How We Make Tea Our Plants Can Drink

Compost tea is effective and a wonderful way to feed plants. We use it weekly on our plants as a way of fertilizing and the results are amazing. Check out our new clothing line! http:www.freshpickedapparel.com

[@carlinfuller1176]

special guest at 2:30. Solid execution lol

[@fyrekittah2491]

That part was hysterical! Random nextdoor neighbor dude putting bird seed out with a long a** pole from porch. ALSO Great content with the the teas!

[@su2471]

Maybe that was his employee!?

[@AmazingAutist]

@@fyrekittah2491 no need to censor

[@aprildolan223]

Chandelle Mays thank you for censoring. No need to swear here. ;)

[@Shatterverse]

This reminds me of the one ginormous tomato plant that grew right next to the compost bin... Seriously that one plant was at least twice the size of every other tomato plant, and it's tomatoes were huge and delicious.

[@miraclezzz]

I collected and grew plants from seeds from mine

[@ahiparagmailcom]

Your one ginormous plant was probably a seed from a discarded tomato and lucked out by falling into your super rich soil next to the compost bin. Proof positive that a good compost is simply the best. I bet it was such fun watching that plant grow.

[@Shatterverse]

Nah my mother would grow seedlings in trays and then plant them in those wire cages. It was just the plant closest to the bin, which was one of those plastic ones with the door at the bottom so you could get compost out.

[@timehasbegun5828]

I've been watching you for about 4 yrs and you always seem to amaze this old Lady. Many blessings to you and your family young man 😇

[@tennesseenana4838]

Last year I bought a compost tumbler. In learning about it, some advice was to have a container under it to catch the excess water/rainwater that drips out of the composter and use that as compost tea. When that container gets almost full, I put the tea into another larger container with a lid and that was my tea storage over the winter.

[@ikiruyamamoto1050]

Thanks for the video! It's great to see even a master gardener such as yourself continue to learn and improve, as well as dump marginal or ineffective ideas. 8 years ago you posted a video of a very exotic mix of ingredients for a bubbler tea. Then 6 years ago you had a very simple 3 component non-bubbler tea that had to mature for a day or two. Now you're down to 2 components and using almost immediately. Very cool.

[@ahiparagmailcom]

Good Video Luke. Photobombed by your neighbour feeding birds :-) Getting my bucket out later this morning :-)

[@dann61960]

Those strawberries look great already-the "tea" will make them even better, Another great video! Thank you!

[@brysonblair7013]

The timing of this video! I made some yesterday but you just cleared up a lot of questions. Thank you!

[@lenellamaxwell6934]

Thank you for explaining all of this. Thank you for making it all simple to use!

[@spottville9433]

Great timing on this subject. Have been thinking of this very thing for the last couple weeks. Thanks for the info.

[@jameshotchkiss5577]

Simple gardening is fun gardening I've got a great little garden going so far, I planted on the 17 and I got sprouts already!

[@brooklyngiraffe]

The amount of information you share in each video is absolutely amazing. Thank you for your tips and advice!

[@joycebrown5440]

Great video as always Luke thanks. Loved your no need for crop rotation video too. Saved me tons of effort as certain plants like my brassica's need the shadier parts of my garden

[@suzanneseely7167]

Thank you for your interesting and helpful videos. I like that that your advice is realistically achievable for the home gardener. This is one of my faves.

[@butrusful]

Well done! Easy to understand and without long winded unnecessary detail…thanks!

[@zaria5785]

Hi Luke! Just wanted to add that chloramine does not dissipate into the air the same way chlorine does. Meaning it doesn’t burn off from treated municipal water. For that reason a carbon filter is needed for the garden hose.

[@geraldblount4159]

Right

[@LogLordOG]

Rv camping filters work great!

[@abelardoconesa9512]

Excellent video! This is my first year gardening to produce vegetables. We built two raised beds with a total of 62 square feet of gardening space. Order our seeds from MIgardner and they have mostly all germinated by now. We are looking forward to more videos this summer. Keep them coming.

[@johnclamshellsp1969]

Worm castings and the making of compost tea works amazing. Absolutely lush garden. The era of buying worm castings is also over, I just made a compost worm farm too!

[@Abdullah-london]

Well done!

[@robertvidal3935]

Trying this out. Just started my fall vegetable garden.

