I want to make Worm Tea

[rosiethumb]

I want to make Worm Tea.

Can anyone share their Worm Tea Recipe?

[vermigiant]

It's good that you were able to think about this thread rosiethumb because I also want to make vermi tea or worm tea.

1. Can I just add water to my bin so the tea can be collected in the bottom bin? Will the worms not drown in this process?

2. Can I use any type of water? I got pond water, chlorinated tap water and water from a deep well.

3. What type of material is best to put in the compost?

4. Will I still need to dilute the collected tea before spraying to my flowers and vegetables?

5. Can I just pour it directly into the potting media instead of spraying?

6. What is the shelf life of the worm tea after being collected?

[krissy]

I haven't really tried making worm tea yet but I have been researching and I will be making my own worm tea soon.

Based on my researchers, I can answer some of the questions raised by vermigiant.

To make worm tea, just get vermicast from the bin and put it in a bag or sack to be placed in a separate container or bucket. Add NON-CHLORINATED water to the container. The bag or sack containing the vermicast should be suspended in the bucket just like your tea bag that you drink. To the water in the container, add molasses, at least 2-3 tablespoons, and let it stand a day.

After 24 hours, you will now have your worm tea and you can spray this on your plants.

As for the shelf life, remember that the worm tea contains living microorganisms. As long as these beneficial microorganisms are kept alive by access to oxygen and cool environment then the worm tea is still effective.

[dumbledorf17]

Molasses which is added to the water in the bucket is to feed the beneficial microorganisms.

The resulting worm tea should be used within 24 hours.

If you don't have any sacks, you can use nylon stockings.

When spraying the tea, apply it on all the foliar surfaces.

[farmerbrie]

Compost Tea is a reintroduced technique of providing nutrients and beneficial microorganisms into the soil.

I make my organic compost tea by brewing compost in highly aerated water.

[rosiethumb]

So the process is just like making tea

the teabag is the vermicompost inside a sack

the hot water is the aerated water

then steeping it overnight...


Did i get it right?

[beezybody]

You can also try substituting molasses with brown sugar, honey or maple syrup.

[mistermaster]

Worm tea is easy to make. Just shovel vermicast into a burlap sack, old pillowcase or cheesecloth. Tie and place the sack into a barrel or large bucket that is filled with water. Let it steep for 4-5 days , remove the bag with the vermicast. now you have your vermi tea ready for application to your plants.

[gardengirl]

You can also make manure tea. Fill a burlap sack with manure and water. Let it drain into a bucket. Use on your plants but don't spray directly on the leaves as the tea can burn them. Just keep adding water until it is no longer brown.

[John S.]

Originally Posted by gardengirl

Just keep adding water until it is no longer brown.

Is there no over dilution when adding water? am afraid it might render the tea useless.

[garden ann]

You can make more tea with a 50 gallon drum. Just fill 3/4s of the bag with compost or manure (it really depends on what you have) then tie the bag with a rope. Place the filled bag inside the drum and fill the drum with water.

I leave mine for about a week then I will lift up the sack by the rope. The tea inside the drum will be divided into 5 gallon buckets and mixed with plain water. I can now use this for my plants.

[farmerpiper]

There are commercial vermi composting set-ups where a container is provided to collect the drippings. But as discussed in other threads, this might be leachate which is undesirable as a liquid fertilizer.

[Edward12]

If you have other uses for your vermicompost, and you don't have anything left to make tea, you can buy worm poop and steep it to make tea.

[farmerbrie]

Now that you have your "tea" here's the best way to use it:

Dilute your tea to the color of a light ice tea. Then use that to water your plants. Just don't mix that up with your ice tea

The plants inside the sun room gets a monthly dose of the tea and no other fertilizers. That goes for my flowers too.

[honeylemon]

You can also use worm tea to get rid of white flies, aphids and spider mites. No, it will not kill them but will repel them naturally. Just spray liberally onto plants full strength. You can spray again after rains. This organic plant food is really great, isn’t it?

[wrigglerman]

Worm tea is also a great organic plant fertilizer.

Aside from using it as a source of food for my plants, I spray it for aphids, spider mites, and white flies. It is a great natural insect repellent.

[farmerpiper]

To make compost tea, gather a diffuser, some air hoses and an air pump, put them in a five-gallon bucket filled with water, and turn it on. The air jets pump air into the water and encourage the growth of millions of good, aerobic bacteria. Next, add about eight cups of compost to the bubbling bucket. Evans adds a special blend of ingredients that contains, among other things, simple sugars. Allow the tea to brew for 24 hours. Evans then mixes five parts water to one part tea. He applies the tea two different ways by saturating the ground and directly watering the plants' foliage. This creates a bio-film, which protects the plant from diseases and pests.

I got this from Super-Sized Veggies : Landscaping : Home & Garden Television

This is how JOHN EVANS, a 9-time winner of Guinness Book of World Records for biggest vegetables, makes compost tea.

[fireflies]

A neighbor of mine uses his worm tea for seed germination. He uses wet paper towel spout method to water newly planted seeds. It works well according to him. He also uses worm tea as plant food by diluting 50/50 with water and applying it with each watering.

[dumbledorf17]

Originally Posted by farmerpiper

There are commercial vermi composting set-ups where a container is provided to collect the drippings. But as discussed in other threads, this might be leachate which is undesirable as a liquid fertilizer.

Many assume that worm tea is simply made by collecting the liquid that drains out the bottom of a worm bin (if it has drainage, that is), but this is not the true worm tea. This is actually known as Leachate. It does not contain half as good and as many nutrients that worm tea contains and it might also contain all sorts of compounds produced by different reactions of materials and microorganisms inside the pile. Perhaps some of these compounds can be bad (phytotoxic) to the plants.

[beezybody]

I use worm tea to prevent diseases and it also adds lots of beneficial microorganisms to my garden soil.

Worm Tea are best known to prevent and eliminate Black Spot and Powdery Mildew on roses.

[garden ann]

When you spray worm on the leaves of the plants, you are deliberately coating the leaf with millions of beneficial microorganisms. You are also coating the leaves of the plants with a protective film which prevents attacks by common garden pathogens.

Worm tea on soil will introduce the beneficial microorganisms into the soil which can help break down nutrients which can later on be absorbed by plants.

[Edward12]

Worm tea is also good for germination of seeds. You just wet the paper towel with the worm tea or you can sprinkle worm tea on newly planted seeds.

If you want to use it for plant food then dilute your worm tea 50/50 with water with each watering.

If you don't want to dilute, then you may apply worm tea full strength once a week then water application for the rest of the week.

[honeylemon]

When watering cut flowers add a teaspoon of worm tea to the water. It acts as blossom booster and lengthens the life of plants.