How can I make Aerated Compost Tea?

I am looking for a simple inexpensive way to make aerated compost tea.
Does anyone have some information or made one yourself?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Josephine,

I just made one this week with an aquarium pump and a bucket. I didn't cover it since there is no mosquito action in the garage, I essentially made the Dueley's tea brewer without the lid.

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/G00030_p3.asp
http://dchall.home.texas.net/organic/teamaker/PDFs/brewer.pdf

Hope these help!

Wow! Thank you very much, that was exactly what I needed.
I have made compost tea before, but not the aerated kind, and i wanted to give it a try.
We will probably put it together this weekend, thank you very much again.
Josephine.

You can get a really cheap pump at Wally-World....I have done this just make sure you use the GFI plug outside or mother nature may turn it off for a few days for you if the weather is bad.....lol

You can aerate the tea without buying stones and splitters. Just get a pond pump and attach it to a half-inch hose and put a "water wand" (with a rosette) at the end. The metal "wand" stays at the bottom of the bucket without the use of stones or weights. You don't need splitters 'cause the volume of air just keeps the whole thing churning vigorously.

With this system you don't need to put your ingredients in a "tea bag" because the water wand rosette can't get clogged.

frostweed, one other thing I use is an aquarium heater, I keep the temp at 75%f, but I see you live in Texas where it's pretty warm anyway. here in the Northwest it's better to heat the brew for more microbes. hostajim1

What happens to compost tea if you use compost that isn't totally composted? I think mine still has to go through the aging process but has cooled down considerably.

bev_w,

That idea sounds good, but I have two questions:
1. Are you pumping air or the tea with the pond pump?
2. Wouldn't the pond pump burn out quickly just pumping air or are they designed for that?

Hi Jefequicktech,

I shouldn't have said "pond pump"-- I meant a simple compressor pump that pumps air. If you can find a cheap one that takes a larger diameter hose, you don't need to adapt the hose size to get it to fit your water wand.

I saw this setup in a "professional" aerator that was being marketed to golf course managers and other institutional buyers. The pump they used was pretty powerful-- and quiet. The force of the air blowing out the bottom of the wand was powerful enough to churn up the water in a four foot deep barrel.

If you have a pond pump on hand, you could probably turn your rain barrel into a tea bubbler. You'd need to suspend the pump so it doesn't rest on the bottom of the barrel. That way, sediment doesn't clog up the intake. We do this with the pump in our little pond and it really makes the pump trouble free. If you put your "tea" ingredients inside of a cheesecloth bag you don't need to worry about the particles getting into the pump. I've not tried this on my own rain barrel-- I'm just thinking that it could be done.

What do you think?

Right. I get it now. A small quiet air compressor would be very effective with the setup you mention. The ideal setup would be a small windmill to aerate the tea.

The conclusions you reached regarding the pond pump sound reasonable.

Q: I always hear about people using cheesecloth, but where do you purchase such a thing?

This message was edited Apr 6, 2006 3:33 PM

Any hardware store or upscale grocery store would carry cheesecloth. But an old piece of Reemay or other row cover works fine for this, too.

Jefe, although I seldom push Walmart you can find cheesecloth there very cheaply. It'll be in the fabric section. I'm sure Target or other places would have it as well. (Fabric stores, even?)

Shoe.

Yep, fabric stores.

Last night I was buying some $.10 seed at my local down-the-street hardware store. I told my wife I was looking for cheesecloth for a "project". She found it within, oh, I don't know, maybe 15 seconds! What a shock. I can't find anything in the refrigerator either.

Goodness, Jefe. Not even the beer?

This is the first year I'm going to do the aerated compost tea (I hope). Thanks for the thread!

OK....Maybe I shouldn't have said I can't find "anything". I should have said I have trouble finding "many things". I can usually locate the beer and the hot sauce quite easily.

This is a good thread. Thanks for the tips everyone.

Hello Everyone, I finally put my aerated compost tea bucket together and it is working great!
I will have a full report when it is finished, this is the secind day and this morning it had a lovely head of foam on it and it was bubling away.I am very excited.
I also wanted to tell you all that I went looking for cheese cloth at Walmart, but i found that it is very flimsy, so I looked some more, and found some tulle, that is fine nylon net, like for veils, but not as superfine, and it is cheaper and stronger than the cheese cloth, so I git 2 yards at 99 cents each, which should last me a very long time since it can be reused.
Josephine.

