Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
bratattack

chicken manure nutrient tea

bratattack
14 years ago

I have seen on a site to use black hen chicken manure tea as a hydroponic nutrient but dont see many responses about it. Has anyone tried it? How did it work? It seems so cheap and easy as opposed to mixing chemicals and buying the nutrients, why is no one using it? I couldn't for the life of me be able to figure out how to make nutrients and it seems like buying all the different nutes needed I may as well be buying from the grocery store. also if you do use the black hen tea formula is it used ofr both grow and bloom? can I use it for all veggies and fruits? seriously confused and feel like an idiot after reading all these nute solutions and whatnot. HELP tia

Comments (7)

  • lucas_formulas
    14 years ago

    The actual and general problem with any manure based teas or manure based nutrients, is that firstly manure stinks (rather unsuited for urban use) and secondly, it isn't as "healthy" and safe if "fresh" and untreated as some people might think. If it's fresh, there is a multitude of bacteria and pathogens and certainly not all are to be classified beneficial. The other downside is in fact that unlike when using known (chemical) components to make nutrients, you don't have any exact analyses of your tea(s). Dosage or regulation isn't exactly easy either, especially if you aim for some specific "nutritional plan" or want to adjust to uncommon plants. On top of that, some parts of the nutrients are dissolved, as in readily available - and others need to be broken down through bacterial activity (actually as a byproduct of the later). Hence, unless you have a high-tech lab at your disposal for a series of analyses, you're a bit fishing in troubled water about the exact nutrient and elemental content. Although there are analyses of various manures available from former or newer research- I guess you gotta get those. Because how would you complement, either with natural minerals or other components, if you have just got one or even two unknowns?

    I also believe that it's still not easy (unlike with standard nutrients) to lay hand on sure to work "technologies and techniques" for lay people, that enable you to regulate and control nutrient content at least somewhat. I have also noticed, that people who tell having experience and knowledge about such techniques, aren't exactly generously sharing their knowledge, recipes and techniques. I may be wrong here, but at least that was my impression so far - but it's understandable somehow as well. I also came to the point were I do not share all I've gathered together in years of dedication anytime, everywhere with anyone ...

    And there you have got the whole catalogue of reasons why I haven't been investigating further nor haven't actually tried it ;-)

    Still, I believe there is a lot (and enough) information around to get started, if you only draw them from multiple sources. That's how you do I guess, in case you can't lay hand on a single source (or person) that has the whole enchilada handy and ready to use for you. ;-)

    Best of luck,
    Lucas

  • grizzman
    14 years ago

    Freemangreens used to use compost tea, but changed over to mineral salts because he couldn't get the nutrient strength he needed for vigorous plant growth.
    Search here for his name and you'll get a link to his site. he even tells you how to make it.

  • lucas_formulas
    14 years ago

    Compost tea isn't exactly MANURE tea, right? Just a reminder ;-)

    Compost tea is actually easier to predict or to improve, as you can widely choose from- or vary the ingredients you actually compost. Also, you have lots of research and data on NPK composition of various plants you can use for this purpose. It's much less smelly and the health risks are much lower if you fully compost your organic materials.

  • bratattack
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    yes, I got it from tengreenthumbs and yes it is composted not just manure. thanks for your inputs

  • willardb3
    14 years ago

    Use of any organic teas introduces biological stuff to your nutrient which is the anathema of pumped liquids in general....it will gum up your system.

  • lucas_formulas
    14 years ago

    Here you imply that you have a "conventional" setup with existing mineral based nutrients, - which is not necessarily the case and which I actually doubt. If I got this right, it is more about going fully organic and with an adequate setup that is actually appropriate for manure teas. A bit like in aquaponics, where fish poop gets permanently pumped into larger volume gravel beds, broken down constantly and yet nutrients get instantly absorbed by plants. Just to give an example how it could be done and how it actually is supposed to work. In that case there obviously is nothing that could gum-up.

    You also can pre-process teas mechanically, to break them further down through accelerated bacterial activity, neutralize them organically and chemically before they get introduced to any (appropriate) actual system.

  • shadoh6
    11 years ago

    I have been experimenting with sterilized chicken manure from a commercial source as a hydroponic nutrient alternative, and from what I can observe, it works in that plants will survive and grow from it, but you aren't going to see the vigorous growth that commercially available nutrient will give you.

    So far I have tried 2 different methods: manure tea (15 cc of manure to 5 L of water, 3 day duration) and direct application to the reservoir. Both methods use fish water from my aquaponics system, with the idea that there is some microbial activity that will help convert the nutrients in the chicken manure into a plant-usable form. In terms of systems, I have tested both using a passive-wick system (coir) and DWC (8 L pots with a shared outer container and aeration with 2 air pumps). As a supplement, I have also been using Seasol seaweed fertilizer and Epsom salts.

    For performance, I can't say that there's much to rave about, but then again, I have also been facing some pest and environmental issues so my experiment is far from conclusive.

    Hope this is useful to somebody!