I can't rememer the name, but someone on my FB garden group used to sell compost tea bags. I'll try to find the name.

ETA: Here it is. She calls it moo poo. It's made from composted cow manure.

moo poo tea bags

Thanks for locating that for me Dirty! :)

I hate to say it, but I can't afford to pay $13 for three tea bags that make three five gallon buckets of tea. :( I need something more affordable.

I may have to learn how to do this myself. I just know how my body is ... as soon as I get something brewing I won't be able to get outside for two weeks .. not to mention that a five gallon bucket of fermenting goop is way too heavy for me to maneuver.

Whether ACT's actually deliver what they claim is questionable as very few living soil gardners even use them any more ... You could take that tea bag and spread it thinly over your soil and water in, Adding Quality compost to your soil and watering in is as effective as using ACTs... Or even better find a Quality vermicompost and do the same thing

There are some easy ways to encourage a healthy living soil .. .. using fresh or reconstituted Coconut water Aloe vera , and fulvic / humic acids when you water, Making a sprouted seed tea SST or My favorite is freshly ground Malted barley tea watered in the soil. They all encourage increased microbial action.

This is assuming you have built a living soil and your not using salt based fertilizers which discourage Microbial activity....

These are all simple things anyone can do and dont require expensive equipment or long brewing times ...

Thanks Dirty! I have a bag of black hen and was wondering if I could make a compost tea out of that, but wasn't sure. I googled it and only found recipes to make compost and or compost tea from your own compost. I can't manage a compost pile and brew five gallon buckets of stuff. It's just really too much for me physically.

I can certainly sew some tea bags too ... great idea! Yeah, I use one gallon containers too ... can't handle five gallon buckets either. Thanks for the great ideas.

I do spread, purchased, compost onto my plants Red and have lots of worms because I use leaves as mulch. I only use organic fertilizers and I have lots of very nice, healthy, soil. I just wanted an easy fertilizer boost for potted vegetables or a single plant here and there.

It's not just the expense, but my physical limitations ... I can no longer tote that barge or lift that bale. lol I need cheap (preferably free) and easy. Thanks for the suggestions though.

I certainly understand physical limitations! I walked two blocks to the Dollar General and back today and I'm wiped out. Got heart palpitations from just sweeping and damp mopping the floor. We do what we can. Lifting all those heavy bags of compost is just too much for me anymore, thus the permaculture practices. I can lift leaves! LOL

Red, I use compost tea mostly for container plants. It works pretty well, considering. Black Kow is the only brand I trust after reading how a lot of the cheap stuff is made with sewer sludge, which is legally allowed to be called "compost" on the labeling. I learn the most interesting things researching my articles for work.

If you want a boost try using Malted Barley it is the only thing I have ever done that a day a week or a month later I said wow....

its very simple go find a brew store where they sell beer making supplies and ask for 6 or 2 row malted barley the cheapest they have its like 1.50 a pound NO you dont want it milled or cracked just whole ... you wiil need a cheap electric grinder grinder like $10 at walmart... Take 1 tbs and grind them up fine .. sprinkle it around your plant if you have any type of fulvic or humic acid product add it 1/2 strength and water it in ... Some plants the next day you will notice a difference some will take longer...

. It is basically a super charged sprouted seed tea that adds enzymes to your soil..

People think Im crazy but it is amazing and easy and best of all cheap . do it every 2 weeks for a couple months ....

I use it for any plant that has lost its vigor or needs a boost

Unfortunately I have Celiac disease and wouldn't touch barley with a ten foot pole. It sounds like a wonderful recipe, but I can't process anything with gluten in it.

Hopefully someone else can take advantage of your great recipe because it seems really easy and inexpensive to do.

I realize I won't be ingesting it ... but I cannot have gluten on my skin or breath it or be in contact with it or it causes an auto-immune response.

Can you tolerate alfalfa? One of the best teas to stimulate growth in plants that one can make is using alfalfa pellets--the same ones that are used to feed pet rabbits. A very effective tea can be made by putting a few cups into a small container, fill it almost to the top with water and let it sit in a very warm place for about four days--stirring it every day. In four days it will begin to have an odor; that lets you know it's ready to be used.

I have done this with significant success. Still, it was a chore because I have so many plants. Now what I do is purchase a large bag of alfalfa pellets and just spread them around any new plant. I water them in well so that the rabbits and other critters don't eat them. That's a whole lot easier for me.

I have rabbit manure. Just right around the cornee from you in old spring hill. How about $5 plus the cost of the bucket, or trade buckets, or return them? The manure has some weed seeds and a little bit of uneaten grasses and fur bits that went through the floor of the pens, but would make an excellent tea. Rabbit manure is known for its balance of pH and needs no composting, sometimes called "gardening gold."

Thanks Tom .. I will definitely try that too ... AND I am also going to try just spreading them around the base of my plants. I have a lot of feed stores around me so hopefully I can find it at a decent price. That certainly sounds fall off a log easy.

I'll message you Chrissy. Thanks for the resource as I didn't know anyone was so close that had rabbit manure.

Chrissy I didn't see a place to message you at your profile page. How can I contact you. I would love to buy a bucket of bunny poo asap.

Any malted seed works just the same.. Barley is just the easiest to find. Malted corn and malted oats are available on ebay but you will have to pay shipping ....

I take alfalfa pellets the kind u feed to rabbits, and throw a handful in my potted plants every once in awhile. When I water the plants they disintegrate and mix into the soil. Its super easy lol.

To tell the truth, I also just take a 1/4 tsp of miracle grow and dump it on potted plants if the are in 3 gal size or larger or in the ground. Then i just water it. I've never burned anything this way. **You must make sure they are watered well at least a half an hr BEFORE doing this. Then you are going to water it into the plants again after applying. Its probably wasteful but lugging around 5 gal buckets got old. You can also get the kind that hooks up to your hose.

I'm thinking you might be able to make a really strong compost tea and strain it through some cheese cloth (maybe make a cheese cloth bag) then put it into the miracle grow container that screws onto the hose. I will have to try it and see. Then one could foliar feed that way without lugging a bucket around.

Eta..The Alaska Fish Fertilizer works good to foliar feed. You are supposed to mix it in a bucket but you could probably make it more concentrated strain it then apply w a hose sprayer. I used to use it w my regular sprayer but it does clog it up if you dont strain it and its a pain to take the nozzle apart to rinse etc. I add a little coco wet to help it 'stick' to the foliage but you dont really need it. My plants went crazy with that stuff.

I tried Dirty's idea and did a bucket of store bought composted manure ... using Black Hen instead of Black Kow and my plants seem to like it very much. It was easy to do ... although a little stinky once it got to fermenting ... my plants and seedlings seem to like it though so I'm happy with the ease of making it.

As soon as I get access to some alfalfa pellets I am going to try those as well. Thanks to everyone for the great ideas.

I do use fish emulsion, but I have to be careful because the raccoons love to dig any area where I put it.

A grower who sold me some fruit trees gave me this recipe - it seems to work okay, but if you have lots of plants to fertilize it can be a pain mixing it and distributing it.

1 16oz/can Beer

1 cup Epsom Salts

1/2 cup household ammonia

2 cups water

To apply in the garden,

Dilute:

1 T of the above concentrate and 2 teaspoons of Alaskan Fish Fertilizer Concentrate ... per gallon of water.