steeped tea..

[Ruffsta]

would BLACK COW MANURE COMPOST from Lowes be good for making steeped compost tea?

https://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=92129-1321-00051524602218&catalogId=10051&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=3047339

[Ruffsta]

nevermind, it's a powder...

stores won't be carrying it for another month or so.. kinda stupid that they do "seasonal" things, not everyone does everything the same way ya know.. now where to get compost around me?

[GardenGnome]

I saw the title acouple times what is and how do you do it?

[rainbowgardener]

The ACT sticky is very informative, but schedule a few hours, if you want to read all of it!

I wasn't sure if the OP was talking about ACT. ACT is aerated compost tea, brewed with an air bubbler. I make something I call compost infusion which is really just steeped. Just put the compost in water and keep it stirred up for an hour. Since I don't feel like stirring for 36 hrs and I don't want it to go anaerobic, it doesn't have as much time to develop microbial cultures as real ACT, but it is still good stuff and a quick, easy way to spread my compost around the garden.

[Ruffsta]

@ericmgilson

steeped tea is nothing more than taking compost (2 good handfuls and putting it into a 5gal bucket and mixing it with water.. and it's ready to use the very next day) - do not use the same day, that's a big mistake as you are not letting it build up what it needs to for it to do it's job.

the next day you mix it again and remove the mix water only and pour onto plants or at the base of your plants.. add more water to the bucket and more compost as needed.


watch this vid in it's entirety...
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCbeALuAYsg[/url]


aerated tea is more work and does the same job, just more junk to deal with such as an air stone, air pump, maple syrup.. this method also takes about 3 days to do what steeped tea does in 1 day! but to each their own method. I prefer simple and cheap myself.

[GardenGnome]

A few hours of reading? Maybe later I have a 4 year old and a 9 month old.
Thanks for the brief tho.
so does it just make it so you can feed your plants faster and spread your compost out more?
Would you do this if your soil isn't the best gardening soil?
and could you feed seedlings with this?

[rainbowgardener]

A few hours of reading? Maybe later I have a 4 year old and a 9 month old. Wow, you are busy!
Thanks for the brief tho.
so does it just make it so you can feed your plants faster and spread your compost out more? Yes, and by steeping/ brewing you develop beneficial microbe cultures that make all the nutrients more available to plants. I put a bit of molasses in with mine to help feed the microbes
Would you do this if your soil isn't the best gardening soil? Definitely - helps improve the soil
and could you feed seedlings with this? Yes, but probably pretty dilute

[GardenGnome]

Sounds good tho I like it ill read it tonight. When the kids and wife are asleep.

[TexRx]

If you can find nature's guide composted cattle manure at a garden center, it's really high quality.....better than black cow

I use a 5-gal bucket and I use a gallon container full of manure plus 4 gal water and let it sit for a 1-4 days. Sometimes I add a cup of cottonseed meal for nitrogen and a little acidity

[GardenGnome]

Did alittle reading there's link after link lol.
does anyone use it for seedlings?

[TexRx]

^^^I wouldn't use it until the plants are juvenilles and past the seedling stage. Seedlings really just need some regular water.

Just A little good compost in your seed starting mix is all you need to start...IMO. This should be plenty for the first 1-2 weeks

[GardenGnome]

I'm doing 72 plants so I'm trying to do it right.

[applestar]

@ericmgilson

steeped tea is nothing more than taking compost (2 good handfuls and putting it into a 5gal bucket and mixing it with water.. and it's ready to use the very next day) - do not use the same day, that's a big mistake as you are not letting it build up what it needs to for it to do it's job.

[...]

aerated tea is more work and does the same job, just more junk to deal with such as an air stone, air pump, maple syrup.. this method also takes about 3 days to do what steeped tea does in 1 day! but to each their own method. I prefer simple and cheap myself.

