A Basic Compost Tea Guide

[Clackamas Coot]

OrganicManic

The compost used and sold by Earth Fortification in Corvallis (they're associated to some degree with the Soil Food Web organization) is made using fir chips. The addition of fir chips specifically helps and facilitates a larger fungai herd. According to them it's better than pine chips.

The aerated compost teas that they prepare in their commercial 500-gallon brewer has extremely high microbe levels. The last time I was in there picking up some of their compost they were telling be about a new product that they're testing. It's composted paper and wood products that are first fermented with various strains of lacto bacillus and then the muck is run through a regular composting process. Their initial trials indicated that the microbe levels were 'off the chart' to use their verbiage. They plan to have it available once their field testing is completed by mid-summer.

They also sell the humus from Alaska sold under the brand name of 'Denali Gold' available in 50-lb. sacks for about $25.00 - whether or not it's worth the cost is probably one's personal experience with it.

I'm not familiar with the addition of sawdust and I guess I'm somewhat confused on why one would want that item when composting correctly. To each their own I guess.

CC

 

[maryjohn]

No method was used. It hasn't been tested. I asked whether doing it with litmus paper, which is a color indicator, would be affected by the color of the run off water.

you need pH paper, not litmus paper. Litmus just turns one color. You just dip and read. It should work fine.

To find out real info about acid rain in the USA, try this interactive map

 

[Bass Akwards]

Quite right ...

Quite right ...

you need pH paper, not litmus paper. Litmus just turns one color. You just dip and read. It should work fine.

Quite right ... blue/red=litmus ... PH paper is what I meant. Multicolored scale. Used to get them at the Pharmacy ... ( part of a diabetic maintenance regimen? )

To find out real info about acid rain in the USA, try this interactive map

Thanks for posting that.

 

[maryjohn]

you'll find that decent pH paper (that reads fractions and not just whole numbers) is limited in range, and kind of expensive. I was shocked when I got some to measure the pH of my EM brew.

 

[OrganicManic]

You've never heard of mixing sawdust and manure. Are we talking about compost tea's or compost piles now?
Anyway i have started and have been reading about composting.
I'm not saying the finished product would be bad. I suppose i should have said that sawdust is acidic and thus if you added too much to your compost pile the leftover wood that did not break down could cause a ph change on some level.

I never said anything about microbe levels either.

 

[maryjohn]

if you compost and there is "left over wood" it isn't ready. That's why many people don't compost things that take a long time to break down.

 

[OrganicManic]

I understand that. It can also be beneficial for you to have pieces of organic matter left in your finished compost. They give the microbial life a longer lasting source of food. Of course i am speaking for an outside garden. Not so much a container plant.

 

[40AmpstoFreedom]

Seedlings less than 1 month old nutrient tea mix-
5 TBS. Black Strap Molasses
1-cup earthworm castings/5 gallons of water every 3rd watering

Do you dilute this or feed it straight up?

 

[rasputin]

Do you dilute this or feed it straight up?

It's my understanding you don't dilute compost teas with water, at least that's what I have read and heard. The dilution occurs in the amount of area you use the tea on, so 5 gals of tea will be stronger when fed to 10 1 gal pots than it would if fed to 5 10 gal pots.

So when a recipe calls for X amount of water you use that with the necessary food at their own amounts as stated. That finished tea is fed to the plants as is, or straight up.

 

[jaykush]

im all for making as much as you need at once. so your always use fresh CT on your plants, but if you need more its ok to dilute it ( as long as its clean and no chlorine of course). you will just be spreading the microbes farther, simple as that. if your compost is rich and your brewer does its job you should have more than enough microorganisms in your tea. there's nothing wrong with turning 1 gallon of tea into 5 with some extra(fresh) water. specially if your going to use it as a foliar spray.

btw... you shouldn't even be feeding seedlings until they are at least a few weeks old.

 

[somebody041]

It's my understanding you don't dilute compost teas with water, at least that's what I have read and heard. The dilution occurs in the amount of area you use the tea on, so 5 gals of tea will be stronger when fed to 10 1 gal pots than it would if fed to 5 10 gal pots.

So when a recipe calls for X amount of water you use that with the necessary food at their own amounts as stated. That finished tea is fed to the plants as is, or straight up.

hey man, i believe you can dilute compost teas as long as you know you will be and take into account to add the extra amount of ingredients.

i asked burn1 about this a few pages back and he confirmed.

 

[rasputin]

hey man, i believe you can dilute compost teas as long as you know you will be and take into account to add the extra amount of ingredients.

i asked burn1 about this a few pages back and he confirmed.

I hear ya but if you add more ingredients, you're not diluting it. You're just making a bigger batch. Instead of say 5 gals, you're making enough for 10. Diluting it would be making 5 gals, with the specified amounts for a 5 gal tea, and then cutting it with 5-10 more gallons of plain water to cover your feeding needs. It's a smaller % of food per volume you stretch out amongst the given area.

 

[somebody041]

I hear ya but if you add more ingredients, you're not diluting it. You're just making a bigger batch. Instead of say 5 gals, you're making enough for 10. Diluting it would be making 5 gals, with the specified amounts for a 5 gal tea, and then cutting it with 5-10 more gallons of plain water to cover your feeding needs. It's a smaller % of food per volume you stretch out amongst the given area.

my bad, i misunderstood what you were saying. thanks for clarifying!

 

[Congobongo]

Can I use a compost tea made out of guano to help decompose some old rootballs leftover from males? I was reading one of the threads here about root matter in recycled soil and someone suggested EM's. Was wondering if the right microbes were present in the guano tea recipes.

 

[vonforne]

Do you dilute this or feed it straight up?

Straight up. EWC will never harm your plants.

V

 

[vonforne]

Can I use a compost tea made out of guano to help decompose some old rootballs leftover from males? I was reading one of the threads here about root matter in recycled soil and someone suggested EM's. Was wondering if the right microbes were present in the guano tea recipes.

I just use a normal bacterial tea made with EWC and molasses and on occasion some Seaweed extract. That is enough bacteria and things in the EWC to handle it. Along with the proper amount of time of course.

V

 

[Congobongo]

One more quick question about CT's. The leftover biomass in my teabag, can I throw it in my wormbin?

 

[jaykush]

yes

 

[SilverSurfer_OG]

High guys

I have finished bottling a batch of home brew and thought i would make a tea out of the dregs left in the barrel...i chucked in some aquarium water, worm juice, molasses, kelp and some concentrated trace elements. It has frothed super fast and smells very yeast with a ph of 7. Sound good?

 

[cave]

hi eveyone

i was wondering when to start feeding guano tea for flowering outdoors should i start when the first buds start or could i just start anytime i want o make sure i get enough in the soil for the bud