Earth-Wise Web

Compost Tea

Compost tea and compost consulting is the primary business of EW/SOE. Over two years of constant experimentation have led to recipes and procedures that, if used as directed, will allow anyone to produce good tea loaded with aerobic bacteria and fungi.

Each recipe was derived by testing the results of each input and input amount for a fixed amount of water. This results in recipes that use far less inputs than most recipes while producing the same or similar results. In other words, the recipe started with a given amount of bacterial/fungal food and this food was reduced until a difference could be seen in the tea given the same amount of water and the same volume of air. All amounts given are based on a water volume of 30 Gallons and and aeration of 15 cubic liters of air per minute at a pressure of .4 PSI.

The diversity of bacteria/fungi in the tea is directly proportional to the compost used. If commercial compost or mulch is used, the diversity will be lower. If you make your own compost or start with commercial compost and add lots of local greenwaste and feed your compost, your diversity will be much higher. Bacterial numbers will be the same but variety of numbers will increase. Where molasses is indicated, any other sugar source can be used.


	Basic Tea (no inputs) 2 Liters Compost Brew for 6 to 8 hours Apply foliar or soil


	One Input 2 Liters Compost 1 Cup Molasses Brew for 8 to 10 hours Apply foliar or soil


	Three Inputs 2 Liters Compost 1 Cup Molasses 3/4 Cup Kelp Meal or liquid kelp 3/4 Cup Fish Emulsion. Liquid or dry. Brew 12 to 24 hours Apply foliar or soil


	Five Inputs 2 Liters Compost 1 Cup Molasses 3/4 Cup Kelp Meal or liquid kelp 3/4 Cup Fish Emulsion. Liquid or dry. 3/4 Cup Bone Meal. 3/4 Cup Blood Meal. Brew 12 to 48 hours* Apply foliar or soil


	Fungal Dominate 2 Liters Compost 1 Cup Molasses 3/4 Cup Kelp Meal or liquid kelp 3/4 Cup Fish Emulsion. Liquid or dry. 3/4 Cup Bone Meal. 3/4 Cup Blood Meal. 3/4 Cup Humic Acid Brew 12 to 48 hours* Apply foliar or soil

info@earth-wise.com

EW/SOE
P.O Box 6741
Los Osos, CA 93402
(805) 534-9605


	Bacteria/Fungi -- Bacteria can be grown in tea. They will actually multiply. Fungi are different. It is very difficult to grow fungi because fungi are basically one organism that breaks small parts off to keep growing. While you are growing bacteria, you are extracting fungi from your compost. Your brewer must agitate the water enough and your food must be in the liquid so the fungi will come out of the compost into the tea. Brew times that favor fungi are a little long for simple bacteria so you have to balance your brewing to get the best of both.


	More Recipes? Contact EW/SOE and request recipes for your specific application. They may already exist.


	* Longer brew times favor higher order microbes.


	EW/SOE has brewers and brewer designs from 2 gallons up to 225


	Testing -- If you are a home user, you should be able to use these and other tested recipes and produce good, healthy tea. If you want to get your tea tested, contact www.soilfoodweb.com and get instructions for sending in your tea for testing.