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Anyone used stinky compost tea?

7 years ago

Hello all,

About 2 weeks ago I made compost tea. It smelled fine when first used but I had too much and bottled it. It is definitely stinky and anaerobic now but does that mean it is bad to use?

I have some distraction/volunteer/out of the garden plants and I sprayed them with the stinky tea as a foliar spray. I then fed them the tea and they seemed to be happy campers.

So I am curious, once you get anaerobic tea, are the anaerobes harmful bacteria? I mean, obviously they smell bad but are they harmful to plants? Also, are they obligate anaerobes? If so you would think they would be harmless after being dumped out of their containers? Any links to any sort of studies would be appreciated or just personal experiences.

I plan to pour the remainder of my stinky juice on a rose bush I have and see how it reacts.

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Comments (3)

theparsley
7 years ago
You'll want to ask that question in the Soil, Compost and Mulch forum

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil
thirstypotato thanked theparsley
11otis
7 years ago
I don't go into all that trouble of brewing tea. However, I used the leachate I collected from my FT that pooled in the chamber during winter. I suspect it's not just leachate but condensation and dead worms also. I used it only for outdoor plants and I noticed this real skinny Rhododendron that just wouldn't do well before. Truth be told, I didn't even dilute it, just dumped (not just once) on the ground. Come spring, it turned into a lush bush and flowered.

When I need to throw out any product the worms produced, I "throw" them out in the garden. Like clumpy VC and VC that dried out, mixed them under bushes and plants in the garden.
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