How to Make Compost Tea

How to Make Compost Tea

Fatten up your perennials with a cup of tea—compost tea, that is. Natural and nutritious, compost tea not only provides beneficial microorganisms for healthy plants and soil but also helps prevent disease. For best results, experts recommend an aerated brew (those microorganisms need oxygen to thrive). Brewing kits are available but you can easily make your own. Compost tea doesn’t store well, so make small batches as needed. To brew 11 to 15 liters of tea, you’ll need: Chlorine-free water*

A 5-gallon/19-litre bucket

A medium aquarium pump (rated for a 50-gallon/190-litre aquarium) or small pond pump

Plastic tubing that fits the pump

Good quality compost (homemade or purchased)

A paint strainer bag or mesh laundry bag

Two sturdy sticks

Unsulfured molasses (optional, available at grocery stores) Directions

1/ Set up your brewer in a shady spot, near a power outlet. Run the plastic tube from the pump down into the bottom of the bucket, center it and weigh it down with a stone or small brick. Some people like to use a gang valve with several tubes fitted with aquarium air stones that break up the bubbles. That is an option but not vital. The key is getting lots of oxygen into the tea. 2/ Put 454 to 680 grams of compost in the bag and tie the top. (You can also put the compost lose in the bucket and strain the tea afterward.) Suspend the bag from one stick laid across the top of the bucket and add water to within 7 centimeters of the rim. Turn on the pump and adjust the flow so the water is bubbling as if it were at a vigorous boil. With the second stick, stir in 30 ml of molasses to feed the microorganisms, but don’t overdo it, especially in hot weather. Let the mix bubble for at least 8 hours and no longer than 24.



3/ Remove the bag and put the used compost on the garden or compost pile. The remaining tea should have a yeasty, earthy smell. If it really stinks, it means the microorganisms are dead. Don’t use it—throw it back on the compost pile. Apply the tea immediately, pouring 250 ml or so around the base of each plant and/or spraying it on the leaves, which helps to prevent problems like powdery mildew. Clean the equipment with a stiff brush after brewing each batch.

Know you the Magic of Compost Tea

How to Make Compost Tea

Gardeners have been making compost and manure tea for many years — probably even for many centuries. Compost tea is easier to apply than dry compost and it’s also a good way to make a small amount of compost go much further. Brewing methods are typically very low-tech: Put some compost in a bucket with water, let it sit for a few days and then apply.

Elaine Ingham

Elaine Ingham and her team are developing crop-specific compost teas that can be used on a commercial scale. Soil biologist Dr. Elaine Ingham has spent the past 15 years studying compost and especially compost tea. She has devoted her professional career to learning about the complex web of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, microarthropods, earthworms and other soil critters that work together to feed plants, fight pathogens and pests, and improve soil texture.

Dr. Ingham refers to this web of soil life as the “soil food web.” The research being conducted by her company, Soil Foodweb Inc., is yielding some fascinating discoveries.

Here are some of the Highlights:

For best results, compost and compost tea should be produced in an oxygen-rich, aerobic environment. This ensures that the finished product will be rich in nutrients and beneficial organisms. When compost (or compost tea) is made in anaerobic conditions, nutrients are lost to the atmosphere(which is why anaerobic compost stinks). The end product of anaerobic decomposition may also contain alcohol, phenols, and organic acids that are toxic to plant tissues.

The most productive soils in the world are those that contain the most organic matter. This wealth of organic matter can be used by beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and microarthropods to build soil structure and feed plants. Productive soils always contain an abundance of beneficial bacteria, but the world’s most productive soils also contain a rich diversity of fungi — 1,000 times more fungal biomass than bacterial biomass.

The soil food web that’s ideal for growing a lawn is different from the soil food web that’s right for vegetables or shrubs. Dr. Ingham has found that most flowers and vegetables grow best in soils that are dominated by bacteria rather than fungi. To produce tea with a high level of beneficial bacteria, you need to start with compost that’s been made with about 45% green materials, 30% woody and 25% high-nitrogen materials.

Compost Tea Used on Lawn

This Oregon lawn was sprayed in June, and by August, the benefits of compost tea are clear. Compost tea has proven to be valuable as a foliar spray as well as a soil drench. When leaf surfaces are coated with a layer of beneficial bacteria and fungi, “bad” bacteria and fungi are overcome and are prevented from infecting the leaves. Coating leaf surfaces with compost tea increase the biological activity on the leaf surface, which also lengthens the time plant stomates are open. This increases the opportunity for nutrient uptake, which improves growth and boosts yields.





Dr. Ingham’s organization, Soil Foodweb, Inc., has a commercial lab that will test compost and compost tea to determine the numbers, types, and activities of each important group of microbes. They can test for active bacterial biomass, total bacterial biomass, active fungal biomass, total fungal biomass, protozoan numbers, nematode numbers and community structure, and mycorrhizal root colonization.

In an aerobic environment, the microbes in compost tea will multiply exponentially.

The foam should start appearing on the surface after just 12 hours. With adequate aeration, compost tea will reach its “richest” state (most biologically active) in just 24 hours. Circulating the water and maintaining a high level of dissolved oxygen is important. Dissolved oxygen levels should be above 6.0 parts per million. Gentle agitation of the “tea bag” (which contains the compost) is necessary to release the multiplying fungi into the tea solution.

Dr. Ingham’s soil research is attracting more and more attention each year. She and her team are now working in Africa, Central America, Australia, Holland and almost every state in the U.S., devising crop-specific compost teas to improve a wide range of difficult soil conditions.