Hose it all off and see if the plants survive.

Did you use a bubbler, or did you just mix the stuff together and let it sit for 24 hrs? If you did, that may be the problem:

From Elaine Ingham, well-known in organic gardening: "Don't try to make compost tea without the aeration equipment. If the tea is not aerated constantly, the organisms in it will quickly use up the oxygen, and the tea will start to stink and become anaerobic. An anaerobic tea can harm your plants."

Was the organic fertilizer recommended for use as a foliar spray? And specifically, what was it, the tomato and vegetable food?

If you're going to make compost tea, make compost tea. Don't dump a bunch of other ingredients in it unless you know the WHY of what you're doing. The plants can't assimilate a bunch of stuff at once.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Elaine Ingham's Compost Tea

I used a bubbler. I was using a recipe i saw somewhere on the web, but I may have misunderstood it. I put in the tomato vegetable stuff from EB stone.

Most organic fertilizers are about as useful as peeing in the soil until you dump a large amount in...a lot of 5-5-5 type stuff at best.

The sugar is a bit weird. I understand what it's supposed to do in conjunction with the compost (increasing "good" bacteria), but I don't know if I would use it.

Even with the compost, fertilizer, and sugar I'm a bit shocked it caused that kind of reaction diluted with 2 gallons of water, though.

Did you dilute it well before using? Compost tea is made with compost - just compost - nothing else but water. And it is never used full strength, especially not on young plants, and most definitely not as a foliar feed. Compost tea should always be diluted - some say to the color of weak iced tea, some say 5:1 minimum.

All you can do is as Sue recommended - wash it off well and hope for the best.

As for the aeration aspect - opinions vary widely on that need. Personally I never aerate mine other than some stirring but aerated or not when properly used it poses no risk to the plants.

Dave

I diluted it 2:1

I will wash it off when I get home. The basil took the biggest hit, started wilting within minutes. I have to say, i am also perplexed.

It did get pretty cold last night, down to 38. Maybe spraying the leaves in the morning shocked the leaves with the cold?

I think it must have been something in the EB Stone mix, that's an incredibly fast reaction to even strong compost tea. I've never liked it as a foliar spray though, although many do. But properly diluted, as DD says.

NC-CRN, can't agree with what you're saying. Sugar activated aerated compost tea has been a godsend for my yard and has it's own faq dedicated to it here at GW. As it correctly notes, "...It is the microherd in our soil, compost, and teas, that is really more important in soil development and disease control than just the soluble nutrients."

Here is a link that might be useful: What are the Benefits of Aerated Compost Teas vs. Classic Teas?

38* is pretty cold. Did you get some frost?
I've found that both basil and beans don't like frost at all!

I freeze all of my kitchen scraps (vegetables only).Then I let them thaw in a strainer and a bucket. I mix my drippings 10 to 1 with water. Works amazing on house plants. But even at a 10 to 1 mix I only dump about an eighth of a cup into each plant (very little). The first regular watering will then instantly release nutrients to your plants.Too little is better than too much. Always start with very small quantities and work your way up from there.And don't spray the leaves,rather dump a bit of tea on a few leaves and see what happens before proceeding(Day or two).

I never had a problem with compost tea, and I NEVER dilute it. Compost isn't that strong of a fertilizer anyway... Nine out of ten you were breeding pathogens in that compost tea... Its important to note that even if he did aerate the tea, microbs can populate so quick they use up all the oxygen and anaerobic pathogens take hold.. It's ironic that people recommend using compost tea as a foliar spray for disease control.. There's just so many variables that come into play.. If you want to be extra cautious, just use the tea on the soil, not foliage. Most importantly, if it smells bad(anaerobic) don't use it. It should smell like slightly sweet compost..

So, for a bubbler, do you just use a fish tank aerator? If so, I'll look for one on freecycle. Nancy

Yes, an aquarium air pump.. They have them for around $10-15 at Walmart.. I normally do my compost tea in a five gal bucket.. If you need more than just the five gal, you could either by a stronger aerator, or just use another five gallon bucket.. Personally, the five gallon buckets works best for me. I bought a better pump($20-25 at walmart) and tried using a 55 gal trash can to make a nice batch, but i couldn't get it right, it wasn't enough aeration, eventually the pump broke.. Making compost tea can be frustrating, there is so many variables.. So even if you use the same recipe, you could have totally different results. The main thing that would sway those results would be temperature.. From my experience, just a warm up of 5-10 degrees could make your batch reach it's peak potential in half the time.. That's what happened to me, I didn't take note of temperature and we got a warm up, i came back the next day, like i normally do in spring when making compost tea, and it was anaerobic and rancid.. From my understanding, the warmer weather caused a boom in life in the "tea" and they used up all the oxygen. Take not of temperature.. It's not going to fluctuate drastically day by day, but it would be smart to change your recipe according to season or whatever

It's been touched on but should really be emphasized, you should not spray the foliage -even when just watering, apply directly to the ground.
The best way to feed your plants is to feed your soil.

if you did it when it was hot and the sun was out that might be your problem. I noticed that sometimes you can essentially cook your plants by applying a liquid on the leaves when the sun is out.

I don't think that the plants died because of compost tea.
Two cups of compost in TWO gallons of water , THEN it was diluted to 2:1, cannot likely kill a plant unless the compost contained some chemicals like pesticide. Most composts have less than ONE percent nitrogen. Max can be 2%. and that (two cups of it) diluted in 4 gall( half a cup per gallon) would not kill any established plant.

OP say it got down to 38F. HMMM. Maybe even lower. That is cold enough to kill Basil.

I don't understand spraying the leaves. Isn't that unhealthy, if you plan to eat the plants? Maybe try some diluted fish fertilizer around the roots, next time? My mom has success with that...I just put lots of aged horse manure in the soil and don't fertilize with anything else. So far, so good :)

"I don't understand spraying the leaves. Isn't that unhealthy, if you plan to eat the plants?"

There's no toxic chemicals in compost tea.. Only thing that would be a concern is the bacteria and other pathogens.. If you are using tap water, that would be a second, that's about it..

Compost tea is ok to spay on leaves, plants absorb mico nutrients through foliage( avoid high nitrogen on leaves). Should avoid compost tea on leaves when it's hot out. Brown sugar killed your plants, use unsweetened molasses next time champ. Consult a book next time, majorty of the comments are a waste of your time. I got a laugh outta them. We dont grow plants we cultivate soil, plants dont need us to grow we need them live.