Compost Tea is Brewing!

[Charlie]

Sittin' here watching my first ever batch of compost tea bubbling in the bucket. Yeah, doesn't take much to entertain me. :-)

Have it going in the office/garage where it is warm...I am thinking (hoping) it should smell pretty OK.

Followed recommendations from this site...

did the recipe with rainwater (compliments of the water harvesting tank that is full), scoop of compost, two TBSP molasses, 1 cup cornmeal, 2 TBSP unpastuerized vinegar, a big shot of organic Kikkoman's soy, and a huge triple handful of chopped fresh dandelions and alfalfa. More is better, right?

Dug out an old air pump from my aquarium days and rigged it for four bubble stones and have the brew simmering.

I'm looking now at the recipe for brewing with canned mackeral.

Giddyup, microbial herd!

[cat daddy]

Cool. The alchemy is what makes it fun......... I'm getting ready to feed my potted tomatoes with some Spring Mix salad that's wilted in the fridge, a couple of overripe bananas, and some expired Odwalla Superfood juice........ Blended, not stirred...

[Jangchub]

That's great, Charlie! The tea should smell like fresh air, not smelly. I made my brewer using a 10 gallon bucket and to the bottom of it I used plastic coax cable grips, which I glued with marine glue in a concentric circle. Then I plugged one end of 1/4 inch drip tubing and left enough tubing to get it up to the top where I had a "T" connector and to that I connected two fish tank air pumps. Did I describe that well? The more air you can provide, the better quality of the tea. You want all aerobic organisms. You will be amazed at the results you get using this tea. You must use it within 36 hours. If you don't, you will be growing anerobic organisms, air and all.

Report please...

[Charlie]

Hey V....

I was just getting on to reply to catdaddy and ask about the "shelf-life" and lo and behold, you read my mind! Thanks.

I understand exactly what you did and I'll do that after this batch. Thanks again. Yeah, I found the four stones wanted to float, so I twistie-tied them to two short bamboo canes and forced them under.....works, but your idea is perfect. I'm using a double outlet pump designed for 60-90 gal tanks and the water is really roiling.

OK......until I get this all zenned and it becomes as easy as cooking....how long do you brew? I read 1-3 days...or longer, after which you should feed it some molasses again? After 24 hours, I've nice earthy yummy smell and a really nice head, which I assume means things are still actively working. I'm giving it a stir every so often just for good measure.

2nd question, and I hope catdaddy is reading too and will reply, how often, how much, etc do you guys apply? I've read varying things.

One thing I read that blows me away, plus my sons who are getting into this like gangbusters, is the claim that five gallons of brew is the biological/bacterial/fungal equivalent of 10 tons, or 40 cu yds of compost !!!???!???!!

Can you over-apply this elixir?

Younger son just planted twenty four honeysuckles on a fence he built and is going to run a control test on them. BTW, he planted a variety of red/pink h'suckle that is a ten foot model and not as invasive as the japanese variety.

Thanks, I'll likely have more questions :-) Charlie

[Charlie]

My post to jangchub is directed to you as well. Thanks for the initial reference and inspiration.....this sounds so promising.

Alchemy Indeed!!

Care Charlie

[Bill]

Did you say Alchemy?

John Todd wrote the forward to Gaia's Garden.

Aging hippie Bill :))

John Todd was instrumental in fostering "The New Alchemy Institute".

......... Crank it up

Darkness, Darkness 3:49 Jesse Colin Young

[Charlie]

Heh heh....Mona brought me home a t-shirt last week emblazoned with "The Hippies Were Right"... one of me favorites now.

Oh my...thanks for the remembering. i now remember John and New Alchemy in TMEN many moons ago.

Damn Bill, you never fail to stimulate my mind. It needs it. Thanks.

Charlie, watching the brew bucket bubble with Winamp playing - Rick Wakeman - "Aspirant Sunrise" - 1991

[Jangchub]

Eh, I brew for a day or two and use it immediately. I water my containers of Brugmansia's and Datura's because containers don't get the same organic matter it can get planted directly in soil. The rest, I strain through several thicknesses of cheese cloth and add a quart to a two gallon sprayer and foliar feed everything. There are some insects (I find) which don't like the microbial activity. Whitefly is one I can think of off the bat.

Nope. You don't really have to fuss all about the alchemy either. I just pour black strap molasses (not de-sulfured) and I just count to five...however much that is. I put about a quart of good compost and rainwater into the bucket. They say in one teaspoon of compost there are more microbes than every living mammal on the earth. Tens of billions.

I can't but enjoy your enthusiastic perseverance.

[Charlie]

I hoped that the container stuff liked it well. I do a lot of peppers, cherry tomatoes, and lettuces in pots, as well as ornamentals. Takes a lot of nutrition in a pot. I've done well with containers, perhaps this will take it to another level.

Gotcha.

Heh heh..that is my typical method....obsess on something and overdo it and micro-whatever it to death, until I've grokked it and moved beyond the mechanics and into the mystery.

:-) Thanks. And as long as we are at it, back atchya, in your approach to life given your circumstance. I also appreciate your knowledge that you share.

I understand what Samuel Beckett meant with this, though I but little understand Beckett.........

"Where I am, I don't know, I'll never know, in the silence you don't know, you must go on, I can't go on, I'll go on."

Thank you Charlie

[Jangchub]

The reality of life is that we are all going to die when our morality karma runs out. I think the key to it all is to use what we have regardless what it is to benefit others. I love my life. What did they say in Dead Poet's Society, "Suck the marrow out of life."

Every day I learn to change my mind. All we have is mind, nothing else has a dependant nature on its own.

I've said for years, when I am too sick to go out and garden, buy me a dolly and wheel me out laying down and I'll still garden. Frida had them carry her bed to her gallery opening.

Enjoy every minute.

[cat daddy]

>>

Hey Charlie..... Three days is about max for me. If you have to let it go longer, then put in some molasses or it'll start to turn, even with the bubblers.

Yummy smell is good... When the foam turns to larger, long-lasting bubbles, then I think it's ready. When I used to put the compost in pantyhose, the liquid would have a thin syrupy consistency. But, I changed to just throwing it all in, stirring and using it as a drench.

Based on nothing, I'd make a batch of six 5-gallon buckets at a time, and dilute to 50/50 to drench. It would take three batches to do all my flowerbeds. And I'd do it again in about three weeks. I did foliar spray at first, but gave it up to just splashing it around and making more.

[Father Haskell]

Current favorite recipe -- Per each gallon dechlorinated tapwater:

1 handful homegrown castings 1 tbsp molasses 1 tbsp liquid kelp

all measurements approximate

Using in between feedings with mix of 1 part each Alaska

5-1-1 and 0-10-10. I doubt there's any nutrient I've missed with this combination. Results are immediate, with deficient plants turning almost neon-green overnight, but no evidence of N overdose.

[Charlie]

I'm there then, actually I drew of couple quarts last night for potting mix and tomatoes.

Yep. I just tossed in bucket too. Stopping by the feed store today for dried molasses and alfalfa meal.

Ok, this is looking gooder and gooder and easier and easier. Quick and dirty. I'll progress out of the overdo it stage now.

Thanks again. Charlie

[Charlie]

I use Alaska 5-1-1 and love it and will do as you do now. Thanks.

Going to see if I can find Liq. Kelp in town whilst I am on a plant and feed spree today.

I'm also turning my attention to the vermiculture thing now. Been seeing more and more reference to it.

Charlie