I saw a show ..... gosh cant remember the name of it right now but this guy up in alaska had these huge plants (vegies) I mean they were big some were 7 xs the normal size. He was talking about how he uses compost tea, and how he makes his own.
can anyone tell me more about this and how to make it. I'm sure it wont make my plants huge but I've heard its good for your plants.
thanks
Compost Tea.. anyone here make/use it?
I make my own alfalfa tea. Its not quite the same as compost tea.
I swear by it. Just as an experiement I quit using it for 6 weeks...I could sure see a difference. Here is a link to the site that shows how to make the gismo to make the tea. It's a PDF file you can download. http://dchall.home.texas.net/organic/teamaker/PDFs/brewer.pdf
Follow his instructions exactly, and you will have something your plants will love to be watered with.
Any questions just ask, I'll tag this thread.
Michelle:)
I saw the same show. I am pretty sure that I recorded it on tivo. He said that it helped with insects and diseases and that got my attention. I am going to visit my mom for a few days, but when I get back, I will try to find out what show and let you know. I am not sure, but I think he was using worm castings to make his tea but I know I got that idea somewhere if not there. I was looking at the worm wigwam from somewhere, but they are over 500 dollars. The alfalfa tea Michelle mentioned sounds like something to look into too. Take care, Mike I see your post is two months old, if ya'll had any more info to add, please post. I will be back in less that a week.
I have a compost tea brewer called Soil Soup, it uses worm castings as the base for the tea (if I remember right, the system cost ~$100). I used it a lot in my old garden, hard to say for sure what it did because I never did a side by side comparison of using it in half the garden but not the other half, but I think it did improve my soil and I never had insect problems, again not sure if that's why or not but I'm sure it didn't hurt! (Soil Soup didn't help with the gophers unfortunately--still lost a bunch of plants to them!) It's not fertilizer though so to get the super big plants like the guy was showing on TV I'm sure he was fertilizing with something too!
shellabella - 20 years ago I remember hearing about enzymes released by steeping alfalfa in water. Supposedly the results in growth were quite good, but I don't recall ever hearing anything more about it. Perhaps that's because at the time, I didn't know the effects of leaving the alfalfa in the water too long. The odor of the resulting "tea" was really horrible.
Is there anything "scientific" known about the results?
Dave.
GuardianGirl
I've used compost tea and it had good results but I don't think the man's larger veggies were totally from the tea. We were in Alaska this past summer and this lady have the largest veggies I had ever seen and she said it was because of all the daylight during the summer.
Hi Dave,
I don't know about any scientific data . I do know that It is not recomended to let the alfalfa steep until it stinks. I know I have seen alot of folks on forums and such say to let it go until it smells bad, but that isn't recommended by the guy I got the data from.
I add Molasses and worm castings to the Alfalfa in the beginning and let it brew for no more than 12-24 hours with an aquarium pump and air stones. Then I add Hydrolized fish before I water with it. What you do not want is to have too much bad bacteria.
I once let a batch go a bit too long and it was beginning to smell bad. I used it on a few smaller plants in pots and almost killed all of them. I had to unpot them wash the roots and repot. Saved all but 2 or 3. So my thoughts are that the beneficial enzyme action must occur in the first 24 hrs before the stuff develops bad bacteria . It sure does work for me. My plants grew much bigger than I expected them to this summer after I planted them. I don't always add the worm castings and fish either...sometimes I just use the Alfalfa and Molasses.
I have read data that say this Alfalfa tea stuff doesn't amount to a hill of beans when used as a foliar spray.Never tried it that way myself.
I hope some of you guys can try the system in the above link I posted...it was so easy and cheap to set up and my plants just love it. I get the
Purina Alfalfa Pellets from a feed store because they only have soy as a binder and no other additives or hay.
Ya'll have a great Christmas and Holiday!
I know on other kinds of compost tea if it smells bad you shouldn't use it because there are bad bacteria in it at that point, good compost tea has a faint earthy smell but really not offensive at all. The premise of the Soil Soup and several other brewers that you can buy is that the bad bacteria tend to form under anaerobic conditions which happen when the liquid is just sitting there, but if you aerate it then you're constantly bringing oxygen into the mix and then the anaerobic bacteria can't grow and all you get are the good aerobic sort.
Hello guys, I started this thread a while back and did the experiment with pictures. It about the middle of the thread.
You might find it interesting.
Josephine.
frost, not sure what your talking about.
do you mean you have another post on the same subject.
I would like to read it. And see pic's
Oops!! I am sorry I forgot to post the link here it is http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/580157/
Josephine.
I stopped at a nursery last summer that was selling the "Soil Soup". You were to bring in a gallon jug and fill it up from their set up. It sounded like a good idea but I was traveling at the time and was unable to get any.
Hi all, I am back. I just finished watching the show. It was recorded on HGTV channel 229 here in Texas on October 8 2006 at 6:30 A.M. The show was called Gardening By The Yard w/Paul James. It was about a guy named John Evans in Palmer Alaska who recieved hundreds of awards and has some entries in Guiness. That part of Alaska also has a growing period of two months with 20 hours of sun light per day. He uses 8 cups of compost in a 5 gallon bucket of water with some other ingredients not mentioned along with some simple sugars with an aerater for 24 hours to make his tea. After the 24 hours, he mixes his tea with 5 parts water to 1 part tea and sprays the foilage real good and waters with it too. I bet that Hydrolized fish mentioned above or some of that fish emulsion they sale at the garden stores mixed in would probably be good too. My wife just found his web site, it is www.alaskabountea.com Take care, Mike
Shellabella, I just read your link and I appreciate you sharing that with us. That should save some of us some money and looks simple enough. I am going to try to go to Forstweed's link before my wife makes me go to bed. I hope this thread stays alive because I do not do very good at finding old threads once people quit posting but of course I understand we all have other responsibilities besides this. Mike
Wow thanks Mike.
Whats your take on this product?
is it worth it or not?
Anyone here ever use it?
I just went too the alaskabountea web-site. I think I might use the shellabella link and make my own, but not sure. I am pretty sure that I will not be buying any of that Alaskan soil stuff or those other things for sale on that site. It looks like you could put a small fortune into that stuff if your not careful. The HGTV program did not mention all of those other products they want you to buy like the web-site does. Frostweed's link has a TULLE bag to hold the compost in. If I do not forget by spring, I would like to try that bag along with WORM CASTINGS (I just bought a 5-bin worm thingy on EBAY for $77.00 and my stepdad just gave me a 5-gallon bucket of rabbit manure for the worms that I need to order), FISH or SEAWEED EMULSION, some type of SUGAR or MOLASSES and maybe a can of ??COKE??, unless I hear a nono to that. Most of what that Alaska guy grew on the show were types of greens or root crops other than that 35LB zuchini. I gotta go. Later, Mike
I have also been making compost tea for awhile. Here is the link I started. It is in the Classic threads forum.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/388148/
Donna
So cal great thread.
I will be trying this method myself.
just need the compost I have the other things.
Good for you. I know you will enjoy the process and the plants will love you for it also.
Donna
Although it's not a compost tea per se, I have started taking seasoned horse manure and putting a shovel full in a large bucket and adding water to make about 10 gal. I let it sit overnight and the manure mostly settles at the bottom. I use the water to water my plants. So far I have used it on my potted brugs and I can see the difference in just a few weeks. I'll be trying it on some other plants soon.
Budgie: now thats an idea.
why didnt I think of that. LOL
I think I may try this .
thanks for sharing.
And, you can dump the dregs on your compost pile. The perfect gift that keeps on giving.
I use the dregs to amend the soil. It's not too strong at that point to burn anything.
Budgie and all other contributor's, I really appreciate your info and your updated results. I cannot wait for my EBAY ordered worm bin, worms, making up my mind which tea maker I want to get, and the beginning of spring so I can try it. Thanks again, Mike
Mike,
Tea makers don't need to be anything fancy. All you need is compost, water, a strainer of some type and time.
I am going to get a metal garbage can and lid so I can also incorporate sun power to warm it to speed it up.