I make compost tea by piling compost on as mulch, and irrigating it. Gosh, you could even dig it in! My vegetable bed is my "teapot". Yeah, you still need compost, but manure compost should work great.

Pick up some manure to make your tea.

Compost tea cannot be made without compost just as manure tea cannot be made without manure. If the tea is to be used to supply nutrients to plants then manure could be a substitute. However, if the compost tea is used to aid in disease suppression then manure tea is not.

I did use commercial manure compost to make manure tea. It did nothing to my plants.

If you have compost to make compost tea why not just use the compost? Just seems like a giant waste of compost.

The compost I have is unfinished and even if I had finished homemade compost, I always worry that it may contain pathogens or dangerous bacteria because I compost in a tumbler. Not sure if it's a something worry about when making compost tea. However, I'm satisfied with the compost tea results I get using municipal compost.

John D., that was my point. If you mulch with compost and irrigate, you are effectively applying compost tea to the soil AND you have the compost still on top. Vastly easier than making compost tea, and pouring that tea on plants. Kinda like making "fertilizer tea" by pouring water over fertilizer, collecting it, and applying to plants. Makes no sense.

Making tea is, I suppose, considered a highly civilized way of doing gardening. One lump or two, dear?

I have watched enough youtube videos that shows just using the compost as is works better long term.

So many people been doin it all wrong for sooo long.

Pray for their souls.

Well, it's true that a fabulous amount of effort and tools go into making this "compost tea" stuff. Hoses, buckets, cheesecloth strainers, spouts and the like. Maybe a tea "cozy" for the result? Pretty funny, really.

No question that what leaches out of compost is probably good for plants. The question is why one has to do that leaching manually. Nature will do it all by herself.

It may be that for container plants, where you don't have the opportunity to mulch heavily with compost, it may be of value. But container plants need a host of fertilizers that compost (and whatever you can get to dribble out of it) can't provide. I guess some people do foliar spraying of the stuff, which biologically doesn't make a lot of sense. But for pouring on a garden bed?

Let's be honest. People swear that compost tea benefits their plants. They're right! But I'll bet that if that same compost had been used to mulch those same plants, it would have benefited them just as much for vastly less effort.

<I'll bet that if that same compost had been used to mulch those same
plants, it would have benefited them just as much for vastly less
effort.>

I'll be waiting for your book. And believe me - I am "The Lazy Gardener".

I appreciate the fact that you're waiting for my book. We're all lazy gardeners, but some of us manage to do a lot more work than we need to.

Compost tea multiplies the bio active components of a compost pile by factors of 1,000s. The growing medium has no different purpose than that of an agar plate in a lab. I get the idea these points are not given a proper weight in this thread. Is it that challenging to conceptually appreciate that the standard compost pile is insufficient for full coverage return to the land from whence it came? It is after all, reduced by 2/3 in volume when finished. And to make it simpler, the organic matter itself is not what one is always after, rather the endo and ectomorphic components as well as any archea that may have turned up.

trickyputt, that's the reason why I want to make compost tea.

If I were to make compost tea using unfinished compost, would it be safe to use it? The unfinished compost is made of fruit/vegetable scraps and leaves. It's a in tumbler, most likely not hot enough to kill harmful bacteria (if they exist).

Safe? Probably but not much nutrient value. The reason you can use unfinished compost in your garden is it will finish composting. If you make tea from unfinished compost all you are making is smelly water with little nutrient value.

John Donovan, isn't the whole purpose of compost tea to increase the "bio active components of a compost pile" as explained by trickyputt? My understanding is that you gain nutrients when those microorganisms are eating the organic matter, not directly from compost tea.

Or is my understanding of compost tea wrong? Because I don't believe it actually has or multiplies "nutrients."

Compost tea is used directly on your plants. Depending on what you believe it is suppose to give a ready dose of nutrients that would otherwise be slowly released by the compost itself.

The aerobic bacteria that is present in your compost pile is everywhere. All it needs to begin the process of hot composting is water, oxygen and the right ratio of carbon and nitrogen.

RD,

The answer is no, because as one might multiply benefical bioactivity, so too one may multiply E coli or other sketchy organisms. The reason a hot compost is desireable is that a purification like pastuerization occurs at temps past 140f. Its no magic that we use 140f in the kitchen as a baseline cooking temp. So..if you dont have a lot, I wonder if you could just boil some of it and then compost it? Another thread perhaps.

