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 AERATED COMPOST TEA
 How to brew it and how to use i 
t
Duane Marcus The Funny Farm4459 Allgood Springs Dr.Stone Mountain, GA 30083http://tinyurl.com/funnyfarm/  
Compost Tea
1
 
WHAT IS AERATED TEA COMPOST ANYWAY?
 An aerobica
 # 
 y brewed, agitated water extract of microorganisms growing in compost.
Compost is suspended in water and subjected to agitation to break loose from the organic matter the bac
-
teria, fungi, protozoa, microarthropods and nematodes. The agitation process keeps the water aeratedabove 6 ppm
( 
parts per million
 )
of dissolved oxygen thus maintaining the brewing process in an aerobicstate. Foods are added at the beginning of the brew to allow the microorganisms to grow and multiply. Theamount of food added must be measured to insure that the growing microorganisms do not consume oxy 
-
 gen faster than the aerator can replace it so dissolved oxygen levels do not go below 6 ppm. Temperatureplays a part in this process as well in 2 ways. First, the rapidity of growth of the organisms increases astemperatures increase. Secondly, water holds less oxygen as temperature increases. What we can concludefrom this is is that the higher the temperature of the water the less food we can add to the tea before itbecomes anaerobic.
How do we know we’ve brewed good tea?
Only by looking at samples of the tea under a microscope can we determine if the tea we brewed is any  good. We can do a 
qualitative analysis
ourselves to determine if the right kind of organisms are presentand in su
ffi
cient quantities to do what we want out tea to do. A
quantitative analysis
must be done by a qualified lab to determine how many organisms and how much biomass of each kind of organism is pre
-
sent in the tea. The ratio of the biomass between bacteria and fungi can be determined so that teas can bebrewed for specific uses. For example, grass and cole crops need soil that is predominately bacterial whileperennials need soil the is balanced between fungi and bacteria. Trees and shrubs need soil that is domi
-
nated by fungi.
How do we use compost tea ?
We use compost tea in 2 ways. As a soil application, we spray it on or sprinkle it on with a watering can. The purpose of this is to increase the quantity of the correct kind of microorganisms in the soil to cycleand retain nutrients, to improve soil structure, defend against disease, reduce water use and break downtoxins if present. We need to examine the soil using the methods described above to determine which or
-
 ganisms are needed and in what quantities for best growth by a particular kind of plant. The soil applica 
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tion rate is .5 gal. per 1000 s.f. 4 gallons is enough to cover the whole garden, front and back, of a typicalin
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town quarter acre lot. The second way we use compost tea is by spraying it on the leaves of our plants. We spray it on the leavesto protect plants from bacterial and fungal diseases and to feed the plants. Leaves are naturally covered by microorganisms, some good and possibly some bad. By spraying compost tea on the leaves we can insurethat the surfaces are covered with good organisms which will not leave any place for the bad organismsfloating in the air to land and get established. It is essential that both the tops and bottoms of the leavesare covered to protect the leaves e
ff 
ectively. At least 70
%
of the surface must be covered to get the protec
-
Compost Tea
 2
 
tion the plants need. The only way to be sure that the coverage is adequate is to have the leaves tested by a qualified lab. For our purposes we need to be sure we are brewing really good tea and that we are spraying carefully to get coverage on all the leaves on the top and bottom. The foliar application rate is 1 pint per1000 s.f. for every 6’ average height of plants. 1 gallon will cover all the plants except large trees on a typi
-
cal Grant Park quarter acre lot.
How do we make good compost tea?
First we start with good compost. A
quantitative analysis
by the Soil Food Web, Inc. lab showed thatboth Mr. Natural Hen Manure Compost and Worm Castings are good composts for making tea, althoughthey have very di
ff 
erent balances of organisms so each can be used to make teas for di
ff 
erent purposes. Then we need to get rid of the chlorine in the water because it was put there to kill microorganisms . Be
-
cause it is a gas we can get rid of it by agitating the water with the aerator causing the chlorine to dissipateinto the air.Finally we need to put the compost into the water, add the appropriate foods, fungal or bacterial or a combination, and let it brew for the correct amount of time based on temperature. Typically that will be12 hours. After the brew is finished we need to do a 
qualitative analysis
to make sure the tea is good before weapply it or sell it. We should also smell the tea to quickly determine is seriously anaerobic conditions wereencountered during the brew. If it stinks it’s bad. Dump it in the parking lot not in a plant bed!It is very important that we measure the ingredients each time so that we can be sure that each brew isconsistent. We will be doing experiments to see how time, temperature, food type and quantity a 
ff 
ect thefinal quality and balance of organisms in the tea.
 The Recipe and Ingredients for Making Aerated Compost Tea 
1.TEA BREWER
-
Ours is a KIS 5 gallon brewer2.COMPOST
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1/2 pound for 5 gallons of tea in a compost tea bag. Bag must have openings 4 microme
-
ters in size.3.FOODS
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Fish and seaweed fertilizer
( 
4 caps from the 18 oz. bottle
 )
and humic acid are good fungalfoods. Molasses
( 
the kind without sulphur
 )
and Agave nectar are good bacterial foods.4.WATER
-
dechlorinate for at least 1 hour. 2 hours is preferable.
Compost Tea
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