Compost Tea... Biggest LIE Ever Told To Gardeners

[@GardeningInCanada]

I am planning a reaction video so if you have any reels you want me to comment on be sure to dm me! instagram.com/gardeningincanada Also GIC Crew I am 99.9% sure you have asked me to make this video a million times. 😅

[@puckingery915]

Love this info, would you debunk Comfrey Tea? Also, is there any nutrient benefit of mixing compost into water and then watering, not steeping it like tea?

[@GardeningInCanada]

@@puckingery915absolutely! Added to the list.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Also fire alarm is not a fire alarm… it’s a parrot that is insistent on beeping so the internet can scold me on fire safety.

[@psychedelicward]

@@GardeningInCanada I'd love to know your opinion on KNF and the work Chris Trump does out in Hawaii.

[@Mark_Nadams]

@@GardeningInCanada If the parrot has been exposed to an old fire safety alarm in need of a battery it was ingrained. I had one that did a servant's bell at +150dB .. Piercing

[@cannafarmer]

If you just put the compost on top of the soil. Then its tea everytime you water or it rains

[@GardeningInCanada]

Literally just hacked the system 😂

[@szarahsshow5321]

⁠@@GardeningInCanadafor people what live in areas with wild animals, this often is not a possibility. I personally live in a highly forested area. My landlord will not allow me a compost bin because every summer we have to fight off field rats, king fishers, & larger predatory animals. Just last summer we lost a duck to a king fisher that had been stalking the rats near the edge of our property.

[@socloseagain4298]

Paul Gautschi 👍

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

@@szarahsshow5321 Don't muddle up the discussion by saying you can't have a compost bin at your place. That's a separate issue entirely. *Finished* compost does not attract pest and vermin any more than the native soil does. Very few gardeners ever make enough compost to cover their entire gardens anyway; they're bringing some or most of it in from other places every year. So the "compost piles attract pests" argument is completely irrelevant here.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

@@socloseagain4298 it's not for everyone, but there is definite merit in that "Back to Eden" approach. Anytime you can just let organic material break down in place, you're off to a good start.

[@drawyrral]

Why do humans make things so complicated. Take the stuff and spread it on the ground and mix it into the soil. Nature, as always, will do the rest.

[@szarahsshow5321]

As someone who has to fight field rats every year, and has to worry about the wild animals in the forest around me… that’s not really an option for everyone. People who do something different than you aren’t always “making things more complicated” but rather, have different variable they need to account for. Just something food for your thoughts.

[@drawyrral]

@@szarahsshow5321 viv la differance!

[@teresasummers2268]

We tried homemade compost tea on tomato plants. The treated plants were faster growing and healthier. I'll keep doing what works for me.

[@Bubu00069]

I don't think this is a fair criticism. I should say the evidence for the benefits of compost tea is very limited, but you didn't go over any studies at all. There are studies showing that it is effective as a preventative for diseases in greenhouse, and pathogens in lab experiments, even anaerobic compost tea. Of course, like most ideas in plant science, this doesn't necessarily mean it will work in the field conditions. As you mention, soil bounces back to its "natural state", but it's more nuanced. Ecosystems are robust, just like living systems, meaning you can perturb the system (to a degree) and it will still be able to maintain itself. It is not really about increasing the amount of living in the soil, as you claim. If we are just arm-chair theorizing about compost tea, I like to think it as an inoculation. If you were to spread some edible mushroom spores in your backyard, it is unlikely you will end up with the intended mushrooms. But if you inoculate enough logs with lots of mycelium, before the logs were dominated by another organism, and try to maintain conditions favorable to your fungus, your chances are high. In theory, compost tea might act similarly. Perhaps the beneficial microbes can't survive too long in the real environment, but you might still get benefit by regular applications, kind of like buying beneficial insects. Or maybe you are adding someone new to the system, and one-time application is enough. For some reason that microbe wasn't in the soil or at least some portion of the soil. We believe a pathogen can be introduced, right? Soil doesn't always get rid of it, sometimes it becomes a part of the system. I believe agriculture is all about nudging the system to be favorable to us. Soil keeps on living, animals and plants too, but we want them to live in harmony with us. Our sciences are too far from understanding how these systems really work. I don't know if or when or what kind of compost tea can be helpful. And I like your analogy, similar to brewing, fermenting, culturing, there are probably lots of ways to go wrong (and you can't directly know if it went wrong like you would by tasting your wine). But I believe trying to convince people this is a question worth investigating is a better approach than dismissing it because it's too hyped.

[@GardeningInCanada]

I did stumble on a few done on vermicompost teas. But none are peer reviewed that I have seen, that’s what makes me hesitant to consider the studies. Trials and papers are something anyone can cook up and publish. Not saying it’s not valuable and a place to spring board conversation but it’s technically not hard evidence. Or I guess I should say accepted by the scientific community

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

@@GardeningInCanada right. Peer review and corroboration are the key here. Literally anyone can try an "experiment" once and claim it works. Generally when youtubers and various gurus (and people trying to sell you this or that garden elixir) make claims like that, you find all sorts of glaring problems with their methodology and data collection. The kinds of things that would get them failed in a high school science project. 🙃

[@MrSonoru]

You mentioned algae being beneficial in soil. That is a little surprising to me as many people in the houseplant community are so scared of it ever showing up in their clear plant pots claiming that algae can rob potted plants of nutrients. I never believed it was harmful to the plants and never cared about it showing up in my pots. I think a new video on algae would be fantastic!

[@brianseybert192]

The only fertilizer I use for my seedlings in my grow room is a combination of vermicompost / aged hot compost extract. Take a handful of each, put in a mesh bag, massage the bag in a 5 gal bucket of warm water with a dollop of molasses for a minute or so, then water my plants. The mud left over in the bag goes back into a worm bin. I also make a couple few 5 gal buckets of fermented comfrey "tea" each year, sometimes I aerate it before applying to my soils to get the stink out. Enjoy your videos. Stay Well!!!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Wonderful!

