Garden Of Organic Delights

We think compost tea is so important that we are dedicating a full page to it.  (people who brew beer will love this section!)  We are "lay" gardeners and used compost tea in our home garden and in the past our family used it on their small organically orientated farm.  This is a simple introduction for what we use that is quick and easy.  This article is long winded but we cannot emphasize enough how simple it is to brew a good tea to help your soil and garden. 

(Vermicomposting Brewed Tea Receipe Courtesy of Yelm Worm Farm)

We do not buy compost teas but we make them at home in the kitchen with simple equipment.  We see compost tea for sale and it might be good but it can go bad just like a food product so we prefer to make it ourselves and it is a lot cheaper.  Using anaerobic teas we cannot stress enough may actually cause problems and so buying a tea off the shelf when you do not know when it was made is not a good idea.

We did not realize that there was controversy surrounding compost tea use, until we interfaced with researchers connected to universities funded by chemical companies.  In other words it kinda got confusing when we heard "from experts."  What does this mean for you?  Well, you can read and learn from our experiences and experiment on your own.  (we do this all the time) Or, you can also research for yourself...which we recommend and then check out soils that use organic/natural methods, including compost teas, v.s. ones that use completely synthetic.  You can judge for yourself. 

Comprehensive research that we have found that supports what we have seen v.s. lay person's trial and error on a small farm however has been outlined by Dr. Elaine Ingham, a researcher from Oregon.   She is working with farmers on larger scale operations but her methods are applicable to home gardeners as well. Try not to get overwhelmed with all the information.  We have provided links and think her research is very important and clear and frankly fascinating.   Most importantly compost teas and organic/natural methods are sustainable and cheaper.  My family used these methods on their mini-farms because as my grandmother Katie used to say "why use things that cost so much money." You go grandma!  We use compost tea on landscape plants too and from reading Dr. Ingham's research are modifying a receipe for this. 

We use compost tea for many thing, namely to introduce good microbes into our garden and help repel disease.  Compost added to water and stirred and let sit to increase microbes has been around for hundreds of years in Europe.   Healthly living soil does much to help plants.  Currently we are reconditioning arsenic tainted soil in University Place where wormys and bugs have been absent: compost tea is our soil tonic to get the soil healthier and working again.  (we are also using compost and amendments with raised beds)  We are against using chemical herbicides and pesticides and fertilizers especially when the soil is already contaiminated.  We are in the experimental stage to see and will document different effects. 

Our worm bins which have valves on them and sit in the garden bed slowly dripped onto our garden beds and in one season plants tripled in size.  Compost tea has the same effect, as a fertilizer and getting soil microbes active.  Some people claim they use compost teas to kill disease actively on a plant.  The research is mixed on this and controversial and believe us scientists argue and it is confusing to home gardeners. 

 Our "experience" and experiments have shown that compost teas work and this led to further research on our parts when we encountered opposition.   We have directly experienced compost tea changing the nature of soil and activating areas under restoration but we have not seen the use of compost tea immediately "kill" disease on plants in our garden.   We think  used properly it "prevents" disease for sure. 

We tend to think the compost tea may help the diseased plant by fertilization and nutrient uptake but we do not have enough experience in this to decide.   Usually our veggie plants do not die from disease but from accidental lack of watering!  Plants like people can have diseases and it may take more tinkering to get quite the right fit.  We do remain open and think it can be the limitation of some of the trials that have created the controversy.  You can read the research and experiment for yourself.  We know many experienced organic gardeners who claim it works to help disease but given the diversity in the plant world it would be difficult to prove which blend and on what plant for the lay person without testing, however the research by SoilFoodWebInc, Dr. Elaine Ingham is pretty comprehensive.   

We do believe however it is the introduction of beneficial bacteria, and fungi in the soil  as well as on the plant that makes the big difference and we have met and spoken with people from Europe who work in agriculture where compost teas are a regular beneficial practice, not just for soil but for foliar feedings.  We know reading research can make people "more confused" but once you begin using compost teas (which is incredibly simple) you start to ponder how it works and frankly it is pretty interesting, especially to see how similar we are to plants!

The problem you can have with compost teas is that you must be careful not to create anaerobic  (lack of oxygen) conditions which can introduce negative pathogens and the by-product of brewing (alcohol) that can hurt actively growing plants.  We do not recommend " raw manure teas" for instance for these reasons either.  However worm castings, and thoroughly composted manures with added minerals and kelp and fish aerated are what we use and recommend for your vegetable gardening.  We are currently experimenting with different mixes for shrubs, and berries.   Any time a compost or worm bin  or a compost tea starts to smell "bad" it is time to evaluate conditions and problem solve.  When it smells good and earthy it is good.  We fully admit that passive compost brew could be as good as the aerated or "bubble" compost tea mix but as lazy gardeners we know it would just be too easy to leave the tea and go off and end up with a bad brew.  Ever brewed a bad beer?  We are just reporting a technique that we know works.

Now a completely unscientific statement.  Intuitively we know brewed compost tea makes sense.  Don't we know that eating yogurt helps your gut?  Microbes can be beneficial or harmful depending on where you are or what your needs are but we are here to attest compost tea used properly is beneficial.  However we have "seen" first hand what "living" soil appears to accomplish when plants are introduced.  We have heard scientists debate the issue but our "first hand" experience shows us that living soil, that is amended with compost teas, and compost and treated carefully can do amazing things.  Soil should be teaming with life.   Simply put...life gives life.  If you want the science information on this then we recommend the "Soil Food Web Inc" these folks are amazing.  You can have your soil tested and you can talk to people who are proving this works.  We have spoken directly to Dr. Ingham and her staff and what they are working on is pretty cool.  

Who objects to this?  The chemical companies.  The corporate creators of products that they want to convince us will work better than what we can find in nature. (plus we have to pay them to do it.)  In a short idea, think of nuking your body with chemicals, antibiotics...you get sick right?  Then you take more drugs to get better.  This is similar to what happens to soils where chemicals have been used, the soil gets depleted,   non beneficial insects and weeds come, and then when you use more synthentic chemicals to solve the problem it just gets worse and worse.  We love the people who have the courage to forge ahead in spite of objections and harassment.  (In the case of Dr. Ingham we think some of the controversy could be in part because she is a woman with strong ideas.)  We believe they are saving the earth.  if you are reading this now you become one of those people if you try simple organic/natural methods.  Isn't that exciting?

 Link to Soil Food Web, get you soil tested, read Dr. Ingham's research.

This is the simplest way to make homemade aerated bacteria dominated compost tea.   If you have a very small plot perhaps you and another gardener could make tea together and share.  Bruce's website traffic is so heavy it is hard to get into so we wanted to demonstrate it here.  We have his system and have made others for friends.  It works perfectly for the average size homeowner.  Larger yards or acreage would use larger systems that are made commercially.  We do not recommend unaerated tea because of the danger of anaerobic microbes.   If you do not wish to purchase items at Walmart you can find everything at an expanded Fred Meyer a greener company  including starter bag of organic compost, you can use your own after you get going.  You can purchase a system pre-made with a label on it but it is alot more expensive.   You just need to make sure the compost is fully aged as you want certain types of microbes and not others. 

We use compost AND worm compost (vermicompost. We add seaweed, fish emulsion and other minerals. ) (if you do not want to go to Fred Meyer you can find bucket, tubing and brew bags at local brew store and pump at fish store.  Aeration is EXTREMELY important.  Tea should smell fresh and earthy or "yeasty" not stinky or sour.  If it smells bad throw it away and do not use on your plants.  You want to use up your batches right away.  We brew tea every two weeks when we are starting a new garden.  One 5 gallon batch can easily do a yard.  You can use a sprayer to spray all the soil and foliage.  Treat the tea gently to preserve the microbes.  We have a handy dandy garden sprayer that we got at Fred Meyer.

1. 5 gal bucket w/top

2. Pump

3. Air Stone/Air Bubbler - 2 small or one very large w/valves

(this is important because you must add enough oxygen to the mixture)

4. Tubing (36 inches)

5. Paint Strainer Bag (buy two to keep operation going) or brew bag from local brew store.

6. Worm castings  1 cup or use all worm castings see below

7. Organic Compost (fully composted - not manure) 4-8 cups

8. Organic fish emulsion (or liquid fish fertilizer)

9. Black Strap Molassas. 1/2 cup

10. Drill a holes in the top or side of the bucket for the tubing to stick through or just put pump on table above bucket with lid partially on.

 The process of making compost/worm casting tea is similar to any "brewed" substance or making bread, the principles are the same.  Getting microbes to increase and grow!

In fact compost tea  smells  a bit like yeasty like beer.  You take 4 gallons of water and let sit overnight or aerate for about an hour to get rid of the chlorine.  You must use chlorine free or removed water or the chlorine will kill the microbes you are trying to grow.  You take 1.5-2 or more cups of compost, about 1/2 cup of worm castings, and other items in #8 about 2 tablespoons of each and put in strainer bag).

Add molassass.

Put aerators in bucket and turn on.  If temperature is warm, you should have a good batch in about 12 hours.  If it is cooler than 65 degrees or so outside then you need to aerate 24-48 hours.  The mixture will get foamy and smell earthy.   We brew our tea downstairs in our laundry room on laundry days when it gets warm.  It really is alot of fun!

Put on lid if you want.  This keeps the foam down and dogs out of it if you have them.  Our dogs tend to like to drink the compost tea due to the addition of the fish emulsion.  It really does foam up but this is a good sign.  This is why we only brew 4 gallons at a time instead of filling the bucket up!