Greetings-thanks for the comment/question about the compost tea. Sorry for the delayed response, my fingers fell off and I was waiting for them to grow back. The whole process is rather simple, and based on my results from my two batches, very beneficial for all plants and more importantly, the soil. The idea is to feed, enliven, and extract all of the microscopic "good stuff" (not the official scientific term) from the compost.
It is really quite a simple concept: soak high quality finished compost in water with aeration for 24-72 hrs, strain, dilute, apply to soil. There are some basic principles about that must be followed. First, you must use high quality finished compost. Second, no chlorinated water (tap or hose) because chlorine will kill all of the microbes you are trying to extract. Rainwater is ideal. You must keep the tea aerated, which is achieved with an aquarium air pump/hose/airstone setup-they are relatively cheap and will last forever. Lastly, you must provide some food for the microbes-a few tablespoons of organic molasses works well. There is some debate over this last technique, but I agree with it and it served me well. By far the most controversial trick is that you must wear a homemade aluminum foil helmet while brewing the tea. Just kidding.
There are brewing kits you can buy online, especially if you want to make large batches, but I think this is not necessary. My technique consisted of filling a 5 gallon bucket one third full with compost, adding my water, molasses, and airstone, brewing for 48 hrs, straining(returning compost to pile), diluting 50 percent , then adding to plants. If you did decide you needed larger batches, there are many diy plans online for larger set-ups but the fundamentals are the same.
I definitely recommend using compost tea. Your plants and soil will thank you. I hope this helped.
Peter
I love your photographs of bees and flowers. Are these all from your yard or from various garden travels?
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Gender
Female
Location
Mesa, AZ
Birthday:
October 10
Age:
56
About Me:
I currently give salve classes, medicine making classes and lead Medicinal Plant walks in our great Sonoran Desert. Teaching students how to identify, harvest and use medicinal plant medicine.
earthwisdomsite.com for Medicinal Plant walks
"Hi, thanks for you comments. This are pictures that I have taken over the last couple of weeks from various gardens in our lovely valley. The flowers with the bees were taken at the naturalpathic college in Tempe."
Comments
It is really quite a simple concept: soak high quality finished compost in water with aeration for 24-72 hrs, strain, dilute, apply to soil. There are some basic principles about that must be followed. First, you must use high quality finished compost. Second, no chlorinated water (tap or hose) because chlorine will kill all of the microbes you are trying to extract. Rainwater is ideal. You must keep the tea aerated, which is achieved with an aquarium air pump/hose/airstone setup-they are relatively cheap and will last forever. Lastly, you must provide some food for the microbes-a few tablespoons of organic molasses works well. There is some debate over this last technique, but I agree with it and it served me well. By far the most controversial trick is that you must wear a homemade aluminum foil helmet while brewing the tea. Just kidding.
There are brewing kits you can buy online, especially if you want to make large batches, but I think this is not necessary. My technique consisted of filling a 5 gallon bucket one third full with compost, adding my water, molasses, and airstone, brewing for 48 hrs, straining(returning compost to pile), diluting 50 percent , then adding to plants. If you did decide you needed larger batches, there are many diy plans online for larger set-ups but the fundamentals are the same.
I definitely recommend using compost tea. Your plants and soil will thank you. I hope this helped.
Peter