Compost Tea

Melinda Kneese from Oma's Haus in Fredericksburg provided the following recipe for compost tea as presented at our August meeting:

Compost Tea Ingredients

• 1 Pound worm castings (or a suitable compost)
• 1 Tablespoon molasses
• 1 Tablespoon humic acid (for example, Turf and Garden Pro)
• 1 Tablespoon fish hydrolysis (for example, Neptune's Harvest Fish Fertilizer)
• 5 Gallons of water

Let the tea aerate for 3 to 12 hours and use within 8 hours. This makes a concentrated tea that can be used in a variety of ways as described in the references below.

Additional Information

The following sites provide additional information on compost tea recipes, uses, and building aeration devices:

• Dr. Elaine Ingham's article in Fine Gardening Magazine, Brewing Compost Tea
• Texas' Bruce Deuley's Compost Tea Method
• Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Compost Tea as Easy as 1 2 3

Compost Tea Uses

One of the uses of compost tea is to make a fertilizer like Howard Garrett's Garrett juice that can be sprayed onto your plants:

• 1 cup concentrated compost tea
• 1 ounce molasses
• 1 ounce natural apple cider vinegar
• 1 ounce liquid seaweed
• 1 gallon water

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