Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
THE KEY TO A PERFECT TLO LIVING TEA
There is no single tea recipe I could give you that would be “the best” because they are either
living teas or they are not living teas. Now there are a couple ways to go about this, and if you
have something like Great White microlife inoculate, you can sprinkle a very (very) tiny
amount of this into the tea, and the bacteria in this product will colonize the tea. What you are
missing in this type of a tea is diversity, including things like nematodes, protozoa, and oth-
ers. Fresh water fish aquariums are another great source of some diverse microlife and a small
amount of this type of water can be added before your tea “brews” as well; as long as the fish
are all healthy and chemical free.
Making (or brewing/bubbling as I also call it) living teas for your TLO garden is a snap! All
you need is an inexpensive aquarium air pump (Walmart $13.00 USD) some air tubing/line,
an air stone and a container for bubbling in. This container should be opaque if possible. You
can use teas every other time you water if you want to, as long as they aren't too crammed
full of liquid nutrients.
The following are a few “don't do” type pieces of advice:
• Avoid using anything but good pure water when making your teas (chlorine/chloramine
free).
• Don't go insane using too much kelp/seaweed, and/or molasses because overdosing is fairly
easy.
• Don't overload with liquid nutrients. This is the number one issue most beginners have.
• When applying your teas to the plants make sure to stir up the tea between each plant to en-
sure even distribution of all the nutrient rich particles; these particles will fall to the bottom
quickly.
• You can bubble your teas 24 hours to 72 hours at least, but don't make a habit of going
much longer, because as the food runs out many of the good microbeasties will die off.
• Don't forget to scrape down the sides of your tea bubbling container before using the tea be-
cause bacteria love to stick to things; it is what they do. I love my Betty Crocker frosting
spatula for this job.
The following is a partial list of great tea additions, in per gallon of water amounts:
• ½-1 cup of living earthworm castings
• ¼-½ cup of Big Bloom liquid bloom nutrient by Fox Farm
• 1 tablespoon of kelp meal and/or alfalfa meal
• 1-3 teaspoons of liquid fishy fertilizer (I like Organic Gem, & General Organics brands
here)
• 1 teaspoon dry bird or bat guano (high nitrogen varieties are best)
• 1-3 teaspoons of liquid molasses (all natural and unsulphured)
