Compost Tea w/ Howard Garrett

Dirt Doctor elaborates on compost tea and how to make it @ home. For more information, check out Howard's website on the subject of compost tea: http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=152

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Organic
• Gardening
• DirtDoctor
• compost
• tea
• cotton
• bur
• earthworm
• castings
• molasses
• fish
• emulsion
• liquid
• seaweed
• foliage

[TheDirtDoctor]

The scraps can stay at room temp or in the garage. Once partially broken down, you can add to the compost pile without attracting animals and finish the process. Buying worms is usually unnecessary - just build and manage the compost pile and the worms will show up.

[TheDirtDoctor]

Any sugar will work but molasses is the best choice.

[Hectorsgarden1]

Can i use this compost tea on my veggie garden as well or just for flowers and grass?

[TheDirtDoctor]

@Hectorsgarden1 Yes, but adding seaweed, apple cider vinegar and molasses to it to make Garrett Juice is even better.

[stevelau1933]

How much compost and molasses would I need for a 55 gallon barrel? Do I need like 2 gallons of compost and like a qt of molasses to make it effective?

I have a huge garden and want to get some bigger harvests with immediate results next year.

[TheDirtDoctor]

@stevelau1933 Use a couple of 5 gallon buckets of quality compost and 1 cup of liquid molasses at least. Add a cup of liquid seaweed, a cup of vinegar and a cup liquid fish to make Garrett Juice and have even better results. These are minimum amounts. You could as much as double the compost and go up to 1 quart of the other ingredients in a 55 gallon barrel.

[nowwatchmework2011]

After making the tea how long can you store it if your not going to use it right away, and is there any certain way to store it if you can

[xialong123]

@Ryanventura oh yeahh? its winter i didnt make a compost pile this summer and i need compost what do i do? buy it.

[63viet]

how offend do you use the tea and can you add sugar instead of molasses?

[Ryanventura]

SO RETARDED to buy compost. Why do you put bought compost in videos?

[deanphilpot]

I added a kambucha scoby to the tea. It really perked it up

[sustainablehuman]

@SaxmanNateEarthsong The rumbling you heard was methane. Anaerobic bacteria are methagenic. That is, they produce methane as a by-product of cellulose digestion. You can make compost tea anaerobically, but it can smell very bad. If you build a biodigester, you can use the methane for cooking, and the slurry will be nutrient rich.

[SaxmanNateEarthsong]

I remember my dad making some in the yard and didn't use an areator and just left it in the sun and shut the lid. then left in the hot texas sun for like a month. I hear a rumbling a month later.........

[SpikenAL]

is it OK to add the Cornmeal to the Compost Tea and to the Garrett Juice Formula ?

[OrganicTexas]

@000Winter000 I think you can add the molasses immediately or during the brew cycle after you remove the compost bag from the bucket.