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Colorado

If I apply a batch of tea, but then water through my drip system the next day (and everyday...) with my city water, which is chlorinated, am I probably killing off all the beneficial microbes in the tea?

If so, is there any way around this (assuming my only source of water is the city water)????

6/11/2007 11:26:08 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Is your water treated with chlorine or chloramine? That matters.

You could get a whole house carbon filtration system especially for brewing. But seriously, the amount of organic matter & supported biology we have in a good soil is going to overwhelm the chlorine in your municipal water.

6/11/2007 11:43:27 PM

San Jose garysand@pacbell.net

you do not need to, and really should not be watering EVERY day, better to water deep and less often, especially when it is not hot. If you can get some 55 gallon drums to store water, only need about 24 hours for the chlorine to dissipate. but like Steve said i do not think this is a major factor

6/12/2007 12:16:27 AM

President - GPC

Good question Pete as I thought the same, would be interesting to test, book says to dilute with pond water....Gee this is getting more and more difficult now I need a build a pond......

6/12/2007 8:40:19 AM

Colorado

According to the city, chlorine is added during treatment, and they claim 0.3 - 1.8 ppm of detectable levels in samples.

To the best of my searching, there isn't any chloramine.

6/12/2007 9:10:33 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Chlorine disipates readily by gassing off. Cloramine requires a charcoal filter to remove.

6/12/2007 10:36:40 AM

Western NY

they probably sample at various locations in your city. you could request a sample from your house and they would check the chlorine level at that time. problem is, that level changes depending on how steady the operator runs it.

6/12/2007 10:37:10 AM

President - GPC

Here is a supporting doc that treated water has big affects on the quality of the AACT. We should gas it off before diluting......

http://www.simplici-tea.com/water_quality_article.htm

6/12/2007 11:15:06 AM

Colorado

What about Chloramine. Is there a method of treating
this to eliminate from the brew water? ......LB

6/15/2007 12:27:29 PM

President - GPC

LongBeard is reporting Denver Water does in fact use Chloramine...can be removed with several products from the Pet shop. I am trying this with my brew water.

6/15/2007 12:48:40 PM

Colorado

Yea, but will the Pet shop products kill the good stuff
too? Lets try it on the Biz's plants first.....LB

6/15/2007 12:55:36 PM

President - GPC

Thats what Joe said to try it on yours....first, however it dont kill my fish and corrects pH, BUFFFER, chloramine, and heavy metals.......fast.

6/15/2007 2:48:20 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Add a small quantity of humic acid to the brew water to negate chloramine. Then brew as normal. No problems.

The only other option is a charcoal filter which isn't too expensive. There are cheap refrigerator & drinking water filters available in Home Improvement stores but the small $25 models greatly reduce the flow of water. Larger whole-house models are also available. They flow better & last longer but cost a lot more.

6/16/2007 12:02:26 AM

President - GPC

Tremor,
IS there a concern about adding the humic acid and repeat drenching when making tea. My tea calls for 1 TBS of humic per batch. I was wondering if this will be detrimental with repeat drenchings to my plant?

6/19/2007 11:41:49 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

1 Tbsp spread over the entire patch isn't going to throw things into a tail spin unless it was already over-applied recently.

6/19/2007 11:30:11 PM

Littleton, Colo

LongBeard, we should try it on the weeds around your pumpkins. If they die, your plants might have a fighting chance.

6/25/2007 12:36:28 AM

Burt NY

dilute with WIZ WATER

6/25/2007 11:12:41 AM

southwest MO

Remember 5 gallons of tea is enough for an acre in some brews... Dont really think u can over do it, but the stuff will go a long way.

6/25/2007 2:23:17 PM

President - GPC

Cranked up my 4th batch, first that wasnt a premix.
I Used 5 gallons of freshwater tropical fish water that was syphoned off the bottom of a 55 gallon tank that needed some cleaning..Ph 6.8 O CHlorine/Chloramine charcoal filtered, tank flourishes with nature plants.........Added in some of the KIS Canadian super compost and the KIS food....That I took a red ring wiggler worm out of........nice........we will see what kind of foam I will have tonight after 12hrs of brewing.......gonna do my first foliar spray tonight......hope they do the ...HPD... "Happy Plant" Dance.....

6/27/2007 8:48:23 AM

Seattle, WA

For chloramine you can add humic acid or ascorbic acid (vitamin c). I use a product called vita d chlor. If you google their name and go to their website they have a calculator for adding ascorbic acid to water.

It is VERY IMPORTANT to remove the chlorine and chloramines before brewing your tea!

1/15/2008 8:27:22 PM