[@psychedelicward]

I would say in my time farming you without a doubt see happier plants with a well made compoat tea. I tend to use as a treat for my plants but not for actual sustinance. I have noticed it being helpful in acute situations to "steer" the biology towards fruiting or flowering. I have seen the side by side difference in yield and overall chemical composition of the plants as well. I like to think of it more like how yogurt or kobucha has "transitory" benefits in the intrim, but quite often isn't enough to actually colinize the space. We actually love to feed our soil (these are no-till beds) aerobic compost tea as the aerobic microbes actually die going into our (balanced) anerobic system and become a food source for the microbes already dominating the soil. And we are doing this in comerical production as well so at the end of the day the sales and yield don't lie. But I also understand this is on a case by case basis.

[@szarahsshow5321]

I’ve been using it for about a month now on my indoor plants. I keep my indoor plant outside during summer, then bring them in when I start to smell October air. They’ve already been doing better inside with low light & compost tea than they were doing in the summer sun.

[@oy-wb8jv]

One summer, my father-in-law made several 5 gal covered buckets of anerobic compost from kitchen waste; stunk to high heaven. After summer months entering into fall we decided to empty the watery concoction onto the ground under the canopy of a 12"+ cal tree. In the next few weeks we noticed that the entire tree had noticeably very deep, dark green foliage, which eventually changed colors in the fall weather. We only did this once but I recall that tree didn't have anywhere near that dark vibrancy before or after that. The tree had no sign of distress that I'm aware of. I'm not sure but (as he was retired) he may have juiced the compost with other things as he was a mad-garden scientist...I never asked what he put into it.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Interesting!!

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

That is not "compost tea," specifically not aerated compost tea. That's a simple extraction; people have been doing it for centuries. It's like making "comfrey tea" or "weed tea." Literally any organic material will work for that to some extent. It's a fertilizer for sure; that liquid will definitely have nutrients and minerals in it. But it won't have much if any beneficial microbes, which is the entire point of making aerated compost tea. The trouble with anaerobic plant/manure/food waste teas used as fertilizer is, you don't really know what you've got. In terms of NPK and micronutrients, etc. Unless you actually test it. So you may or may not be giving the plants enough (or possibly too much) of any given nutrient at any given time. I'm not saying don't do it; I've been using it for several years. In my experience plants react to it about the same as they do to standard liquid organics like fish emulsion. So yeah, it works, it's just sort of hard to pin down exactly how well it works, because the batch of comfrey (or kitchen scrap) tea I made may be completely different from the batch my neighbor made. BTW, just leave the bucket covered for at least a few months, and then it won't stink anymore. The nasty "sewage" smell comes from the anaerobic bacteria breaking everything down. It's bacteria farts, sort of. Anyway, once they eat up all they can, they simply die off... and the "tea" is done. I make a barrel full every spring and don't use it until the following spring.

[@nicohelpdesk435]

Thanks for this. I would add to worm tea / weed tea, that you look into JADAM (and their Liquid Fertilizer). It's from South Korea (son of the guy who created KNF), and he goes anaerobic too, and iirc he tests regularly for quantity of bacteria / microorganisms :

[@jdawg1835]

I have a couple of the compost tumblers, which produce a finite amount of compost. Too little to waste on making tea.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yea that part is not particularly fun. Many people are running thin on the stuff. You can only make sure much waste.

[@kbjerke]

I get a buildup of moss in my raised bed. (VegePod) Should I try to remove it, kill it, or mix it in with the soil? Thanks for your videos, Ashley!! ❤

[@GardeningInCanada]

Oooo good question! Honestly if it’s not competing I would just leave it. PERFECT soil stabilizer and weed suppression.

[@kbjerke]

@@GardeningInCanada THANK you, Ashley. I *thought* that leaving it in would be okay, and the carrots this year were delicious, even with the moss, so I feel better about it now. Mostly I guess it's a cosmetic thing for me. LOL

[@bseant420]

i am part of the disagree camp. i make my own compost and vermicompost and makes a very good tea. a good blend will be esential in bringing life into dead soil. and for me you eventually are topped off in the beds and cant add anymore compost directly (i dont have the 6-12" of space in my raised beds like you lol) but i am able to make my blend of tea all year long.

[@GardeningInCanada]

That’s awesome. Honestly if you like it keep doing it! Zero rules to gardening 🧑‍🌾

[@katipohl2431]

Honestly, as a biologist I never co nsidered using compost tea in my garden. Here in Germany there even is a company selling large constructions for the production and distribution of compost tea.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Interesting is it coming into an agricultural application?

[@jdawg1835]

I could be wrong, but my understanding is that microbes are naturally already at capacity for a given environment. Adding microbes through a tea application might spike the population temporarily, but once the food source in the tea is consumed they die off, leaving you with the same amount in the soil that was already there.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yea that’s the same as a temporary microbe patch up. You have high seasons and low seasons.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

@@GardeningInCanadaYeah. When you see operations that are relying heavily on compost teas, they're using a LOT of it, several times a year. Sometimes even weekly. It doesn't make any sense. If your soil is healthy, you really shouldn't have to top off or boost the microbial population all the time. It seems to me to be, in practice, the equivalent of using soluble synthetic fertilizers constantly like industrial ag does. I mean yeah that works to get a crop every year... but it's not doing a lot for your soil. It's more like just running a giant hydroponic system - you have to replace everything every grow cycle. The big difference there is that regular applications of synthetic fertilizers do in fact give measurable results. I'm still not convinced that regular application of compost teas does much of anything at all.

