Using Aerated Compost Tea in Your Garden To Optimize Your Inner and Outer Ecosystem (Part 1)

Aloha Steemit Family!!!!

It's that time of year, when we like to turn our rich worm compost into a foliar spray, to upgrade the health of our soil and trees. This is what makes organic, pesticide-free gardening so bad-ass!!!

Now...THIS is terrain modification at its finest!!!

✅We are essentially enveloping EVERYTHING with Microbial allies!!! And most everyone seems to have gotten the memo about beneficial bacteria by now.

Probiotics=Immunity and Health=Pro-Life

Probiotics create little nutrient factories in the soil and inside us that provide many essential nutrients. They ARE...what feeds us!!!!

✅Also, by spraying the plants with this nutritious concoction, we are feeding them through multiple routes...not just through the roots.

Foliar feeding

Foliar feeding is a technique of feeding plants by applying liquid fertilizer directly to their leaves. Plants are able to absorb essential elements through the tiny openings on their leaves called stomata.

The absorption takes place through their stomata and also through their epidermis. Plants are also able to absorb nutrients through their stem and bark.

This is a close-up image of stomata on a plant's leaves.

This is how we grow super strong, nutrient/medicine-filled and flavor-enhanced fruits, herbs and veggies AND repopulate our garden microbiome with the good guys.

As within...so without!!!!

The BEST part of this is that by eating from a microbially-diverse garden...we are also changing our own inner ecosystem and improving our immunity and health in the process.

Check out this previous post I made about how our external environment affects our gut bacteria.

Anthony Williams, "The Medical Medium," refers to "elevated biotics" as undiscovered bacteria that live on organic produce. He explains in this article why we want them in our guts to produce B-12 among many other vital nutrients.

Through foliar spraying with compost tea...as opposed to spraying with pesticides...we are allowing the elevated biotics to flourish!!!

For total garden geeks like us 🤓...this book is THE GUIDE to teaming up with your tiny microbial garden helpers.

What is aerated compost tea (ACT)?

ACT is an extract of compost, which increases the microbial potency fourfold.

On average, with aerated tea, bacterial population grows from 1 billion per teaspoon of compost to 4 billion.

Aerated versus non aerated

Put very simply...aerated teas lower your risk of anaerobic microbial activity, which tend to be more pathogenic critters.

Benefits of Aerated Compost Tea with added nutrients:

✅Increases available nutrients in the soil
✅Can be used to feed your plants through the pores in the underside of the leaves to boost growth and health.
✅Increases soil biomass and structure with increased fungal activity.
✅Increases beneficial bacteria in the soil and wherever it is sprayed.
✅Protects plant's from pathogens (we like to use it specifically to prevent aphids by spraying tea on the leaves of our fruit trees.)
✅Makes a small amount of compost go a long way.
✅Turning compost into a liquid makes it more portable with less physical effort to apply it.

Brewing equipment

Sufficient aeration is critical. If you choose to make a simple brewer to extract your compost, you can use either one fish aquarium air pump with two outlets, or two pumps with single outlets...in a 5 gallon bucket.

We'd recommend building the "microbulator" over using the aquarium air pumps if you plan on doing this regularly.

My beloved teammate @rawutah just made a great post on how to build one of these brewers right here.

Ready-made compost brewers

Tim Wilson wrote an excellent article here on everything you need to know about ACT.

He also provides links to two prefabricated brewer models (including the microbulator) that can be purchased through his company.

So now that you understand the benefits and basic set-up...here's how we make our tea

Step 1: Fill 5 Gal bucket with non-chlorinated water.

Step 2: Insert pumps and get air circulating through the water.

Step 3: Add 1.5 cups of compost to a mesh bag.

Step 4: Add about a cup of medium and small leaves of fresh macerated comfrey and a tbsp of organic alfalfa meal to the bag.

Step 5: Tie bag to the side of the bucket handle and submerge completely.

Step 6: Add a tbsp of unsulphured molasses and any other plant-based nutrients to the water.

Step 7: Brew mixture for 18-36 hours, or until a nice thick foam develops on top.

Again, continuous aeration is key, so one way to check to make sure aeration is good is to smell it over the course of two days. It should smell earthy, not foul or sour.

The article I posted above by Tim
Wilson covers the "how-to's" for applying the tea to the soil or to the leaves in a foliar spray.

Now that you've made your terrain-modifying tea...it's time to get spraying...

In Part 2 we'll show you how we spray our plants and how to get the stomata to open up for even more amazing results!!!

In the meantime...

Check out this video on how to brew and broadcast your compost tea.

Thank you for reading y'all!!! We'd love to hear your insights and questions!!!

Aloha,

Pachee and Family

P.S. If you like the idea of terrain modification for optimal self-healing, here is another post I made on the subject.

And if you're interested in learning to make your own compost from kitchen scraps, read more here