How to Apply Compost Tea
Most gardeners appreciate the value of rich, black compost for amending soil. Many gardeners have also come to appreciate a product of compost called "compost tea." Make compost tea by adding water to rich compost and allowing this mixture to steep for up to one week. After the compost tea steeps, strain the compost from the water and apply the tea to both outdoor and indoor plants. Compost tea has benefits when used as a foliage spray and as a soil amendment. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Compost tea
- Watering can
- Garden hose
- Hose-end spray attachment
- Spray bottle
Instructions
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Pour full-strength compost tea onto the soil of your indoor plants. Use compost tea on indoor plants once per week as a beneficial source of nutrients. Many gardeners replace plain water with compost tea and water their indoor plants once per week with compost tea.
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Dilute compost tea by combining one part compost tea and one part water. Pour the diluted compost tea into a hose-end spray attachment. Apply the compost tea onto lawns once per month during the summer.
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Add full-strength compost tea to the soil around newly planted outdoor plants to give them a beneficial head start.
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Use compost tea full strength on established garden plants. Pour the compost directly onto the soil around the plants. Apply compost tea to garden plants as often as once per week.
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Fill a spray bottle with compost tea and use it to spray plant foliage. Spray the plant foliage early in the morning or in the evening near dusk to minimize strong sunlight from shining on the microorganisms of the compost tea on the foliage. Spray the compost tea on plant foliage once or twice per month to control garden pests and attract beneficial insects to a growing area.
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Tips & Warnings
Apply compost tea to your growing area and plants within four hours of straining it. This is because the microorganisms that are living in the tea will become ineffective and dormant quickly.
