how to make compost tea
July 20, 2009
Making compost tea is similar to making a cup of tea…..simply steep your compost in water and voila! We scoured the internet for resources on this and found many different methods…..this is how we chose to do it.
Materials needed:
- container (5 gal. bucket or rubbermaid container)
- air pump (buy at your local pet store)
- tubing for air pump
- finished compost (either from worm bin or compost)
- molasses
- old sock or pantyhose
How to set up:
- collect your compost. we used worm poop from our worm bin.
- measure out your compost (~2 cups for every 5 gal. of water) and put into your sock or pantyhose and tie off the ends.
- add water to your container (if you are using tap water, let it sit overnight to allow chlorine to evaporate. the chlorine can destroy the good bacteria in the compost)
- set up your air pump and immerse ends in water
- add your compost-filled sock (we tied the sock to a dowel and used the dowel to hold the compost sock in place – see pic below)
- add 2 tbs. molasses (1 tbs for every 5 gal. of water). this provides food source for beneficial microorganisms
- turn on the air pump and let it steep for 24-48 hours
- after it has steeped, add the tea to your plants (put in spray bottle and apply directly to foliage or add to soil as if watering)
- the compost can be reused (add to your potting soil or put back in your compost pile)
harvesting worm poop
compost in sock
compost steeping to make tea
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What’s the purpose of the compost tea, is it like a plant food?
Yes, it’s yummy food for plants. You can put it in a spray bottle and spray right on the foliage or add to the soil. This is our first such experiment using compost tea; we will report on results. From our research, this is hands down the best way to fertilize. There is a company called Terracycle that was founded on compost tea made from worm poop.