Compost Tea

First, what is compost tea, and why is everyone raving about it? Compost tea is the controlled extraction of microorganisms and nutrients from a small amount of high-quality compost (and additional nutrient sources) into water.

The water is aerated to vastly increase the extraction of microbes, and to provide an environment which will breed many more microbes, favouring mostly those that thrive in an aerobic environment.

The tea is then sprayed on the soil and plants in order to inoculate the landscape with these beneficial aerobic microorganisms. It's not a fertilizer, but provides many of the same benefits and more.

Compost tea is especially important when there isn't enough good quality compost around for your lawn and organic garden. Also, compost cannot be applied to plant leaves, but compost tea can. The benefits are immense.

The 'Compost Tea Brewing Manual' available to the right is a must have for serious compost tea users.

Compost Tea Brewers

I am selling the two different 5 gallon brewers from Keep it Simple, compost tea pioneers.

I started using their compost tea brewer in 2005, since they were (and still are) highly regarded in the world of compost tea and endorsed by Elaine Ingham of the Soil Food Web.

All of the information about these brewers - and the differences between the two - can be found on their website at www.simplici-tea.com.

The basic 5 gallon brewer is the one I started with. It is powerful! It is the only brewer I know of that produces a tea that is very high in microbial numbers and biodiversity in only 12 hours. It will last for many years of home garden usage.

The 5 gallon extended life brewer pushes less air, so it takes at least 24 hours to produce a good tea, but it is a bit quieter and the motor lasts much longer. The higher price is worth it for those who know they will be brewing fairly often over many years and who don't mind the longer brew time.

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Brew Kits

The compost tea brewers come with enough compost and foods for 3 brews. Additional food kits are available.

I carry the same kits as Keep It Simple, but I've substituted a combination of high-quality composts (worm compost and conventional compost) that are produced locally.

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Compost Tea Application

This video on making compost tea comes from Phil's Smiling Gardener Academy where he has an additional 10 videos on compost tea and 30 or so other videos on effective microorganisms, mycorrhizal fungi and other microbial inoculants.

Brewing compost tea is easy. The brewer comes with instructions. Compost tea can be applied from a watering can, sprayer, or irrigation system. It is applied as a both foliar and a soil drench. It is important to use water that has no chlorine.

Like most liquid products, it is best applied in the morning, while evening would be the second choice (this is particularly beneficial for living inoculants, since some of the microorganisms are not interested in basking in the hot sun, so it's nice to give them some time to acclimate to their new surroundings and find a place where they are happy).

Compost tea works best when combined with liquid organic fertilizer products (click on the 'Organic Fertilizers' link at right to learn more). Preferably, it would be applied in smaller, regular doses, such as monthly or even weekly during periods of stress/disease. At minimum, it should be done once in the spring and once in the fall.

When pouring the finished tea into the sprayer, be sure to put a clean cloth (such as nylon, silk, cotton) over your sprayer to filter out particulate that may cause clogging.

As a foliar, it is applied undiluted, generally at 5 gallons (US) per acre (1/2 Litre per 1000 sq ft) for each 6 feet of average plant height. So if you have an orchard of 18 foot tall trees, you would apply more like 15 gallons per acre.

It is important to spray both the top and underside of the leaves and obtain at least 70% coverage. A mist (not too fine) from a sprayer works best for this. The whole plant can be sprayed.

For a soil drench, as much as 20 gallons (US) per acre (2 Litres per 1000 sq ft) is often applied once or twice a year. This can be mixed with any amount of dechlorinated water as is necessary to provide adequate coverage.

In summary:

• Foliar - undiluted - 1/2 Litre per 1000 sq ft on all leaf surfaces to at least 70% coverage, monthly if possible
• Soil - diluted as necessary - 2 Litres per 1000 sq ft, in the spring and perhaps fall