Aging compost tea?

I have a 30 gal batch of composted-manure/alphafa-pellets compost tea brewing/aerating. Most discussions I have read on the subject talk about letting the tea brew anywhere from overnight to a few days before using it. What happens if I let the tea brew/aerate for a week or two (or longer) before using it? Is the tea getting stronger/better with time? Or is the tea going to "spoil" --- i.e., are the microbial good guys going to start to die off? Thanks for your help.

YardenMan,

My understanding on this subject is that the aerobic activity takes anywhere from 3 to 5 days to reach its peak. After that the populations begin to decline and the tea becomes less effective.

If the tea gets old, anaerobic bacteria will take over which is not necessarily a bad thing for your plants, but not as beneficial as aerobic.

Good Gardening!

Aubrey

Mr. Gardener (Aubrey) --- how can the brewing tea go anaerobic while I have the aerating air pumps going full tilt brewing the tea? I intuitively can understand that if I were making the compost tea by simply dumping a batch of finished compost into 30 gal of water and just letting it sit there/steep then the brew would go anaerobic. But while the whole surface is churning with air bubbles?

I may have worded that badly.

Aerobic microbe populations will build, peak at three to five days, and then begin to decline.

As far as anerobic (this is where I goofed up), that will not happen as long as you have the aeration happening. If it just sits there with no aeration it goes anaerobic which, again, is not necessarily harmfu, but just not as beneficial as the aerobic.

Is that clear as mud now??

Aubrey

Certainly as clear as manure tea....

It all sounds very complex, when all *I* do is put some manure in a mesh bag, sit it in a 5-gal pail of water for a 3-4 days, then pull it out and put it in the compost pile. I dilute the resulting "tea" depending on how darkly coloured it is.

Maybe I'm not getting good quality tea? The plants all seem happy. This is manure that has been sitting out in a field for a while. The amount of dilution is directly related to how old the manure is. It's all guesswork--I don't exactly walk behind the horses with a pooper scooper! I haven't burned anything yet, but I wonder if I should get more scientific about it all?

You can make a very good home made system for less than twenty bucks using a bucket, an aquarium air pump, airline, and an aquarium "bubbler" (air stone). It's actually kind of fun to make and gives you a great product. It also makes your compost or manure go a long way cus you don't use as much. (I like to use my worm castings.)

I've also made "weed tea" (weed leach) over the years with excellent results.

YardenMan...if you let the tea bubble/brew more than a few days the active bacteria run out of a food supply and begin to dwindle, eventually dying off. If you want to brew for long periods of time (not really necessary) you can either add a bit more compost or unsulphered molasses to give the bacteria a food source.

Thanks to all that replied.

Horseshoe: My conclusion is that I can keep brewing the compost tea as long as I keep the air bubbles going and feed the microbial good guys with a shot of molasses every 3 days or so. My understanding is that as long a there is a foamy head (similar to foam head on a mug of beer) on the brewing tea, then all is well. I have also read that high sugar content soda or corn meal can also be used to feed the good guys as an alternative to the syrupy/messy molasses --- is that correct? Please feel free to critique any or all of the above. I am on a steep learning curve here regarding brewing compost tea. PS: my setup is exactly as you described in your posting but on a bigger scale.

PS: I forgot to mention that I do a lot of business travelling, so I am in a situation that when I finally get home I want to use the tea -- I don't have the time to wait the 3 days or so to have it be in peak condition. As far a feeding the good guys, if I were to ask the kids to put a can of soda in the tea every other day while I am away, I think they would think it to be a "fun" chore and actually do it !!!

I've been wondering about making aerobic compost tea, after seeing it on Gardening By The Yard on HGTV. It did look pretty easy, thanks for a list of the supplies, Horseshoe. Now, can you tell me how to set it up? Do I have to keep it always set up, or is it just a matter of getting the thing out whenever you're going to make some? Do you have to have a really large container (I have a small yard)?

Thanks in advance.

Shoe, that weed leach sounds interesting. Any specific weeds?

I imagine nettles would be pretty good, and I certainly have an abundant supply of them! (I'm always excited in early spring as they are the first greens to show, and we love them steamed)

YardenMan..yes, as long as you keep a food source in your brewing tea you can keep the bacteria alive and at work. As for having the kids add a can of soda...well, not sure what kind of soda you'd use unless you were gonna add molasses, cornmeal, or the like to it. For your personal situation though (traveling) I wonder how it would work if you got your batch put together (water in your container, "tea bag" suspended in it, pump and such all set up ready to roll) and the day before you come home just have the kids flick the ON switch and drop in a pre-measured amount of molasses. That way you won't have to bubble your stuff for days on end and you'll only have to run your pump for a day or so. The children would still enjoy being a part of things and you'd have a finished product ready to use when you arrived home. Would that be feasible?

Maggiemoo...I think you'd enjoy making compost tea. As for setting it up, to save my re-typing it, here are some links to previous threads here at DG with lots of good info.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/388148/
This is the link with good tips, equipment required, etc. It also has some links to others sites/info.

This one refers to the 55 gallon "Soaker hose/air compressor" scenario.

As for keeping it set up, NOPE! That's one of the great things about this. With just a five gallon bucket system you have the setup of a fantastic system that is super easy to set up, operate, doesn't require much ingredients, electricity, is compact and out of the way, and makes quite a judicial amount of finished product. (Remember, you can take the five gallons of finished solution and dilute it down to ten times, if you choose, thereby making 50 gallons of final product.)

As for cleaning it before putting it away...simply rinse out the bucket, rinse off the air hose and air rock, and be done with it. (Store your pump, hose, and rock in the bucket and set it aside, all in one neat pkg.)

Chilko...as for the weed tea, I first started experimenting with it in '86 or '87. (Ya'll think I'm a miser now...hehehe, I was KING MISEZR back then! I was looking for nutrient sources in every area of life that I could find and didn't wanna spend money to find them!) ;>)

I started out with ten different weeds. Now I'm happy with the results of using only three. My personal preferences are lambquarters, ragweed, and pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus), however whatever is rampant in your area will be equally beneficial. Many of these weeds grow fantastic root systems, some digging deep into Ma Earth and bringing up nutrients from far below, some spreading out and covering quite a large area horizontally, garnering nutrients that are available at a higher level. These three that I've listed also grow tall, 3 to 6 ft, and provide ample green matter. Keeping all this in mind, remember that one of the reasons people dislike weeds in their gardens are cus they "steal nutrients". That being the case then why not utilize them, eh?)

Because many weeds are considered invasive (especially in our flower and veggie gardens), it is of the utmost importance to use weeds that do not show signs of begatting seeds. If they are flowering that is fine but if the flowers are turning to seed pods, etc, either pick those off or just don't use them. Often-times there will be another weed or green source that will substitue just fine.

Yes! Nettles would be a great leach ingredient. I think I'd like to eat them though!!

I have a Mantis Tumbler and keep a bucket under it to catch the drips. It does a slow drip of black syrup at the seam and I dilute this stuff and use it from time to time to water with. I never thought of it getting "too old", I just thought the older, the better?? What do you think? I never noticed it foaming.

Howdy Azalea...nice to see ya! :>)

In your case, collecting the liquid from your composter, it won't foam. It is only when you aerate the liquid and add other ingredients (molasses, etc) that you'll see it foam up. Your "drip collection" is primo stuff. Keep on collecting it. Keep on compostin'!

Azalea,
I use two ComposTumbler's and I also get plently of drippings. I use those drippings in my 55 gallon brewing systems for the extra boost or dilute 10 to 1 for spraying in my compost tumbler's to speed up the composting process or spraying on the lawn area's and flower/bush/veggie garden area's.

Oh thanks, I knew it must be good stuff, just didn't know how much to dilute it.

Shoe--thanks for the ideas, great use for my lamb's quarters and pigweed. ( I eat them when they're young, too, but nettles are the best--just a touch of lemon juice, no dairy because of the oxalic acid)

I think I'll get a spigot for my 45-gal plastic drum, and really get serious about this!

Hmmm...will have to give them a try with the lemon juice. Sounds delish!
Thanks for the tip.

Hi ya'll! This thread is just too good to let it go. I have a question on a new twist. If you don't already follow the Tomato forum, there was recently a post by someone saying that her mother grew incredible tomatoes with a tea made from chicken manure. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/512386/ I'm trying to give you the link - I hope I did that right.

I have a plastic barrel (55 gal I think) that I would like to use for compost/manure tea. I have cooperative chickens, too! I am wondering how long the chicken manure tea needs to age? How can I tell when it is ready to use? I am hoping to use it on all of the veggies in my garden. Anybody here ever try this manure tea??