Compost Tea Idea

Got some great compost cooking in the backyard. Spread a 1 inch thick layer as "top dressing" on two autos that seemed to be puttering out at 65 days and 4 days layer I am seeing new flowers popping out all over as well as general renewed plant vigor. I will be using most of the compost for the veggie garden but definitely gonna save some for compost tea and had this idea...

Fill a watering can 1/3 to 1/2 full of compost, add water, let sit for a few days, water plants. Repeat as needed. Each watering the plants will get a healthy snack.

Sounds good in theory anyway. Has anyone ever tried this? Probably be good for the veggies as well but there's a helluva lot more watering involved there.

I could be wrong but I don’t think letting it sit for several days would be good. Compost tea you want aerobic letting it sit several days would make it anaerobic and could have bad microbes in it. You also need a food source for the microbes to multiply. Molasses, aloe etc please correct if I’m wrong

poundofyourfinest said:

I could be wrong but I don’t think letting it sit for several days would be good. Compost tea you want aerobic letting it sit several days would make it anaerobic and could have bad microbes in it. You also need a food source for the microbes to multiply. Molasses, aloe etc please correct if I’m wrong

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Generally speaking teas will be at the highest point of biological activity around 12-24 hours depending on temperature of your tea brewing.
In theory you could feed more molasses around 12-18 hours and keep the bacteria going but I don’t believe that’s common practice.

I’ve never reapplied molasses but it doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I also add fish emulsion and a couple other things depending on the grow stage

Thanks for chiming in I appreciate the input. Nixing that idea but will use the top dressing again in the future. I have been using molasses - 1tsp/gal.- and FF Big Bloom - 3Tbs/gal as a supplement every other watering. I read about the top dressing w/compost online and thought I would give it a try.

You can get a cheap small aquarium heater at the pet store it’ll keep your temperature good

poundofyourfinest said:

You can get a cheap small aquarium heater at the pet store it’ll keep your temperature good

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I find I’m always busy so if I can have it go slowly and use it 18 hours after making it I’m happy.
I usually do it outside on my back deck in the shade.
If you put in a aquarium heater you could probably have it ready as fast as 12 hours.

I have only re applied molasses once before, something came up and I didn’t have time to water. I don’t think it’s common practice but the one time I did it the bucket was foamy and Alive still the next day,plants didn’t seem to mind it

Man I let mine go 36 I’ll have to cut it back and see if my yield comes up some

Well I’m not a microbiologist so have no science backing what I have said here.
I’m going off the visual of ‘holy that bucket foamed up like12 inches above the rim...seems alive better use it’
I’m to lazy/cheep to get my teas,soil,water tested by a lab

Edit- I have heard of people doing 36-48 hour teas but I never researched into if they did it ‘normally’ or had extra molasses from the beginning or added some a day in etc.

Same. I’m just doing what I read

The issue I've found with the compost top dressing is that it dries out too quickly especially under the midday sun and I keep having to mist heavily. Doesn't seem worth the trouble. When it dries out, the microbial life dies, right? If so, I wouldn't imagine wetting the compost would cause it to miraculously snap back to life.

Willy B. Goode said:

The issue I've found with the compost top dressing is that it dries out too quickly especially under the midday sun and I keep having to mist heavily. Doesn't seem worth the trouble. When it dries out, the microbial life dies, right? If so, I wouldn't imagine wetting the compost would cause it to miraculously snap back to life.

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Whenever I top dress I work in into the top 1-2inches of soil.and water it in.

In situations where you have cover crops or can’t work it in, do it at dusk or dawn and water it in, yes your right uv and ozone can kill the beneficials if you leave it out all day in the sun

Compost teas are at peak at 36hrs you can do a quick tea in half an hour but Biology is at peak brewed for 36hrs

Leeski said:

Compost teas are at peak at 36hrs you can do a quick tea in half an hour but Biology is at peak brewed for 36hrs

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I hope you can teach me some new stuff!

Wouldn’t time depend on temperature and what species your multiplying?
Would you brew a fungal tea a different amount of time than a bacterial tea?