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Soil, Compost & Mulch

First batch of compost tea

16 years ago

I bought the supplies to make a Dueley's Compost Tea maker at the store the other day and I'm excited about the possibilites of compost tea. I am a little worried about introducing pathogens to my soil though. I'm new to composting and my current batch is only my second batch.

I've researched pretty extensively and I've done a good job with my compost I think. My main ingredients have been shredded paper from the office and grass clippings from my yard. I also use our kitchen scraps, comprised of vegetable scraps, paper towels from the kitchen, coffee grounds with filters, tea bags, a little leftover bread-pasta-rice type products(although I'm avoiding these more lately), egg shells and that's the bulk of it. I have used no meat products and have avoided dairy and oils. Recently, I discovered Starbucks as a bulk source of coffee grounds and added a bunch of those a few days ago.

My pile has been built over a period of about two months. It has heated and shrank repeatedly over this time. I've turned it and added stuff along the way. It's amazing how small the pile gets considering how big it would be if I could have added everything at once.

We've gotten a lot of rain recently so the pile is soaked. I think I'm going to moved it to another spot, and rebuild it, adding thin layers of coffee grounds, shredded grass, and shredded paper throughout. Then I'm going to let it mellow for a couple weeks and hope it drys some. It should be perfect then.

MY QUESTION:

I really want to make some tea now though. Do you think I could pick through my pile to get some stuff that looks finished and brew a batch. Is it too risky? Could I do major damage if I used it a foilar spray?

Thanks,

Pete

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Comments (5)

blutranes
16 years ago
I would suggest you stop adding ingredients to the pile and let what you have finish composting before using it in a tea. The chance of adding raw material is high since you have not allowed what you have already to completely finish composting. Once it has decomposed enough for most of the ingredients to not be recognizable the compost should be ready to use in either a tea or added to the soil.

I am sure you are eager to get a batch brewing, however, I feel it would be better to have finished compost in your tea to limit risk of creating something you may not want on your plants. If possible, start a new pile of compost and let the old pile complete the process. My experience with compost tea would be to follow that direction to be on the safe sideÂ

Blutranes
digdirt2
16 years ago
I would agree that your pile needs to finish first. ;) But if you are anxious to start the tea then invest in a small bag of quality, non-manured, finished compost to brew with. It is readily available and it doesn't take much for tea.

Dave
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suburbangreen
Original Author
16 years ago
I went ahead and moved the pile to a finishing location. I decided to definitely wait. We've getting torrential rains so the pile was soaking wet and smelled almost like sewage.
I added layered it some shredded paper, fresh grass clippings and a little coffee. Most importantly I put a tarp over the compost bin so it won't get anymore rain. We'll see what happens.

Pete
arjo_reich
16 years ago
I would cut down on the quantity of green's if it's starting to smell bad. Also, the tarp on top may reduce airflow causing it to become more anaerobic - which is going to give you more of that ammonia smell...

If I recall correctly, that is...
gumby_ct
16 years ago
I 2nd the thought of buying a bag of composted manure but I don't think your compost will be poison either. Have you heard about lasagna gardening? That stuff is not quite finished either.

Your garden, your call!

Good Luck,
Gumby_CT

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasagna Gardening 101

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