How to Make Your Own Compost Tea

With the high cost of fertilizer and other chemicals for the lawn and garden and the need to go green, why not make your own compost tea. Harsh chemicals on the lawn are not safe for animals or us as humans. My husband started making his own compost tea and we would like to share the information with you. Here are the steps to make your own compost tea.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2 (5) gallon buckets
• Compost
• Fish tank areator with 2 ports
• Water
• Unsulfered molasse
• cheese cloth

1. 
    

   Prepare water in a 5 gallon bucket. Fill tap water almost to the top. 3/4 full. It is best to let the water stand for a couple of days so that the chlorine evaporates.

2. After water is ready add in one pound of compost into the 5 gallon bucket. We do this ourselves as well. We make our own compost. It is actually very simple. You do not have to have a large area for this. Try just putting old leaves, old garden and garbage scraps in a pile. Then add in 1 oz of un sulfured molasses to the 5 gallon bucket.

3. 
    

   Place the small fish tank aerator into the bucket and turn it on. I think the fish tank aerator cost less than $10.00. Let it run for three days and make sure that you stir it once a day. This allows time for the micro-organisms to grow.

4. Take a cheese cloth and drain the compost from the water into another 5 gallon bucket. You can even transfer this to a sprayer and spray on flowers and vegetables. Use the tea within 48 hours for best results. This is much better for the plants than Miracle-gro or any other chemical. It is all natural. Watch your plants come to life.

Tips & Warnings

• You can spray this directly on the plants. It will not hurt them.
• It is best to do this in a covered area such as a garage.
• Keep all electrical devices out of the way of small children and animals.
• You might have a slight odor when it is bubbling.

[tadhussey]

on 7/27/2009 You want at least .08 cfm/gal. to keep the oxygen levels maintained for the entire brewing cycle.

[apalmer]

on 6/15/2009 I'm going to pass your compost tea recipe onto our gardening class. Thanks for sharing it!