Brew Your Own Compost Tea
What is compost tea?
Compost tea is water that compost has been steeped in. As a result of soaking, the water becomes infused with the compost’s nutrients and microorganisms. Microorganisms includes healthy things for your soil like bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and micro arthropods.
What are the benefits of using compost tea in growing plants?
Compost tea is like food for plants. By adding microorganisms to your soil you create a healthy ecosystem in your soil, and healthy soil equals healthy plants. Finally, by improving plant and soil health your plants naturally become more pest and disease resistant. Other benefits of use are:
Improved water retention capacity of soil; which reduces the need for frequent watering
Improved soil structure; the biological components in a soil are what create its structure. For good soil structure, all organism groups in the food web — bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and micro arthropods — need to be present. By using tea you are adding these microbes
Stimulated plant root growth; deeper roots retain moisture better and help reduce runoff
How do I make compost tea?
Glad you asked! The recipe is embedded below. If you don't have all the supplies listed you can click the supplies to be directed to our recommended products on Amazon.com.
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Baldridge Farm Compost Tea Recipe
(yields 25 gallons of compost tea or five buckets at 5 gallons each)
Natural Farming Inputs for COMPOST TEA
The ingredients for the tea include three Natural Farming Inputs. Click the products below to learn what natural products they consist of, how they are produced, and their individual benefits.
INPUT RATIOS TO H20
TOOLS NEEDED (click the product to view product on Amazon.com)
DIRECTIONS
Fill your rain barrel with 25 gallons of water (Equivalent to 5, 5-gallon buckets)
Drop the air pump into the rain barrell and leave it overnight so that the air pump can aerate and gas off chlorine.
Fill up your tea bag or paint strainer with 1lb of IMO 4.
Put one air stone in tea bag/paint strainer with soil and ziptie the soil closed.
After water has gassed off the chlorine, ADD ratios of FPJ, OHN, VIN/BRV at ratios of:
25gal x 4liters = 100 liters water;
FPJ= 200ml @ 25gal x 4liters = 100 liters water;
OHN = 100ml @ 25gal x 4liters = 100 liters water; VIN/BRV =200ml
1 liter water to 1 gram sea salt - 100grams salt
6. Aerate Compost Tea for 36hrs before applying it as a foliar spray or soil drench