TLDR: Can I make some tea without an air pump? I only have gia green (all purpose and bloom) and worm castings. Is it even worth making a tea with only these ingredients? I have two flowering bubba kush that most of the leaves have turned yellow and fall off when I touch them.
I have been quite successful with all of my plants/strains with the exception being Bubba Kush. I have grown 8 of these at different times over my beginners journey. I still have 5. Two of them are in flower and they are heading down the same path as the first one I flowered. Basically it seems like the plant is dying. Last time I took it all the way through to harvest, I still have the buds but I have yet to smoke a single one because they look and smell so weird. I was going to kill them today (3 weeks since flipping) because I dont want to spend another 7-8 weeks only to harvest buds I cannot smoke. Before I terminate, a buddy suggested I try a tea. I feed all my plants the same and they all respond well except this damn kush strain. I guess itâs possible it just needs a lot more than any other strain I have grown, but seems like a long shot. I have plenty of other plants that are going well so it wouldnt be terrible to lose these. Bonus I would be able to move some other plants to flower.
Here is a photo of them after removing around 20-25 yellow leaves from each of them.
You could prob have some success if itâs a very wide but shallow pool your doing the tea in. Without proper gas exchange, the bacteria will likely use up all the oxygen and then itâll become anaerobic and stinky. From my understanding, The point of the tea is mostly for the bacterias that help break down the nutrients so itâs readily available for the plant. Worm castings will provide the bacteria, some molasses (just about any sugar source will work really) and any nutrients you want to throw in there will get it going.
Though I donât make teas, so hope someone else will chime in
You could make a compost extract with the worm castings. For five about gallons of declorinated water, put about a cup of EWC in a tea bag, nylon stocking, or cheese cloth. Dunk it in the water and gently squeeze out the water, repeat several times. This will extract some of the biology and humic substances.
Ouch, donât kill it just because it looks weird, a good Bubba is worth the effort and these look like nice plants. It doesnât look like there is any fundamental problem with your gals, I think they just need more nutes. Start by lowering the light intensity which will lower their metabolism and buy you a little time to get them back on track.
Definitely this, and also stir the hell out of the water to aerate as much as possible before adding. A drill with a paint stirrer will help a lot here, or even an electric hand mixer would save some effort - or just a whisk. The point is to get the water churning as much as possible for a few minutes (you could also just pour the water from one bucket to another a number of times making as much âsloshâ and âfoamâ as possible).
Interesting, can you describe the smell and/or what is off-putting about it?
Elaine Ingham and the Teaming With [*] crowd make brewing seem much more complex than it actually is, sometimes I think purposefully just so they can sell more books and classes. Look up JADAM Microbial Solution (JMS), EM-1 and to a lesser extent Korean Natural Farming. All of which are anaerobic fermentations, and you donât see farmers crying about the evil anaerobes murdering their crop.
Itâs easy enough to keep your brew aerobic (if youâre really obsessed with that sort of thing) by keeping a lid off and stirring now and then. Iâm willing to wager that airstones are 99.9% USELESS in the compost tea arena. They exist to scare away normal gardeners from fear of labor and cost while making money off the niche who arenât. Itâs a scam!
Itâs not just that it looks weird. Itâs the second time this has happened to this strain in flower and the last time was such a disappointment. If I have a good plan I will keep trying. But in the last week almost all of the leaves have died and fallen off. This time I have used all organic nutrients and last time it was all synthetic.
It almost smells moldy, but I see no mold or rot(talking about the harvested kush). However, it does look weird. It almost dried on the vine and when I hung it, it was dry in less than half the time as the other strains i harvested at the same time. It smells kind of old, i wouldnât say ammonia but its strong and not skunky, or sweet. Itâs really hard for me to describe. You can see the previous Kush plants here Flowering Kush, how bad did i screw it up?
I should mention that the PH going in and coming out are within good ranges. Only this strain struggles in my grow. Maybe it just needs a lot more nutrients than the others? I donât think it needs less but open to suggestions. Its time to give it a feeding and I was hoping that making a tea would help it get what it needs faster and it might recover.
and throw in JLF (jadam liquid ferilizer) while youâre at it probably more relevant to your situation but those brews take a week or two to be useful
Since you said you feed regularly I would be curious how often you flush and when the last time you did? Even soils retain salt and if you donât purge these occasionally it causes lockout which is what I think you have going on. Even if the PH is ok an imbalance of nutrients in the medium can affect nutrient uptake. I grow several bubba crosses from different breeders, they usually arenât super heavy feeders on my end.
They look hungry to me, especially if the waterâs pH is good.
How much water are they drinking? Have you seen a decline?
Are those 5G or 7G pots?
Iâd go 2 cups of EWC and a tablespoon of GG bloom and maybe a tablespoon of sugar mixed in with their regular water. The EWC will help almost immediately, the Gaia Green will not burn them and the sugar will help feed the existent biology.
If you are in Southern Ontario, have a look at Black Swallow Soils in Brantford. I do a semi-annual pilgrimageâŚ
Look at the size of the plants vs the size of the soil.
When growing organic you gotta flip to flower when the plant is about as high as the pot or a little earlier if you know youâre growing very stretchy genetics. When growing autoâs theyâll sort themselves out.
As above so below, you can push that limit with synthetic nutes but it doesnât work that way with organic soil. Thank you for making the switch, next grow will be better!
I would also add companion crops, helps regulate moisture and so many other things.
Consider a stacked pot setup if you want less work.
What @ReikoX said , with fermented fruit juices are great to boost the plants into life, you need a very small amount of fermented fruit juice(itâs acidic so add until correct pH in RO water or unchlorinated with around ph7 before worm casting, try to hit 6-5.5), but its packed with micro nutrients, enzymes and healthy bacteria and fungi!
These were up-potted from solo cups into 3 gallon pots with gia green all purpose and worm castings. Then 3-4 weeks later top dressed with the same. a week before flower (4-5 weeks after last feed) they got gia green all purpose and gia green bloom (1:2 ratio) and some more worm castings.
Now is the time I was planning on top dressing again with more gia green bloom and worm castings.
Would it be a bad idea to try the following?
In a jug add worm castings and rain water. Shake often for a couple hours (or 24?). Then top dress these with gia green and water with worm casting water mix. The goal would be to make nutrients available faster cause it seems like this plant is lacking not getting too much. But I am still a noob so correct me where I need correcting.
I feel like they have to be hungry! Yes the pH is good, they have slowed down on drinking compared to other strains in the same timeline. Pots are only 3 gallon.
I have extremely good luck then with 10 other plants because most were in 3 gallon pots, one even in a half gallon bonsai for its whole life. As I have been venturing down an organic path I am seeing that larger containers are better and I am going to give it a try. Thanks for the detailed post and suggestions. I already have 6 other organic plants in flower that are all doing well.
Iâve found 3 gallons too small for organic. Thereâs ways of doing it (check out The Rev) but Iâm lazy and use either a 5 or 7G for long flowering.
Check out BOGâs booklet Bonanza of Green (PDF available on-line) he details his technique and it is something like Rogueâs illustration. He finished flowering in 4 gallon pots but he had his process really tuned in.
@Greenup what you outlined will work and you will get good benefit from that.
The 24hr aeration process gives the âwildlifeâ a chance to replicate but thatâs an added bonus.
Iâd suggest you checkout a cheap aquarium air pump and stone for later applications⌠Also, look at Kelp/Alfalfa teas, I like these. I use them mid veg and mid flower.
probably more relevant to your situation but those brews take a week or two to be useful
I use them mid veg and mid flower.