Compost Tea

[Zeus123]

Hello!

All my container tomato's are looking great! Have been feeding with Texas Tomato Farm fertilizer and they love it! I'm looking at compost tea's and since I just moved into my new house (hence the containers) I don't have any of my own compost. I was looking at amazon and found a few, but was wondering if anyone here can recommend a decent 'ready to go' compost tea available online? Will be using it as a drench.

Here is the one I found: not sure if it's any good?

https://www.amazon.com/Malibu-Compos...p?ie=UTF8&th=1

Thanks!

Zeus

[Cole_Robbie]

I'm sure it's good stuff. For $14/pound, it ought to be. By contrast. there's a vendor at my market who sells compost off their farm for $20 per cubic yard, which is about 2 cents per pound.

So it just depends on if the money is an issue for you. I used about two cups of material to a 5-gallon bucket of water, 1 tbsp molasses, and two air pumps for about three days.

[Salsacharley]

How much tea do you give each plant?

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I'm sure it's good stuff. For $14/pound, it ought to be. By contrast. there's a vendor at my market who sells compost off their farm for $20 per cubic yard, which is about 2 cents per pound.

So it just depends on if the money is an issue for you. I used about two cups of material to a 5-gallon bucket of water, 1 tbsp molasses, and two air pumps for about three days.

[Cole_Robbie]

I used it as a root drench for seeds, so it didn't take very much. Seed-starting media soaked in tea will sprout and grow seeds faster, that much was obvious to me. I didn't continue the experiment much further.

If you already have a good, rich, compost-laden soil, then the tea doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It would be most helpful for container plants, and those grown in soil that was less than ideal.

[Zeus123]

Perfect, i appreciate it. For a 1st round i think it will work. Will add some unsulphered blackstrap molasses as well. Totally forgot about that and appreciate all the insight. Will start making some calls to find a decent source of compost. New to the area, so don't have my usual contacts.

Thanks!

Zeus

[Cole_Robbie]

You're welcome. I'd also say to not skimp on the air pump. I used two dual-output pumps for one 5-gallon bucket. Bubbles/foam indicates bacterial success. Watch for it foaming out of the bucket and making a mess.

[Salsacharley]

Good points on the need for tea depending on the soil and containers. My soil is mostly caliche with a sand cover, close to concrete-like, so tea is an excellent additive as well as compost. I also use a lot of containers.

Zeus, I also use TTF and it has worked great for me for 3 years.

[Zeus123]

Ha, YES, the TTF fertilizer has done wonders in literally 3 days for me. Was using one of the fox farm organic liquid ferts in the beginning as i like to go into the season realllllyyy easy, but the fox farm is obviously not a long term option because of the cost. I will never use anything besides TTF now. Stuff is amazing.

Zeus

[OzoneNY]

this is the compost tea I use.
https://www.amazon.com/Supreme-Growe...upreme+growers

[Gerardo]

This is what I use, I just add a little molasses and some alfalfa meal and voila!

http://www.growersunitedhydro.com/pdf/200.pdf

Worm castings, vegetable compost, kelp and minerals, about 18 USD for a little under 1 cu ft.

I use about 1 cup per 7 gallon batch, so it lasts a while.

If you have a hydro store near you, start lobbying for them to add it to their shelves.

Great bang for the buck when compared to other ready-to-go brew kits, where you pay for convenience keurig style.

[Zeus123]

this is all great! have the dual air pump and will start brewing tomorrow!