I’m not a compost tea expert, jut a successful Giant Pumpkin grower who uses compost tea. The brewer and recipes found here are from my own design, perfected over the course of 3 growing seasons. I have not had my recipes tested in the lab, but prefer to let my results speak for themselves. There are those who would like to make this process too complicated, it really isn’t. Just follow these instructions and recipes to realize your own success.

What is Compost Tea, or Aerated Compost Tea?

* ACT is a solution of nutrients and organisms combined then “brewed” to exponentially increase their numbers in a controlled environment.

* Your soil naturally contains these organisms, but in much lower numbers. ACT introduces many times more bacteria and fungi etc. to increase soil nutrient cycling and release.

* ACT is NOT a fertilizer.

* First it would be a good idea to determine how much tea you would like to make. There really are no clear guidelines to how much tea you can apply. Remember, ACT is not a fertilizer. At least in the convention we are used to.  It has no NPK value.  Think of it as more introducing an army of little workers that will work with existing matter in the soil to release nutrients.

* ACT can be applied to all vegetables, landscapes, lawns, trees houseplants,you name it. If it grows, it will benefit from ACT.
* ACT can’t be over applied, but your plants can be over watered!

Remember; Bad compost in, bad compost tea out.

* There have been many studies about the benefits of ACT, you can easily find them on the web, not in this presentation. I’ll leave that data to the experts.

* If brewed incorrectly, ACT can be harmful to both plants and animals. The key to ACT is plenty of oxygen. Without it, the tea will become anaerobic and you could brew some nasty stuff like Ecoli.
* Be aware of the odor of your tea, it should smell like fresh earth or compost. If it smells like rotten garbage, throw it out and start over.

Good Aerated Compost Tea starts with good water.

* Water containing chlorine or chloramines should be allowed to gas off for a minimum of 24 hours to dissipate.

* Use as large of an air pump as you can.

* Rule of thumb is 2L air/gallon of ACT.

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* ACT can be used as either a foliar or drench.

* I run mine thru under canopy sprinklers every two weeks.

* I will make foliar applications occasionally throughout the season.

* Usually as a ingredient to deliver something else to the plant.

* Time applications to minimize damage to the tea. It is a living thing.

* Use delivery methods that minimize damage.
* My method of application is an under canopy system of Dan Micro Sprinklers, available here.

* Keep your brewer clean.

	It is important to thoroughly clean the brewer as soon after the brewing cycle as possible.  After the bio film has dried on, it becomes very difficult to chisel off!  No need to go nuts sterilizing the Brewer. Use a lot of water and a medium bristle brush to scrub off all crusties.  You are going to put dirt, worm poop and compost right back in it anyway!

There are two main components to any Aerated Compost Tea (ACT)  Brewer

Air Delivery System	Containment of Products

Air Pump	Hose Fittings
Soaker Hose	Air Tubing

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Barrel

* Obviously the most important part of the containment system. * Barrel size should reflect your requirements. 30-55 gallon barrels are sufficient for most applications. * Barrel must be constructed from food grade materials. * Barrel must have held food grade products previously. If your barrel held nasty stuff before you make a brewer out of it, the minute amounts of residual product will probably kill your tea!

Hold Down

* The Purpose of the hold-down is exactly how it sounds, to hold sown the soaker hose! It becomes quite buoyant, and needs to be held to the bottom of the barrel. * Each hold down is custom fabricated to your system. Sorry, can't give you any shortcuts here. * Here's a great tip for you though, glue all fitting except the top handles. You will need to be able to remove these to get the hold-down out of the barrel.

Paint Strainer Bag

* Most any strainer bag will do for this application.  The trick here is to make sure the openings are small enough to contain your castings or compost, but large enough to allow the organisms you are propagating to escape the strainer bag. * Do not use nylon stockings. These are a good example of a strainer bag that has openings too small to let some organisms out.

Bulhead Fitting Assembly

You'll need a way to drain your tea from the brewer!

Bulk head fitting assembly	Drilling barrel

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Food Requirements

Food sources differs dependant on selecting for Bacteria or Fungi.

Carbohydrate source----Simple Sugars---Works well for both Fungi and Bacteria.

Bacteria Dominant Tea	Brew time 18-36 hrs
Worm Castings	Fruit Juices/pulps	Fish Hydrolysate
Compost	Kelp	Alaskan Humis
Fungi Dominant Tea	Brew time 24-72 hrs
Protein meals; alfalfa, feather meal, etc.	Yeast	Yucca Extract
Rock Dust

My Recipes - Makes 45-50 Gallons

Recipe #1
	* 12-16 oz molasses.
	* 10-12 cups worm castings.
	* 10-12 cups Alfalfa Meal or Pellets.
	* 4 oz seaweed extract to keep down the foam.

Recipe #2
	* 12-16 oz molasses.
	* 10-12 cups worm castings.
	* 10-12 cups compost ( I use a very high quality vegetarian compost)
	* 2# Alaskan Humis
	* 4 oz seaweed extract to keep down the foam.

 

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Summary

 

Hard to say what percent of my success is from compost tea...It's a BIG part of a bigger picture that gets the results.  I think of it more of a foundation.  Take it away, and a lot of the other things done in the patch will not work as well. 
Worms and soil biology turn the organic matter into usable nutrients for the plants.  Take away the Areated Compost Tea and the organic matter isn't as effective.  Worms can only do so much.

 

	1325 Starr