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[mj]

Have any members grown Psychotria using compost tea? I am wondering after seeing some of the miraculous growing results of giant vegtables on line if compost tea might be all P. Viridis needs to step it up in terms of growth rate and plant quality? I am also wondering if experienced compost tea users know if water can be totally replaced by compost tea alone? Just want to see what others have done/tried. Best regards mj.

http://off-grid.info/blog/how-to-grow-world-record-veggies-with-compost-tea/

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[AcaciaAve]

Not compost tea, worm tea, rather.
Worm tea works wonders in my experience. Basically a worm castings concentrate... Great supplement for Acacias to cacti and Psychotria to Phalaris. I use it every time I water the garden.
I'd assume compost tea works just as great as these videos suggest. Most people I know who sell produce at the Farmer's markets use compost tea or worm tea for plump produce.
 

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[Sunshine]

A tip for those of us who tend to take shortcuts and try to find the easy way to do things- Allow me to save you the trouble; don't just fill a sock full of dirt and put it in a bucket of water. It will create a VERY stinky mess. 

It's been a while, so forgive me if my science is off. If I remember correctly there are two types of bacteria that can be formed when making compost tea; aerobic and anaerobic. One grows in oxygen rich environments and the other grows in oxygen deficient environments. The anaerobic one(the one I created) is nasty smelling stuff. Don't try to cut corners with this one. Learn from my mistake. Use a bubble stone. haha

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[Bach]

I've always used worm castings and Osmocote on my Pv's. I top and bottom dress the pots in the springtime and that pretty much keeps them happy throughout our long growing season.

Never used tea though so you'll have to let us know how it goes.

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[plantlight]

I top and bottom dress the pots in the springtime

This is new.  I've heard top and side dressing before, but I have to say bottom dressing is a new concept to me.  Please elaborate - your plants are so beautiful, I don't want to miss a thing.

[Bach]

Well partly it's all in an attempt to avoid repotting as much as I can. i hate moving large pots around in the winter and there is a physical limit to what I can move so...

Bottom dressing is just like top  I mix up some new potting soil heavily amended with Osmocote (I know, I know...) and worm castings. I pop the rootball out of the pot, put a layer in the bottom, put the plant back in, pack in new stuff around the sides as needed and then add a layer on top. It's that simple!

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[plantlight]

Well partly it's all in an attempt to avoid repotting as much as I can.

So it's like a repot, but only in the same pot.  This is the solution to a problem that has been perplexing me.  As the soil in my pots decomposes, the soil level drops.  Top dressing adds a bit but doesn't replace everything and I don't want to keep repotting to a larger pot. 

I feel a bit embarrassed for not realizing the solution. So yeah, I get it now.  Simple concept.  Solves my problem and seems obvious now. Cool and, uh thanks!

[Bach]

That was learned through hard experience and many a strained back, so use the information in good health!

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[plantlight]

Have any members grown Psychotria using compost tea?

I have. But not with this method.  It looks interesting and I'd like to try it.
The tea I use is worm casting compost tea from this http://sharetheseeds.me/forum/index.php?topic=2903.0
Picture #4 in the link shows the worm bin with attached valve.  I keep a clear container under the valve to catch the drippings, dilute them with an equal part of water and use the mix on my plants.  I have been inconsistent with this though and use what I have when I have it rather than making optimized batches that I use on all plants at once.  Also, I've never added oxygen which is another shortcoming of my haphazard method.

I've got to work on my style 

[mj]

my understanding is that if you don't aerate the mix you end up with an anaerobic bacteria growth and miss the aerobic bacteria and you want a balance of both especially since roots like and need oxygen. I have limited experience with this myself just really starting myself. I plan on picking up a pump and some air stones at the local surplus store soon. The guys who grow those gigantic vegetables often seem to  use tea to water with and the more diversity of things that they include such as worm poop bat poop bird poop and fish products and or kelp the better, they also add humus to their tea for the humic acid it provides. Best regards mj.

http://www.compostjunkie.com/compost-tea-recipe.html
http://www.soilfoodweb.com/Compost_Tea_Recipe.html
http://www.wormcompostinghq.com/how-to-use-worm-compost/how-to-make-compost-tea-with-worm-castings
http://microbeorganics.com/#So_You_Wanna_Build_A_Compost_Tea_Brewer