Question on amount of water for compost tea recipe

[pointer80]

Hello guy's, I want to do some compost tea and I have been looking at a lot of recipes but most don't give you the amount of water to use just ingredients. Is most geared toward 5 gallons? I'm assuming the ingredient amounts aren't that critical within reasoning? Thanks.

 

[Conradino23]

No whatever proportions you use you’re gonna be ok, cause compost tea is not really a source of nutrients, but bacteria and fungi.

 

[SmokingWings]

Hello guy's, I want to do some compost tea and I have been looking at a lot of recipes but most don't give you the amount of water to use just ingredients. Is most geared toward 5 gallons? I'm assuming the ingredient amounts aren't that critical within reasoning? Thanks.

As @conradino23 mentions you should be OK because if it is just compost or earthworm castings that is going into the tea. But if you are adding another supplement then the ratio of water might make a difference.

Is there a recipe or two that you were looking at and considering mixing up? Post a link to the thread if possible.

 

[Emilya Green]

I always make 1 gallon of tea, using at most 1 tblspoon of the various raw ingredients and then I dilute it by 2 or 3 times before applying. When I have bubbled a tea for 36 hours, the microbe population is multiplying every couple of hours, and there is plenty of leeway to be able to dilute 50/50 or more, knowing that they are about to multiply again and that the population by that time is quite high.
Remember that all you are doing with the inputs is culturing out the specific bacteria that live on and within that component or in the case of minerals, incubating the specific microbes that thrive by feeding on that particular element. The raw materials in your compost tea are absolutely not to feed the plant, they are there to feed and culture only the specific types of microbes that will be beneficial to your grow, while causing all others not to thrive due to a lack of their favorite food. The earthworm castings, compost and other additives may lend a bit of water soluble nutrients to the mix, but the main reason they are there is because of the massive amount of living bacteria contained within, and you certainly are not always releasing all of the nutrients contained in any of the inputs... some of it simply takes time or microbes to break down, and it won't happen bubbling in a tea for a day or two.

 

[pointer80]

As @conradino23 mentions you should be OK because if it is just compost or earthworm castings that is going into the tea. But if you are adding another supplement then the ratio of water might make a difference.

Is there a recipe or two that you were looking at and considering mixing up? Post a link to the thread if possible.

Here is the recipe I was going with from compost junkies website,
Balanced Compost Tea Recipe

• 1.5 pounds of balanced compost
  (equal parts bacterial to fungal biomass)
  1.6 ounces of humic acids
  1 ounce of liquid kelp*
  1 ounce of soluble unsulphured black-strap molasses

It actually says to mix in 5 gallons of water(about the only recipe that said that) I was going to mix up 15 gallons as I have 12 plants and some veggies to apply it to. The only thing is I have kelp meal instead of liquid kelp. I also am using my own compost that has been aging since last fall and my own worm castings that are made from rabbit manure and some kelp and alfalfa meal mixed in and processed. I was also going to use a little forest floor soil from my hardwood forest. I was going to apply at a rate of 1 gallon per plant. All but three of my plant's are in the ground in Clackamus Coot's soil. The other three are in 7 gallon and one 18 gallon pot in ocean forest and happy frog mixed. I have given my plant's one application of sst so far about a week ago. Thank you.