Compost Tea Recipe: How To Brew Your Own Compost Tea

Welcome to The Mad Tea Party. Here we want to hand down this compost tea recipe to you, which will make your garden or yield develop strength and healthiness. It's an ancient potion that mother earth has been applying since she was alive. Don´t worry, you won't be stuck at 6:00 forever as Mad Hatter and the March Hale, you are just going to learn how to brew your own compost tea recipe, how to use this fantastic concoction, and boost compost nutrients.

What is Compost Tea?

Well, as you can see we are still having tea and it's all because it was a special time waiting for your return. You´re terribly late… No, you don´t. You are always on time. If you are here, it is because you are looking for some special way to enhance your garden, soil or yield. And that's a noble purpose we want to support. So, we are showing an easy and affordable compost tea recipe for you to brew at home. It will be a perfect opportunity to deploy your Diy skills under the sun of a frabjous day.

Why Should You Brew it?

Maybe you're a composting connoisseur, or gaining experience into it. Or, maybe you´re just thinking about starting composting at home. If you are the last one, here we provide to you a guide which will nudge you to a joyful beginning into this world.

Door for beginners: Here is the complete Guide on how to Composting at Home

However, this compost tea recipe is general public information. And even one more reason to start composting.

Benefits of Compost Tea

Imagine how wonderful a compost tea is, if the compost is already something that helps plants to flourish. Prepare yourself because this practice borders on alchemy.

Well, not that much but this are the effects we expect from applying tea at the plants, soil or yields:

• Migration of beneficial microorganisms (like fungus and nematodes) which acts like Pacman, eating bad microbes who usually make soil sick.
• Supply of nutrients that boost compost properties.
• Improves water-holding capacity of soil and plants. So they will require less water from you and you are preventing water waste.
• Versatility. You can spray tea over the plants and leaves, while compost only can dress top soil or being spread around roots (never right into them)
• Organic. There is a law “If you can smell it you can eat it”. Chemical fertilizers are really harmful to be smelled. With this compost tea recipe you´ll have an organic fertilizer that doesn't show any risk for anyone, either you or any kind of beneficial living organism, that can be sprayed in the culture.

Let's think of us as nature assistance, because composting or making compost tea is nothing but copying nature's ways of nourishment. This powerful soil and plant supply works when a piece of compost is surged underwater and all the good microorganisms are released and spread in it. Benefits of compost tea come right from that broth. Just as when we get sick and drink tea to recover or feel warm, well, the earth needs the same. That's why we should brew it for her.

Now, go get your saucepan and ladle cause we are brewing. And then, we´ll tell you how to use compost tea.

Step by Step: How To Brew Your Own Compost Tea

There are two compost tea recipes. One of each is without a lot of intervention. And you just need these following ingredients. The other way is the aerated compost tea, for which one you will need an aquarium air pump. But first, let's go see how to brew the first one.

Simple Compost Tea:

- For starting brewing is necessary to get:

1. A five gallon bucket (clean)
2. Mature Compost
3. Water (five gallons) to fill the bucket

If you don't know how to identify a finished compost, check the following article: When is Compost Finished? Become an Expert with these Advices. But if you don't compost yet, you can buy a bag of compost at your nearest store.

How to do it:

1. Fill the bucket with de-chlorinated water
2. Surge one tablespoon of compost. It can be surged into a mesh bag. Or you just put it alone and then, at the final phase, strain the water into a nylon stocking.
3. Let it rest for a few hours or a day (Protected from the sun)
4. Stir it a few times.

And, ready to go. Fill a sprayer or watering can, and rain over the garden, bed flowers or vegetable plot.

Aerated Compost Tea

- You will need this to set up your brewer:

1. Five gallon bucket
2. Dechlorinated Water
3. Mesh bag
4. Mature compost. (Till here is the same as the other but here comes the adrenaline).
5. Aquarium air pump system
6. Suction Cups
7. Metal Hoops
8. Unsulphured Organic molasses
9. Organic seaweed liquid
10. Scoop

It seems like a lot to use for a compost tea recipe, but don't be overwhelmed because by understanding the following thing, all those tools will make sense.

