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paulheinemann

Guano tea smells like pee

15 years ago

I am making guano tea with the following recipe.

1/3 cup high nitrogen bat guano

1/3 cup high phosphorus bat guano

1/2 cup worm casings

4 tablespoons kelp/fish/crab-meal mixture

a small amount of beneficial bacteria and fungi starter (made for hydroponic systems and includes b2)

All in a stocking.

It has been sitting in a 5 gal bucket of water for 24hrs, with a air pump and airstone on the bottom

It just now started to smell like stale urine. Should i still use it? I have heard not to use COMPOST tea if it smells bad, but I suspect that this smell may just be the bacteria breaking down the insoluble nitrogen into ammonia compounds. Plus, it doesn't smell BAD, it just smells urine-like; when I think bad I think rotten, not like a recognized source of plant nitrogen. But it did loose it "earthy" smell.

What cha think.

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