As the temps subside, bioactivity returns, pathogens deleted to the larger degree, oxidation having occured nutrients are more concentrated in the now smaller mass, and later, humic material is formed through the activity of the white aerobic molds especially in the presence of hardwood lignin.

This is the raw (veggie humor) arguement point against using raw sewage waste on edibles as fertilizer also, where sewage milorganite and composted products like it can and are often used. Active compost tea does not get used for its nutrients, rather, its living contents have a nutritive effect, and become nutrients as they die.

An organic fertilizer with added biodome such as Jobes from walmart would be more consistent as a tea base, as it is prepared in a more controlled way. Having proteins to feed the soil and the beneficial bacteria and fungi and archaea already on board makes it easier. The point is multiplying resources economically.

Liquid Fish fertilizer is more like a good compost tea than what would be produced by most people because they lack even basic capacity to control temperature, oxygenation and density of growth medium in the water and this leads to too little active component or dead compost tea or toxic tea.

Here is a link to Dr Inghams compost brewing manual.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.nofanj.org/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx%3FID%3D104151&ved=0ahUKEwjD0eSjipzUAhVB4yYKHZZpD2IQFggdMAA&usg=AFQjCNFwLl6iUkxVXReYfCDPuJXzbxlThA&sig2=fHj6doNMPw15UZ3dJ9gxbA

"Compost tea multiplies the bio active components of a compost pile by factors of 1,000s."

I doubt it. Reference please? Compost tea is just what you leach out of compost. That leaching happens naturally when the compost is dug into the soil.

Oh goodness. Elaine Ingham? Wasn't she thrown out of her academic position?

Oh you are just full of fun today Dan! Glad my Momma was a biochemist and raised me with industry literature on the coffee table. I fondly remember one called "Virus Today" or at least I think it was, but I was in 3rd grade or so and did not know we would be having this conversation or I would have saved it.

Leachate is not compost tea. A common misunderstanding. Compost tea is the purposeful growing and expanding of the biological life in the compost, and quite possible the compost drippings as well if it harbors anything in the liquid.

Yes Thousands. Proof? A moldy loaf of bread. One spore lands and literally millons if not billions or more spring from it. If you have a continous feed source and conditions are right, growth will be indeterminate. Unlike a unitized sample like a loaf of bread, a 55 gallon open top drum we can refer to as a bioreactor because of its purpose, can serve as the physical environment containing moisture and oxygen, the two primary nutrients. Given a reasonable ambient temperature, and bubbling agitation to gently knock bugs off the compost and into the solution, one needs only feed them which becomes easy theough the open top. They will bloom at a exponential rate, so extraction timing becomes relevent, but yessir you can make a bug soup from a few bacteria. and control volume with prior choices as to reactor size and nutrient density.

And yes I am still an Ingham fan. Just because she screwed up some math or something relative to the risks of genetic engineering and promoted the message, I do not fault her ability to cook up a batch of compost tea.

Yep, industry literature on the coffee table, but no real research, I guess. Just recollections from when you were 8 years old? I mean research that compares plant growth with and without compost tea. Your proof is a moldy loaf of bread? Lots of fungi? Do you have a clue how many fungal units are in a teaspoonful of soil?

Most recipies for "compost tea" are just leaching. No bubbling. That happens in the soil. But yes, "aerobic" tea certainly increases the bacterial population. Whether that actually does anything for plants is what this discussion is about. Sure, I'll be "full of fun". But let's see some facts. Please don't fault my ability to cook up a batch of compost tea either. What this is about is whether it's worth doing.

Dan, how can a person so certain as you get the bubbling part wrong? Are you not familiar with how they keep fish alive in an aquarium with the same type airation? I admit it, fish are a mite larger than a fungal unit, and some wont fit on a spoon, but they are alive because of the oxygen and dead without it.

Is it all worth doing?

That is one small question, but the situations are all something I am not able know. Speaking for others is not something I am good at, so if you take my garden which has good soil according to my wife I would say no. If you have a clay toxicity suffering tree and need to revive it by injection to the root, I say yes.

Okay, I have no particular leanings on this subject, and I see potential merit on both 'sides'.

To add what I'm thinking...

The bacteria and fungi that are growing in compost, of which the goal is to impart to garden plants... are they not growing in their preferred medium - compost? Do they not have access to oxygen outside of water?

Is water, with incorporated oxygen, the only ingredients of the teas under discussion?

