Brew Your Own Compost Tea and Strengthen Your Garden

Today we bring you a simple, natural, and highly effective tool that will transform your garden into a healthy, vibrant space. This is Compost Tea, a liquid preparation made from mature compost.

Much more than just a fertilizer, this concoction is an infusion teeming with microbial life that will transform your garden’s soil and boost plant well-being from root to leaf.

Don’t go anywhere! Discover what it is exactly, how to prepare it, and its most common uses. If you’re looking for a homemade and sustainable way to care for your crops, you’re in the right place.

What is Compost Tea?

Compost tea is a liquid infusion rich in beneficial microorganisms and nutrients, made from well-matured compost. This preparation is used as a natural fertilizer to improve soil health, stimulate plant growth, and bolster their resistance to pests and diseases.

Unlike traditional solid compost, this liquid preparation is easily applied, allowing microorganisms to act more quickly. It’s a way to deliver microbial life directly where plants need it most.

Uses for Compost Tea

Compost Tea is a versatile ally for caring for your garden. Thanks to its richness in beneficial microorganisms, we can apply it in various ways to achieve different benefits:

• Foliar fertilizer: By spraying it directly onto the leaves, it strengthens plants’ natural defenses and improves their overall health.
• Soil improvement: By watering it at the base of plants, it enriches soil microbiology, promoting nutrient absorption and root development.
• Disease prevention: Its microorganisms help balance the garden’s ecosystem, hindering the spread of harmful fungi and bacteria.
• Recovery of impoverished soils: It’s ideal for regenerating degraded lands or those that have lost microbial life due to excess chemicals or improper irrigation.
• Transplant boost: Applied at the time of transplanting, it reduces stress and promotes root establishment.

How to Prepare It

Making Compost Tea at home is very simple. We’ll just need a few basic materials to extract and multiply the beneficial microorganisms from compost, thus creating a liquid rich in microbial life.

Keep reading as we tell you what you need and how to do it step-by-step:

Basic Ingredients and Materials

• 1 bucket or container of about 10 or 20 liters
• 1 cloth bag or fine mesh (can be an old sock or a nut milk bag)
• Mature, good-quality compost (no fresh scraps or foul odor)
• Non-chlorinated water (left out for 24h or rainwater)
• 1 tablespoon per liter of water of brown sugar, cane extract, or molasses (this will be the food source for the microorganisms)
• 1 water pump or aerator (optional, but highly recommended)

Step-by-Step

1st: Fill the container with water, leaving some space at the top to prevent spills.

2nd: Place the compost inside the cloth bag. Use approximately 1 part compost for every 10 parts water.

3rd: Submerge the bag in the water, ensuring it is fully immersed.

4th: Add the brown sugar or molasses. This will serve as food for the microorganisms and promote their multiplication.

5th: Activate aeration if you have a water pump. Oxygenating the mixture for 24-36 hours will help beneficial microorganisms reproduce aerobically (without generating foul odors or undesirable bacteria). If you don’t have a water pump, stir it occasionally, mixing it several times a day to prevent anaerobic fermentation.

6th: Remove the compost bag, filter the liquid, and your compost tea will be ready to use.

Storage

Once Compost Tea has completed its fermentation process, it’s important to store it correctly to maintain its properties and benefits. As it’s a living solution, rich in beneficial microorganisms, its shelf life is limited, so ideally, you should use it as soon as possible.

Here are some tips for its storage:

1. Use it within the first 24 to 48 hours: This is the period when microorganisms are most active, and the tea has its highest efficacy.
2. Store it in a closed, but not airtight, container: Use a clean container with a lid that allows for gas exchange to prevent internal pressure. Don’t seal it completely to avoid suffocating the microorganisms.
3. Store it in a cool, dark place: Direct light and heat can quickly degrade the tea’s quality. Find a cool spot without sun exposure.
4. Avoid refrigeration or freezing: While it might seem like a good idea, extreme cold stops microbial activity or can even kill beneficial microorganisms.
5. Do not shake the container excessively: Excessive movement can destabilize the microbial population. Keep it as still as possible.

Remember, this infusion should be prepared with the intention of short-term use. It’s best to plan to apply it in your garden right after its fermentation to take full advantage of its microbial richness.

How to Apply Compost Tea

Applying Compost Tea correctly is key to achieving the best results in your garden. This preparation not only fertilizes but also improves soil health, boosts plant growth, and strengthens their defenses. Below, we explain how to apply it:

As a Foliar Fertilizer

One of the most effective ways to apply Compost Tea is by spraying it directly onto plant leaves. This technique allows microorganisms to adhere to the leaf surfaces and the upper parts of the plants, where they help strengthen their natural defenses. To do this, simply use a clean sprayer and apply the tea early in the morning or late in the afternoon, avoiding the hottest parts of the day.

To Enrich the Soil

By watering it around the base of plants. This way, beneficial microorganisms disperse through the root system, which improves soil microbiology, facilitates nutrient absorption, and promotes the development of strong roots.

For Transplants or Sowing

Applying it at the base of the plant and around the roots helps reduce transplant stress and promotes better root establishment. Be sure to apply it just before or after placing the plant in its new spot to give it an extra boost in adaptation.

While this infusion is beneficial, it’s not necessary to use it in large quantities or daily. The ideal is to apply it every 2 or 3 weeks during the growing season. If you’re working on recovering impoverished soil, you can use it more frequently, but always paying attention to the reaction of the plants and soil.

Finally, here are a couple of extra tips:

If the compost tea is very concentrated, dilute it with water before applying it to prevent too much organic material from accumulating on the plants or in the soil.

It is not a substitute for traditional (solid) compost. While it’s an excellent supplement, it doesn’t replace the use of solid compost in the soil. It’s best used as part of a comprehensive approach to maintaining a healthy garden.

Next, we’ll leave you with some recommendations that we think might be useful when preparing your compost tea: