Manure Teas for use in the Garden

Someone raised the question about Manure Teas in the Tomato Forum and I have listed these link as resources.Perhaps you will find some helpful hinsts here. Enjoy!
Gary/Louisville

Manure tea

Manure tea is an incredibly beneficial tea for plants! It is made from manure and makes a tremendous liquid fertilizer. Here's how to make it:
Fill an old pillow case or rag with approximately 3-4 gallons of composted manure that is well-rotted. Get some from a farm or a zoo if you can.
Let this soak in a large plastic trash can of water for 24 hours. Remove the bag of manure.
Full article:
http://davesgarden.com/terms/go/565/


MANURE TEA - A liquid fertilizer made by mixing manures with water and filtering out. Pillow cases filled with cow or horse patooties and dunked in a pail of water.
MARGINAL PLANT - Plants that will grow on the edges of ponds or lakes and when cultivated will make nice plants around a water garden (i.e. iris).
Full article:
http://www.emilycompost.com/garden_glossary.htm


Manure Tea
Liquid fertilizer made by dissolving or soaking a quantity of manure in a large volume of water. Steep the mixture overnight or longer and use on such plants as primrose, delphiniums and foliage plants that tend to be nutrient hungry.
Full article:
http://www.comfycountrycreations.com/gardendictionary.htm


Manure tea can be diluted again, mixing 3 parts water to 1 part manure tea (it should look like very weak tea). Sprinkle or spray the super diluted manure tea over young transplants. This should help keep transplanted seedlings disease-free.
Full article:
http://www.icangarden.com/document.cfm?task=viewdetail&itemid=5022&categoryid=2


Before transplanting the tomatoes, work in at least an inch of compost into the bed. This should be enough nitrogen; too much will cause the plants to put on foliage with little fruit. Side dress with compost and water occasionally with “manure tea “ once the plants have produced walnut sized tomatoes.
Full article:
http://wv.essortment.com/plantingtomatoe_ozl.htm


I till the beds and let them settle for a week before applying about an inch of well-rotted manure or compost, which I work into the near-surface zone with the stirrup hoe. After harvesting leaves, I revive the plants with a weak fish or seaweed emulsion, or manure tea. I have a siphon gadget on my drip irrigation system that allows me to feed emulsion or filtered manure tea down the lines.
Full article: http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00018.asp



3) Wrap a good quantity of manure in a sheet or length of agricultural fleece; tie the bundle together at the top and suspend in a barrel of water. This will produce a manure tea for foliar feeding.
4) Collect your urine and, if you are confident that you are in good health, dilute at a rate of 1-20 and use as a foliar feed.
Full article:
http://www.greenchronicle.com/gardening/organic_feed.htm



Feed your plants liquid manure tea, or organic manure, and grass clippings (weed free only). Fertilizers are labeled with the percentage of N-K-P. Hostas need a high level of N (nitrogen) for good stem and leaf development.
Full article:
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/enabling_garden/4294


Gardeners have been making compost and manure tea for many years -- probably even for many centuries. Compost tea is easier to apply than dry compost and it's also a good way to make a small amount of compost go much further. Brewing methods are typically very low-tech: Put some compost in a bucket with water, let it sit for a few days and then apply.
Full article:
http://www.vg.com/gardening/content.asp?copy_id=5403


During the second 60 days, the fruit may grow 8 to 20 pounds per day. To fuel that growth, "organic gardeners can feed with manure tea or compost tea after the fruit is set," Dill says. Weekly feeding is essential for growing giant pumpkins.
Full article:
http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-5-16-164,00.html


Herbs tend to like things on the dry side. Poke your finger in the pot and water when soil is dry about one knuckle deep. Caution: containers exposed to wind and sun dry out amazingly fast. Add an all-purpose granulated fertilizer to water every month or so. Organic gardeners can use manure tea. (For less mess, try the clever new manure tea bags.)
Full article: http://www.gardenforever.com/pages/tipsHerbs.htm


Set transplants about 24 inches apart. After transplanting, fertilize with a weak solution of water-soluble fertilizer or manure tea. Fertilize again about four weeks later. Water regularly through the growing season. Hot, dry weather, minimal irrigation and minimal fertilizer promotes increased capsaicin development. Excessive watering promotes root diseases, especially in clay soils.
Full article:
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/VegFruit/chiles.htm


Be sure to take the mulch off soon after spears start emerging. If you don't they will curl. As they are emerging, feed them with lots of nitrogen. I like to use seaweed tea but there are so many good forms of nitrogen you can use, such as compost tea, manure tea or chemical urea.
Full article: http://www.i5ive.com/article.cfm/perennials/24819


Work this material into the soil well before planting. Coax your plants along during the growing season with a little "manure tea." Prepare this brew by letting rainwater collect in a barrel filled with well-rotted livestock manure.
Full article:
http://www.gardenguides.com/articles/broccoli.htm


Add 1 tablespoon powdered phosphate rock and granite dust (greensand or potash) each to each mixture for each pot. This replaces the need to use chemicals or manure tea in potted plants.
Charcoal added to either mix keeps the soil sweet and improves drainage.
Scoop up a handful of the soil mix and squeeze.
Full article: http://www.amagickgarden.com/pages/amgpages/amgHPpotting.html

http://en.mimi.hu/gardening/manure_tea.html




How to Make Manure Tea
http://www.ehow.com/how_14654_make-manure-tea.html

Compost, manure teas are easy to make, may suppress diseases
http://www.detnews.com/2003/garden/0308/08/e08-220447.htm

Wake Up Your Garden with Compost Tea
http://www.gardeners.com/gardening/content.asp?copy_id=5026

How To Make A Compost --- A Composting Guide
http://www.compostguide.com/

Notes on Compost Teas
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/compost-tea-notes.html

This is Excellent!