Tulle? How does it compare to nylon hose? I'm always open to new material.

It is very strong and you can just cut a square piece and use it, then it is very easy to rinse off.. I will post a picture when the process is finished.
Josephine.

Well Guys, this is how we made the aerated compost tea.
We got a 10 gallon capacity aquarium pump with three hoses and three filter stones from Petsmart for $13.00. We already had the 5 gallon bucket.
Here is the bucket 3/4 full of water from the faucet. We let the buble 24 hours to get rid of the chlorine.

Here is the homemade compost and the molases to be added.

Adding the compost. A one gallon pot full. We did this in the garage.

Adding the molasses, 1/4 cupful.

Stirring the mix, with a broomstick, it was handy.

The first day. just bubbles.

The second day, foam is forming, smell nice and yeasty.

The third day, full of foam, and ready to strain.

We went to the patio to do the straining. Here is the 25 inch tulle square and the strainer. The tulle worked superb, it strained everything great and it rinsed off totally clean for another use.

Straining the tea, it looks black and rich, we used it full strength.

These are some of the plants that we gave the tea, they look rather yellow.
We sprayed and soil saturared them, 4-23-06
We will look at them again in two weeks and see what difference it made.

One more group, for good measure.
And that's all folks!

Another option for aeration:

I was in K-Mart recently, and in the sporting goods section I saw battery operated live-well aerators--you know, used for keeping the fish you catch alive longer. They were selling for about $6 apiece.

So if outdoor electricity is a challenge, or you don't want the tea brewing so close to the house, there's another option out there besides aquarium pumps.

frostweed,

Thanks a lot for the photo journal. That was very helpful.

Great pics, Frostweed! You should add them to your journal so people will have an easy link to view them there (as well as here).

As for me, I prefer to put my compost or vermipost IN the tulle (or reemay) and let it all brew while it is suspended in the bucket. It really makes it much easier to use the final product, i.e., much less straining, and you'll not notice any difference in it. (As for using it full strength, I might do that for a ground drench but if you dilute it then it will go much farther and still give you all the wonderful benefits of the tea.)

whynotsb, good suggestion. That would work great for people who are doing this in outbuildings or barns that aren't wired for AC. Thanks! And by the way, not sure if I've ever offered you a "Hearty WELCOME TO DG!"

See ya'll 'round the site!
Shoe.

Thank you very much guys, it is nice to know about the battery operated pump.
Next time I make tea I will try tyeing the compost inside the tulle square, and see how that works out, I am sure it will be easier, but I don't know if I will get as many nutrients extracted that way.
I will also post the pictures on my garden diary as you suggested, I think it is a good idea, but I am going to wait until he second pictures of the plants are ready.
Thank you for all the help. I was a lot of fun.
Josephine.

Thank YOU for sharing, Josephine. Your pics really will help lots of people understand the process. Ya done good! :>)

As for the "compost in a bag" system, many tea brewers recommend that it be in a bag and the bag suspended just at the water level or just above...this is what encourages the aerobic bacteria to kick in and "begat" (as opposed to anerobic bacteria that are mainly underwater in a leach-type solution).

When I use "vermi-post" (worm castings/compost) I tend to only use about two big handfuls. Perhaps you could get by using less compost as well? Would be a good experiment but then again, I guess to know for sure we'd have to have lots of analytical equipment to read the results? Sheesh...we could knock our heads out trying to figure this all out, eh? :>)

Again, thanks! Luv it!
Shoe.

I have been suspending my compost (only about 3-4 cups worth) within a bag too. I use small clothes washing bags intended for delicates, they have zippers so really easy to use. I also put an air stone inside the bag (so that the compost is aerated too) and then the other suspended as low in the bucket as I can get it to go. I don't need to strain it that way and it is usually the color of a cup of earl grey tea. Is this the right color?

I am using the dry molasses (intended for farm consumption), does anyone know how much of the molasses to add to 20 gallons of water?

Your setup sounds a bit like the Deuley’s brewer at the second link on the second post at the top. The recipes I've seen call for anyting from one to three tbsp. unsulphered liquid molasses to a five gallon pail, so I guess you can use that as a starting point to extrapolate and experiment.

Well, these pictures were taken 2 weeks after the compost tea was applied. I see no improvement in the plant in the center, the plant on the right looks much improved and the one on the left just slightly improved. All in all, not as much improvement as I had anticipated. I will take a picture again two weeks from now, and see what happens. Any comments?

The seedlings are much improved in color also.