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Old 10-07-2003, 04:20 AM
Jay Chan
 
Posts: n/a
Default Need Info on Compost Tea

I would like to ask a couple questions on making and using compost
tea:

- Does it really work? Do I expect to see larger crop, bigger
flowers, ...etc? Can someone tell me some "before and after" stories?

- Can it rejuvenate lawn grass that is kind of thinning out?

- Does it smell just like normal compost piles? BTW, I don't think
normal compost piles stinky at all.

- How big the container do I need? My property is fairly small (1/4
acre), and my flower garden and vegetable garden are proportionally
smaller. I intend to mainly use it on flower garden and vegetable
garden, and also apply it in some areas of my lawn to rejuvenate the
grass -- and I intend to apply it every two weeks. Will a 5-gal bucket
be big enough? Do I need a 32-gal container?

- I am thinking of using aquarium air pump to aerate the compost tea.
How big should I get? I have found the following aquarium air pumps
from PETCO:
PROFILE 1500 Single Outlet for 20 gal fish tank
PROFILE 2900 Single Outlet for 30 gal fish tank
PROFILE 4000 Double Outlet for 50 gal fish tank
PROFILE 9500 Double Outlet for 100 gal fish tank
I have a feeling that those ratings are for fish tanks, and are not
directly comparable to the size of the tank for making compost tea.
Somehow, I need to translate the ratings to the corresponding ratings
for making compost tea. Can someone share his/her experience in
selecting an aquarium air pump. Obviously, I want the air pump to be a
bit oversized just in cases of: (1) wanting to simultaneously aerate
other buckets of water to remove chlorine from my water before I can
use the water to dilute the compost tea, (2) needing to use a bigger
container.

- Can I simply use sugar as the food source for making compost tea
instead of using unsulfured molasses as suggested in a couple sources?
What's so significant about unsulfured molasses anyway? The host in
the TV show "Gardening by the Yard" suggested using sugar.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jay Chan