Thank you VGMKY, very much.

Found your reply here on "vegetable gardening" also, Gary. I probably should have posted my query on THIS forum instead of the "tomato forum" since it is of interest to ALL gardeners, not just tomato gardeners. Thanks again for your wonderfully complete input!!

A note from a Gardening friend who uses Compost Tea.
Gary,

Thanks for all the links! I've been using *aerated* compost tea as a foliar
feed and soil drench for a couple of years now and have noticed a remarkable
reduction in disease and insect damage to all the veggies and roses. I've
also noticed I don't have to water as often and the plants are doing much
better with bigger yields than when I was using anaerobic compost tea. I
make my own aerobic tea with worm castings, molasses, fish emulsion, liquid
seaweed, apple cider vinegar, Medina Plus & Epson salt. If I want a little
extra N boost, I'll throw in some alfalfa pellets (be sure to get the *NON*
medicated... Some manufacturers add medication for rabbits). I put the
solids in a cheese cloth bag, suspend it in a 5 gallon bucket of
non-chlorinated water (I use reverse osmosis water if I don't have enough
rain water stored but any good, clean water that doesn't have chlorine or
fluoride in it would work), drop a fish aquarium bubbler (not the one that
does micro bubble but kindof medium-size bubbles...micro bubbles shatter the
fungal hyphae) into the bucket and let it "brew" for 3-4 days. It's done
when it smells kindof like bread dough does... Kindof "yeasty" and it'll
have a bit of foam on top. Strain it well... Either through old panty hose
or cheese cloth, depending on if you're going to use a watering can or pump
sprayer, and apply within 4 hours from the time you turned off the pump.
Throw the bag of stuff you soaked into the compost pile and you'll give your
compost pile a real shot in the arm with all those beneficial aerobic
bacteria.

I know it sounds a bit complicated but it's really not rocket science and
this is *incredible* stuff!

You might want to check out:
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/organic/2002082739009975.html - This is
"What are the Benefits of Aerated Compost Teas vs. Classic Teas?"

Another one you might want to look at is SoilWeb:
http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/approach_pgs/c_01_understand_why.html
- EXCELLENT source of information for the organic gardener on things to do
with soil. Sometimes a bit technical but worthy of study even for the
non-techie (me). Pay special attention to the information about adding too
much sugar (molasses) which makes *too* many beneficial bacteria which may
actually stunt the plants by making the stomata stay open too long.

http://www.commonsensecare.com/making-compost-tea.html - has a reprint of
an excellent article from ACRESUSA on aerated compost tea.

My Grandfather used to say my Grandmother could put a yardstick in the dirt
and it'd grow... She was an organic gardener before they knew what "organic"
was and always had bigger, prettier tomatoes & veggies than anyone else
around.... Funny how they're finding out some of the "old fashioned" ways
are the best ways to grow plants.

Happy gardening!
Pat

gary - by now i shouldn't be surprised by your posting all this info, but as always, i am. thanks

Thanks again. And thanks for the dmail.

I asked Pat to provide some measurements to get an idea of just how much to use in the making of the Manure Tea. Sometimes in cooking we know from experience but for beginners it is always helpful to have some guidelines. Enjoy!
Gary/Louisville

I start with about a shovel-full of worm castings in the bag. If I'm going
to add alfalfa pellets, I'll mix in a good handful, probably 1 - 1 1/2 C,
then mix in 1 - 2 Tbl Epson Salt.

In the 5-gallon bucket, I start with 1/2 to 2/3 full of reverse osmosis
water or rain water. To that I'll add:

2-3 Tbls molasses (you can also use about the same amount of brown sugar or
corn syrup but I like the molasses that you get from the feed store... Just
my quirk I guess). If you're going to brew it for more than 3 days, add
another 1-2 Tbls then brew another couple of days to make sure the sugar is
all dissolved before application.
1/4 - 1/2 C fish emulsion
1 - 2 Tbl apple cider vinegar
1/2 - 3/4 C liquid seaweed
3/4 - 1 C Medina Plus (If Medina Plus isn't available in your area, you can
order it from [HYPERLINK@medina.theshoppe.com] This is *very* cool
stuff. I use a lot of their products.

Gently stir the liquids together then drop in an aquarium bubbler... Not the
micro-bubble bubbler but one that had kindof medium bubbles. Suspend the
bag in the bucket then fill with water until it's almost full. Brew until
it smells good and "yeasty" and has a good "crop" of foam on top.

Hope this helps. Happy gardening!
Pat