Aerated Compost Tea (ACT) question

[DTOM420]

I’m going to build a tea brewer for myself and I’m wondering how much you use at a time? For example, if I have a plant growing in 7 gallons of soil that usually takes 2 gallons of water before I start to see any runoff, how much compost tea do I feed her? 2 gallons or 1 gallon of water followed by a gallon of tea or some other amount?

How often do I feed the tea?

FWIW - I’m building a 25 gallon brewer that’s a copy of Tim Wilson’s Microbulator, scaled up (with his help) to the larger size.

 

[Tommy McCain]

I’m going to build a tea brewer for myself and I’m wondering how much you use at a time? For example, if I have a plant growing in 7 gallons of soil that usually takes 2 gallons of water before I start to see any runoff, how much compost tea do I feed her? 2 gallons or 1 gallon of water followed by a gallon of tea or some other amount?

How often do I feed the tea?

FWIW - I’m building a 25 gallon brewer that’s a copy of Tim Wilson’s Microbulator, scaled up (with his help) to the larger size.

I built a 5 gallon version of Tim Wilson's air lift setup. To be honest 25 gallons is a lot of tea. Remember that tea is a way to extend good compost in organic farming. 25 gallons would make enough for a large outdoor garden.

I still use tea if my pots are not doing what I want. I have a great worm bin that produces more EWC than I can use. I have found that topdressing the amendment I want (i.e. Kelp Meal/ Alfalfa Meal), then I cover the amendment with a thick layer of EWC. This takes around 2 weeks to take full effect but is better for the plant I believe.

I do like the brewer for brewing up kelp/alfalfa tea. This tea works almost immediately on the plants.

 

[DTOM420]

I built a 5 gallon version of Tim Wilson's air lift setup. To be honest 25 gallons is a lot of tea. Remember that tea is a way to extend good compost in organic farming. 25 gallons would make enough for a large outdoor garden.

I still use tea if my pots are not doing what I want. I have a great worm bin that produces more EWC than I can use. I have found that topdressing the amendment I want (i.e. Kelp Meal/ Alfalfa Meal), then I cover the amendment with a thick layer of EWC. This takes around 2 weeks to take full effect but is better for the plant I believe.

I do like the brewer for brewing up kelp/alfalfa tea. This tea works almost immediately on the plants.

Thanks for the reply!

I’m building it that big specifically for my outdoor garden. I’ll probably build a 5 gallon for my little indoor grow.

So, you’re just feeding the tea when you have issues and not as part of a regular schedule?

 

[Tommy McCain]

Thanks for the reply!

I’m building it that big specifically for my outdoor garden. I’ll probably build a 5 gallon for my little indoor grow.

So, you’re just feeding the tea when you have issues and not as part of a regular schedule?

I topdress what I would make a tea with. My worm castings are killer. I have worms in my pots, they break down the amendments. Once you get a worm bin going...you will have worms in every pot. I might make a tea at the beginning of flower. Some strains need more. C99 likes more calcium in flower, for example

 

[DTOM420]

I topdress what I would make a tea with. My worm castings are killer. I have worms in my pots, they break down the amendments. Once you get a worm bin going...you will have worms in every pot. I might make a tea at the beginning of flower. Some strains need more. C99 likes more calcium in flower, for example

Ok. Makes sense. I’ve got some worm bins going and I’ll have some good castings by next spring but not enough for my outdoor garden. I found a local worm breeder that I can get some good castings from but they won’t be near as good as what I’m making. I’m using the Clackamas Coot recipe of feeding malted barley, neem meal and Karanja meal but I’m also adding some high phosphorus foods like banana and spinach from our scraps.

I’m going to add some imo I’m making to my teas as well - trying to incorporate some KNF methodology.

Thanks for your help and advice!

 

[Tommy McCain]

Ok. Makes sense. I’ve got some worm bins going and I’ll have some good castings by next spring but not enough for my outdoor garden. I found a local worm breeder that I can get some good castings from but they won’t be near as good as what I’m making. I’m using the Clackamas Coot recipe of feeding malted barley, neem meal and Karanja meal but I’m also adding some high phosphorus foods like banana and spinach from our scraps.

I’m going to add some imo I’m making to my teas as well - trying to incorporate some KNF methodology.

Thanks for your help and advice!

Make sure you get some kelp meal. It has everything the plant needs for minerals (everything but sodium...yes plants need sodium) plus a great dose of potassium. I would not grow without it.

The easiest worm bin I have to maintain is two 50 gallon smart pots. I used 25 gallon last year. I fill them up with a mix of black leaf mold and horse manure. I add almost all the amendments in the Coot recipe to my worm bin. Then add worms. I put about two inches of mulch on top of the pots. I used rice hulls for mulch (that is what I use on my pots I grow in) at first, but recently have been mulching with my leafs and stems from harvest. The plants love the new EWC that used the left over harvest waste of leaf and stems. I put everything from my old harvested plants in, including chopping up the stem and roots. I grow larger plants so the stem is often 2-3 inches thick and the worms have no problem with this. There is often nothing left after a month. I continually mulch and feed the worms organic chicken laying mash every other week or so (when the worms need it). I keep the top of the pot covered with a piece of cardboard and then wrap the top with a piece of plastic(keeps the moisture in). The pots are then set on a saucer or kittie pool with a bag of lava rocks on the bottom. I pour about 5 gallons in each kittie pool once a month.

Sorry for dragging on.