How long does aerated compost tea last? or "live" ?

[Wildman]

Someone mentioned to me that, because the live microbes make compost tea so valuable as a soil amendment, you need to use freshly-made aerated compost tea w/in hours or 1-2 days to ensure that the microbes are alive and that the tea is effective?

May I please have your experiences / thoughts on this?

Thank you!

[evtubbergh]

That person was right.

It's like yoghurt. When the food is done the microbes die.

I would guess a few days would be the the max and the fresher the better so near the end there would be less benefit. If you put it in the fridge it would last longer.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, I make a bucket of aerated compost tea and start using it after about 18 hrs, but keep the airstone in and keep aerating it until it is all used up, hopefully not more than 48 hrs. Once you take the airstone out, it only takes a day or so until it doesn't smell as fresh.

[Wildman]

Thank you very much.


(Interesting: I did some looking around The Web and found several sites selling Compost Tea...it seems that they could still have nutrients and minerals in them, but Not living microbes, nematodes, etc. that need good oxygenation. From what I'm learning, their Teas must be turning anaerobic - dead/without oxygen - which it seems is not as desirable as living/aerobic...)