So I brewed a batch of compost tea a few days ago, 2 cups compost, 1 cup kelp meal, 1 cup crab meal, 1 tsp molasses to 1 gallon of water, bubbled it with an air stone for 36 hours, then applied it to my no 15g no till bed. I didn't use ALL of it at once though. 36 hours later I went to do a top spray with the remaining mixture, and this go around it smelled like shit. Literally. Like I spread my cheeks and took a wet dump in my no till bed. So I guess (to get to the point), does compost tea 'spoil' after so long? Is it harmful for my plants to have used this foul smelling substance on them?
Compost teas are a tricky thing. You should use them right away. It's not advisable to let them sit and 72 hours seems a bit long for a brew. We've found that top dressing can achieve the same results with less work. You can get a hell of a deal on some compost tea brewers collecting dust around these halls. In short, I wouldn't use it. Dump it on the compost pile and let the microbes sort it out.
Yes it can. I got a gallon of it for free from my local hydro store but i only needed about half, a few days later i opened up the bucket it smelled horrible, and i think i saw some kind of white moldy shit floating around in there. And the dudes at the store told me it could too
Thanks for the input fellas. I think I'm just going to stick with the occasional SST, and coconut waterings. That combined with a good compost top dressing should sufficiently feed my soil web on it own, no? Being my first ever no till run, I am blown away with the results. I will never go back on the bottle
Absolutely! you can also do a neem meal top dress every week or two and just water it in. great as a pest control and also provides nutrition to the soil.
I have neem OIL that I bought when I was battling fungus gnats when I first mixed my soil a few months ago. Will diluting that into water do the same thing? Or is neem MEAL more beneficial in some way?
I don't see how it can go bad, fermented plant extracts sit in a jug for months and they don't go bad but compost tea does? I have been brewing teas then put them in jugs and haul them to the woods until I need them. I mix it with rain water at my plot and never had a problem.
a compost tea is a propagation of aerobic soil microbes. kept in a container with no oxygen provided they will quickly die. not only that but the lack of oxygen will promote the growth of anaerobic microbes, which is bad. fermentation is an anaerobic process and why you can keep FPE without spoiling. that's why people ferment food to prevent it from spoiling.