NRB
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Aerated Compost Tea

Anyone here make this? Is it worth the trouble?

I found an article in a local store magazine detailing how to aerate a batch of compost tea to grow the good bacteria, and it looks like fun.

Has anyone here brewed their own compost tea?

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rainbowgardener
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I haven't, but I know there are several people around here who have. If you type compost tea into the search box at upper left of most pages, you will find a lot of information. This thread looked like it was very informative:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9219

NRB
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Good info, thanks!

After reading some of the links from that thread, I now wonder about the bacteria. Spraying E.coli on my tomatoes is something I'd like to avoid.



[url=https://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/composttea.html]UVM[/url] mentions sanitizing equipment and warns against adding sugars. That gets my attention. Foliar feeding seems to be the way to go. Ceratinly, you don't want to spray crops right before harvest, but does anyone ever check the bacteria level? Is it a concern with using this tea for you? I know compost can harbor a lot of nasty stuff and brewing compost tea could easily encourage undesireable microbes.

Any concerns or precautions taken in your garden?

top_dollar_bread
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NRB wrote:Good info, thanks!

After reading some of the links from that thread, I now wonder about the bacteria. Spraying E.coli on my tomatoes is something I'd like to avoid.



[url=https://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/composttea.html]UVM[/url] mentions sanitizing equipment and warns against adding sugars. That gets my attention. Foliar feeding seems to be the way to go. Ceratinly, you don't want to spray crops right before harvest, but does anyone ever check the bacteria level? Is it a concern with using this tea for you? I know compost can harbor a lot of nasty stuff and brewing compost tea could easily encourage undesireable microbes.

Any concerns or precautions taken in your garden?
Bacteria and fungi are actually the main goal when composting or brewing tea's. For example, with compost, who do you think is eating all the organic matter, producing all that heat, and giving us that great black earth smelling end product?

Beneficial bacteria/fungi actually eat, inhibit and compete for nutrients with the bad disease causing microbes. When composting and tea brewing we add nutrient and more life to our soil. In return its the soil microbes that break down nutrients and bond with our plants.

The rule of thumb is that if compost/tea smells bad then the product probably isnt ready for your plants. When compost smell bad its probably because you need more carbon(dry, browns).With tea's that also usually means you need more carbon (molasses). Adding these and letting the micro herd do its thing for a few days or less will balance everything out nicely.
heres a link that I suggest you read, its focuses on your concern with bad bacteria https://perfectperennials.tripod.com/id12.html
hope this helped :wink:

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stella1751
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NRB, check out the aerated manure tea thread in the organic gardening forum. I called it "manure" tea because I am using composted manure to make it. However, they appear to be one and the same, and I am getting the GREATEST advice in that thread!



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