Why would water be something that non-aquatic species find as a favorable habitat?

I'm really not trying to challenge anything, and I understand that using water to extract soluble nutrients and microorganisms is something people find reason to do, but I'm forced to question how the process of making a tea can multiply beneficial organisms. I think that water-borne microorganisms would certainly flourish - as water and oxygen would indeed be their preferred habitat (and that may be beneficial for plants - although, when they grow, they would use the available nutrients that the garden plants would otherwise use.)

Personally, I think putting some compost or aged manure in water, and a few hours later using that to irrigate plants, is a perfectly reasonable effort, but I think there's plenty of reason to question anything beyond that simple process.

Tricky, I see you met Dan. Every village has one. I guess we can refer to the internet as a "bioreactor", no?

<That happens in the soil. But yes, "aerobic" tea certainly increases the
bacterial population. Whether that actually does anything for plants is
what this discussion is about.>

Perhaps you need to start your own discussion then afaik the OP asked <Is there any other way of making compost tea without compost? lol Can I
use garden soil? I have a raised bed in which compost was added back in
fall and mulched with leaves. The soil is active with plenty of
earthworms. Would it work?>

Making Aerobic Compost Tea without Compost

I understand that discussions can and do evolve but I'm seeing a pattern where Dan likes to change the topic to something else then argue rather than discuss. As if there is only one way to do things. IF there is Gardening or Compost Tea are not either one and only ways.

The way I see Gardening, The way I see Compost Tea, The way I see Life, is IF you choose not to use it - don't - that doesn't mean everyone has to not use it. Just as no one is forcing anyone to use it.

This applies so much to Gardening, Compost Tea, or Life, James Bay - Let It Go

Lol yes indeed. I like Dan. he makes me use big words. And dirt works. Its how I start my piles. But at some point, ya gotta just roll on because small details.

tackyiepoo would you have a YouTube video illustrating the arguments you are attempting to put forth?

https://youtu.be/1dEJg0Ob5cg is a start point. The scale is aimed at larger operations. What Elaine says is also written in the brewing manual I linked in an earlier post. Do you have any specific interest? This vid is just an introduction.

"tackyiepoo would you"

Seriously? Your first contribution to this thread and you go with that?

"Is it all worth doing?
That is one small question, but the situations are all something I am not able know."

But you'll regale us with your enthusiasm for doing it anyway.

"Dan, how can a person so certain as you get the bubbling part wrong?"

Oh, I love bubbling. Bubbling is fun. Breeding bacteria is fun. Just not clear why we're talking about doing it in the interest of growing plants. You haven't told me why. Yeah, "bubbling" is a big word. Sounds in-tell-ec-tu-al. By all means, roll on!

Mr. Gumby, you're accusing me of changing the subject. I'm certainly not doing that. We're talking about the importance of compost tea, maybe accentuated by "bubbling". Your philosophizing about what is and what isn't, and about the way you see life, however, is certainly pertinent to another discussion. Why don't you start another thread on that? I'm hardly "forcing" anyone to do anything. I'm just being skeptical about value. If you want to do something that I think offers no value, I'm sure not going to try to stop you! If you want to try to convince me otherwise about value, I'd welcome the info.

<If you want to do something that I think offers no value, I'm sure not going to try to stop you!> I am not a doctor so I can't tell if you are on meds or need meds.

You have yet to answer any of the OPs questions yet you say... <Your philosophizing about what is and what isn't, and about the way you
see life, however, is certainly pertinent to aanother discussion.>

<you're accusing me of changing the subject. I'm certainly not doing that.>

I think this it you in this pic. It is isn't it.
Honey Come to Bed...

My answer to the OP was that I didn't think it was worth doing. But since that wasn't the question, I guess I'm done here. You're right, maybe I should start another thread on that!

I like your cartoon. I wish more people were like that.

Peace.

Dan, bubbling is good. Boiling over is not. And if you just twist my arm about it, then I will tell you that my main interest in the process has nothing to do with fertilizing, feeding or any of that normie stuff. No, I am far to gone for that. I my case I have taken a blank stare at a fungal agent called A.Soloni. Actually, its a whole dang clan of them. R. Soloni is just as bad. I intend to start a fight. It turns out some of those scientistic friends of yours wrote a fairly exhaustive work on that fungal group, and found that the active matrix of hot compost had a strong controlling effect. I was certainly exhausted when I was done reading it. Those words were heavy and I had to go slow.