Compost Tea

[PoolfieldMember]

I remember on the course I attended that Charles had managed to make a compost tea that didn’t stink but I can’t remember what technique was used. Was it just the “drippings” from the rotting material but no added water that stopped it smelling?

[charlesModerator]

 I would call it a liquid feed and yes I did make it by adding NO WATER to the leaves (nettle and comfrey), so they just decomposed into a relatively sweet smelling liquid, with no putrefaction, and using it at anything from 20 to 50:1 dilution was a pleasure, no smell at all.

Compost tea is different, not the same thing at all, is made by aerating and stirring a small amount of high quality compost full of bacteria and fungi, to multiply them hugely. The resultant liquid is rich in life rather than nutrients and is not a liquid feed in the normally used sense of the word. The benefits are great but a snag is that you need kit (say £80 worth) and time, have a look at http://www.edaphos.co.uk.

[StringfellowParticipant]

Apologies for hijacking an old thread but it did seem relevant.

Does anyone have any experience of creating, applying and seeing the results of these teas? I’m interested and prepared to give it a go. I found a potentially useful pdf from someone in the US explaining most eloquently about building your own brewer for @ £30

http://pittsburghpermaculture.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Deuleys-brewer.pdf

Having read ‘Teaming with Microbes’ I wondered what counts as ‘high quality compost’ for use in the brewing process – well rotted manure, worm castings – would these be appropriate?

This seems to be quite big business in the US tho most growers I have talked to over here know very little about it. Another useful addition to the soil improvement tool box perhaps? Many thanks for any thoughts on this, Tris

[colsingerMember]

Hi Charles, 

Do you put a weight on the nettle leaves? I’ve filled a bucket with them, but they just seem to be dehydrating without giving up any liquid so far…

Thanks, 

Caitríona

 

[charlesModerator]

Anything heavy is good to squash them a bit and it takes a while for liquid to appear, good luck.

[Author]

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