[@ZaraThustra-w2n]

@@DogSlobberGardens-i7f I'm a market farmer, but not the type that make KZbin videos. I use 10-10-10 and compost at planting, unless it is a root crop, then it's straight composted chicken manure. If you use synthetic and organic nutrients you get super plants. I hardly have any insect issues with this incredible duo. I have basically married conventional and no-till on my farm. It works and I get massive yields! Screw an ideology.

[@intothevoid3962]

Microbe saturation has many benefits. More microbes means more rapid decomposition of soil organic matter and their exudates help dissolve the minerals in the soil to turn mineral dust into plant nutrients. All those microbe bodies become plant food as well.

[@ZaraThustra-w2n]

@@intothevoid3962 Link a study or shhhhhh.

[@SuperHeaphy]

This is helpful to know. I always wondered when people said it has more nutrients, where do they expect them to come from. I also didn't know about the algae thing but it makes heaps of sense now you mention it (I've often wondered if the algae in the dishes of my outdoor potted plants were harming my garden soil but now I'm not so concerned)

[@DanJonesShow]

I use compost tea for indoor gardening to reduce bugs from topping with raw compost from the outside that's sure to bring gnats and other annoyances into a sterile tent. Dried "compost tea" microbial inoculants are hugely beneficial when growing in a sterile medium like coco coir. Compost tea isn't "bad" it just depends where and how you use it.

[@iantalmadge3410]

Thanks for the video! I make compost tea but its water that ive recollected from my indoor mushroom bed after the excess drips out *i do it fresh cause the extra water drips out minutes after watering (more so cause its there and the right temperature and a little extra mushroom protiens seems to not harm in my experience)

[@GardeningInCanada]

Ooo yummy! Juices 🥤

[@PlantObsessed]

Although i understand all your points, i have a different experience with worm tea. Specifically Used as a drench. Not as a nutritional boost so much as a pest deterant. I have seen it across plant species. Japanese beetle 🪲 seem to avoid plants that have been given the drench. Maybe they dont like the taste of worm poo or it masks the natural smell of the plant. Thoughts? Also yes deep dives are always loved. An updated version of old videos would be appreciated as well. Thank you for anoth great video.

[@GardeningInCanada]

That is so interesting! Honestly there is a very real possibility there is something they do not like. Plants all have natural deterrents against pests of all types. You must have something in there those guys really do not like.

[@az55544]

oh, please do "dynamic accumulators" next - comfry, etc

[@GardeningInCanada]

Put it on the list !

[@leehoeppner1199]

Yes please. I've used comfrey plus weed tea for several years but there seems to be much debate as to the real benefits.

[@emilymartin1705]

I'm new to gardening and looking into this subject deeply so yes please I need this information in my life ❤❤❤

[@az55544]

Sweet! I'm looking forward to it. I have a tree nursery and get asked all kinds of questions during consultations. There are so many "feelgood" solutions out there created by permaculture and biodynamic gurus that just need to be set straight.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

The funny part is, ALL plants are "dynamic accumulators." That (and photosynthesis) is just how they grow. Whether or not comfrey is really any better than, say, red dock or turf grass or common weeds, at "accumulating" nutrients from the soil, is unclear to me. There are a lot of wild claims, but I haven't seen much actual data. We do grow comfrey and make a tea fertilizer out of it, but only because we also use the comfrey for herbal products and rabbit/chicken feed. If not for that I'd just use grass/weed tea, because in my experience it seems to work just as well as comfrey-based fertilizer. I have two separate finished batches of tea fertilizer ready for testing - one was made with comfrey only and the other with all sorts of weeds and grass, at the same time. I just need to find a lab that will test them properly.

[@JohnWood-tk1ge]

I love your videos but I have to disagree. The biggest lie told to gardeners is what every is brand new gotta have at the garden centers in the spring!

[@GardeningInCanada]

LOL you win 🥇 that’s hands down 110% true 😅

[@superkoopatrooper4879]

Most organic centric companies like buildasoil don't even recommend compost teas anymore. My grandma poors milk into her soil for her tomatoes and disagrees with everyone too. Doesn't make it true. This woman spent years getting an education in soil science and yet, some random person online knows more because vibes

[@-Boone]

​@@superkoopatrooper4879I think op is in disagreement about "the biggest lie" not the actual contents of the video lmao. In other words, a joke.

[@jb-vz4wb]

Some grain farmers have good luck with compost tea (Johnson Su)

[@roywarriner8441]

I agree, gardening is an inexpensive hobby if you aren't doing it just to keep up with the Jone's.

[@NickleJ]

I haven't watched the hole vid yet but what about weed seeds? I don't do hot composting and my compost is loaded with lawn weeds, that's why I like making a tea.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Definitely would rot the seeds! And 110% knock em out.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

On a personal scale, making an anaerobic tea from cut weeds or grass is FAR more efficient than composting them. It's a lot faster, a lot less work, and there's almost no waste. You're not particularly worried about microbes at that point, you're just extracting the minerals nutrients from the plant material. And yes, any seeds in it will rot regardless of whether it gets hot or stays cool... unlike in a compost pile. For invasive stuff like buttercups that can grow from a little chunk of old root, breaking them down in water guarantees they can't grow back. Some of those rhizomes can survive a full cycle in a compost pile and still spread out when you apply the finished compost.

[@DongusKong]

I thought the point of compost tea was for getting more microbes, but now I'm remembering a video you did on soil microbes, and how quickly the recover after using synthetic fertilizer

[@keithbrennan7429]

The breakdown of the five types of bacteria in terms of oxygen conditions? Totally. Amazing. Subscribed on the spot. Brilliant. Thank you. And. Also. Brilliant to have a detailed breakdown on the science. That has meaningful consequences in the garden. Thank you!

