I am under the impression that the purpose of applying ACT is to inoculate the garden with micro organisms (bacteria & fungi); not necessarily to fertilize. That being said a quick shopping list might be a small bag of worm castings, kelp solution, a small amount of your compost & grandma's molasses. The first 2 items are available in most better garden centers as well as various bags of compost . Add some alfalfa meal if you like; but broadcast that meal over the garden as this is the food for the micros.

Here is a link that might be useful: tea

tumblenes, thank you so much for the link to the Kitchen Gardener article. I don't subscribe to that particular magazine, but the same author had an article on this subject in Fine Gardening some years back but much abbreviated. This article is so much more informative - the other one just let you know how to set up the equipment, basically.

Since I don't want to go with store-bought compost, maybe I'll just use some soil from the wooded section of my property. It should have plenty of organic matter from leaves falling over the years, right?

Marianne

For the same reason not to use unfinished compost. This is a bit of grey area, but one might not want to chance the accelerated production of pathogens (this would be minimized with 150F+ composting process). There is also the argument that adding ACT is little use in garden soils low in organic matter (not enough "food" for the critters), in which case the choices are to fertilize (alfalfa tea is good for this, coffee grounds as well), mulch & produce compost. After a while the worms return.
certified TEA ingredients can be purchased via internet, but can be pricey.
These are my opinions, I donÂt own a microscope.
Good luck

If you can stand some more reading...a detailed practical 11 page PDF guide authored by Hall & Deuley. There are a few web pages of notes as well. I reread this and it seems that they experimented with store bought compost & worm castings, they mentioned brands (probably only local to texas).

Here is a link that might be useful: ACT tea instructions

in the afore mentioned site, Hall's notes mention alfalfa as and additive in small amounts:
"The other way to change things up is to add things to your recipe before you start the brew. First you might try using non-dechlorinated tap water instead of dechlorinating it first. Maybe you can get away with using fresh tap water and not going through the process of blowing out the chlorine. You can also try using molasses, milk, garlic juice, apple juice, flour, corn meal, alfalfa meal or pellets, etc. in your recipe at the beginning. As a starting point I would use 1/2 ounce of these additives per gallon of tea. Then take good notes and change your amounts as you see fit."

Why don't you want to go with store bought compost?

Store bought Cow manure (best grade) has given me the highest count of microbes of any compost I have used. Adding meal-sugar-apple sauce-any grain product as starter will help,but not much.
Good luck
Bill

Thanks all,

Tumblenes, thanks for that link to the Hall and Deuley tea maker. Really great information. I'm not much of a biology buff, so much of this is a bit incomprehensible to me, but the instructions are pretty thorough and seem to be doable for a newbie like myself.

Bill, how do I determine that a cow manure is "best grade"?

I just ordered 50 lbs of alfalfa pellets and I guess I could add some to my tea bag together with the well-rottet cow manure (that Bill suggested). Sorry to be such a complete duff, but how do I determine what's a microbe (if I look at it under a microscope?) and how many microbes is a good count? I should have paid more attention in Biology class, I guess!

I will also spread some pellets in the garden beds for fertilizer as long as they don't attract rabbits or deer!!!

Marianne

Worm poop is much better alternative than store bought compost, etc. You just know they are good no matter what unlike compost which you have to test for to make sure it is composted properly. I'm not sure about cow manure.

I play it safe by ordering pre-mix stuff from Keep it simple website. Their brewer is very good and so much easier to clean than Dueley ( i tried it but found it to be too much trouble trying to clean it every time). It has been tested many time and the results are always great so you just know what you are getting. it's worth the money for "premium" compost that have been tested many times.

It's just cheaper that way for me. It costs too much money to have samples tested to see if your compost tea came out great or horrible. That's why I don't recommend buying store bought compost. Get worm poop instead.

If you want to study the biology of soil, the book 'teaming with microbes' would be a good start. Every year I buy a small bag of worm castings and lobster compost (State O Maine brand). Also the Neptune bottles of fish & seaweed emulsions. Those together with my compost and coffee grounds and molasses in varing amounts and combinations I try to "play the field".

Here is a link that might be useful: a book

Lou: FWIW, where I live in Michigan local compost is made from our collected lawn waste, tree trimmings, etc., and mixed with a little manure. (There are quite a few "brands" nowadays.)

That compost is then bagged and sold for only $1.50 per 40lb bag. (Well, most of them are sold at this price.)

I always get good foaming from this stuff and when I apply it directly from the bag onto the soil the plants always do very well.

I know foaming doesn't prove the stuff is good but it is an indication that things probably/might be going well.

The true test for me is on the fruit trees which remain disease free when I spray with compost tea made with this locally produced bagged compost. (They were always disease prone before this treatment I started about 6 or 7 years ago, but I used to have to order my compost from Gardener's Supply or some other site with good compost. Not any longer though.)

So, you guys/gals might want to give store bought compost a try if you don't have your own. It is being made much better nowadays IMHO. Well, at least where I live. WAY BETTER IMHO.

One thing I do notice is I have to brew bagged compost longer to get good foaming than when I use fresh homemade compost. Fresh homemade compost is hard for me to find. I mulch or chip everything into the lawn/garden and don't make piles.

My two favorites are (1) Glacial Bay Compost/Manure made in Elsie, Michigan by Glacial Bay Soils and (2) Scotts Premium Humus and Manure - this stuff is $2.49 a bag though. (Both of these bagged composts are produced locally.)

Or you could buy the KIS packs, like Lou recommends, which I assume are VERY good.

Bill, I tried replying to the message you sent me by e-mail, but it was returned to me. I'll try again here since I don't want you to think I'm rude by not replying:

Hi Bill,

I got your e-mails (3 of them - so I guess it did work after all ;-)). You weren't wrong - I was asking for info on aerated CT - however, although I realize that one is a fertilizer and the other is micro organisms, I still don't see the difference in the end product: healthier plants. But then again, I'm a bit challenged when it comes to biology. Is the difference that one (just plain CT) improves the plant without necessarily doing anything for the soil and the other (AACT) improves the soil structure and therefore the plant?

Sorry to be so dim!
Marianne