Compost Aerator
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Why Brew Compost Tea?
Organic gardeners everywhere understand the value of compost. Compost has no equal as a power food and soil modifier. But how about compost tea? If you've still not used compost tea, you are in for a real treat. Compost tea is the magic formula you've been longing for! Just give your plants a few doses and you will become a convert as soon as you witness the results.
Why Compost Teas Work So Well
Understanding the actual aim of compost tea brewing will help you see why compost teas work so well and my guess is it will make you a better gardener. So here we go...
A microscopic web of life exists all around us. In our soil, on the leaves of plants, on our skin and even on benchtops we thought were clean! Consider any organic surface, and on it, you can be absolutely sure there's a colony of invisible lifeforms, eating and being eaten, living and dying, processing nutrients, converting sugars and contributing to the ecosystem. Amazingly, just one handful of healthy soil contains up to a staggering 8,000 species of fungi and 15,000 species of bacteria as well as a variety of nematodes and protozoa, numbering in the billions. Some bacteria are good. Some are bad. Some fungis help while some cause mischief.
The aim of the compost tea brewer is to "farm" and multiply the beneficial bacteria and fungi in order to inoculate the soil or leaves of plants with the beneficial species. Creating compost and introducing it to our garden is the traditional method of treating (inoculating) soils in order to cause an explosion of desirable organisms in the root zone. The brewer of compost tea is just extending the process and accelerating the population growth, producing a liquid which can be used as a foliar spray to inoculate the leaves as well. Brewing a tea also allows us to make a small quantity of mature, well finished compost go a lot further.
Brewing Compost Teas
Compost tea is produced by steeping (soaking) mature, well finished compost in water that is kept aerated. Constant aeration is vital because the beneficial bacteria we need are aerobic and require oxygen to thrive. The addition of molasses feeds the bacteria and accelerates the increase of their population.
There are numerous different compost tea techniques and recipes available online but here's a basic outline...
Required Items:
A 5 gallon bucket
An aquarium aerator capable of running 3 "air stones" or bubblers.
Several feet of plastic air hose, 3 bubblers and a gang valve to distrubute air to the air stones.
A clean fabric bag to strain solids out of the tea
The Method:
Arrange the three bubblers, equally spaced, on the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket
Add the mature compost to the bucket to about a third of it's capacity
Top up with clean potable water free from chlorine to within 2 inches of the rim
Start the pump and aeration process
Add 1 oz of unsulfered molasses and stir through the mixture
Gently stir the mixture a few times a day taking care not to move the air stones
After 2 but no more than 3 days strain off the liquid and immediately apply to plants; you can use it as either a soil drench around plant roots or a foliar spray.
Vital Points For Compost Tea Brewing
It is important to only use mature compost that you can be quite sure has no pathogens remaining. The molasses will also feed pathogens like E. Coli and cause rapid growth in their population, making the tea a risk to your health. Ideally, the compost you use will have reached and held a temperature of 150 degrees F for three days during the composting process in order to eliminate pathogens. High quality compost that you get from automatic kitchen composters like the NatureMill or worm compost bins is the best choice for brewing compost tea.
All over the world, compost tea brewers are learning the awesome benefits of compost teas. Don't put it off any longer. Get brewing today and watch your garden be revitalized!
This Compost Aerating Tool Helps Make Composting Simple
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