Question by taste_my_cottoncandy: I need a good Compost Tea Recipe?
So i’m looking for a good compost tea recipe
but i need it on a scale of 5 gallon buckets cause that is the bigest buckets i have
i waould like to aslo know how many years you have been using your recipe and how well it has been working for you
THANKS !
Best answer:
Answer by Cakes
many recipes:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=compost+tea+recipe&ei=utf-8&fr=b1ie7
for a true pro brew u are maybe wanting to know the desires of that particular plant. and the plant is likely to be at a certain stage of growth. like if it is vegetative growth or flowering time or fruit formation, seeds, etc.
compost tea can actually mean any old brew that feeds right? but also true “compost” it’s self is made in certain ways. like if i use only grass clippings then it will only have Those nutrients and furthermore it is limited to the nutrients that the grass could pull from that particular patch of ground.
so, u can add stuff to your compost tea bag, like comfrey or oats But also u can explore making ur compost rich in various ways.
a site that tells the nutrient values in oats and comfrey and most plants-
search by plant:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/plants.html
or
search by nutrient desired:
http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/highchem.html
so, only improvement at this time on all that is the way that people can use a bubble bucket to make tea. keeping the tea liquid and aeriated for 3 days can allow a generation of bacteria to work on it. so their actions and leftover particles can leave and be various nutrients that you would not get otherwise; called humates and fulvates.
my bucket is five gallons and i have a tube that pipes in air from a small cheap fish pump. i put in whatever scraps or materials i feel like and the bubbles and water and time and microbes will extract their nutrients. based on what i have thrown in there, amount of water and the color of the brew i make my judgement on how much to dilute the jars i pull out for feeding time.
color of the brew. generally compost would be dark of course and it is easy to know if the brew is strong enough by it’s color. the darkness should not be more than icetea; like not as dark as coffee unless u are experimenting with strengths.
there are some pix here about that and more info on making ur own nutrients:
http://www.exoticgardening.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2040
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!