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| I purchased bags of composted leaves from a local feed store.
Can I use the leaves like this in making a compost tea or do I have to mix something else with the leaves? I am new to making compost tea and trying to find out what works best. Many thanks in advance for any info anyone can help me with. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Fri, Apr 13, 12 at 18:30
| If they are still identfiable as leaves then it is not yet compost :-) Ideally compost tea is made from a high quality biologically active and diverse compost - biodiversity is the key for best results. If you are new compost teas, then I'd suggest you do some reading online about the best recipes and procedures - how you make it and what you make from makes all the difference. |
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| Was that store selling leaves to be composted or compost made from leaves? The day may come when stores start selling leaves, but most people still consider them waste that must be gotten rid of quickly, today, and not the valuable and renewable resource they are. If that material is not easily identifiable as leaves, is a nice crumbly, earthy smelling dark brown substance you may well be able to put some in a mesh bag and make compost tea from it. |
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- Posted by tn_gardening (My Page) on Sun, Apr 15, 12 at 9:14
| I am new to making compost tea and trying to find out what works best. ========================= Maybe I'm naive, but I'd say that since you are trying to find out what works: GO FOR IT. You might have good results. |
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| WAIT WAIT Someone is selling composted leaves? hmmm |
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- Posted by sandywillow 9 (My Page) on Mon, Apr 16, 12 at 9:36
| ok, thanks for all the suggestions for my question. The leaves I purchased are totaly decomposed in the bag. The bag is sold as: Leaf Mold Compost by: Natures Way Resources.... It looks like soil, smells earthy and seems like I could probably use this stuff for a tea. As someone stated above, I am naiveand am willing to give it a try and see if it works for me. |
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| Fully composted leaves are great for making tea. But as noted, compost diversity - a blend of leaves, small woody debris, grass, seaweed, manures ... - will yield a fuller mix of available nutrients in solution than will organic matter from a single source. If this was to be my primary fertilizer for my yard, I might add some seaweed emulsion and molasses to the leaf tea (lightly). |
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- Posted by sandywillow 9 (My Page) on Wed, Apr 18, 12 at 9:20
| I have made notes on all the above comments and have the following to add to brew a tea: Fish Emolsion Seeweed Bone Meal Molasses Vermiculite Thanks to all for your suggestions. P.S. This is a great and intresting site!! |
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- Posted by tn_gardening (My Page) on Wed, Apr 18, 12 at 9:52
| sandywillow I can't understand why vermiculite would be used in making a compost tea. Adding it to your garden is a good idea because of the aeration and water holding properties, but I've never heard anything about brewing a tea with it. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Wed, Apr 18, 12 at 11:21
| +1 on vermiculite - it is a highly insoluble mineral so I'm at a loss also. If you read about it being used please share what you learned. I think vermiculite is a high-K mineral so maybe it adds K, but that's a wild guess, and I still wonder how well it would actually dissolve. |
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Wed, Apr 18, 12 at 14:09
| Ditto the vermiculite - of absolutely NO value to any kind of compost tea operation. What's more, its porosity and aeration properties are very limited - once it fully absorbs moisture to its capacity, it begins to collapse and breakdown, eliminating any porosity it once might have had. IME, its use is extremely limited as a rooting medium for cuttings or as an additive in a seed starting mix. The type of compost tea you intend to make will have a bearing on what sort of ingredients you may want to include. Unless you have an aerobic tea brewer, all you really need is compost and water to create a dilute soluble fertilizer. It is only with an aerobic brewing system that you will encourage the hugh populations of bacteria and fungi that may be of value in both inoculating your soil and increasing the disease resistance of your plants. This is when you may want to include seaweed, molasses, protein meals, etc. There is a big difference between the two types. Check out the link. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Compost tea - Soilfood Web
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