A smelly compost tea question

If I add hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) to a tub of smelly compost tea am I doing a good thing because the hp adds oxygen and will reduce the smell --- or --- am I doing a bad thing because the antiseptic property of the hp will kill the microbial good guys in the tea? And yes, I know that aerating the tea with an aquarium air pump and air stones will also help control the smell.

I doubt the addition of H2O2 will reduce the smell of your compost tea. You'd really have to add quite a bit of it to kill any microbial life, especially if you are using "off the shelf" 3%.

Are you making compost "leach"? That stuff will often smell bad (to most people); I just put it somewhere that it doesn't become overbearing. If it smells really strong it may be that it's time to go ahead and dilute it and use it or bottle it for later use.

Sure is fun making the stuff though, eh!?

Thanks for the help, HorseShoe. Yes, I am using 3% drugstore hp. I am brewing the manure compost/alphafa meal compost tea in my greenhouse which is attached (lean-to) to our house --- so the smell is problematic when it gets into the house. Can't brew it outdoors because of Ohio winter weather. Never thought about bottling it --- good idea. When it starts smelling bad, does that mean it is ready to use?

Yep, I'd use that as a signal!

When I make simple manure leach/compost leach you will even gain benefit from using it after as little as 15 minutes...it'll be weak but still useful. Letting it steep longer will give you a stronger batch though and of course than can be diluted down to whatever ratio you prefer. (I dilute it down till it's the color of weak tea.) (Drinking tea.)

You could also tie a plastic garbage bag over the top of your container to hold in the "aroma" if you like; that should make things more bearable if you choose to let it steep a long time.

I used to make and sell manure tea from rabbit droppings...let it steep to my liking then dilute it down and put it in milk jugs. People at the mkts would buy it for $2./gallon. Being capped, it would only let the microbial life exist for a short while but yet the nutrients from the compost/manure still were still there. (Don't store your gallon jugs in the sun...man, can those babies blow up!) Pewww....