[@JenLong-jo7nd]

Hi Ashley, another great video, thanks! I get that there doesn't seem much point to making compost tea, but I was wonderng about weed tea. Anything I'm not confident composting (invasive weeds, plants eith seeds, etc) goes ynder water in a black plastic garbage bin under to decompose anaerobically. After it's well rotted I use the swampy water on my plants and the remaining vegetative matter goes in the compost bin. Is this a bad idea because i might be introducing root rot or other undesirable bacteria to my garden?

[@Mark_Nadams]

Our compost system is metal lined with three bins all sloping towards one end. At the end I have it drain into a sheet metal gutter that is over a bucket. Now when it rains and the compost pile has too much water, the nutrients are no longer lost to the surrounding forest. They end up in my bucket. That excess compost leachate in the bucket I can include with the normal watering to whichever plants I want. So far (this Fall) it seems to benefit the plants I fed. The system is still new at not yet a year old. The leachate is a deep brown that comes out. Probably consists mostly of liquid worm castings. There is a ton of red wigglers in there.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

That's an extraction. Which is great, and you're wise to make use of those leachates, but it's not the same as the hype about "compost tea." What folks actually mean when they say "compost tea" is *aerated* compost tea, where you use a bubbler or pump to push more oxygen into the water, to boost bacterial growth as the finished compost steeps for 12-24 hours. Sometimes abbreviated as AACT - actively aerated compost tea.

[@blacksmithden]

This past spring I put some biochar in a couple of buckets. I added a liter of liquid fish fertilizer to each one, topped them up with water, and put lids on them for about 3 weeks. Oh dear god, the smell when I opened them up was something god himself couldn't have come up with. I spread it out over where I was planting tomatoes and rototilled it all in. The smell disappeared quite quickly. Even though May and June this year was pretty much just an extension of late winter, I had a GREAT crop of tomatoes. I've never tried this compost tea stuff, and probably won't now after seeing your video, but I will be doing my stinky fish biochar thing again for sure.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

It stunk because it was full of living anaerobic bacteria. In a manner of speaking, they "fart" a lot... and their "farts" smell like sewage. It stopped stinking when you applied it because oxygen and possibly the sunlight killed off those bacteria. If you just leave it in covered in a bucket for a few months, the anaerobic bacteria will have eaten up everything they can and will simply die off naturally... then the tea doesn't stink anymore. I mean it still has an aroma, but it won't be like that giant whiff of raw sewage when you open it.

[@genrottluff1084]

Thank you for this... this idea has been bugging me for years! I couldn't understand how it made any sense, yet so many garden influencer types were touting it's awesomeness.

[@GardeningInCanada]

I will do a video on slurries. I don’t think influencers talk about it but I do think that’s what their intent is.

[@kjrchannel1480]

The key points are composting plant or worm castings for microbe content is not the main goal and not really worthwhile. It is purely for some nutrients applied while watering that might be in it. I believe any tea should be applied at ground level like you would diluted urine. So, I agree with the observations. Many people after all, are misguided into thinking something is beneficial for the wrong reasons, and talk blasphemy before they start to realize it.

[@penelopegreenland3537]

Please do a video on the home biogas bag system. If you have tea, how can you make it safe? Love th3 nerdy bacteria breakdown.

[@ameliagfawkes512]

Never made sense to me and after forgetting about some seaweed I'd gathered from the nearby shore in a bucket that quickly filled with rainwater, I have never been temped to make any kind of plant "tea" ever again. I make plenty of compost though, which makes perfect sense. I'm still happy to gather seaweed, chop it up and add it compost or just as a mulch.

[@meowcat64]

What about vermicompost teas and extracts? Aside from higher amount of beneficial microbes than normal compost, I have also heard there are beneficial plant growth hormones in worm castings that become more available when brewed into a tea. And also have heard that there can be beneficial fungi in the worm castings that may not be present in native soil and is worth inoculating the soil with. Do you think vermicompost is still worth brewing into an aerated tea (or even worth mixing with water for a quick extract), or should I stick to just adding solid worm castings directly to the soil?

[@harrybrandelius7816]

No to be all "appeal to nature" but what would be the thing that plants need that wont be available in their natural habitat, soil, but will be in water? Unless you have a specific reason to try something or just enjoy tinkering don't worry about it. There are a thousand supposedly amazing things for our garden/plants, everyone swears by a handfull of those but no one's handfull is the same. I think it says more about gardeners than gardening, we're curious and like to try stuff.

[@Wendy-ir6ww]

I think of compost tea as being good for one main set of gardening, namely aquaponic/hydroponic growing systems - which need nutrients in a liquid form. This overall being a path to link regular in ground growing & aqua/hydro paunic growing systems.

[@darcypotterpotter6214]

The fact is the compost in the tea is not going to have enough nutrients to help I have said this forever . I apply compost 3/4” on my beds . I do make LAB and use as a soil drench in the spring after I have solarized my beds

[@anthonyl.kellyakawritedisw9662]

Hello Miss Gardening in Canada. I live in South Carolina and one thing we do not have a shortage of is marshland, brackish and salt mashes that apparently Native Americans used for fertilizer. We call it Pluff Mud. Supposedly, the stuff is full of minerals and organic material. Can you one day do a video on this subject?

[@GardeningInCanada]

Ooo very interesting! I will add that to the list.

[@anthonyl.kellyakawritedisw9662]

@ please do. There’s not a lot of information out there, but I’m thinking the stuff has to be loaded with nutrients-and salt unfortunately. 🙏🏿

[@ZaraThustra-w2n]

@@anthonyl.kellyakawritedisw9662 I'm in South Carolina. Yes, you can use our swamp water/mud as a light fertilizer. Have you tried it? It gives the plants a good pop. That pluff mud smells like farts because it's so nutrient dense, haha.

