http://www.rosenut.com/rosecare/manure_tea.htm

The link above tells you how to make alfalfa tea in a 32 gallon garbage can.

Have you considered making your alfalfa tea in a 55 gallon plastic barrel set up high enough so you can run a hose from it and let gravity distribute it for you?
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Or do it at ground level with an open barrel and use a small trash pump to pump it out through a hose. Beats lifting containers or hauling it around to distribute it.

Thanks Jim for the link. I have seen it before and I should have realized I could have found it on Karls website.

Thanks Karl for the pic again. I remember your setup and it would be so much easier. Will have to talk my hubby into constructing it for me first. Probably not going to be easy though. I will probably check into the trash pump. Thats a great idea. Thanks again, Judy

OK everyone, no comments on my question about making up the tea with a small amount of water, more or less making it more condensed and then when ready to use add more water? I was hoping someone would tell me that was OK. I'm more or less making it more concentrated at first with just enought water to dissolve the pellets and then adding more water when I am ready to use. Thanks, Judy

I think it would be better to make it normally. If you wanted to condense it, let any excess water evaporate by placing the liquid in a shallow pan and let it sit out in the sun. I don't think a small amount of water would allow all the nutrients to go into solution. You'd probably leave to many of them in the residue.
This would seem to be a lot more work than just making the tea normally.

You can always try it, and report back on your results. Someone always has to be the first to try a technique. I don't see anything "wrong" with it, except that it might get a lot smellier than usual, so you may want to stir the concentrate a few times.

I'm not a "tea" person, I apply the alfalfa dry.

Hi y'all! The reason I was not putting in all the water at first was so it would make lifting the containers easier into my wagon and then I would add the rest of the water. I added at least 1/3 of the water and I would stir it at least once a day. It seemed to be enought water to dissolve the pellets good but I did still have some of the "mush" at the bottom but I had that too when I would mix it full strength. Anyway, I guess will try to experiment with some and see if I see a difference. I will have to do this if I can't get the system built like Karls.

Karl, where do you get a trash pump?? I have never heard of this before. Thanks for your help!

I've seen them at home improvement stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, Ace Hardware, and similar places.
They're sump pumps built to handle solids, and often used to water lawns and gardens from a nearby lake or stream when solids might be sucked up.
They're also used to keep sewage pumped out of sumps that are lower than the sewer or septeic system. My downstairs basement toilet is lower than the septic system. When used a trash pump pumps the water, etc. up and out to the septic system. They're built with stronger impeller blades that won't break when they come into contact with a solid or semi solid object, like leaves, small sticks, etc.
They also have larger screen holes to allow passage of large items. a normal small utility pump screen has small holes that will quickly plug up with the sludge left over from alfalfa tea. A trash pump will suck it right up.
Large heavy duty units are quite expensive. Smaller ones the size of utility pumps can be found for less than $50. That's the size you'd need for your alfalfa tea.
If used with a hose, a back pressure shutoff switch would be required unless you didn't use a shut off nozzle at the end of the hose.

Personally I don't think the roses care if you mix it that way. LOL They just love the attention they are getting when you give them their tea. :)

I usually mix a large bucket or two of alfalfa tea to apply in early and mid summer. I will add some manure to the tea also just to make it more smelly, the roses love it. It does get messy and stinky but oh my the rewards are abundant. You can almost see the roses smiling after they get their drink. It helps to have a big stick to stir the pot with from time to time. Once mine is mixed I dilute it about 1/3 again before I apply it to the roses. I begin with a few handfuls of alfalfa. This stuff expands when it is wet.

Valerie

Thanks Karl. I will go look for one and see if we can fix up something similar to yours. It does look so much easier that way.

