It will smell like someone took a look sized pee in it! I make the tea for
my plants and I have the mix sit out in the hot mojave desert sun and I have
to do it out in my desert field as it can stink to the sky. Plus I use HAY
and the hay is usefull for building new beds, I lay down the used hay and
pile the dirt over it, my iris love it. I have used 2lt soda pop bottles to
put the tea in, closed the cap and set out in the sun for a week, almost
need a gas mask when I open them to use the tea.
"cat daddy" wrote in message
...
"escape" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 23:23:27 -0600, "cat daddy"
opined:
Has anyone made fermented alfalfa tea? I want to use it to feed pecan
trees. They say you'll know when it's ready............
a simple search brought up about 50 websites which answer this, but this
is the
most simple:
In a 5-gallon bucket, put 1 cup alfalfa meal. Fill bucket with water and
let it
sit overnight. The result will be a thick tea. Apply generously to the
root
area of shrubs and flowers or use as a foliar spray after straining.
Yep, I know how to make it from info on the web..... }:-) I've used
soaked alfalfa pellets as a compost starter in the past. The one I'm going
to follow is to take a 30 gallon trash can, cover tightly, and let it
ferment for a week. Most of the sites hint at what it will smell like,
which
could be described as recreating a cow's stomach with the resulting smell
of
manure. I hope to get a 50lb. bag today and I'll also be adding Epsom
salt.
http://www.nurserysite.com/clubs/peninsular/tea.html
We're already using coffee grounds (~200 lbs. per tree) for slow release
nitrogen and zinc, and I wanted a quick boost of nitrogen as well as the
triacontanol growth stimulant and other trace goodies that alfalfa meal
promises.
So, I was wondering if the fermentation process was worth the wait,
considering. I'm a serial aerobic compost tea maker, so I'm looking
forward
to adding this stuff to my organic arsenal and am fishing for comments
about
it......