How to Brew an Easy Compost Tea

Every gardener knows that using compost is one of the best things you can do for your plants. It provides a multitude of nutrients that encourage growth and promote plant health. Compost also helps to make plants more disease-resistant. You can use this same nutrient-rich compost to make a wonderful natural fertilizer for all of your plants, including your houseplants, by brewing up your own compost tea.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cloth or perforated vegetable bag
• 1 gallon of water
• Compost
• Bucket
• Jug
• Funnel

1. Put about a cup of compost in a cloth bag and close. You can also use a perforated plastic bag like the ones potatoes, grapes and other produce are sold in.

2. Place your bag of compost in a gallon of water in a bucket and let it steep for at least three days. For a stronger tea, allow it to steep longer.

3. Remove the bag of compost from the bucket. Using a funnel, pour the compost tea into a jug for easy use. Make sure your jug has a lid so the tea can be sealed for future use; milk jugs are perfect for this.

4. Use the compost tea full strength for occasional fertilizing. If you want to fertilize your plants more frequently, dilute the tea with water.

Tips & Warnings

• Container plants need to be fertilized more often than plants growing in the ground. Use compost tea on dry patches of your lawn, especially during drought periods.
• Do not use compost tea on foliage. Foliage can be burned if the tea is too strong.

References

• Susan A. Roth; New Complete Guide to Gardening; 1997.
• Anna Carr and the Staff of Organic Gardening Magazine, eds.; The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: 1978.

Resources

• Serious Composting for Serious Recycling