Ep 014: Compost Tea From Scratch: Pre-Flower Checklist

0:00 — 2:05

Intro and episode agenda

Jeremy opens episode 11 of the 10x10 by outlining the pre-launch checklist before flipping to flower: brewing a compost tea from scratch, pulling worm castings from his home worm bin, top-dressing, watering an Earth Box, building a trellis in the back 3x3, addressing the 10-gallon containers, and planning training and defoliation for the next episode. He thanks the YouTube audience and notes the two different genetics are growing at different rates so plan management is essential.

2:05 — 3:50

Home worm bin and harvesting castings

Jeremy walks to his basic fabric-pot home worm bin, noting it lives in the garage because Colorado winters are too cold to keep it outside. He shows the leaf mulch he added, worms, and castings full of life including predator mites. He demonstrates screening the castings through a mesh to separate worms and get fine castings for the brew, explaining he has brewed with worms in the past and they come out alive but he prefers not to torture them.

1. 1. Open the home worm bin (basic fabric pot) in the garage
2. 2. Brush leaf mulch aside to expose fresh castings and worms
3. 3. Scoop a generous amount onto a mesh screen
4. 4. Work the castings through the screen into a container below, leaving worms on top
5. 5. Discard screen contents with worms back to the bin
6. 6. Measure one-and-a-half cups of fine castings for a 4-gallon brew

3:50 — 7:20

Basic compost tea recipe and ingredients

Jeremy lays out his basic recipe: 4 gallons of clean water in a 5-gallon bucket, 1.5 cups of compost/worm castings, and 1/3 cup of molasses. He shows both BuildASoil organic molasses (bottled by Molasses Corporation) and Supercar by Blue Gold as his sugar source today. He explains that compost quality is the one thing nobody argues about, that people sometimes pre-feed bagged compost with oats or kashi before brewing, and that simple sugars feed biology just as root exudates do in the soil.

1. 1. Fill a 5-gallon bucket with approximately 4 gallons of clean water
2. 2. Measure 1.5 cups of fresh worm castings
3. 3. Measure 1/3 cup of molasses or sugar source (Supercar by Blue Gold or BuildASoil organic molasses)
4. 4. Optional: if using bagged compost, pre-moisten and pre-feed with oats or kashi to wake biology before brewing

7:20 — 12:10

Assembling the air-lift brewer and upgrade kit

Jeremy assembles the BuildASoil compost tea brewer kit, explaining it snaps together for shipping, uses a small air pump with an upgrade kit that replaces the small tube with an oversized one for more airflow, per Tim Wilson's teaching that more air raises dissolved oxygen and makes a better tea. He discusses brewer placement — pump above the bucket to prevent siphon-back in a power outage — and notes that pumps vibrate and are loud so people hang them from bungee cords. He covers brew time rules of thumb: 24 hours is his target, 36 max, 12 if rushed, avoiding ice-cold or burning-hot water, keeping it at ambient grow-room temperature, and warning that longer than 48 hours can bloom and crash the biology.

1. 1. Snap the BuildASoil brewer frame together
2. 2. Remove the stock small-diameter nozzle from the air tube
3. 3. Attach the oversized tube from the upgrade kit and clamp it down with a screwdriver
4. 4. Place the air pump on a surface higher than the bucket to prevent siphon-back
5. 5. Optional: hang the pump from a bungee cord to dampen vibration and noise
6. 6. Slip the air tube onto the barbed end of the brewer — no clamp needed on that end
7. 7. Bungee-cord or clip the brewer frame to the side of the bucket so the air holes stay at the bottom
8. 8. Plug in the pump and confirm water is bubbling vigorously

12:10 — 14:20

Charging the brew and foam management

Jeremy mentions the optional tea bag where you can load Craft Blend and castings for easy removal, but chooses to brew unbagged today as most home growers would. He pours 1/3 cup of Supercar into the bubbling water (approximating by using a half-cup measure and pouring a little less), then sprinkles the worm castings in. He explains foam from Supercar does not represent life, that the sweet sugar odor should be mostly consumed by the biology by the time the tea is done, and that one drop of neem oil or olive oil can kill problem foam.

1. 1. Optional: load Craft Blend and castings into a tea bag for easy removal
2. 2. Pour 1/3 cup of sugar source (Supercar by Blue Gold) into the bubbling water
3. 3. Sprinkle the 1.5 cups of worm castings into the water
4. 4. Stir/clean the spoon in the brew
5. 5. If foam becomes a problem add a single drop of neem oil or olive oil to knock it down
6. 6. Leave to brew for 24 hours aerated at ambient grow-room temperature

14:20 — 17:50

Quadrant walk — Earth Boxes

Jeremy walks into quadrant one and shows the Earth Boxes, which have blown up since the last episode. The one he's watered twice has the 3.0 soil (slightly less soil but fresh, wicking water fast). The recycled-soil box with cover crop has only been watered once. He points out a calcium-looking issue on the side of one plant by the fan, explains the plants are getting hungry and overgrown, and notes the feeder roots and worm castings visible at the top. He expects stretch to pull the plants through a full reservoir every day for the first two weeks of flower.

