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

On 9 Jul 2003 19:48:58 -0700, (Jay Chan) wrote:

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?

Yes it works. I give one dose a week to potted dwarf citrus and they
explode in leaves and blooms.

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

A waste of good tea. Better idea would be to dump the solid waste on
the lawn and make a garden.

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

Depends on what is composted

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?

Yes, no

- 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:

You dont need an expensive pump, as long as it's not left out for
several days. 5 minutes of dunking and stirring up the bag will be
enough. There's a very good chance debris would quickly clog the
filter, anyhow.

- 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.

Sugar will attract predators, and especially ants.

Dan

"dstvns" wrote in message
...
On 9 Jul 2003 19:48:58 -0700, (Jay Chan) wrote:

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?

Yes it works. I give one dose a week to potted dwarf citrus and they
explode in leaves and blooms.


I've used compost tea on citrus, various herbs and potted flowers with no
significant difference in growth or blooms. As well, I used compost tea as
an experiment on a percentage of Coffee Arabica plants (-vs- plants with
chemical fertilizer, liquid seaweed, no fertilizer, etc.) and they actually
performed among the worst, with a high mortality rate.

While compost tea may be a good addition to many plant "diets", it is
certainly no miracle fertilizer. In fact, I have blooms and fruit galore on
about 30 different citrus varieties without the use of any fertilizer in
months. By the way, I operate a plant nursery and we are constantly looking
for ways to improve plant performance and overall viability (keeping the
health of our customers in mind).

If you really want a "natural" means of more blooms, greener leaves and
higher fruit yield, buy a box of Epsom Salt. It really works and is the one
additive that we always keep on hand.

AJH wrote:

"dstvns" wrote in message
...
On 9 Jul 2003 19:48:58 -0700, (Jay Chan) wrote:

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?

Yes it works. I give one dose a week to potted dwarf citrus and they
explode in leaves and blooms.


I've used compost tea on citrus, various herbs and potted flowers with no
significant difference in growth or blooms. As well, I used compost tea as
an experiment on a percentage of Coffee Arabica plants (-vs- plants with
chemical fertilizer, liquid seaweed, no fertilizer, etc.) and they actually
performed among the worst, with a high mortality rate.

While compost tea may be a good addition to many plant "diets", it is
certainly no miracle fertilizer. In fact, I have blooms and fruit galore on
about 30 different citrus varieties without the use of any fertilizer in
months. By the way, I operate a plant nursery and we are constantly looking
for ways to improve plant performance and overall viability (keeping the
health of our customers in mind).

If you really want a "natural" means of more blooms, greener leaves and
higher fruit yield, buy a box of Epsom Salt. It really works and is the one
additive that we always keep on hand.

The prime advantage to using compost tea is not for its nutrient benefits,
although they can be considerable, but for its disease supressing capacities.
This refers specifically to properly brewed aerobic compost tea, not the simple
dunked-compost-in-a-bag process. The compost dunk type of tea is nothing more
than a weak foliar fertilizer or soil drench - no better or no worse than
something similarly organic in origin, like fish emulsion. The advantages of
a proper aerobic compost tea derive from the extremely high populations of
beneficial soil organisms that are encouraged by the aerobic brewing process,
which are the natural workhorses of disease supression in any good garden soil,
but not in the extraordinary numbers and concentrations that occur with compost
tea.

To achieve proper results and encourage the development of these organisms in
sufficient quantities and composition, the tea making process should be
strictly monitored and adhered to - this includes the source and quality of the
compost used intitially to start the process (worm castings are the preferred
source), as well as the nutrients used to feed these populations (neither sugar
OR molasses are recommended by the pros).

There is a huge repository of information about this on the web - suggest you
do some research into some of the better resources. Here are a few prime sites
to get you started:

http://www.composttea.org/marketplace.html
http://www.soilfoodweb.com/

The first is a link to several sources of brewers for commercial and
residential production as well as individuals and organizations that are
conducting research and scientific trials on the efficacy of this product.
Suggest you pay close attention Sound Horticulture's website. Ali is rapidly
becoming a spokeperson for the compost tea industry and has a huge amount of
data and information to share. The second URL will explain the dynamics of the
soil food web - understanding that and its significance is essential to the
proper use of compost tea.

And yes, it can be used to rejuvenate lawns, remediate damaged soil, enrich
regular garden soil as well as help control a legion of fungal problems,
including phytophthora, verticillium wilt, powdery mildew, fungal leaf spot and
rose black spot. And no, it doesn't smell anymore than any other organic
fertilizer/treatment.

pam - gardengal

http://www.foodwebonline.com/chapter1.htm



On 9 Jul 2003 19:48:58 -0700, (Jay Chan) wrote:

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

Yes it works. I give one dose a week to potted dwarf citrus and they
explode in leaves and blooms.

Sound very promising.

A waste of good tea. Better idea would be to dump the solid waste on
the lawn and make a garden.

I find my flower garden and vegetable garden demand a lot more of my
time than my lawn when taking the size of the garden and the lawn into
consideration. I don't think I will expand the size of the garden any
time soon.

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

Depends on what is composted

Great. This means I don't need to worry about the smell. I intend to
use the same stuff from my compost piles to make compost tea. If the
stuff isn't stinky in my compost piles, it will not be stinky in the
compost tea (provided that I make the compost tea correctly).

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?

Yes, no

I assume you suggest that I only need to use a 5-gal bucket. Thanks.

You dont need an expensive pump, as long as it's not left out for
several days. 5 minutes of dunking and stirring up the bag will be
enough. There's a very good chance debris would quickly clog the
filter, anyhow.

This is new to me. I thought we need to keep pumping air into the mix
in order to get good tea.

I didn't think of the possibility of clogging the filter either. I
wonder how people who use air pump avoid this problem. Thanks for the
warning.

- 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.

Sugar will attract predators, and especially ants.

I didn't think of the possibility of attracting ants. I will need to
put a moat around it. Thanks for the warning again.

I will get everything ready today, and hopefully I can get some
compost tea by this Sunday.

Jay Chan