[@anthonyl.kellyakawritedisw9662]

@ I have sweet potatoes growing in a mixture right now. The leaves are so vibrant. What part of SC?

[@ZaraThustra-w2n]

@@anthonyl.kellyakawritedisw9662 I'm in Aiken County at the moment, but I've lived on St. Helene island and in Beaufort. I sell at the Farmers Market in Aiken.

[@jeffkroeger946]

I haven’t watched the whole video but I know that worm tea definitely works. It makes the leaves nice and rich and green.

[@GardeningInCanada]

The worm tea is an interesting one because of the waste byproduct essentially causing an immunity response of sorts.

[@jeffkroeger946]

I wasn’t quite sure what do you mean immunity response? Is worm tea not good to use

[@Yesimthatkid]

I think the point of the video is not to say that your worm tea won’t work but rather to say that just applying the worm compost to the soil would be better

[@quincyberman5629]

I always thought the benefit to compost tea is so the nutrients are more readily available. We put compost in the rice fields after the harvest so the fields are ready when the rains start before planting. I want to add more before it goes to seed but it will all wash away before the nutrients can feed the rice. Making and spraying compost tea is a good solution. Now just thinking about it, compost tea may be a good alternative to factory fertilizer for aquaponic systems.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Aquaponics is a different solution entirely. Compost tea is not making anything more readily available than you would normally get from a compost.

[@quincyberman5629]

@@GardeningInCanada I think you missed the point, the compost washes away.

[@gingerlily4404]

Agreed, it seems to theoretical and it’s one more thing to add to your list that isn’t even fun. Please consider a video addressing glue/paint to “heal” tree wounds. This one drives me nuts.

[@GardeningInCanada]

I have never heard of this AHAH. I will put it onto the list.

[@gingerlily4404]

@ based on the science of how trees wall off their wounds, it’s absolute rubbish. But every nursery sells the goop anyway. Pet peeve of mine 🙃

[@Criticalthinker432]

Is there a special compost that’s good for cultivating in cannabis? My next grow, I don’t wanna buy any kind of fertilizers or synthetic nutrients. I just want compost and water

[@roywarriner8441]

I have a worm bin but I can't be bothered to make tea. I feel I get as much benefit just top dressing and watering in.

[@MoreBud-Angel]

I like the controversy of your video title. You mentioned lack of yeast in soil. Should a handful be thrown in for benefit?

[@GardeningInCanada]

I’ll do a video on this! It’s actually a really interesting topic

[@olafemio]

Do larger compounds like vitamins and their precursors get degraded by the aerobic compost tea process? I have seen many gardeners make teas for a supposed vitamin boost. Also, do the other macro plant nutrients (P & K) 'gas off'?

[@GardeningInCanada]

The only real vitamin I have seen mentioned the odd time is vitamin B. I can’t remember what the reasoning for it is. But I believe people are under the impression it helps with stress.

[@gor4988]

How about manure, weeds, or grass clippings steeped in a barrel? Either aerobic or anaerobic

[@GardeningInCanada]

I need to do a video on slurry’s because that’s a totally different topic.

[@gor4988]

@GardeningInCanada That would be great, also inoculating biochar by various methods. Hello from the bottom of Australia 👋

[@ausfoodgarden]

My compost is precious. I'm not going to waste it in a tea! But what about weed tea (anaerobic) or comfrey tea? I use it mostly to recover nutrients and minerals rather than increasing microbial life. Please give me the soil scientist's view. Cheers!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Someone else asked for the same video 😆 so definitely on the list!

[@emilymartin1705]

Yes 🙏 🙏 🙏

[@hatz11]

I always thought that was the whole point of compost tea - to take a small amount of precious compost and maximize its use. One handful of compost creates a batch of tea that is enough to apply to the whole garden. I see it as a tool to increase microbe population in depleted soils and as a compost accelerant. The problem with these kinds of things is the commercialization and marketing of these products as a do-all solve everything product. Videos like this are very important as they push back against these marketing exaggerations.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

@@hatz11 Correct. Aerated compost tea was never intended to replace normal compost or fertilizers. It's almost entirely about inoculating the soil with beneficial bacteria. The hype around what people *think* "compost tea" is and what it can do has gotten completely out of control. Scroll through these comments and you'll find several people who assume they're making "compost tea," but they're really just making a simple anaerobic extraction. That's a different thing entirely, and you can do the same thing with weeds or comfrey or fresh manure or a bucket of dead rats. I agree that if you only have a small amount of healthy active compost, making a tea with it may very well be the most efficient and effective way to use it.

[@sterlingeisenhower5947]

My interest in compost tea would be when watering plants that live in sand. Would soaking rabbit poo in water provide nutrients to the sand without adding volume?

[@sterlingeisenhower5947]

And are you saying that leaving the cover off my gardening IBC tote (therefore encouraging algae growth) would be better also? I just never cared if the water bucket had algae; why would the dirt care about water that's green with plant growth? 😂

[@GardeningInCanada]

I’m nervous to say yes to that only because when we are talking about feces and fermenting. But hypothetically with manures we call it a slurry. The purpose being even application compared to its raw form.

[@BrunoCodeman]

There is a study released last week that shows plants treated with compost tea grew more than 100% more biomass than the group control. Compost tea is good to soil.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Can you link it?

[@BrunoCodeman]

@GardeningInCanada BTW if you find any problems in this study, please point it (make a video about it, if you will). The point of my comment is not to discredit you or point fingers at you by any means. I just want to bring more information so we can discuss as a community and learn together. :)

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

@@BrunoCodeman link, please

[@ZaraThustra-w2n]

There is a study...

