Compost Tea/Brewing - Page 4

feldon30 · June 14, 2009

I guess for a small quantity, a 5 gallon bucket and an air bubbler from an aquarium supply store could get you started. Depends on the size of your garden. It's something I've never done, but considered it.

Amigatec · June 14, 2009

People can get real religious over tea brewing, but the system I use I believe to be the best way to go. I changed my recipe for the ;ast batch and I think it was better, it had a better head on it.

hasshoes · June 15, 2009

There is a garden store that brews their own weekly.

What kind of questions should I ask to make sure I'm getting good stuff. . . or is it pretty much always harmless?

Thanks again. :0)

dice · June 15, 2009

I think it is a "try it and see" thing. "Pretty much always
harmless", no. People have used it for foliar disease control,
with mixed results.

Plants I sprayed with it last year did not do so well. A fair
amount of the sprayed leaves turned necrotic and died. It
did not kill any of the plants, but it did not seem to help,
either.

Where I used it for a soil drench, on the other hand, those plants
took off, put on a nice growth spurt over the next week, and
basically thrived for the rest of the summer.

(I used compost from a compost pile, plus a handful of kelp
meal, a handful of shredded alfalfa, a couple of handfuls of
earthworm castings, half a cup of molasses, and a splash of
liquid humic acid in an aerated 5-gallon bucket filled up
most of the way with water, aerated for 2-3 days before
use. You really only need the compost and molasses to create
the bacterial population explosion, but since I had the other
stuff, and each is good on its own for a plant food tea, "What
the heck, throw some of this in, too.")

This year I changed the routine and used compost, snipped up
green willow shoots, and a mix of molasses, sorghum syrup,
and rice syrup for the sugar sources, and I gave each plant a
quart or so. The effect was not as dramatic as last year's mix,
but a Vodar plant that had just been sitting there, looking
wimpy, greened up and started growing, so I guess the essential
benefits were still there.

June 14, 2009	#46
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	I guess for a small quantity, a 5 gallon bucket and an air bubbler from an aquarium supply store could get you started. Depends on the size of your garden. It's something I've never done, but considered it. __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]

June 15, 2009	#48
hasshoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: MT Posts: 438	There is a garden store that brews their own weekly. What kind of questions should I ask to make sure I'm getting good stuff. . . or is it pretty much always harmless? Thanks again. :0) __________________ Sara

June 15, 2009	#49
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	I think it is a "try it and see" thing. "Pretty much always harmless", no. People have used it for foliar disease control, with mixed results. Plants I sprayed with it last year did not do so well. A fair amount of the sprayed leaves turned necrotic and died. It did not kill any of the plants, but it did not seem to help, either. Where I used it for a soil drench, on the other hand, those plants took off, put on a nice growth spurt over the next week, and basically thrived for the rest of the summer. (I used compost from a compost pile, plus a handful of kelp meal, a handful of shredded alfalfa, a couple of handfuls of earthworm castings, half a cup of molasses, and a splash of liquid humic acid in an aerated 5-gallon bucket filled up most of the way with water, aerated for 2-3 days before use. You really only need the compost and molasses to create the bacterial population explosion, but since I had the other stuff, and each is good on its own for a plant food tea, "What the heck, throw some of this in, too.") This year I changed the routine and used compost, snipped up green willow shoots, and a mix of molasses, sorghum syrup, and rice syrup for the sugar sources, and I gave each plant a quart or so. The effect was not as dramatic as last year's mix, but a Vodar plant that had just been sitting there, looking wimpy, greened up and started growing, so I guess the essential benefits were still there. __________________ -- alias

June 14, 2009	#47
Amigatec Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 208	People can get real religious over tea brewing, but the system I use I believe to be the best way to go. I changed my recipe for the ;ast batch and I think it was better, it had a better head on it.