Brewing Tea Entirely In Bag?

[sqeakygrns]

Has anybody tried brewing a tea with something like OG Biowar/myco/etc and molasses all placed in the same "bag" as their earthworm castings/ancient forest?

I just picked up a 12x12 cold brew bag and figured this method would keep the water cleaner for my hydro system/sprayers, but wasn't sure if it would allow for the correct amount of mixing even with my airstones.

 

[Hpo777]

Has anybody tried brewing a tea with something like OG Biowar/myco/etc and molasses all placed in the same "bag" as their earthworm castings/ancient forest?

I just picked up a 12x12 cold brew bag and figured this method would keep the water cleaner for my hydro system/sprayers, but wasn't sure if it would allow for the correct amount of mixing even with my airstones.

Well you want good surface area for the microbiology. If you're going to feed through a sprayer I'd say use a bag...but only then. Don't use molasses though, you have plenty of bacteria and it acts as a junk food and will over populate your tea and kill off fungi, enzymes etc and you'll be left with only a bacteria tea...you want complex teas.

 

[sqeakygrns]

Well you want good surface area for the microbiology. If you're going to feed through a sprayer I'd say use a bag...but only then. Don't use molasses though, you have plenty of bacteria and it acts as a junk food and will over populate your tea and kill off fungi, enzymes etc and you'll be left with only a bacteria tea...you want complex teas.

So for a "complex" tea, I'd want to skip the molasses? It seems every recipe I find (including Cap's) includes molasses.

Also, this won't be foliar - it'd be purely a nutrient solution additive.

 

[Hpo777]

***NEVER USE – Blackstrap molasses*** If you do some of your own reading online about compost tea brewing one of the biggest things you will run across is the recommendation to use blackstrap molasses as the microbial food in the tea. This used to be widely accepted as a great way of brewing tea. The issue is that without a firm understanding of soil biology and what microbes look like under a microscope people actually brew up anaerobic teas the majority of the time with blackstrap molasses. This is why that happens even with an air pump -- molasses is a simple sugar which feeds bacterial populations very quickly basically as junk food. As the bacterial populations grow they take over the entire tea and use up all the oxygen, this causes the tea to become anaerobic as soon as the ppm (parts per million) of dissolved oxygen drop below 8 (6ppm is the critical point). There are plenty of bacteria all over this planet and we really don’t need to brew up heavy bacterial teas, rather we want to brew up complex teas that have a huge variety of life in them, not only bacteria but also fungi, protozoa and nematodes. When you only feed simple sugars to the microbiology in the tea brewing process the bacteria will out multiply all the other good guys and take over the entire tea. We instead feed complex foods to the tea so the fungi, protozoa and nematodes have a chance to grow and multiply. If you really want to use molasses in your brewing it is highly advisable to also get yourself a microscope so you can monitor the tea and make sure you use it before it goes anaerobic.

 

[sqeakygrns]

***NEVER USE – Blackstrap molasses*** If you do some of your own reading online about compost tea brewing one of the biggest things you will run across is the recommendation to use blackstrap molasses as the microbial food in the tea. This used to be widely accepted as a great way of brewing tea. The issue is that without a firm understanding of soil biology and what microbes look like under a microscope people actually brew up anaerobic teas the majority of the time with blackstrap molasses. This is why that happens even with an air pump -- molasses is a simple sugar which feeds bacterial populations very quickly basically as junk food. As the bacterial populations grow they take over the entire tea and use up all the oxygen, this causes the tea to become anaerobic as soon as the ppm (parts per million) of dissolved oxygen drop below 8 (6ppm is the critical point). There are plenty of bacteria all over this planet and we really don’t need to brew up heavy bacterial teas, rather we want to brew up complex teas that have a huge variety of life in them, not only bacteria but also fungi, protozoa and nematodes. When you only feed simple sugars to the microbiology in the tea brewing process the bacteria will out multiply all the other good guys and take over the entire tea. We instead feed complex foods to the tea so the fungi, protozoa and nematodes have a chance to grow and multiply. If you really want to use molasses in your brewing it is highly advisable to also get yourself a microscope so you can monitor the tea and make sure you use it before it goes anaerobic.

Amazing. This is exactly what I originally thought, reaching back to my high school/college microbio classes, but absolutely everything I read on the subject pertaining to hydroponics recommended using blackstrap molasses.

My last batch of tea (using molasses) ended up being the fuel for a very, very nasty and aggressive case of root rot, the recovery of which is still ongoing, and only now finishing up the rhizosphere sanitization stage.

I have these ingredients:

• EWC
• Roots Excelurator
• OG Biowar Root Pack
• Great White
• Hydroguard
• Cannazym

In order to brew a well diversified and balanced tea, what would you recommend?

 

[Hpo777]

Amazing. This is exactly what I originally thought, reaching back to my high school/college microbio classes, but absolutely everything I read on the subject pertaining to hydroponics recommended using blackstrap molasses.

My last batch of tea (using molasses) ended up being the fuel for a very, very nasty and aggressive case of root rot, the recovery of which is still ongoing, and only now finishing up the rhizosphere sanitization stage.

I have these ingredients:

• EWC
• Roots Excelurator
• OG Biowar Root Pack
• Great White
• Hydroguard
• Cannazym

In order to brew a well diversified and balanced tea, what would you recommend?

Veg tea
1/4 cup EWC
2 tsp kelp meal
1.5mil Fish hydroslate
(Every feeding swap kelp with alfalfa meal)
Brew 16-18 hours



Flower tea
1/4 cup EWC
1-2 tsp kelp meal
1/4 tsp soft rock phosphate or fish bone meal

Brew 24 hours to 48 hours

This is a per gallon water recipe

 

[sqeakygrns]

Veg tea
1/4 cup EWC
2 tsp kelp meal
1.5mil Fish hydroslate
(Every feeding swap kelp with alfalfa meal)
Brew 16-18 hours



Flower tea
1/4 cup EWC
1-2 tsp kelp meal
1/4 tsp soft rock phosphate or fish bone meal

Brew 24 hours to 48 hours

This is a per gallon water recipe

No mycorrhizae? No starter cultures?