Keep It Simple 5 Gallon Compost Tea Brewer
Keep It Simple 55 Gallon Compost Tea Brewer
Homemade Brewer
Actively Aerated Compost Tea
Compost tea is an aerated solution that is teeming with billions of beneficial microorganisms that can be applied directly to the leaf surface of a plant as a foliar spray or used as a soil drench to improve root systems. Compost tea works by putting good biological diversity that your plant needs onto the leaf surface of the plant or the soil. You can enjoy the proven benefits of compost now in a liquid form. Many home gardeners and farmers use compost tea as an organic fertilizer to restore a much needed diversity and population of beneficial bacteria, fungi, and protozoa back into the soil foodweb. Others use compost tea as a foliar spray to reduce disease. Whatever your particular needs, compost tea will help you on the path towards a healthier, natural, organic garden!
The concept behind compost tea is quite simple, though the actual process of making compost tea becomes scientific and very complex. The idea is that compost (full of beneficial microorganisms) is put into water and then nutrients or foods for the microorganisms is added to allow the bacteria and fungi to multiply rapidly. Air is sent through the water to keep the water oxygenated, as this favors the beneficial bacteria and fungi over the pathogens (ex.-e coli). At the end of the brewing cycle, what you have is a concentrated liquid full of billions of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes) that can then be sprayed directly onto the leaf surface. This puts the "good" biology where the plant needs it to protect itself. It keeps the plant healthier and helps it to fight off potential diseases. The "good" biology occupies the infection sites on the leaf surface and is held there by simple sugars that the plant puts out (exidates) that work as a glue to keep the beneficial microorganisms thriving and protecting the plant. Compost tea has been used by many people all over the world with mixed results. Part of the problem relating to studies on compost tea is that there is a high diversity in the quality of the compost tea produced in many of these studies. After all, if you don't start with good compost, don't add the proper amount of nutrients, or don't keep the brew sufficiently aerated, you could be selecting for the "pathogens" rather than the "beneficials," and end up with compost tea that could potentially harm your plants. Much more likely is that the compost tea would be low in bacteria and fungi and have little more effect than putting water on your plant.
To learn more about compost tea from Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Foodweb, Inc., click here
Aerated Compost Tea with good fungal content at 100x magnification
Aerated compost tea at 400 times magnification, what you see is a fungal strand with lots of active bacteria zooming around it.