Making Compost Tea

Compost tea is a great way to add nutrients and living microorganisms to an organic garden.
​ It's easy to set up and brew compost tea at home.

How to Make Compost Tea

Five gallon buckets filled with compost tea.
​Organic gardening means using alternatives to chemical fertilizers or soil supplements. Working solid compost into the soil is an excellent method for increasing beneficial microbes and nutrients for the plants. However, in an established garden, compost tea may be a more practical way to apply this soil supplement. 
​Making Compost Tea at Home
There are many ways to make compost tea, some are complex and some are simple. The easiest way is to simply soak compost in water then drain off the resulting brew. However, this method does not increase the good living organisms and may in fact reduce them. Ideally, compost tea is aerated by forcing oxygenated air bubbles into the brewing mixture. This method increases the growth of the good microbes that need oxygen to live. In fact, it’s possible to make a home brew with billions of living microorganisms
 
A Basic Recipe for Compost Tea
With a few simple pieces of equipment, anyone can make great compost tea at home. A five-gallon bucket and an aquarium pump with long hose are the basics needed. Water and a shovel full of compost are the main ingredients. To take it further, the living organisms need to be “fed” to thrive. Some kind of food with complex sugars is helpful to add.
 
Basic Compost Tea Ingredients
  • About 4 gallons of unchlorinated water
  • A shovel full of compost (about three cups)
  • 2-3 tablespoons of molasses, brown sugar, or corn syrup
  • (optional) A strainer bag, such as pantyhose or fine mesh laundry bag
  • Additional items can be added
  • A few cups of alfalfa pellets
  • A can or two of mackerel or sardines
  • One pack of fresh seaweed
  • 1-2 cups of alfalfa meal, corn meal, horse feed, or fish feed
  • Rotten fruit
 
How to Brew Compost Tea
  1. Add the water to the bucket; let it sit for 24 hours to de-chlorinate the water.
  2. Put the compost, sugars, and other optional ingredients into a strainer bag
  3. Drape the bag into the bucket
  4. Place the aquarium pump next to the bucket
  5. Drop the long pump hose to the bottom of the bucket
  6. Let the mix bubble for 1–3 days
  7. Remove the bag or strain out the solids.
 
Applying Compost Tea in the Organic Garden
This part is easy for gardeners, who are used to spending time watering in their gardens. Apply the tea full strength from the bucket or dilute it 1:5 to make it go further. Compost tea can be spread with a watering can, a sprinkler, or a backpack sprayer. Saturate everything in the garden–plant leaves, vegetables, fruit, and soil.
 
Compost teas can be used as either foliage sprays or as soil drenchers around the base of plants. Foliage spray is also good for plant disease control. Poke holes down into the soil around the base of the plant to get more oxygen into the soil, which will hasten the decomposition.
 
The compost tea is a great boost when added to the garden, but also can be used as a compost pile starter brew. The microbes act as nitrogen and bacterial heat activators in the pile. The solid remains of the tea brewing can be added straight into the decomposing materials of the compost bin.
Author: Karla Beatty About
​However the tea is applied, it will work as safe organic enhancer. Using compost tea as an organic fertilizer offers a healthier, natural alternative to chemicals. It gives the organic vegetable garden the resources it needs to thrive in today’s stressed environment.
Read more about compost tea, organic gardening, and the environment.

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