Compost Tea/Brewing

[amideutch]

Would like to hear your experiences in making, use, results and recommendations. I plan on buying a brewer or making one in the very near future. Ami

[mdvpc]

Ami-I brew compost tea-no reason to buy one of those fancy brewers. Here is a link to how I got started:

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00030.asp

[Sherry_AK]

I brew tea all summer long. I use a plastic 5-gallon bucket. I put a generous shovelful of finished compost in the bucket (maybe filling the bucket 1/4 full), add a double handful of rabbit pellets, a couple glugs of liquid molasses, and fill it up with water. To keep the temp consistently warm, I set it up in the greenhouse. I use an aquarium/pond aerator with an air stone attached and let it cook for about 48 hours.

[feldon30]

Just don't forget one of these:

[amideutch]

mdvpc, Good stuff! I think I will build one myself also. I've done quite abit of research on the web and will post some more links.

Sherry, is that an aquarium heater you have in your brew container? If it is that's a good Idea. Do you use your tea as a soil drench or folier spray? Ami

[Sherry_AK]

Ami, yes it is an aquarium heater. Unfortunately, I broke it when I stirred up the tea and I never replaced it. I do think it's a good idea though. I generally use the tea as a soil drench, but I do sometimes put it in a sprinkler can and drench the foliage as well. It needs to be strained quite well in order to use it in an actual sprayer. Oh, and I dilute the brewed tea about 5 parts water to 1 part tea before I use it.

[velikipop]

Hi All,

This is my first time making compost tea. I followed the instructions that mvdcp recommends. However, my tea has a lot of little white worms floating on top.

Does anyone know what these might be and if they are something that I should be concerned with? Thanks.

Alex

[mdvpc]

Alex-I would start over. I use a micronized compost so I have never used my own compost. Hopefully someone else will post on this thread-but white worms dont sound good to me.

[velikipop]

Michael,

Not sure what to make of them. I read a couple articles that suggest that they might not be serious. Red worms are good apparently. I'm hoping someone with more experience can give me some advice. They are definately not maggots.

Alex

[mresseguie]

Alex,

I'll take a stab at those white things.

Perhaps most common in compost piles are black soldier fly larvae. These are voracious consumers of compost. They help break the compost down. The larvae are about 15-20 cm long, and flattened. Often they are white to dirty white.

Their presence is not a problem. It's just not esthetically pleasing.

These larvae are ~30% protein, so they make excellent chicken feed.

There's no gaurantee that's what are floating in your tea. There are other bugs that like compost. Can you give a better description?

I've got a link to composting through OSU's Extension service. I just took the compost specialist class. This means I know just enough to make a fool of myself when someone asks a question. LOL!

Hmmm. Where is that link????

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lan...CompostTea.pdf

and plans for making a 25 gallon compost tea brewer:

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lan...erplans_2_.pdf

I have had (and used) a 25 gallon compost tea brewer for two years now. I got it in a clearance sale at half-price. I have always used worm castings mixed with other items to brew my teas. I use the tea both as a soil drench and a foliar spray. I really like it, but I don't really need such a large one, so I give gallons away to friends and neighbors. [That must really irritate the retailers who charge $5.99 per gallon.] I figured out that my cost is down to 25 cents per gallon or so.

I like adding different ingredients to tailor my teas to specific kinds of plants. I have some bat guano that has no N, but is high in P. It dissolves in the tea. That's great for my tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and squash/melons.
I can add fish emulsion instead as a soil drench for greens and corn. I almost always add liquified seaweed.

Hmmm. I'm reminded that I still have to pull out my brewer to clean it up. Oh, boy.

Good luck!!

Michael
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are some more links:

http://compost.css.cornell.edu/Composting_homepage.html

http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/ed...w/compost.html

http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/ed...47/EC1247.html

For a link in Spanish go to Oregon DEQ that has a link for a composting manual in Spanish language:

http://www.deq.state.or.us/wmc/solwaste/composting.html

[honu]

I made a simple tea brewer with a 5 gal bucket and aquarium pump and hose, using worm castings w/ added oat flour in a paint strainer bag, and brewed w/ molasses, following these instructions:
http://dchall.home.texas.net/organic...DFs/brewer.pdf

[biermaster]

Started making it as a folar then made bigger batchs and are now up to 8 gallons at a time. I start it on thurday, spray as a folar feed on saturday and then a soil drench on sunday. I have added just about every thing in a brew bag, alfalfa pelets, Kudu pellets, compost, seweed, bat guano, sea bird guano. I make up a gallon batch of Garrett juice for the spray and then use the rest is a drench. plants love it.

[garnetmoth]

small white worms that are bigger than eyelashes are most likely potworms. not a problem.

my soil just seems to work better with regular applications of compost tea. I dont buy molasses either, whatver honey or sorghum syrup is getting old, goes into the bucket!

i use a toille baggy I made, vermicompost, rainwater, and an aquarium bubbler with 3 heads.

[amideutch]

Here is a link to the "acresusa" website with some reprints of articles from previous issues of their monthly magazine. A couple on compost tea and some others as well. Ami
http://www.acresusa.com/toolbox/articles.htm

Michael, you have a PM.

[amideutch]

Put in my order today to T&J Enterprises for there Yucca extract and their Tea refill kit. I'm going to make my own brewer as it looks pretty straight forward and I have everything I need already. They have a movie on the site thats takes you through the brewing of the tea and applying it to your plants. Good stuff. So I will post my results as they come in. Ami