Compost Tea

Compost or manure tea...... wondering if anyone does this and what do you think?

Thinking I might give this a try on a small scale just to see the results.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

This is the video that I use last year to make tea. I'll be making it this year again.

It works great

That was a good video, but what did he do with the two garbage pails? Did he put only some tea he made in each, or what, there seemed like some information missing.....could have been explained a little better. I think though, for sure, I will be making lots of compost tea, but using a garbage pail instead of a 5 gallon pail. I have a perfect area near the gardens to gather rainwater too, from the eaves off the gazebo, smiling. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM

I also put molasses in every batch to feed the microbes in the tea

We made tea for the garden when I was a kid and I still do it now. It works great and is nice to know what's going into the garden

Ya, the molasses thing, I have heard that about making the organic teas for sure. Might add that too, have a wonderful day, CynthiaM

bcboy wrote:This is the video that I use last year to make tea. I'll be making it this year again.

good video bcboy, thanks for sharing.

I might have to give this some more thought. I mainly use self watering planters and self watering raised beds. All in which have water reservoir so I only need to water once a month, which is great when you live here in the Okanagan. I don't want my tea going bad hmmm got some thinking to do now LOL

I live in Vernon too.

bcboy wrote:I live in Vernon too.

howdy neighbour a nice place to be

We use manure tea early,after they flower we use comfrey tea as it's very high in npk,the suggestion is not to use it early as the high potassium can stunt growth,it's easy to use,the leaves disappear after about a week.

We use manure tea early,after they flower we use comfrey tea as it's very high in npk,the suggestion is not to use it early as the high potassium can stunt growth,it's easy to  use,the leaves disappear after about a week.

birish wrote:We use manure tea early,after they flower we use comfrey tea as it's very high in npk,the suggestion is not to use it early as the high potassium can stunt growth,it's easy to  use,the leaves disappear after about a week.

I had to do a little google search on that one "comfrey tea"" and that is right down my lane Gonna look into this a little deeper.

The medicinal uses of Comfrey are interesting..... was historically used to treat a wide variety of ailments ranging from bronchial problems, broken bones, sprains, arthritis, gastric and varicose ulcers, severe burns, acne and other skin conditions. It was reputed to have bone and teeth building properties in children

I found me some Comfrey seeds and I've bought from Richters before and they've been great. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
thanks for the tip birish

Okanagan peppers, cool.  I didn't know comfrey could be grown by seed.  Guess it makes sense though.  I have experience with fields of comfrey, well embellishing a little.  Back on the coast I had so much comfrey it would make your head spin...the bumblebees loved the blooms, the honeybees did not.  The bumblebee has a much longer tongue than the honeybee and can reach inside to get the nectar, whereas the honeybee does not.  But plant borage, for the honeybee.  It is a cousin to borage and the bees love it, and borage self-seeds like there was nary a tomorrow, trust me I know.  I still grow comfrey.  I have a huge plant that I cut down at least 2 times a summer, makes for wonderful addition to the compost pile too.  The flowers of comfrey and borage are beyond amazing and beautiful and comfrey is the most beautiful shade of blue.  If you are ever down this way, I could cut you a hunk of comfrey root up, or even mail it to you.  It can be invasive, watch out, those roots are tough and boy do they like to spread, smiling....enjoy the picture of the bombus in the comfrey and have a wonderful day, CynthiaM

I used to take hundreds of pictures of my bee plants, back on the coast, some few years ago, and the work the insects did to achieve nectar was astounding and I so loved that, and the product from the hive was even more wonderful

This is what one of the plants back on the coast looks like, allow lots of room.  The plant that I dug up and brought with me still has not become invasive, it looks much the same as the picture here.  But who knows that is going on underground, laughing, I suspect many, many roots

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

A pretty sillouette of comfrey

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

And this is what the borage flower looks like, the annual and smaller cousin to comfrey

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

That's really interesting. Now that I've seen a picture of comfrey, I recognize the plant. My mother in law had some where she used to live, it was planted from the previous tenants and she didn't know what it was either.
Borage looked pretty too. My neighbour has honey bees and they come over to my market garden to look for nectar, maybe I should plant some for them.

Bees are so beneficial, they can do nothing but good for your own gardens too Izzy. Back on the coast I spent years obtaining, propagating and seeding so many beneficial flowers for my honeybees. Back in those days I kept 10 colonies, so many beautiful plants. I left them all behind when we moved, but our five acres was loaded with honeybee plants. There are some very simple annuals (and perennials too) that will attract tons of honeybees to your gardens. Ones the come to mind are blue tansy (phacelia tanacetifolia), which gives mountains of beautiful white pollen and lovely light honey (not anything like yellow tansy, which is bad for livestock), of course, sunflowers, for pollen and nectar, bachelor's button, hyssop (I grew Blue Fortune, hyssop officinalis), and the wort plants (motherwort, etc......), sea holly, oh so many....oops, I have wandered off topic, but sheesh, so compelled when it comes to the friends of the world, the honeybee, smiling that big smile. I should make a list of the many common flowers that are particularly good for these creatures, borage is outstanding though!! Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM