Compost Tea – Tea Time For Your Garden

But before you start floating a tin can in a some water, you need to create a powerful plant supplement known as compost tea. But before you start floating a tin can in a some water, you need to grow healthy, beautiful plants all summer long. That simple recipe is all you need to grow healthy, beautiful plants all summer long. If you would like a nice garden, you'll need a bucket of water and some garbage.
It can also be used as a fertilizer or a mulch and it enhances the soil's ability to absorb water. Compost improves soil structure and drainage. Compost in the garden will improve your soil which in turn will reward you with strong plants that are better able to fend off droughts and diseases.
Compost tea provides the same benefits to a plant as compost but it doesn't stop there. Not only can compost tea can applied to the soil around plants like regular compost, but it can also be sprayed on the leaves. When sprayed directly on the leaves, it increases the amount of nutrients available to the plant and helps fight foliar diseases. It will even increase the nutritional value and improve the taste of vegetables.
There are many different ways to make compost tea but most recipes can be summarized by saying, if you steep compost in water you get compost tea.
Using rain water is the best way to make compost tea but you can get by with tap water if rain is scarce. Tap water usually contains enough chlorine in it to kill off all of the beneficial bacteria so it's best to let it sit for a few hours before using it.
And actually the sock is optional if you have no plans on using a sprayer. The quickest and easiest way to make compost tea is with an old sock filled with compost and a bucket of water.
Attach some cheese cloth or a piece of panty hose to the sprayer's intake with some rubber bands and you should be fine. When applying compost tea with a sprayer you have to worry about clogs.
If you need more than a few buckets of tea, then an old fish tank or a plastic storage bin would make a great container for brewing compost tea.
After you've brewed a few batches and are happy with the results why not try aerated compost tea? You'll need to feed your mixture a constant supply of oxygen so a bubbler or air stones will be required. You need to keep it aerated so it doesn't grow any harmful pathogens. Some popular ingredients to add to bubbling compost tea are alfalfa, fish emulsion, powdered seaweed, corn meal, green sand and more. Don't use manure. Manure tea shouldn't be used as a foliar spray especially if you're growing vegetables and who wants manure floating around in their bucket anyway.
But ask a serious gardener about compost and they'll probably tell you that it's the most important ingredient there is when making compost tea. But ask a serious gardener about compost and chances are they'll tell you it's powerful stuff with a lot of uses. Ask a weekend gardener about compost and chances are they'll tell you it's powerful stuff with a lot of uses.

What is Compost Tea?

So why not give this tea a try either by buying it or It will improve the taste/flavor of your vegetables. Compost tea helps prevent foliage diseases and at the same time increase the nutrients to the plant and shutdown the toxins hurting the plants. If you start with a good compost you'll have a versatile elixir for all your garden needs.

But now, there's something even better and that's compost tea. Organic gardeners all know compost is fantastic stuff.
brewing it yourself
You won't believe the results! .
Four ways that good bacteria work:

Help compete for the nutrients
Dine on the bad varmits

Help produce antibiotics to use against the varmits.
They shove the bad varmits out.
Compost tea that is correctly brewed has a wealth of microorganisms that will benefit your plants' growth and health as well as the soil that they live in. Compost tea can be considered yogurt for the soil. The microorganisms living there are both good and bad. What the tea does is make sure the good guys win by introducing helpful bacteria, fungi, protozoa and beneficial nematodes.
Harmful bacteria lives best in soil that does not have good air circulation. Good bacteria lives best and will thrive in soil that is well ventilated with oxygen. This is where a good compost tea, made the right way, comes in. When you have well oxygenated compost you automatically get rid of 3/4 of the bad varmits. Also by using harmful insecticides or chemical fertilizers we reduce the number of beneficial microorganisms in the soil.
Plants produce their own energy and food and half of that goes to the roots and some of that goes into the surrounding soil and guess who gets that? Correct, the good guys, and then it turns into a beneficial cycle.
The following is taken from the internet and shows compost tea is becoming a force in gardening.
National Organic Standards Board convened a Compost Tea Task Force Report April 6, 2004 Introduction In 2003, the National Organic Standards Board convened a Compost Tea Task Force Report April 6, 2004 Introduction In 2003, the National Organic Standards Board Compost Tea Task Force Report April 6, 2004 Introduction In 2003, the National Organic Standards Board convened a Compost Tea Task Force to review the relevant scientific data and report their recommendations on ‘What constitutes a reasonable use of compost tea?' The Task Force was composed of 13 individuals with knowledge and expertise in organic farming practices, organic certification, EPA pathogen regulations, compost, compost tea production and analysis, plant pathology, food safety and environmental microbiology.
Throughout their discussions, members consistently acknowledged the growing interest among certified organic and conventional growers to use compost teas, and the need to develop effective biologically-based tools to manage plant fertility, pests, and diseases.
A primary reason for producing compost tea is to transfer microbial biomass, fine particulate organic matter, and soluble chemical components of compost into an aqueous phase that can be applied to plant surfaces and soils in ways not possible or economically feasible with solid compost.

It's All in the "Tea" Bag - How to Be Environmentally Responsible with Your Tea Bags

Have you ever thought about how much waste you are creating when you drink your afternoon tea? This is, of course, assuming that you use a tea bag. Granted, a tea bag is a small thing - in fact, in terms of waste, it seems like it should be the least of your worries. Better worry-time can be spent on the waste of your daily newspaper or on excess packaging of food.
The thing is, though, even the little things count. People often overlook the little things, like tea bags, but in the end, all of those tea bags really add up to a lot of waste! Sure, your newspaper is bigger, but you very likely recycle it, right? Can you "recycle" a tea bag? No, but you can use it in your garden.
Environmentally Friendly Tea Bag Tips:
The Republic of Tea makes environmentally-friendly · Check for tea bags that do not use wasteful strings or tags. · Look for unbleached tea bags. They will add acidity to your compost.

· Make sure that your tea bags are biodegradable. Even the tea bag envelopes that Choice Organic Tea is packaged in is environmentally friendly. They also use 100 percent unbleached cotton string. · Choice Organic Tea use unbleached manila hemp and unbleached wood pulp for their tea bags. The Republic of Tea makes environmentally-friendly unbleached tea bags without staples, tags, or strings.

· Check for tea bags that do not use wasteful strings or tags. · Look for unbleached tea bags. They will add acidity to your compost. The nutrients in the tea are good additions to your future fertilizer, and most regular tea bags are biodegradable.

· Look for tea bags without staples, or at least remove the staples before you place the bags in your compost bin? They will add acidity to your compost. The nutrients in the tea are good additions to your future fertilizer, and most regular tea bags are biodegradable. · Instead of tossing out old tea bags, why not put them in your compost bin?
In general, tea bags are much more wasteful than tea diffusers, but they do not have to be. The key is to give your used tea bags a second life in your garden. If you do not have a garden, never fear. There are many more uses for used tea bags that may interest you. Tea bags can do anything from tenderizing meat to stopping bleeding gums. They can be used to remove furniture polish, seed a lawn, treat shaving nicks, and more.
Again, though, the key to reducing waste starts with buying environmentally friendly tea bags in the first place. Then, add them to your compost or find another use for them.
Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on tea and coffee, please visit
Tea and Coffee
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