Compost Tea Recipe for Flower - A Simple Guide

Compost tea is a liquid solution made by steeping compost in water, and it's a game-changer for your flowers. This natural, organic fertilizer promotes healthy root growth and boosts flower blooms.

The key to making great compost tea is to use a high-quality compost that's rich in beneficial microbes. Compost made from a mix of "green" materials like food scraps and grass clippings, and "brown" materials like leaves and twigs, is ideal.

Compost tea can be made with either a compost tea bag or by steeping loose compost in a bucket. The steeping time will depend on the type of compost and the desired strength of the tea.

Compost tea is a liquid infusion of compost in water that has been continually aerated for a few days. This process makes it a vehicle for getting beneficial bacterial and fungal microbes into your garden or farm.

The microbial populations in compost tea explode when they are continually aerated with a bubbler. This is what makes compost tea so valuable for your plants.

Compost tea is made by infusing compost in water in a 5-gallon bucket. This is a common way to make compost tea, and it's effective.

The finished compost tea is filled with beneficial microbiology that originally came from the compost itself.

To make compost tea for your flowers, you'll need to start with some basic ingredients. Non-chlorinated tap water is essential, so make sure to use a 5-gallon pail to collect it.

You'll also need fully finished organic compost, which should have a pleasant smell. Two cups should be enough to get you started.

The molasses you'll need is unsulfured blackstrap molasses, which is a key ingredient in this recipe. You'll need one tablespoon of it.

Liquid kelp fertilizer is another important addition, and you can use either the liquid version or soak kelp meal in water to get it. One tablespoon is the right amount.

One teaspoon of liquid fish fertilizer rounds out the ingredients for this recipe.

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To make compost tea fertilizer, you'll need non-chlorinated water, which can be rainwater or tap water that's been left to sit for over 24 hours. This allows any chlorine to evaporate, creating a safe environment for beneficial microbes to thrive.

You'll also need an inoculant, which is either worm castings or compost. This provides the initial population of beneficial microbes that will break down the organic matter in the tea.

The food source for bacteria or fungi is crucial, and it's recommended to use unsulphured molasses for bacteria, as it provides simple sugars and proteins. Fungi, on the other hand, require more complex sugars, which can be found in fish hydrolysate, kelp/seaweed, or humic acid.

To create a balanced mixture, you can combine both molasses and fungi food sources. This will provide nourishment for both bacteria and fungi, and it's a good idea to use what you have readily available.

Here are the basic ingredients and supplies you'll need:

To apply compost tea, you can either spray or drench your plants. I prefer to spray in the evenings when the sun is going down.

You can spray directly on plants, but make sure to do this when there's no immediate rain in the forecast. Sometimes I drench with half compost tea/half water for heavy feeders like roses and other flowering shrubs.

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Add 1 cup of compost tea to a watering can for every 1 gallon of water. You can also spray your garden beds with compost tea to infuse them with microbiology.

The microbes will help wake up the bed before planting and get nutrient cycling going. I spray my beds before planting annuals, and I spray the soil underneath my perennials in the spring as well.

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