I have to disagree. There is an ENORMOUS difference in actively aerated and oxygenated compost tea vs. compost tea that sits over night. Also, as you will note if you fully understand the concept as described in the sticky, AACT is effective after 24 hours but there is a degree of difference in the biological content as time passes and the microbes go through their life cycles, and its up to you to decide whether you want it to be highly fungal, neutral/balanced, or bacterial. 3 days is too long.

That said, briefly steeped compost tea, preferably with effort at some agitation, will still culture and boost the microbial activity of the compost and provide a good supplement to the plants both as foliar spray and soil drench.

ETA (Edited to Add): I watched the linked video. My impression is that the compost he is using is not as finished as it could be. This doesn't mean it's not good -- in fact, it would be pretty active but in a different way. In this video, he failed to mention what kind of water he is using. Difference in available oxygen at the water surface vs. individual air bubbles was explained in the sticky.

[GardenRN]

If you made aerated compost tea, and then bottled it. How long does everyone think it would stay "good" before it went anaerobic?

For example if I was going to give some to a friend for a few house plants...If I filled up an old milk gallon. Guess the top would have to be loose to release gasses. But if it was shaken once a day would that keep it aerated enough?

[dustyrivergardens]

What your doing is brewing up millions of micro organisms that are feeding off the sugars that your using to brew the tea. With out oxygen and when the sugar runs out they will die off just about as fast or faster. Its not something you can save.

[applestar]

That, I think is the fallacy of act being sold -- I admit I thumbed my nose at it when they were selling a gallon jug for something like $11 at whole foods last spring. They had an impressive looking set up by the entrance with jugs to fill from the spigot....

I think without the aeration the prime microbes that you are looking for in ACT will rapidly die off. It will still be good plant supplement, not the original quality that, for the amount of effort necessary and the associated price, you would be paying for.

If your friend were to take the ACT and immediately used it in the garden -- and remember AACT is concentrated stuff and goes a long way -- I think that would be best. Remember that it will need to be diluted with rainwater or other non-chlorinated water so as not to kill ff the microbes.

I've made house plant sized AACT with worm castings in a gallon jug using a very small aquarium air pump and wand-type air stone as well as 1/4 soaker tubing. Considering the small volume, biological activity may not have been as stable, but if you needed to, that would be an option for keeping your gift aerated. But the biology changes over time -- in matter of hours -- as the microbes undergo their life cycles, so no, AACT has NO shelf life at all.

[GardenRN]

Bummer, I ave a few friends, and my mom, that would love to use some. But would never go through the setup themselves. And to get to mom's house, it would have to survive a car ride of a few hours. oh well.

[GardenGnome]

That's to bad I read this and rushed out and bought what I needed.

[applestar]

Well, for your mom, if you are there for the weekend, you could set it up and help her disperse it next day -- 36 hrs is a good balance. You could also set it up for her and tell her to use it at X-Y o'clock on the next day.

[Ruffsta]

as far as I understand it... you are not to cover or keep tea in a sealed container (it will stink to high hell when you open it and is not good for the human respiratory system... you may however put a screen on the container.



example:
BLACK KOW manure compost from lowe's (although it's a powder, by the way.. it doesn't matter if it's a powder based compost), use 1 cup per 1gal of water and mix manually.. use very next day after mixing it again manually.

[applestar]

Untimately, it's a good idea to make your own compost with a wide variety of ingredients and use the bagged stuff as a bonus ingredient in your compost pile to add diversity.

Personally, I like Lobster of Maine and BumperCrop (both from same company) and I like to add mushroom compost (don't know the brand -- mine comes from Pennsylvania). When they are dried, I imagine a lot of the microorganisms are no longer active, let alone alive. On the other hand, you don't want weather soaked ones from the yard as they would have gone anaerobic. Find garden centers that know enough to take extra care of these merchandise and keep them under cover, away from rain and sun (like open sheds) and not wrapped in plastic.

If you know a local source that makes high quality compost with known ingredients, that's even better. I know a few members here have taken the trouble to track them down. IMHO, longer in processing, packaging, and shipping, and storage, lower the quality, so don't bother to get ones manufactured on the opposite coast, etc.