[@gioknows]

Do you do any grafting? I love grafting videos. Cheers from Ottawa🍁

[@GardeningInCanada]

Outdoor? Or indoor plants? I could do a video on either

[@carvedwood1953]

As someone who gardens and also keeps aquariums, algae grows a hell of a lot better when it has a nitrogen source in the water with it. While I have never been one to take my finished compost and make compost tea, I can still see some benefits from the way I tend to do it. I weed my garden, the weeds go in a bucket, at some point it rains, the weeds turn into compost tea, I dump it on whatever area I think needs more nutrition because it needs dumped somewhere. More times than not, there is some algae in the bucket lol. I also dump my aquarium water in the garden when doing maintenance.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Aquarium water is a wholeeee beast of its own. Most definitely major benefits there.

[@carvedwood1953]

@@GardeningInCanada It sure is. I also grow a lot of plants in the aquarium. Duckweed for one, which grows like CRAZY. So I always have to trim and thin them out and those go directly into the compost. Duckweed is a "superfood" so I always imagine it gives quite a boost to the compost.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

@@carvedwood1953 You're making anaerobic weed tea, which is a fertilizer. That is not the same thing as "compost tea" as we're discussing here. The whole hype about "compost tea" is really "*aerated* compost tea." You start with finished compost that already contains beneficial aerobic bacteria, and you have to steep it in water with a bubbler or agitation to increase oxygen in the water, and therefore help increase the bacteria you're looking for. The minute you cut off the flow of extra oxygen, those beneficial bacteria start dying off - so you need to use the tea within hours, not days, to get the most out of it. None of that matters when you're just letting plant or other organic material rot anaerobically in water. The aim is not to increase bacteria; you're just extracting the minerals and nutrients. In a covered container, it will store and be just as effective a year later. Possibly a lot longer.

[@carvedwood1953]

@@DogSlobberGardens-i7f thanks for the clarification lmao.

[@tomatito3824]

I love how you misrepresented every single bit of it. Like for example "when you apply it in a sunny, warm day". And then proceed to completely discard foliar application just based on that. When in reality, people who make compost tea apply it at dawn or dusk. I'm not a proponent of compost tea, but you are not making good arguments against it. Sounds more like you made your mind before even starting, and then tried to find anything to say against it.

[@annagunther9225]

I'd heard that for compost teas and the like, that the benefit for disease control is due to quorum sensing in the microbes. Dr Christine Jones has a video on it. The idea being that bacteria often only start to manifest their effects (harmful like many diseases, or beneficial like nitrogen fixing) when there is a sufficient number of them which the bacteria know by way of quorum sensing. Compost tea dissolves the sensing molecules and let's you apply them over a larger area to boost/dampen certain signals

[@Plug604]

I use my compost tea in conjunction with anaerobic ferments, it seems to be working very well so I'll have to watch your video and see your science behind the logic.

[@GardeningInCanada]

If it works don’t change it up!

[@Plug604]

​@@GardeningInCanadaI finished watching the video and you make a lot of good points. What I currently do is make an aerobic compost tea with a couple extra ingredients. I use it mainly as a soil drench... My soil has biochar and a nice mulch on top. It's my understanding, but I don't know, that the biochar will help create pockets that the microbes will thrive on/in , like housing. But that could be an old wives tale lol. Anyways I also add broken down anaerobic ferments, I add flowers to one bucket I add green to another let those breakdown use one for Bloom use the other for nitrogen. In my opinion ,no science backing this just observation, I use the increase microbes from the compost tea which thrive under my mulch on the biochar to break down the anaerobic ferments quicker.. and when the microbes have eaten their fill and start to die off they just break down into another food source. Good video by the way I have always been wary of foliars and using a compost tea as one doesn't make sense after watching your video, thanks.

[@KB-2222]

Well, I put a bubbler in my compost tea along with all kinds of molasses and sugars. As well as comfrey and worm castings juice from my worm bin. So just adding chicken and quail poop along with other things like blood meal and bone meal. So much more and it works as I've had trees grow 20ft plus in a season.

[@vivb.7161]

I have to disagree the "fetid swamp water" that I make (from David the good channel) definitely does benefit my plants and I see it in the yield- it literally cured the fungal infection on my dwarf apple trees! I believe my buckets have both aerobic and anerobic bacterium- the buckets freeze up during winter, thaw out, i only use rain or filtered water and top it up- only thing i add is some epsom salts yearly. So i see results and will continue to use it- it really helps my crops fend off diseases, i companion plant too, this is a game changer, especially attracting the predator benfit insects. Ps. I use a hand pump spray under pressure, long handle and spray right down by the stem.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Honestly if it’s working don’t stop!

[@rosemawhorter904]

Have you considered that it might just be the Epsom salt that is helping?

[@Johnnyclean]

Okay, I’ve seen enough!!! What is your take on these popular orchid recovery KZbin videos where the magician takes a dried up, sorry looking Phalaenopsis orchid. Then after making a compost solution comprised of something like; raw crushed garlic, banana peel, cucumber skins etc and the orchid miraculously is resurrected. Can you feed a Phalaenopsis this kind of potion as a regular fertilizer? Thank you and I love you

[@GardeningInCanada]

Is it a true compost? Or is it raw produce in water for a bit? Because if it’s the later that’s doing zero

[@andrewsusen3154]

Ive heard and read a couple things about adding lactobacillus to compost tea to put other microbs in dormancy. Is there any validation to that, or does the lacto just replace the dying population? Ive also heard that saturating the tea with sugar can have the same effect (mix sugar in until theres some at the bottom). Has anyone else heard ot maybe done this? Id test it myself but i dont have the microscope skills necessary.

[@deanlain1295]

One of the things I have personally seen compost tea do Is build soil structure.

