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Place a 5-gallon bucket on a sturdy work surface or on the ground. Select a bucket that has
not been used to hold chemicals or other potentially harmful contents. Rinse any debris or dirt
from the bucket before using.
Pour 6 ounces of beer into the bucket; beer contains yeast that will help to accelerate the
decomposition process.
Add one-half cup of ammonia to the beer to provide an extra shot of nitrogen to the compost
and help speed up the breakdown of leaves, food and other ingredients in the compost bin.
Pour 2 gallons of warm water into the bucket. Add 12 ounces of soda -- regular not diet -- to
the mixture to introduce extra sugars for microbes to feed on during the decomposition
process.
Pour the mixed tonic over the compost pile. Stir the leaves, scraps and other ingredients with
a shovel, to mix in the tonic thoroughly.
6 ounces beer
1/2 cup ammonia
2 gallons warm water
5-gallon bucket
12 ounces soda
Shovel
How to Make a Homemade Compost Tea
Maker
If you're already making compost, you're well on your way toward providing beneficial
microbes to your plants and soil. When it's ready to be used, you could just scoop it onto your
soil and work it in, but one way to deliver the nutrients even faster is to make compost tea
and water your garden with it. The most basic compost tea is made by placing a scoop of
compost into a 5-gallon bucket of water and stirring it every few hours, but you can kick the
quality up a few notches by spending a bit more time making an official compost tea bubbler.
Place a shovelful of compost into a paint strainer bag or, in a pinch, use a burlap sack that's
been aged in the sun. Wrap a rubber band around the top of the bag to keep compost from
coming out of the top.
Drill two 3/4 inch holes into the side of a 5-gallon bucket about 2 inches from the top and 2
inches apart. Place an aeration stone in the bottom of the bucket.
Insert tubing for an aquarium pump through the holes, and attach the ends inside the bucket
to the open holes of the aeration stone.
Place the paint strainer or burlap bag into the bucket and fill the rest of the bucket with water
to just below the holes you drilled.
Cover the bucket with a lid and turn on the air pump. Allow the pump to bubble and aerate
the contents of the bucket for about 24 hours.
Lift the lid occasionally to ensure the tea bag is not stuck on top of the aeration stone and that
bubbles continue to rise to the surface, indicating the aeration stone is doing its job.
Remove the pump and "tea bag" and water plants with the compost tea mixture right away, or
as soon as possible and definitely within 24 hours. The longer you wait, the more chance your
compost will become anaerobic, which may increase the number of potentially-harmful
bacteria and pathogens in it. One way to know if the tea is "bad" is to smell it; if it smells foul
or rotten, it's probably not safe to use. Good compost and compost tea will smell sweet or
earthy, advises "Fine Gardening" magazine.
Shovel
Paint strainer bag or burlap sack
Rubber band
Drill with 3/4 inch bit
Aerating stone
2 pieces of aeration tubing, 3 to 4 feet long
Air pump
Tip
To really get the microbes fed and growing, add about 1/2 ounce of molasses for every
gallon of water in the compost tea. For this setup, that would equal about 2 ounces of
molasses.
Warning
Spray the compost maker with water and wipe it down with a clean towel soaked in a
solution of water and bleach to cut down on the possibility of pathogens spreading from
batch to batch.
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Basics
Compost tea can be made from any good-quality, well-aged compost that’s ready to be put on
plants. The better your compost, the better the tea will be. Put the compost in an old
pillowcase or a bag made from an old T-shirt. Tie the pillowcase or bag shut, and place it in a
bucket of water. The compost needs to steep in the water for seven days, and the water needs
to be stirred periodically during that period. The tea-making process can be accelerated by
using an aquarium pump and an air stone to aerate the bucket's water, which becomes the
compost tea. If the tea begins to stink, dump it out and start the project again.
Options
An option is to use worm castings instead of, or with, compost to make the tea. Worm
castings are small and nutrient-rich. One or more organic products also can be added at the
start of the tea-making process to give the tea a boost of vital nutrients. Hydroponic suppliers
sell the organic products, which include bat guano, liquefied seaweed and blood meal. After
compost tea finishes steeping, the compost can be removed from the pillowcase or bag and
either dumped back on the compost pile or mixed into garden soil.
Straining Procedure
Straining the compost tea well before trying to use it is necessary. Bits of debris left in the tea
may clog drip holes in the hydroponic system and prevent the system from working. Several
layers of cheesecloth placed in a colander filter most bits of organic matter from compost tea
poured into the colander. An old T-shirt or old nylon stocking also can be used as a filter for
the tea. Allow the tea to stand for several hours after it is filtered. If you see solids in the tea,
then filter it again. Repeat the process until all solids are gone from the tea.
Considerations
Nutrients placed in a hydroponic system are the sole sources of nutrients for the system's
plants. When making compost tea, the results are inconsistent, and you’ll never be quite sure
just what the tea contains when you put it in your hydroponic system. Using compost tea
instead of a purchased nutrient solution in the system makes it harder to ensure the plants
receive the nutrients they need. Troubleshooting problems becomes more difficult as well.
Watch your plants closely, and act immediately if you see discolored leaves, stunted growth
or other signs of nutrient deficiencies.
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Let the bucket sit, out of the direct sunlight, for up to three days. Stir the mixture every day.
Pour the liquid through a disposable filter to strain out the solids. The resulting liquid is the
compost tea, or worm tea, to be used as fertilizer.
Stir well and use as fertilizer. Use the same ratio of ingredients for larger volumes, if
required.
Water
1 gallon of compost
1 pound of worm castings (alternative to compost)
1/2 cup of molasses
5-gallon bucket
Aquarium air pump
Disposable filter
Measuring spoons
Fish emulsion
Seaweed extract
Blood meal
Tip
The essential nutrients for healthy plant growth are carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O),
phosphorus (P), potassium (K), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), magnesium
(Mg), boron (B), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), molybdenum (Mo) and chlorine
(Cl).
Formulating liquid fertilizers for hydroponics directly from nutrient and mineral salts is
complicated, and it may only be worth the effort for large hydroponic systems or when 25-
gallon containers are available for mixing the ingredients.