Brew Compost Tea

Making compost tea is a fun and easy way to increase the microbe population in your soil and in turn, improve soil health. Compost tea is a liquid produced by extracting beneficial microbes from compost much like you extract flavor when steeping tea. The most common type of compost tea is aerated compost tea. This method adds oxygen to the mix to allow a larger population of microbes to be produced. Here is what you will need to brew your first batch.

• 5-gallon bucket
• Small aquarium pump with tubing and air stone (less than $10)
• Fine mesh bag (knee-high nylon hose work great)
• Compost
• Unsulfured black strap molasses (or honey or maple syrup)
• Liquid fish fertilizer (optional)

1. Fill up the 5-gallon bucket with water and leave it out for 24 hours. This will allow any chlorine that may be added to by a water treatment facility to evaporate. 
2. Set up your aquarium pump so that the pump is outside the bucket and plugged in, and the tubing with the aeration stone is inside the bucket. 
3. Add about 2 cups of compost to the mesh bag and tie it shut. Add your “compost tea bag” to the bucket.  
4. Add 1 tablespoon of unsulfured black strap molasses to the bucket. Bacteria require simple sugars to reproduce, the molasses is a great source of food for the microbes. Sulfur can kill beneficial bacteria, so you want to avoid it. You can also add a teaspoon of liquid fish fertilizer that will add more complex sugars, this will help feed beneficial fungi and create a balance of nourishment for both bacteria and fungi. 
5. Let your tea brew for 24-36 hours. 
6. You are now ready to apply it to your soil. You can dilute the tea as well to use as a foliar spray directly on the plant leaves. Follow the ratio of 4 cups of tea per 1 gallon of water; just make sure you let that water sit for 24 hours prior to adding the tea to allow the chlorine time to evaporate.