cameron52

In your opinion, what's the best organic fertelizer?

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komet

Home made worm castings.

Worms fed on a primary diet of organic wheat grass. Then used in a tea, brewed for 18hrs (no more than 24 ) with organic, unsulphered, black strap molasses.

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outdoors

Komet, please offer your recipe... I'm interested... how big a batch do you make at one time? If you wouldn't mind..

Peace- OD

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squirrel_master

and pics of your "homemade worn casting generator".

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komet

Sorry, I missed this one. Lucky tripps reminded me with a thanks.

No problem OD. The recipe I've had the best results with (bacteria dominant, not fungi) was as follows:

Per 20ltrs of water, undiluted:

- 2 handfulls of Nutri-Blend compost (Llama poo would work, I'm sure )

- 1 handfull of worm castings

- 60 mls fish fert with fulvic acid (bacteria)

- 1 'dollop' of liquid humus

- 1/2 of an apple. Chopped, not mashed. (bacteria)

- 2 tea bags of organic green tea.

- 1tbsp of OBS molasses.

I also add something called "Microforce 420 Microbes" It's a product you can buy here in Oz which has task specific bacteria/fungi.

But to be honest. These days I just use the worm castings and molasses. I'm just lazy to do the more complicated recipes lately.

Here is a pic of the worm setup I use. Mainly wheatgrass and egg shells. After they have been feeding for six months, I move the scraps to one side so the worms 'migrate' over to the other side so I can collect the castings. Ghetto, but it works if you just want to use small amounts for tea brewing and not soil amendment.


komet's "Brewer" Careful now...patent pending.

Drill holes into the lid of a container and line it with something like shade cloth. Don't use a too finer of mesh (stocking) or it will impede the transfer of microbes. Use the traditional blue stones. Those new ceramic one's create 'mist' bubbles which can shatter fungal hyphae.




Beginning of the brew. Add a water heater to speed up the brew but try not to go over 95F. Or as in the words of Profound, it will "Smell like chit mon"


12 hours after starting the brewing process. Should have a sweet, earthy smell but not smell 'rank'. Plenty of foam and that sweet smell will tell you it's working.


I just use the "Brewer" to keep things clean. You don't want rotting pieces of apple sitting on the top soil. Pretty easy to see how it was made from the pics.

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Note: In the above post I mentioned that you shouldn't brew for more than 24hrs. I say this because most of us wouldn't make teas exceeding 10-20ltrs. But brewing time really depends on the size of your container. Basically because the larger the container then the more available oxygen for the micro heard. You want to brew for 12 hours per 10 ltrs of water. But their are so many variables like available carbos to bacteria/fungi and available oxygen. Really you just have to try your own and 'eye-ball' it.

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komet

Why I use wheatgrass? Like the chart attached says, it contains all 21 minerals. Not much else out there which will provide everything.

Not just for your worms though . Grow it, get yourself a juicer and drink it yourself...you'll feel like a million bucks. Also full of hemoglobin - natures version of a blood transfusion.

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Buddhabaron

you can use fresh urine mixed at 10 parts water 1 part urine for a good source of nutrients, and it's free. just don't let the urine sit, always use fresh when it's sterile.

outdoors

Excellent process and thank you so much for descriptions! What is the other "gizmo" in the bucket? Opposite the blue tubing. Did you put that white container with the holes in it into the "tea pot?" Did you put your "tea ingredients inside that white container before you put it in the tea pot?

Questions? I got 'em. Just cause it looks simple doesn't mean it is. Take it from a woman who's been reading directions for weeks now and looking at pictures that are supposed to tell the story.

Peace- OD

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CRAZYTRAIN

Hey OD,
Not to hijack the thread but there are also other options where you don't have to make the compost. Check out bountea.com and watch the video "the secret is in the soil"

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komet

Hey, OD.

That gizmo is a water heater, I set my temps to around 90F. Some say you should tag your brewing temperatures to your soil temperatures, which I used to do. But I have found keeping things a little warmer speeds up the brewing process.

Yup, I put all my ingredients into the 'tea-bag' which then goes into the bucket. Always a good idea to shake the tea bag a little while brewing to move the ingredients around.

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