to mix in and a tea from the other 2. Hope everything is honky dory with you and yours amigo

mal

 

[HumboldtDr]

I have these too in my coco. my plants don't seem to mind. I also have little centipedes here and there.

I started using tea concentrated instead of diluted to see what happens.

Cap-are you using the concentrate in the same way(total soil drench),or are you reducing the amt used because of the concentration of the tea??

 

[liketosmoke]

I have use the tea with out diluting it on some sick neglected clones i had, no burn and beautiful new roots. Thanks Cap

 

[Mogrow]

I have these too in my coco. my plants don't seem to mind. I also have little centipedes here and there.

I started using tea concentrated instead of diluted to see what happens.

Cap//// i've been using the tea receipe and going about double the recommended doses, no problems, only nice healthy plants.

 

[click80]

Shit I did way over and the only thing that I have to say is I had to raise my damn lights...grew like 2-3 inches in 'bout a week. I think I went with like one gallon of tea to four of water.. i would have to go back in my journal but too lazy right now, but yeah I went way strong and my Moms are doing so good. I am pointing out that these were not plants in full veg but just my mom's and they exploded.

 

[Capulator]

Cap-are you using the concentrate in the same way(total soil drench),or are you reducing the amt used because of the concentration of the tea??

I dumped it pure on 5 coco plants in 15 gallon containers (total soil drench with pure tea). I panicked when I started to get elephants foot... thought the bennies might help... I usually do concentrated tea if I start seeing gnats.

 

[outwest]

I make my tea a lot weaker. . .tsps instead of tbsps. . .and I always feed undiluted or still pretty strong. . .like 50/50. When I foliar with it it's always undiluted. Plants love it.

outwest