Liquid vs dry fertilizer & what your preference is - Page 3

Gerardo · May 6, 2015

Alfalfa-Fish Bone-Crab Meal, Worm Castings and manures (all dry) mixed in for initial potting.

Alfalfa (dry)/Kelp (homemade, liquid)/Molasses/Worm Castings (dry)/+oregonism Tea for twice weekly maintenance (foliar spray and top feeding), and very dilute fish emulsion (liquid).
Seabird Guano (dry, 1st phase)/Indonesian Bat (dry, 2nd phase) as top dress or tea.

All in moderation, so BOTH, depends on growth cycle.

Best bang for the buck is probably the fish emulsion, since you can squeeze a lot of applications out of the gallon size (around 17 or so at HDept). Going the tea route helps to squeeze even more out of the various powders and liquids, reducing your consumption and cost.

And I concur, chloramine decimates the good guys.

Tracydr · May 6, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by joepertsx

I like kelp and fish emulsion

Me too. I do he a couple of handfuls of bone meal at planting out.
Even when I've done pots the kelp and fish emulsion have worked well. I add manure when I can.
Alfalfa has also worked well for me.
Just got a pound of worms this week and so I will start using worm tea and castings soon.

Tracydr · May 6, 2015

How much worm castings to mix with a gallon of water to make tea? How long do you brew?

Cole_Robbie · May 6, 2015

What I have read is two cups of compost per 5 gallons of water, and about a tbsp of molasses, bubbled at room temp for 36-48 hours.

Gerardo · May 6, 2015

My setup is a little over 6 gallons. I have an air pump with 2 outlets, a medium round stone goes to the bottom, a smaller stone into the sock (I've decided to put all my stray socks to good use) with a mix of: 1-1.5 cups worm castings, 1/3 cup alfalfa meal, +/- 4 tbsp Bat Guano or Happy Frog Fruit & Flower, about 1/4 tbsp oregonism xl).

A quick splash of liquid humic acid (sample I got for free, been able to stretch it for some time) or a handful of the granular type, about 200 mL of my homemade seaweed fermentation broth that's about 3 mos. old (smell is sublime)
2 generous spoonfuls of molasses or corn syrup or agave or sugar, whatever carbohydrate source is available in hand and cheapest (place it into solution in a separate mason jar and then just pour and dip the whole jar to make sure it goes in completely)
You can push the culture in one direction or another (bacterial vs fungi) by playing around with all of the ingredients, and the length of time you brew.
I've seen recipes where you leave the ingredients in the culture for the first six hours, then you remove the sock/paint strainer, and then it continues for the full 24 hrs. I usually leave it in and allow it to brew for 24 hrs. No need to stir, that's what the stones are for. When I come back the next day i pop it open and the alfalfa/molasses smell dominates, which tells me all is well. I had an aeration malfunction for one batch and all it took was a couple of hours for it to smell like a sewer. The longest I've brewed is 28 hours and there were no issues.

I place some gauze pad over the sprayer container to act as a filter and just pour it in full strength and its ready to rock as a foliar spray.

Alternatively, i dilute it 1:2 and straight to the root zone.

Within hours all the plants are standing at attention.

And of course everything has to be dechlorinated.

Setup time is usually 15 mins.

May 6, 2015	#35
Gerardo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: San Diego-Tijuana Posts: 2,594	My setup is a little over 6 gallons. I have an air pump with 2 outlets, a medium round stone goes to the bottom, a smaller stone into the sock (I've decided to put all my stray socks to good use) with a mix of: 1-1.5 cups worm castings, 1/3 cup alfalfa meal, +/- 4 tbsp Bat Guano or Happy Frog Fruit & Flower, about 1/4 tbsp oregonism xl). A quick splash of liquid humic acid (sample I got for free, been able to stretch it for some time) or a handful of the granular type, about 200 mL of my homemade seaweed fermentation broth that's about 3 mos. old (smell is sublime) 2 generous spoonfuls of molasses or corn syrup or agave or sugar, whatever carbohydrate source is available in hand and cheapest (place it into solution in a separate mason jar and then just pour and dip the whole jar to make sure it goes in completely) You can push the culture in one direction or another (bacterial vs fungi) by playing around with all of the ingredients, and the length of time you brew. I've seen recipes where you leave the ingredients in the culture for the first six hours, then you remove the sock/paint strainer, and then it continues for the full 24 hrs. I usually leave it in and allow it to brew for 24 hrs. No need to stir, that's what the stones are for. When I come back the next day i pop it open and the alfalfa/molasses smell dominates, which tells me all is well. I had an aeration malfunction for one batch and all it took was a couple of hours for it to smell like a sewer. The longest I've brewed is 28 hours and there were no issues. I place some gauze pad over the sprayer container to act as a filter and just pour it in full strength and its ready to rock as a foliar spray. Alternatively, i dilute it 1:2 and straight to the root zone. Within hours all the plants are standing at attention. And of course everything has to be dechlorinated. Setup time is usually 15 mins. Last edited by Gerardo; May 6, 2015 at 08:47 PM. Reason: needs more info

May 6, 2015	#33
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	How much worm castings to mix with a gallon of water to make tea? How long do you brew?

May 6, 2015	#34
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	What I have read is two cups of compost per 5 gallons of water, and about a tbsp of molasses, bubbled at room temp for 36-48 hours.