I sometimes add a few ounces of smelly fish products like fish emulsion, fish meal, catfish feed, etc. to my 5-20 gallon aerated compost tea recipes. If you have enough rich aerobic mature compost, and a few ounces of molasses products, and plenty of constant aeration in your brewing container, you can aerate fishy compost tea with no problems. The right aerobic microbes can overpower the stinky anaerobic microbes in the aerated liquid. I do it a lot, and my finished brew smells like a pleasant, yeasty wine. Happy Gardening!

I bought a bottle of fish emulsion from the Tractor Supply Company..I didn't know there was a difference in brand or type..I just know that I love it and my plants haven't been greener and cleaner since..I even chased the white flies away from my gardenia bush and holly bushes with it..So now I spray in on just about everything..Roses, trees, bushes, and of course my herbs, veggies, and melons. I just have to be careful not to spray it on my parsley since I'm sharing it with some future swallowtail butterflies. Btwâ¦I had a horrible problem with slugs last year..They won't come near my plants nowâ¦I squirted one trying to go near a plant bed just to see what it would doâ¦It shriveled up..No wonder why they won't go near my plants now.. FE has given me a peace of mind..And my plants are all so happy..I can't believe my baby tomatoes that I've only planted two weeks ago are already blooming. So far my experience shows that it's an awesome fertilizer, a non toxic pesticide, and a slug repellent. I even read that it helps with diseases too. So I squirted stems, barks and branches as well as leaves with it on just about everything too. Everything looks healthier. Yep, FE is definitely a winner and a guarded secret that I refuse to let my neighbors know about..lol

Don't be a slave to numbers, unless it's fun for you. I get the impression from some of your postings here that you tend to stress out about all the little factoids of organic gardening and composting. (you've said you were going crazy over it in fact) People have been growing fantastic food without tracking the percentages of micronutrients since the dawn of time. The stuff that plants really need to grow can be found in...plants. They incorporate it into foliage, etc. Compost that stuff, and you should have what you need. You're right if you're thinking that some of those micronutrients are at levels that just probably won't help anything at the dilution rate for fertilizing as listed on the bottle (even "micro" nutrients have a level at which they're not really contributing). I love how everyone talks about the numbers of micronutrients in their products. Anyone know how many micronutrients are in a compost pile of shredded leaves and coffee grounds? How about just shredded leaves? I'm guessing lots. I'll guess "lots". I can't blame the companies that list numbers of micronutrients- from the number of people here that say "ooh- this one has 70!", or whatever- it seems to sell the product. Neptune's Harvest has a good reputation, so if they sell a little more, then good for them! I drove to Hampton Beach and picked up 2 kitchen bags of seaweed. Made a thick tea with some of it and composted the rest. Why did I get it at all? We were there (my little dogs love the beach). Free compostables. You could do the same and not worry about numbers- percentages matter little when you have lots of material (low percentage times larger amount still means more total nutrient added). Reports that I've read make all sorts of claims about disease resistance and other stuff for seaweed/kelp micronutrients. I don't have any plant disease problems, but hey- it was free and probably won't hurt.

Coastiemedic, You have me chuckling to myself. The fish oil that I'm thinking of would be cod liver oil -- what I'm trying to do is save some money. Attracting bugs may not be a bad thing--cause I don't find any on the trees except these huge grasshoppers in the summer and the bees. I get a little crazy when it comes to cleaning the area and leaves and all. Maybe I'll just start hosing the underside of the leaves instead of watering the ground. The only way I've found to get to the underside of leaves is to get inder a bunch of leaves with my forarm and raise the leaves that way and the hose in my right hand. If I'm feeling very determined, I'll even lay on my back to get under those leaves. I completely enjoy this obsessive behavier -- it just makes every other concern pale. Last year I figured that because I was spraying in the cool of the morning and the day temps. weren't hitting 90 yet, that it was ok to spray with this salad oil--here in Georgia -- near St Marys--there aren't any days below 80 say after April -- well, I could be a little off--, but as soon as the temps. were getting up there, down came the leaves. The combination of the heat and the salad oil had the leaves from the orange covering the ground. So glad I tried that on just one citrus. Almost all the leaves fell off. The leaves grew back nicely. Thanks coastie, I think I should wait to find out more on the subject of what oils I can use before I do anything. It's just that the spring flush is starting and I'm feeling anxious. Pat