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Pulaski Tn blkcloud@igiles.net

hi, i'd like to hear your favorite recipes for manure tea, i'm fixin to brew me up a batch with a mixture of horse,donkey and sheep poop... my questions are..how much do you put in a 55 gallon drum? how long does it need to set before use? do you need to add anything else??should i used the tea from the top of the barrel or the bottom?? how often can you use it? fresh poop or aged? plus a few more questions i cant think of right now..thanks,keith

5/10/2004 4:19:33 PM

Montoursville, PA

Keith ....this is not rocket science. Make a big tea bag. When I started I just used a feed sack. Put about a ten quart bucket full in there. Place it in the barrel. As soon as it looks like weak tea use it.

If your tea gets darker brown than weak tea dilute it. Your tea will be anarobic which means it can burn your plants. To be absolutely safe I would apply by drenching, on the soil and water it in immediately.

How do you tell? Put some in a clear glass and hold it up to the sun. The tea should just be tinted...not colored.

Just like a big cup of tea you can stir it into a a stronger brew. How long? As long as you are getting tea from the bag. I used a canoe paddle.

This is a begining for you. Give Google the words compost tea. There you will be able to read and determine just how far your efforts may carry you. Making and using aerobic tea is a science. That is best or very nicely described on the North Country Organics web site.

Congrats to you.... You are on the early discovery program to a gardening skill that has many levels and beneficial returns. At the very most successful level the use of compost teas, teas made from worm casts or combinations you will read about can nearly if not completely eliminate the need for other fertilizers and most if not all harsh spray materials that, in fact work against the biological ballences you may be trying to establish.

Don't get bogged down. Just do it and enjoy as you learn. Each step along the way to a healty patch is a discovery and appreciation of the truths before you.

5/11/2004 9:14:49 AM

Snoqualmie, Wash.

Jerri-Snoqualmie, Wa.I use goat poop. I use a 5 gal. paint strainer full of goat poop in a 35 gal. garbage can full of rain water. I also add Alaska fish ferterlizer, liquid sea weed, and use a fish tank aireator to add air boobles to the mixture. Pumpkins love this. e-mail back at fallspainting@netzero.net

5/12/2004 9:25:18 AM

Hamilton, MT

What a Mother's Day gift... my 6 yr old told her Dad I should have a giant plastic barrel for a gift! She colored all over it and drew pictures of pumpkins having a tea party!

I, too, will be brewing up a batch this year.
My questions are -

1.) Does the age of the manure used matter? Too hot?
I understood tea to be a heavy nitrogen feed - is it advisable to use it past the first 8 week period (when most advice is to shift to a more balanced fert)?

2.)Is it okay to mix the fish and seaweed in, in advance, if it takes a whole week to use the whole quantity? I mean is it ok if the cocktail sits for up to a week? Or does it have to be used shortly.

Thanks All -
Kim

5/12/2004 11:09:25 PM

Snoqualmie, Wash.

MTGIANTS- I have only used goat poop, but last year i made up my tea, and let it brew for about four days, then used it everyother day and added fresh rain water every other day. This lasted for about three weeks before I made up a new batch. My neighbor started using this method early in the season and once I saw her results, I started since I had goats also. Her pumpkin weighed in at 733, while mine was 444 after starting in Aug. I think addind air is good.

5/13/2004 12:57:41 AM

Deer Park WA

I gave up on manure teas, and graduated to producing my own worm castings and using it for my base ingredient, along with worm water , sea weed and...

5/13/2004 1:03:05 AM

Montoursville, PA

All my life I thought I was making good tea. Within the last year I discovered how to make aerobic teas instead of the anerobic teas I thought were so good.

The best place I know of to read the simple differences is at the site of North Country Organics. There you can learn about all there is to learn in Compost Tea #1 for your betterment. I never had any seriouos problems with my amateur dunk and run teas but I know now that aerobic is the way to produce good. really good teas.

There on that site you will learn that equipment and the compost is in fact tested. Their reports are astounding. The good old phrase we use often seems to apply..."You get exactly what you pay for when you do your homework".

There on North Country Organics you will discover what you are paying for and why. You may not want to do this today but at least go there and further your knowledge.

5/13/2004 3:55:30 PM

Long Island,New York

Oh Geez...toss on the chemicals and sit back and enjoy a Starbucks Tazo.............G

5/13/2004 4:09:08 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

:0)
....g

5/13/2004 6:07:40 PM

Kenyon, Mn.

Toss on the chemicals, sit back enjoy your starbucks..and watch your kids play in the yard.....Children who live in homes where chemical weed and insect killers are used are four times more likely to develop cancer. FYI

5/13/2004 6:39:15 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Prove it. That's a sensational newspaper headline with basis in fact or truth. Show me the evidence.

5/13/2004 7:37:34 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

With NO basis in fact or truth. Sorry. These things anger me.

5/13/2004 7:38:16 PM

Hamilton, MT

I'll check out the NCO site...but, ...so, for AGs, is the tea just for the first 8 weeks, or do you big digs use it later?

5/13/2004 8:19:16 PM

Montoursville, PA

I start my tea the third week and continue till death due us part. I do a lot of foliar feeding. Tea is one day of each week.

5/13/2004 9:24:13 PM

Appalachian Mtns.

Gotta go with Steve here, you'd have to prove that and it would be very hard...near impossible.
I'm in a Public Health graduate program and the scope and scale of an epidemiological cohort study specific to that type survey would be immense, and would have to be lifelong. For it to be valid and reliable you'd have to follow a *very large* group from birth to death.
Show me that study and it's conclusions, I don't believe it's been done.
Conjecture and projections are not truthful basis for those types statements.
My 2 cents....

5/13/2004 9:30:54 PM

Montoursville, PA

The How long can you store it question: In the anaerobic state with preservatives it is bottled and stored for a year or more. In your barrel it will take some experimenting.

If you have good equipment and can make aerobic tea that should be used immediately. Within four hours you can loose half of the bacteria you created. The good side of this story is you can not over use...within reason, good quality aerobic tea.

Anerobic teas can contain to much nitrogen and consequently it can burn your plants if you do not dilute it down to a very weak solution.

5/13/2004 9:32:20 PM

Dagobah Ohio, USA

My aerobic Tea recipe.

I have a screened bucket I place my ingredients in.
In the bucket I add
.75 of a 3 lb. coffee can of Composted Cow Manure
.75 of a 3 lb. coffee can of Mushroom Compost
1 can 3 lb. coffee can of Alfalfa Cubes
10 tablespoons of Bat Guano
10 tablespoons of FoxFarm's Marine Cuisine.

This is then added to a 55 gallon drum which is airated using Fish Aquarium air-stones that are pwoer by two Fish Aquarium air pumps.
I allow this mixture to brew in a shady location for approximately 36 hours and then is immediately applied to the pumpkin mounds and garden.

I used this tea sparingly on all flower beds also last year and this year I have noticed that plant varieties in those areas have come up much healthier looking this year due to the increased aerobic Organic matter in the soil.

5/22/2004 8:14:18 AM