I agree Valerie!! That stuff does expand big time doesn't it!! This year I am going to give my tea to more of my plants because I believe I heard some "grumbling" from my hosta and lilies while feeding the roses. lol!! I have well over 200 roses, probably closer to 300 and boocoos of hosta and lilies so Karls system should save me alot of steps and time. I usually tried to keep a big stick in my wagon to stir now and then while applying so some of the sludge would get around the base of the rose. Thanks again, Judy

I may be missing something, but why is the alfalfa made into a tea? I use it but just scatter it around the bed, and keep some on the ground all the time, and it breaks down and is absorbed by the roses... seems to just be extra work to make it into a tea.... thanks, sally

Saldut,
It's a question of getting the alfalfa to be consistantly wet so that the growth hormones can come out of it. Some of us don't have consistant rainfall or watering regimes, and alfalfa pellets in my yard have (in very bad years) never even expanded, but still look newly extruded come fall.
Up here, where there's winter, we need to get the growth going in the spring, because late summer and fall growth often doesn't survive winter freezes.

saldut---I agree, seems like a lot of extra work so I do what you do. Also below is a link with several interesting articles about "teas", especially the March 2005 article==>Fertilizers Sprayed on the Leaves of Trees and Shrubs Are More Effective Than Soil Applications

Here is a link that might be useful: Horticultural Myths

I know I have tried it both ways and I could tell a bigger difference when I made the tea.

OK everyone, no comments on my question about making up the tea with a small amount of water, more or less making it more condensed and then when ready to use add more water?

*** That's what we do.
We use a big coffee-can worth of alfalfa pellets in a 32-G trash can, and reduce the resultant liquid by two-thirds.

Jeri

It seems to make sense that the alfalfa nutrients are more evenly distributed if they're made into a tea but for me it's a question of time + energy versus efficacy. Since I have less of the former I choose to think that applying alfalfa meal (I wouldn't consider the pellets since there is the problem of their breaking up well enough) is good enough for my roses. I love my roses and my garden but you can only do what you can do and I've certainly seen quite favorable results with the alfalfa meal, which my plants get in addition to some compost, and plenty of mulch and water. It's not state-of-the-art but it has the prime virtues of EASY and CHEAP.

Ingrid

Thanks Jeri, Its nice to hear of someone else who mixes it similar to me. It just makes it alot easier to deal with.

Hi Ingrid, I have looked for the meal before and can't find it anywhere around here. I was thinking of spreading meal if I could find it. I know this is crazy but I actually enjoy mixing the stuff and feeding my roses with it. If I was pushed for time it probably would get irritating.

Thanks for the Horticultural Myths link, I have saved it for more thorough reading.. I can get alfalfa pellets and just scatter them, and then turn the hose on them and later use my hand cultivator to scratch them into the mulch, they seem to break down prety fast, and I do this when I can no longer see the remains of the last scattering....I also scatter Milorganite and Black Hen and Black Cow, and mulch, so it all becomes a mush of stuff.....I have used Fish Meal also, but can no longer obtain it so have switched to Fish Emulsion, and think I will pour some in a large pail of water and throw it around the beds.... I have a problem with Rheumatoid Arthritis so have to limit the labor involved, seeking the easiest path.... sally

There could possibly no reason that you can not make concentrated form and dilute it later.

I'm going to make a batch of alf alfa tea this year for the first time. I can't find anyplace to buy alf alfa pellets for the life of me in the city of Columbus though. :(

Jeffcat,

Do you have any local or distant feed mills in your area? They should have it.

I'd presume somewhere in the area there are some feed mills, but I don't know where. I will have to seek some out though.

Jeffcat,

Our local feed-mill is in the yellow pages of our phone-book under Milling.

Any of our local feed and seed stores have them. Someone had said you could use horse feed too but if you find a place with horse feed they would probably have alfalfa pellets too.

Thanks everyone for your input! I really appreciate it!! Judy

Also in a pinch I have used rabbit food! there is alfalfa in it and it mixes into a tea the same as the pellets. The roses didn't know the difference. It is really difficult to find the pellets in some areas without buying a 20 pound bag for horses!

Is this tea good for vegetable gardens also?

Anything growing, yes. Alfalfa itself has an NPK of (~3-2-2), and it contains a large amount of a growth stimulant, Triacontanol.