[@thehobbyhomestead]

Now I'm worried about how dangerous the "tea" or liquid runoff from my vermicomposter might be.... I've slathered it onto my fruit tree trunks with some other stuff, testing out Dr. Garrett's (The Dirt Doctor) tree trunk goop idea. With my bare hands. And definitely wiping hair out of my face while I'm at it 😂 I've also been storing it in clear jugs.... should I be storing it in opaque jugs? Can I even store it long term at all, or would the anaerobic conditions inside jugs kill off the beneficial organisms in it?

[@GardeningInCanada]

That’s a bit different because it’s not a diluted water solution. That’s a legitimately dense product that is leaching out. So I can guarantee that nutrient and even microbes per litre is significantly higher in your juice.

[@CouleeViewFlora]

Dang...your one smart lady. Thanks for the video!!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Glad it was helpful! ❤️

[@mattg6472]

Look its pre snow Ashley! I remember those days yesterday 😂. Oh totally found out how to garden work all winter with sheep feeding /hay mulching . Its made it so i dont water or fert or weed. Im friggen serious it happened this season.

[@GardeningInCanada]

🥹 we ended up with FEET yesterday.

[@InDeepPudding]

I thought using compost tea was a way to give a small amount of accessible nutrients to your plants when they need it without burning them with constant fertilizer or burying them compost? Is that not true?

[@GardeningInCanada]

It would be fairly minuet. The concentrations can obviously fluctuate based on how the individual made the tea.

[@DogSlobberGardens-i7f]

There are commercial gardens and farms making hundreds of gallons of compost tea at a time, and applying it several times a year. I have yet to see any data from them showing that it's really worth the effort and expense over the course of a year, or several years.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Ppl do stuff with results. So they have to be seeing some benefit.

[@jasonjack5915]

I have heard of people brewing banana and fruit peels in a 5 gal bucket with air bubbler,

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yea that’s a different ball of wax all together because now we are talking about having to actually wait for the decomposition process to take place.

[@thedailymarketfarm-johntay602]

I would love a video on how to implement this!

[@billweck3883]

I really needed this! Thank you,

[@GardeningInCanada]

You're so welcome! 🧑‍🌾

[@austintrees]

Wait... Do you have a Ceiling Bird investigation... ??? 3:17 & 3:22

[@jordanhuguenard8315]

I would love to get your take on the JADAM method, and KNF or (Korean Natural Farming) method

[@Power_Prawnstar]

Yeah sorry, no one says it adds more than regular compost. It does contain nutrients, not a lot, but its better than water. It does contain microbes and although not that important can provide a boost to poor soil and top layers of previously dried mulch. I've done heaps of experiments and it does well every time. I dunno about telling people it's a waste of time, plenty yet to be discovered that you dont know. Bit assumptive. You should be using it as a cost saver or an addition, not instead of compost. So you've missed the point.

[@zarsepehr3315]

I live in city and have a tiny garden I have been composting my kitchen waste into anaerobic compost. I do cover the gallon's head though as to not have neighbors complaining from the smell since it stinks like hell, but at the end of summer I empty it out separating the juices from the compost since it always creates some very dark very stinky and using them both one for the containers other for the garden and I have had good results with it.

[@ArtFlowersBeeze8815]

I too have a big rain barrel i dump my winter compost into. Come spring, even though I add cardboard and newspaper and leaves to it, it does get pretty juicy. This fall I'm using a rain barrel that has a tap on it. This one has a crack in the bottom too. Hopefully it drains by the time I empty it in May. Less heavy to tip out. Maybe I'll add red wigglers to some of it in 2025 to see if they survive and multiply over summer. As long as you cover the top with shredded newspaper, bugs and smell are kept down. Yes, there is a top screen on that type rain barrel too. No rodents.

[@zarsepehr3315]

@@ArtFlowersBeeze8815I do add wood shavings it stops the smell since if I forget to do so it does stink to high heaven but when tipping out it still does smell really bad.

[@bainyshmall]

Isn't the point of compost or weed tee is that it's like a fertilizer to provide a boost of available nutrients that just works faster than composting

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yes it is. The issue is that compost already is very low in NPK and now you are further diluting it.

[@wayneessar7489]

Mixed many things in a summer aerated tea inn a full size garbage can. It was so oddly fragrant that flies gathered then died from the fumes. Looked like Raisins later on.

[@normantaffefiny8227]

I'm confused, if NH3 is converted into Nitrate's, what's the big loss, most compost tea's are to accelerate a bacteria or fungus in the rhizosphere arent they?

[@GardeningInCanada]

Some definitely stays in the system! Your losses are based on environmental conditions. And honestly not all soils are built equal some will give up N to leaching and volatilization easy others not so much.

[@CreativeRedundancy]

I’ll stick to mimicking nature here seems to work for this area. Feed the soil to feed the plants. Allow moisture, air , bugs and sunshine in. Rinse and repeat. Take CaRe

[@Kristoffceyssens]

You need to change the batteries on your smoke dettector 😂. Would like to know your opinion on charging biochar with compost teas/ rotted plant teas edit: what about JADAM methods?

[@GardeningInCanada]

It’s my parrot 🥹

[@Kristoffceyssens]

@GardeningInCanada oh no! xD i could never :p

[@wizzzard_ponics]

Im a new, BUT i dont use compost, 1-2 cups fish hydrolysate, 1-2 cups worm Tea and 1-2 cups molasses, every 2 weeks, into pots etc, i have done experiments with pots that i did not add this solution with same exact plants and potting mix, the difference is chaulk and cheese, its to even close... the compost in compost tea must have molasses added or the microbes wont increase then i agree its a waste of time

[@Delgwah]

Thank you,👍😎

[@GardeningInCanada]

No problem 👍

[@rulerofthelight]

What's the best fishing lure to catch crows?

[@rquest3059]

Red wiggler with #14 quad hooks diped in pancake batter.😐

[@GardeningInCanada]

ABAAHAHAHAHA 💀

[@izzywizzy2361]

I always thought this was overcomplicating things😢

[@wyoodrifter1811]

I made an alfalfa tea with alfalfa powder , grain dust and air pump last spring [ smelled good 3-5 day perk ] The tea was only used for watering . I did my own test on my seedlings that I transplanted. After about 3-4 weeks the control plants were getting left behind by the plants that got the tea. After transplanting the tea was stopped and all plants got the alfalfa mixture as a heavy mulch . By mid summer the control plants seemed to catch up but next time there well be no control plants, all well get the tea. I was concerned that the alfalfa might contain a herbicide and that was the reason for the test. I got the idea from watching youtube videos on growing cannabis and those people are very bottom line orientated and not just growing for enjoyment , they also have different opinions on teas working. Do your own test !

[@youngmauro12]

Ok here is real anecdotal evidence. This year was my second in gardening. Both years I ONLY used compost tea as my fertilizer with VERY prolific plants (food). That is an outside(back porch) 5 gallon food grade bucket that I add my food scraps to every 2 days. I mix with a stick daily. I cover with an old window screen to keep bugs out. I fertilize sections every two days. I have another bucket outside that I keep full of water and I add from there which doubles as a bird drink. I don’t eat out and my diet is vegan so I have plenty of compost to add but it’s only me. It’s a fully sustainable system. I do use regular compost and maybe gypsum but only 2-4 times a year. Everything seems to like it and plants are all extremely healthy. Also I’m growing in my 83yo neighbor’s garden who has very good soil as well as my new garden which has bad clay rich soil. The compost tea does well.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Honestly if it works keep doing it. Zero purpose in changing things up.

[@youngmauro12]

@ yes and I appreciate your analysis. I just wanted to add my experience. I think most people think aerobic has to be pumped with oxygen and that is just too much for most people. I don’t think many people do what I do so there isn’t much information on it. But it’s basically just wet composting. And compost likes to stay wet. And it’s so easy! A little more work than buying NPKs but I am adding soil life. Anaerobic is mostly dead microbes so it’s like adding bone and blood meal to fertilize basically. Aerobic is like adding worms that will poop and fertilize. On the microbe level of course.

[@OGFlipperbaby]

THANK YOU :)

[@GardeningInCanada]

You're welcome!

[@dreamlovermimi9458]

Thanks for warning us! Covid 20 escaped out of Ashleys leggy tomato garden lol

[@GardeningInCanada]

Lmfao I mean it 2.0 terminator version is coming from anywhere it is my yard 💀

[@madrabbitwoman]

Any chance of an episode on soil pathogens and in potting soil. I get a serious eye twitch when I see folks not using mask/gloves particularly with the potting soil. One of my friends got legionnaires disease from potting soil

[@madrabbitwoman]

She barely survived

[@GardeningInCanada]

Oh my goodness!!! I will put it on the list.

[@vivb.7161]

Can we get more doggos video bombs? Lol

[@GardeningInCanada]

LMFAO it’s all my videos… they are so needy.

[@msfullroller]

Yes please make an updated algea video.

[@lostpony4885]

Wait the tea goes on the plants? Ohh ive been drinking it wrong

[@dotnothing5620]

No disrespect, but it seems you missed the main point. Compost > compost tea. But when you don't have enough compost, then compost tea > nothing.

[@GardeningInCanada]

What I struggle with is you aren’t increasing your volume of nutrients if you put it in water. Running out of compost is running out of compost.

[@dotnothing5620]

Oh also, nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria are common -- commonly called algae. They will pull N out of the air and put it in the tea.

[@Criticalthinker432]

What’s Kiefer?

[@thenatureofthenashes1362]

A lot of science here. Why do people insist on overthinking everything? I just want to enjoy getting my hands dirty in the garden.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Zero rules. If you want to cook up tea go wild

[@leeannmoore3158]

Maybe it's the warm water that helps. ???

[@jangsy33]

Adding sugars to soil sounds like it would feed the bacteria that is already in soil....sugars from fruit, molasses, honey...

[@rjp3593]

Schwacck load almost sounded just wrong!

[@danielrogers997]

All the indoor cannabis you toobers say to use compost tea. I always wondered why i can't just put worm poo in my cocoa coir and be done with it.

[@GardeningInCanada]

Yeaaa potting soil just on its own is a whole world 😂. Microbes and potting soil is topic unto itself.

[@stephown5374]

Is using powdered additive forms of bacteria help increase the type of beneficial bacteria worth it? Can just imagine the amount of microbes on the puppies's tong...

[@Criticalthinker432]

The only KZbinr I take her word for it. Everyone else I fact check.

[@strifamne1749]

It's not proper tea without sugar and milk 😊

[@GardeningInCanada]

Hahaha I mean in theory sugar would increase the action.

[@kg89808]

Soil aside, you are looking FABULOUS!! Have you lost weight? If so, SHARE!

[@GardeningInCanada]

😅 I’ve been doing an heavy duty amount of self care… it’s be a HOT minute since I have done anything like this. But it’s definitely hurt my ability to post three times a week and such. 🥹

[@gardeningtroutmaster]

good info. thx

[@GardeningInCanada]

Glad it was helpful!

[@clashofphish]

Have you heard of the JADAM method? It is all anaerobic. Wonder how this works into the calculus of this video.

[@tammyohlsson7966]

I’m in the chicken poo tea fan club!

[@GardeningInCanada]

Is it smelly? Like do you use straight up waste or compost first

[@tammyohlsson7966]

@ smelly is an understatement!!! I mostly dilute half and half with water. But onions get the real thing. Best free fertilizer ever!

[@vedacarmony5754]

Biggest lie told to gardeners? Obviously, you've never read a seed catalog.

[@GardeningInCanada]

LOL fair.