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tutorial Beginner's guide to AACT/Compost Tea

filmost said:
I did that today! I'm only use a single leaf as an activator though. As PMD mentioned, roots take priority.

PMD I bet you got them from the same place I did ey? Coes Comfrey? Nice guy but kind of odd, sent me all these crazy political dvds.

Comfrey is incredibly strong. I'm actually surprised they survived the trip to Japan.
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Yes I bought from Coe's and he is a conspiracy theorist for sure but a real nice guy and always willing to help.
Here is how mine look as I just took this picture 5 minutes ago. They were planted March 15th.
 

 
This one has the largest leaves by far and I am not sure why. A great mother plant obviously.
 
 
Have you noticed any pests on them? Aphids seem to love mine. I'm out squashing those buggers every morning before work -_- 
 
Though several sprays of garlic insecticidal soap and some garlic powder seems to have controlled the situation a bit.
 
filmost said:
Have you noticed any pests on them? Aphids seem to love mine. I'm out squashing those buggers every morning before work -_- 
 
Though several sprays of garlic insecticidal soap and some garlic powder seems to have controlled the situation a bit.
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I have a few holes in a couple of leaves but I think they are either slugs or earwigs. If you have aphids you better get on those suckers. ;)
 
Question: Why wouldn't you just use worm castings and molasses? What is the other stuff (grass, kelp, guano..etc) doing while the microbes are multiplying? Is just added to supplement the feeding, or is it also benefiting from time in the recirculated water?
 
ColdSmoke said:
Question: Why wouldn't you just use worm castings and molasses? What is the other stuff (grass, kelp, guano..etc) doing while the microbes are multiplying? Is just added to supplement the feeding, or is it also benefiting from time in the recirculated water?
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Bio diversity.

We want to get as many types of critters as we can. Atleast that's why i do it.
 
So I'm just getting into this and made 2 batches so far but need some advice. The first thing I made was in a 55 gal drum with 15 lbs of rabbit duke and composting straw in a t-shirt. within 6 hours I had a nasty head foaming.. Now my buddy is big on gardening but don't grow peppers. He was like ditch that stuff so I dumped the whole thing in the yard. Lol.. I'm waiting to see my super patch of grass now. so anyway he said use 3 cups castings in a sock and 1/2 cup molasses. I added that to the new batch and airated it a little over 24 hours and only had a little head.. I'm using a kick ass pond pump but not sure of gph and one medium air stone. The other thing is I used airated tap water and never adjusted the ph first cause I figured with how rapidly the water was moving it should adjust it's self. The final product had a ph of 8.5.

So I guess what I'm getting at to sum it up is how much castings and molasses for 55 gal? would the rabbit shit stew have been ok? Should I adjust ph first (after prolly kill my microbes)?

I also want to add I have 16 full grown meat rabbits.and access to all the poo I could want. They eat a little grass to keep em regular and tons of alfalfa pellets.

Thanks guys.
 
smileyguy697 said:
So I'm just getting into this and made 2 batches so far but need some advice. The first thing I made was in a 55 gal drum with 15 lbs of rabbit duke and composting straw in a t-shirt. within 6 hours I had a nasty head foaming.. Now my buddy is big on gardening but don't grow peppers. He was like ditch that stuff so I dumped the whole thing in the yard. Lol.. I'm waiting to see my super patch of grass now. so anyway he said use 3 cups castings in a sock and 1/2 cup molasses. I added that to the new batch and airated it a little over 24 hours and only had a little head.. I'm using a kick ass pond pump but not sure of gph and one medium air stone. The other thing is I used airated tap water and never adjusted the ph first cause I figured with how rapidly the water was moving it should adjust it's self. The final product had a ph of 8.5.

So I guess what I'm getting at to sum it up is how much castings and molasses for 55 gal? would the rabbit shit stew have been ok? Should I adjust ph first (after prolly kill my microbes)?

I also want to add I have 16 full grown meat rabbits.and access to all the poo I could want. They eat a little grass to keep em regular and tons of alfalfa pellets.

Thanks guys.
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Rabbit poo is good stuff! it isnt as hot and it doesn't carry nearly as many pathogens as other manures.
 
I would use some in my tea bag, maybe 30% and then add some fresh cut grass, some old growth humus, and some worm castings.
 