17:50 — 20:20

Quadrant four — peppers, lettuce, kale and paper pots

Quadrant four is returning to its original use now that the seedling racks are being cleared out — peppers are almost ready to go to the greenhouse and basil is running in a paper pot system. Jeremy announces Timber Grow Lights is donating a Cypress 4 which he'll deconstruct and rail-mount across the rack to restart seedlings. He shows the lettuce coming back bigger than ever after an aggressive thin, acknowledges the kale has been neglected, and connects his absence to BuildASoil doubling business Feb–March on top of already tripling forecasts.

20:20 — 22:30

3-gallon tomatoes — blossom end rot diagnosis

Jeremy pulls off two struggling full-size tomatoes and explains blossom end rot (bottom end rot): the bottom of the tomato turns dark brown because of inadequate, inconsistent watering and/or nutrient shortfall — in a 3-gallon container it is almost always from under/over watering, not nutrition. He top-dresses Craft Blend and castings, commits to more consistent watering, and acknowledges he may add a drip system so weekends don't tank the watering routine. Cherry tomatoes almost never suffer this; peppers are more forgiving than tomatoes.

1. 1. Remove damaged tomatoes showing blossom end rot
2. 2. Top-dress Craft Blend and fresh worm castings into the 3-gallon
3. 3. Commit to a consistent watering schedule
4. 4. Escalate to a drip irrigation system if inconsistency continues over weekends
5. 5. Defoliate oversized older leaves that have lost their luster

22:30 — 27:30

Quadrant two — building the PVC trellis screen

Jeremy discusses running the same genetics in a connected 3x3 bed: he has Halitosis and Branson's Royal Revenge together, with Halitosis vegging much faster. He demonstrates the BuildASoil PVC trellis kit — pre-cut lengths of PVC and green corner connectors snap in to form a flat scrog screen just over a foot above the soil. He stacks a second identical layer to plan for a taller support later, shows how plants will grow through the screen, and demonstrates how plastic trellis netting can be zip-tied to the PVC frame so you can bend plants to grow width-wise instead of straight up. He notes wire clippers can trim PVC to size, and emphasizes that supported plants put out bigger fruit because they 'know' they won't break themselves.

1. 1. Pre-cut BuildASoil PVC lengths to just over a foot (a little taller for taller plants)
2. 2. Clean all PVC pieces with soap and water between rounds
3. 3. Snap four green corner connectors onto the base corners of the 3x3 bed
4. 4. Insert four vertical PVC legs into the corners
5. 5. Add a second set of corners and horizontal bars to make a flat top frame
6. 6. Optional: attach a plastic trellis net with zip ties to guide plant width-wise
7. 7. Optional: bend individual branches to grow through back holes to spread canopy

27:30 — 29:45

Problem plant — overwatered Branson's Royal Revenge

Jeremy is transparent about a struggling plant — the back Branson's Royal Revenge he overwatered. Soil tests look phenomenal but stunted growth, pale color, lime-green new growth and reduced bushiness linger. He notes if he were at home he might cull and run 3 plants to keep the canopy even. He confirms the plant is rebounding as it dries out but he cannot wait — he needs to flip to flower, will slow the raging Halitosis with defoliation, and may build another screen or stake bamboo poles to support the Branson's buds.

29:45 — 31:30

10-gallon containers — top-dress plan before flower

In the 10-gallon container quadrant, Jeremy notes more plant than soil — only 7.5 gallons of light recipe soil in a 10-gallon fabric container, the lowest nutrition BuildASoil mix but most balanced. He plans to supercharge them like the Earth Boxes by pulling back the mulch, adding Craft Blend and worm castings into the feeder-root zone, and watering in the brewing tea the next day alongside a defoliation. The 3.0 soil container is 'following suit' and will get the same treatment.

1. 1. Pull back top mulch to expose the feeder-root zone
2. 2. Sprinkle Craft Blend across the top layer
3. 3. Add fresh worm castings on top
4. 4. Lightly work into the mulch so it contacts feeder roots
5. 5. Water in with the brewing compost tea the following day
6. 6. Defoliate the same day to pair with the feed

31:30 — 34:48

Cloning plan and flower flip preview

Jeremy closes with the observation that slower veggers often become the best flowers — he's been burned before throwing away a mom and later realizing it was the keeper. He announces he'll take clones from each plant during tomorrow's defoliation, label them by parent, and evaluate the finished flower before keeping the winner as the BuildASoil cut. Next episode: defoliate, train, top dress, water in tea, then give 24–48 hours of hang time before flipping the timers to 12/12. He warns that with organics if you get behind, mistakes compound because you can't flush and refeed like in hydro, closing on the value of viewer feedback.

1. 1. During next episode's cleanup, select healthy branches to take as cuttings
2. 2. Root the cuttings as clones
3. 3. Label each clone with its parent plant identifier
4. 4. After harvest and cure, identify the best-smoking plant
5. 5. Retain only the clone of the winning parent as the BuildASoil cut
6. 6. After defoliating/training/top-dressing/tea, wait 24–48 hours of hang time
7. 7. Flip timers to 12 hours of light via app or hardware timer to start flower