How to Make Aerated Aerobic Compost Tea at Home
If your lawn or garden has been afflicted with soil diseases or harmful bacteria, before you resort to potentially harmful chemical treatments try some all-natural compost tea. Compost tea allows you to give your lawn the same nutrients you give your vegetable garden when you work compost into the soil. This tea also allows you to inoculate your garden or lawn with beneficial microorganisms. Rather than dig up your sod to work compost into the soil, simply replace your water-soluble fertilizer with homemade compost tea. The tea will take about three days to make, so give yourself plenty of time. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Two 5-gallon buckets
- Medium aquarium or pond pump
- Extension cord (optional)
- Several feet of 1/2-inch plastic tubing
- Scissors or a sharp knife
- Gang valve
- Three air stones or bubblers
- Mature compost
- Hose and water source
- 1 ounce organic unsulfured molasses
- Stick
- Old pillowcase
Instructions
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Make Compost Tea
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1
Set up your materials in a place you can leave undisturbed for three days. Place the pump outside one of the buckets and verify that the power cord will reach an electrical outlet. Use an extension cord if necessary. Set the other bucket aside.
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2
Hang the gang valve on the side of the main bucket. Cut a length of tubing long enough to reach easily from the pump to the gang valve. Connect the tubing to the pump and gang valve.
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3
Cut three more lengths of tubing, long enough to reach comfortably from the gang valve to the inside bottom of the bucket. Connect these lengths of tubing to the gang valve. Push an air stone onto the loose end of each tubing.
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4
Fill the secondary bucket with water. Let it sit for an hour to dissipate any chlorine present in the water.
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5
Fill the primary bucket halfway with mature compost, burying the air stones.
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6
Fill the compost bucket to within 3 inches of the rim with the water that has been airing out in the other bucket. Rearrange the air stones so they sit loosely on the bottom of the bucket, under the compost and water mixture.
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7
Start the pump and let it run for a few minutes.
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8
Add 1 ounce of organic, unsulfured molasses to the compost mixture. Use the stick to stir vigorously. When the molasses is thoroughly mixed in, make sure the air stones are evenly placed around the bottom of the bucket.
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9
Give the tea a vigorous stir several times a day for three days.
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10
Place the old pillowcase inside the secondary bucket, folding the edges over the rim of the bucket. Pour the compost tea into the pillowcase to strain out solid material.
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11
Use the compost tea immediately. You can spray it directly on the leaves of the plants or soak the soil.
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1
Tips & Warnings
You can return the used compost solids to the compost pile, or use them as a mulch in the garden.
Be sure the tea is continuously aerated. If aeration stops, harmful anaerobic bacteria can develop that will harm your plants.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Colourful compost crock image by Shirley Hirst from Fotolia.com
