How to make your own compost tea

Learn to make your own liquid plant fertiliser. This is not a tea to drink yourself but a solution to help grow healthy and huge plants. Using easily found "íngrediants" I will show you how to make your best brew!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• green urban living
• janet luke
• compost
• liquid fertiliser
• plants
• vegetables
• organic
• sustainable
• gardening
• Zealand
• permaculture

[greenurbanliving]

i would not put any weeds with bulbs , such as oxalis in the compost, anything else is fine

[stymye]

are we still living in the steam age ?

[envisionlawns]

This is very useful infomation, I am in the lawncare business is compost tea go for lawns. Is there a easy way to kill weeds in the lawn is there a tea for that?

[ArizonaAdventures]

take a look at my compost tea video where I show oyu how to use a soaker hose instead of those air stones that always clog up :)

[GrassRoutesCommunity]

@gleoleb With a lid on in the shade after it has been brewed to your satisfaction. Concentrating will kill some bacteria but its not really about bacteria. Plants cant eat them really, so its nutrients and trace elements that you should be concerned with. And a good compost tea has ample of both. Once concentrated it makes it easier to apply (find a ratio that works for your garden).I think people are to hung up on"good bacteria" arguement. Plants dont metabolise bacteria. Hope it helps

[gleoleb]

@GrassRoutesCommunity Thank you for the very quick response. You said, "Compost tea will store for a few months" - that sounds good - if I wish to store it - would I store it in an open container? Sealed container? Continued aeration? Maybe room temperature? (not hot?) I like your thoughts on boiling the solution to make a concentrate, however realize that if I do so - I would be killing off the natural "good" bacteria.

[GrassRoutesCommunity]

@gleoleb If you are to use it in Hydroponic growing you first need to ensure you DO use an airation compost tea "bubbler" as it could present pathogens into your growing set up if you use it in the manner shown in the video...not cool. Compost tea will store for a few months but have found it better to boil down (gas cooker/40gal metal drum) and concentrate the brew then bottle for later dilution and application. Just like a liquid feed you would find in your local garden store.

[gleoleb]

In all the Compost tea discussions I find no mention of storing the tea. I wonder how long does it keep? Does one store it covered or uncovered and open to the air? Can one use compost tea in a hydroponic system? Will it keep? Many thanks to anyone who knows the answers to this.

[GrassRoutesCommunity]

@Ryanventura >>>So you just take that, you make a tea out of it and spray it on whatever you want that you want to have that resistance.” Argue with thee experts. The ORIGINAL Compost Tea was a Burlap sack and Manure or compostable green matter which was steeped in a 50gal barrel for 3-5 days...no stirring no bubblers. Compost Tea = compost in tea form. No denying an oxygenated brew is potentailly better(depending on ingredients of course)but I firmly believ the old way is easier.

[GrassRoutesCommunity]

@Ryanventura >>>pathogens. 2006 Michelle Locke Modesto Bee (California) (Sept. 9) “A Spritz of Sunscreen”: The compost teas are part of an approach known as biodynamics, a type of farming that bans use of artificial pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, and promotes crop and wildlife diversity to curb pests.The theory is that if a plant is resistant to problems such as drought or insects “there’s something in that plant that causes that resistance.>>>

[GrassRoutesCommunity]

@Ryanventura >>>2002 Deborah Rich San Francisco Chronicle (California) (July 20) “Feeding plants compost tea” p. HO-3: Spraying compost tea coats plants with a dense and diverse population of beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. A good tea can contain as many as 25,000 species of bacteria. Once on the leaves, compost tea suppresses diseases in several ways, including crowding out unbeneficial microorganisms, causing antibiotic reactions against diseases and consuming>