drainey0
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banana compost tea grew a small amount of fungus

so I saved up my bananas peels in a closed container over the week and made a compost banana tea ( basically let the banana peels sit in water with some dirt for 48 hours). I just took a look at the container and there are a few small batches of fungus the size of a pea on the top of the compost tea............ should I be worried about using this on my vegetable plants? I plan on straining it threw a mesh and them threw a coffee filter.

pic of the fungus sry if it is hard to see: https://imgur.com/ql9cKQw
Last edited by drainey0 on Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

drainey0
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should I maybe boil the compost tea to kill any bad stuff that may be lurking in the water?

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Lindsaylew82
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If you boil it, you kill off all the good bacteria. That's a pretty important part of compost tea.

How is your tea smelling? Stinky, or sweet and earthy?

Are you aerating your compost tea? If not, you're likely killing off the good bacteria and the anaerobic bacteria are taking over. Smell is a good indication. If it stinks it's anaerobic, and that's bad. If you don't want to aerate your tea with air stones, then you'll need to brew the tea and use it pretty much within the day it's made.

Dirt is not a good replacement for compost. Dirt doesn't contain the microorganisms that a well turned compost pile contains. You can buy organic finished compost at the store. If you can't make your own, buy some and try it again. You want to use finished compost though. Not compost with chunks of kitchen waste in it. If you're not going to use it fairly quickly, then use an air stone or 2 and stir it frequently. Strain it after a few days, and you've got a couple of buckets of liquid gold!

drainey0
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I'm just goin off the people that say they make banana tea and all the recipes say use banana peels and let them sit for 48hours so your saying don't use the mix that itll be completly useless? I was mostly going for the phosphorous thats in banana peels? not the bacteria ............ btw used the dirt in hope of getting any nutrient out of what was in it.

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applestar
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I think time might depend on temperature. Have not seen this video or whatever on-line sources you mentioned as I had this idea independently, but what I have been doing is putting 1-2 banana peels in a quart size container, then covering with water making sure banana peel is submerged. Then watering container plants with this in the morning. I was hoping to extract potassium. Hadn't thought about phosphorus. I don't think this can be called compost tea, BTW.

So far, have been continuously adding water, then using the banana peel soak water within 12 hours with no issues. Started adding citrus scraps like juiced lemon and orange halves (Watering acid-loving plants) and UCG (Used coffee grounds)

After 3-4 days of this, then banana peels got black and then I forgot to use soaked water for a whole day and had some mold growing on the exposed peel... And it started to smell a bit. So I drained it and let the mass dry out on soil surface of a large container plant. I'm just going to put the stuff starting to mold in the compost pile and start over. Thinking of replacing the ingredients once a week.

But to answer your question, a couple of moldy spots won't be a problem for your plants if you are pouring directly on the soil and not on the plant.

And Lindsay is right -- aerating would make a much better product. I would have if I wasn't using my tiny air pump for the airlift spitter in the pond....

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rainbowgardener
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Anything that is not aerated cannot be called compost or compost tea, since composting is by definition an aerobic process.

There's a huge long thread on compost tea here: https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/vi ... 35&t=17097 More than you need to know, but helps to read the first couple/few pages of it.

Personally I'd pitch what you have on the compost pile and start over. You have two choices, either get a little airstone as for aquaria and aerate it or do as applestar suggests and make a banana peel infusion, that isn't aerated, but is used in just a few hours.

Alternatively, you can dry your banana peels and powder them.

I just throw mine in the compost pile. Then all those nutrients become part of my compost.

imafan26
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Technically compost can be made anaerobically so you can make compost tea that is not aerated and it actually lasts longer. Peat moss is still composted organic matter but it is acidic because the composting is done anaerobically.

Aerobic composts will be more alkaline and anaerobic composts are more acidic because different organims are involved in the composting proccess. Plants grown in compost appear healthier but because organic composts are variable in their nutrient value and potency, there is very little research that has consistent enough results to support the conclusion.
https://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/facts ... sttea.html

I think everyone agrees compost is a good thing to add to the garden and composts made from a variety of source materials is better than composts made from limited sources. Banana peels I know are high in potassium and contain some enzymes. A banana peel is actually part of a recipe to make growing media agaragar for orchid tissue and seed cultures. Compost tea and compost that is relatively fresh and hasn't been sitting in a shed for 3 years will contain microorganisms. Many beneficial, but some maybe not. When you make compost tea by either method, and especially if you add the non sulfured molasses, you are multiplying those organisms so a little gas or foam is probably going to be present but it is usually not bad stuff.

drainey0
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guys I just wants to know if the fungus that was growing on the top layer of my banana tea was ok to still use....... never really got a answer though but to late already threw it away. except appelstar they were the only one to really answer my question.

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Lindsaylew82
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Haaaahahaha!

Sorry! I guess there were just more factors needing addressed.

Plain and simply, if it stinks I put it back on the compost pile. Stinky usually means the wrong bacteria is growing. I don't so much go on what I see as much as what my nose knows.

jul1799
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I have read bunch of articles about compost tea recently. While I still have some questions myself, the one thing I got:
It should smell pleasant. If it stinks - do not use it.

I do a lot of fermented veggies, process bit different, but result determination is about same: should smell right. If there is a bit of mold some people would skip mold and use product, but I personally would throw it away.

Good luck



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