For PH add a little lemon juice to bring it down a little if you want (not that big of a deal) and Id use something cheaper than molasses. Like mushed up old crab apples or something. Otherwise your getting hit hard on the wallet. Old Fruit has plenty of sugars for AACT. Brown sugar, cane sugar, and stuff like that will work.
 
To be honest, plain old bleached table sugar will work fine if you start it the day before with the tap water.
 
Cayennemist said:
 
 
Rabbit poo is good stuff! it isnt as hot and it doesn't carry nearly as many pathogens as other manures.
 
I would use some in my tea bag, maybe 30% and then add some fresh cut grass, some old growth humus, and some worm castings.
 
For PH add a little lemon juice to bring it down a little if you want (not that big of a deal) and Id use something cheaper than molasses. Like mushed up old crab apples or something. Otherwise your getting hit hard on the wallet. Old Fruit has plenty of sugars for AACT. Brown sugar, cane sugar, and stuff like that will work.
 
To be honest, plain old bleached table sugar will work fine if you start it the day before with the tap water.
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Awesome thanks man! I'm trying to keep out of the wallet as much as I can. As for ph I Already have up and down or will that affect it in a harmful way? As for sugars we have apple and pear trees at my mothers but for now I'll stick with the molasses since I already bought it and have no fruit yet... the ingredients you listed I have no trouble getting but how much? Long sock or t-shirt and zip ties? Just don't want to over do it. If theres such a thing?

Ooh and how much molasses for a big vat? 1/2 cup enough. Just didn't seem like much for a 55 gallons
 
smileyguy697 said:
Ooh and how much molasses for a big vat? 1/2 cup enough. Just didn't seem like much for a 55 gallons
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That should do it.
 
A t-shirt and zip ties sounds like a good way to go with 55g. As long as the water is moving, you should be good.
 
ColdSmoke said:
Question: Why wouldn't you just use worm castings and molasses? What is the other stuff (grass, kelp, guano..etc) doing while the microbes are multiplying? Is just added to supplement the feeding, or is it also benefiting from time in the recirculated water?
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I don't add all those other things because that is not compost tea. I am also rethinking using compost tea as often as I used to as I am wondering if it is upsetting the micro-herd that is in place in the soil by adding more each week? Something to think about.
 
miguelovic said:
Some more conflicting advice! :D I use a litre (quart) of m'larsess for a 55 gal, usually aiming for 0.5%.
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Im sure that works well, Id just rather not blow my wallet up on the stuff. I could see that if you grow for profit absolutly.

Unfortunately its just a hobby for me. Im thinking about saving up a barrel of crab apples. they also ad some fungal diversity.
 
True, and as you mentioned (old fruit, basic sugars, etc) there are probably more economical sources. The neurotic twitcher inside of me follows established recipes though, at least until I get ahold of a "make tiny things look big" device, rudimentarily known as a microscope, to properly evaluate tweaking ingredients. After seeing Tim Wilson's results with even a moderate amount of humic acid, a tea additive generally considered to be beneficial, I try to stick to the basics.
 
Although I suppose if you knew the sugar level of an ingredient it wouldn't be too difficult to do some mathematical gymnastics and arrive at a reasonable substitution ratio.
 
As well, a 5 gallon tub o' molasses is around 25 bucks. I believe the oil drum we were digging out of last summer was around 100 dinero.
 
miguelovic said:
As well, a 5 gallon tub o' molasses is around 25 bucks. I believe the oil drum we were digging out of last summer was around 100 dinero.
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Care to share where, you get it for that cheap? Restaurant supply? That's not what people pay at the local grocery store. I would love to get it for that cheap!
 
I got a gallon of molasses from the local feed store. I think it was more than $5, maybe even ten +/-, but cheaper than human food grade by a long shot.
 
Restaurant supply it be. I'm pretty sure one could trick a local restaurant/bakery into throwing a container on their next order, where ever they source it. If it came from Sysco/GFS or equivalent it might be cheaper, though like with anything from those frozen food giants, quality is trumped by... every other standard they have.
 
And as Jesse mentioned, feed grade, though I would check the source (Sysco?) for peace of mind.
 
Starting him out young!​
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