How Often To Feed With Compost Tea

[Decado]

Once a week? Once every two weeks?

[Toil]

It really depends on the state of your soil and how much compost you can throw out there. Nothing beats a whole lotta actual compost on the ground.

Aerated tea can't hurt at any stage, but early on you may want to apply every 1-2 weeks. Also any time things look off, maybe before heat waves or other adverse events.

that's my educated guess.

[GardenGeek]

What I have known about compost tea, you should use them in morning or evening time with your plants as this is the best absorbing time for plants.

But what I have heard about the feed period of compost leave is that it should be more than 2 - 3 weeks.

[CallMeJosh]

All depends on the strength. If you've got some super potent stuff, I'd say once every two weeks is fine, but I've had wonderful results from watering my peace lily once a week with compost tea. This is during the summer though, your plants will need a lot less during the winter, so once every 2-3 weeks is absolutely fine.

[Decado]

Can I feed the seedlings I'm starting for this summer with compost tea? Or is that a bad idea?

[CallMeJosh]

When you water the soil for the first time as you're adding the seeds, that should give them a great start. Other than that, you should be fine, just space it out a few days more.

[Toil]

remember it only feels like feeding. What you are doing is adding oxygen breathing microorganisms to the soil. The mircobes feed the plant.

[Decado]

remember it only feels like feeding. What you are doing is adding oxygen breathing microorganisms to the soil. The mircobes feed the plant.

Well you're still basically feeding them, since you're giving them the microbes that feed them. But there's still nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium in the tea so technically I guess you really are feeding them.

[Toil]

In that sense you are feeding them very little, yes. But that is not enough "feeding" to grow much of anything. The biomass and soluble nutrients found in tea is not great.

The idea is to get a nutrient cycle going in the soil so fertilizing is not needed or only rarely. Compost tea is supposed to help you maintain or regain the balance required.

[gixxerific]

If I may that way I see if your tea was successful in doing it's intention which is breading microbes. Than the majority of NPK has been digested an is a totally different form than what you would find in bag. It's nor so much fertilizer in the normal sense though when the bacteria get eaten by the protozoa who get eaten by the nematodes and on and on that is where the magic happens. And hopefully it is being done in the rhizosphere where the roots where actually get the most benefit.

Or something like that.