The air pump system provides microbes the perfect conditions to multiply. We always say that the key of composting is the microbial activity in the decomposing process, in fact. And so it is in a compost tea recipe. The main reason we brew is to boost compost virtues by feeding aerobic microorganisms with oxygen, bubble party makes them feel in paradise so they reproduce.

Benefits of compost tea reside in the culture of good microorganisms and nutrients, which reproduce encouraged by the affluence of food (that's why molasses and seaweed liquid are used for).

How to do it: Deploying your DIY Skills

1. Nail the metal hoop at the top rim of the bucket. This is where you are going to hang the air pump.
2. Guide the hose into the bucket attached by the suction cups
3. Run the air for about an hour
4. Add the compost into the mesh bag and surge it
5. Add one Scoop of Molasses and one of Seaweed liquid
6. Run the air pump for 24 hours (Some people use a solar generator to connect the air pump)
7. Strain the compost tea over a nylon stocking and transfer the liquid to a spray can.

Ready!

Extra tip: Understanding that microbes grow in aerobical conditions, you can shake the bubble party by using a three gang port valve, a long hose and a cutter. Say what? Well, firstly, hang the the valve in place of the air pump. Snip one piece of hose which will conect the air pump with the valve. Then you will have to cut three pieces of tubing for each port. Once you do that, the procedure is the same as above following step 2 to 7, although the best part of this technique is to plug an airstone to the hose´s end so the air will spread perfectly.

How to Use Compost Tea?

Spray

Pour the content of the bucket into a spray bottle or can and rain over all houseplants or yield.

Saving & Duration

Compost tea can be saved almost six days in a safe place without receiving direct sun. Smell proof is always a good way to know if it goes off or it`s still able to use. If you want to stretch tea duration, you can bubble it a few more hours so aerobic activity will take care of it.

Compost tea works as probiotics for soil. So it will still work while is still alive.

Advices

No matter how you brew it, it comes the time to use the potion. And in terms of efficiency and nursing, expert gardeners recommend to use it before 10 am when plants are still moist by the morning dew, or even dusk when sun is a little more lazy. Why? Because sun can burn and dry them if applying too much. To avoid burning, it`s important also using a really cured compost to brew and for dilute all the nutrients, so we can take advantage of all the benefits of compost tea. About frequency: It`s better if used once every 14 days.

We said we are like nature`s assistance. That`s why she compost herself by releasing dead leaves to nurture the soil and feed the roots, protect them from cold and snow, pests. Also rain brew his own compost when the water helps to soak up the nutrients that natural compost has done.

Bonus Tips

• May you wonder if your water is dechlorinated. The water we drink is not able to this compost tea recipe cause it actually is chlorinated. Rain water is perfect for this opportunity and enhances the benefits of compost tea. But, it's difficult to gather rainwater, so to dechlorinate you can get some Vitamin C Powder, apply it to the gallon and let it rest for 24 hours.
• If you are thinking about all the electricity wasted by aerating the compost for so many hours you could get a Portable solar power Energy Generator.

At last but not least

• Compost tea save bees. This is one of the most important benefits of compost tea, because is directly related with bees survivor. Most of fertilizers have a mix of micronutrients and heavy metals that can kill a bee within 72 hours. Actually, there`s a study published in the Journal of Economic Entomology Fertilizers and agrochemicals comes to be a important cause of pollination decline. And why we should care about that? Is not only about being empathetic (which means a lot!) but even more because pollination is fundamental to food culture and biodiversity maintenance. Everything has its function in the perfect cycle of life and we are in path of learning to coexist in harmony with it.

Now, you are ready to brew your own compost tea. As you can see is not that complicated as it may sounds, and we are sure your experience will improve the recipe. Thank you for coming to this mad tea party, lucky earthling. Let´s go brew!