Worm tea absolutely works when done properly. I've tried a lot of different brews but a few things are consistent to all of the brews that worked. Remove chlorine or chloramine before adding your bacteria source (worm castings, etc) to any tea.
For non-woody plants I do a bacterial brew (24ish hours) under aeration. I don't measure anything and I don't think it's necessary to measure anything. I have seen plants grow a foot in a week after doing a foliar application with this kind of tea. You will notice a difference in the plants in < 24 hours.
I usually put the worm castings in a strainer bag to make it easier to use them in a sprayer. I usually only put a couple of handfuls in a 5 gal bucket but you could use more or less.
I dump in a little bit of blackstrap molasses. The 2 tbsp measurement given above is about how much I put in but you don't need to measure it out carefully.
I dump in some kelp extract.
sometimes I add epsom salt but that isn't really necessary.
Worm castings add beneficial bacteria, humic acid and amino acids.
Molasses adds sugar for the bacteria to eat AND fulvic acid.
Kelp reacts synergistically with both humic and fulvic acid as well as adding plant growth hormones. In other words, it makes the tea go from good to ridiculous.
Application is also important. As a foliar spray I first spray the underside of the leaves which makes the plant uptake the tea very fast. The plant will literally wilt for a little while. After the plant wilts I spray down the top of the leaves too.
When I'm done spraying all my plants I water the root zone with the remaining tea. This brew is balanced to do some things for foliar application and other things for root zone application.
The most I ever did this was 3 times in a season but some people do this as often as every week. I typically have a hard time maintaining my plants with just one application LOL. You really have to be careful with this because your plants can outgrow your capability of supporting them and break.
|