[@polkadottedpolak]

I was literally just thinking about making some compost tea for my garden. Luke, you're a psychic! :P

[@HappyFarmsLa]

This video was great and it reminded me that it's time to fertilize my strawberries I think I will make rabbit dropping and compost tea together

[@rickeywatson3564]

Hey Luke the seeds i bought from you all of them are up and growing great i have to put them in pots because i live in a Apt.

[@my-thyme2083]

I can't like this enough, love using compost/manure tea!

[@simplegrower5838]

Awesome, I'm doing this today. Thanks for the simple tip.

[@SouthernBlessedHomestead]

Perfect timing on video, we just made some compost tea up and I was wondering about how much and how often. Thanks a bunch

[@Oktopia]

I live in a small apartment and have a tiny terrasse. I have multiple containers I grow edibles in. I can't make compost, but I often gather nettles in the surrounding area to make tea from. Just make sure to sift it to avoid the seeds. I learned that the hard way.

[@capicuaaa]

This is nice but perhaps you could source borage or comfrey? You see, stinging nettles are a vital food source for many butterfly caterpillars. They will only eat nettle. This includes the Red Admiral; Comma; Small Tortoiseshell and others. It worries me that people source their precious few resources when they desperately need them (and we need butterflies and other pollinators for our crop pollination).

[@markkristynichols845]

Luke, I have watched you for years and still I amazed at how BRILLIANT you are! Thanks for your channel, your store, your website and everything you offer to all of us!! Appreciate you tremendously! -Kristy

[@CasacaraDFP]

THIS is the kinda tea I want to see on KZbin ;p

[@JasonOfTGA]

Great to know I don't have to do all the elaborate bubbling. Managed to make a bunch of compost that turned out great, and will try this. Will likely use some directly, and also dilute some for a foliar spray loaded with a little epsom salts and eggshell. It's great seeing life come back into the soil after years of damage.

[@tactfulhbean8773]

Your videos are very good so thank you for sharing. I just bought your new book and looking forward to see what it says and put it into practice.

[@sweetbone96]

Always nice learning from you. Just something I picked up along the way... when compost is brewed, it's called tea.. when it's steeped.. it's called extract. So you have compost tea and compost extract. Keep up the great work!

[@ChiliDawg68]

Most informative video I’ve seen on the matter yet, thanks!

[@PhilandAlex]

This is EXCELLENT INFORMATION! Can’t wait to try your method of compost tea, Luke!

[@amandar.2491]

I just found your channel! New subscriber, I relate to you as a fellow Michigander. I just purchased a new home with under 2 acres and I have a larger garden plot now than my old home, I’m excited to get a bigger garden going! I just planted some strawberries and asparagus along with my usual tomatoes and zucchini. Looking into getting some of your seeds as the price beats my local Home Depot! It looks like I need to mulch my plot as weeds are a pain! Love your plot!

[@candysadler1866]

Many thanks. You answered all my questions.

[@killuminatepeacefulness3948]

Great episode. love compost tea

[@Crystal-il3jl]

So simple! Thank you!

[@blasttorres]

So simple, thank you for sharing

[@BruceLeef]

👍 THANX. Luke. My plants love ☕..

[@cultivatingorganicbyjomig1719]

Great info Luke. I really prefer the steep method to making compost tea. Right now I am having to wait about 24 hours of brewing time. Not good for an impatient person like me :-) Will definitely switch method. Thanks.

[@freethinker3161]

You should get that attachment for your drill that has a mixer on it.

[@janetlovesu]

Not much in terms of questions. I've watched so so many of your videos. You are very through! But I know that means sometimes you're scrambling for more content! Just want to assure you that this video is absolutely new to this beginning gardener and because of you, I'm a total nerd of info now!

[@MIgardener]

Janet Petko I’m never scrambling for content around here. Lol. It’s more a question of what do you want to see vs what there is to do.

[@R4V1D]

Would b cool to see a special episode on hot peppers and how to get the biggest yields. Love all your videos!

[@LaHortetadeBussy]

Thanks men for recomendation. Thanks

[@danielzukle5471]

Funny, I was wondering how your neighbor got the bird feed filled then he showed us. Great info, Love your content.

[@vmorganbogart]

Another helpful video. Thanks

[@kathyladow4634]

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing

[@cyrilthomazeau6292]

You're awesome dude, respect

[@pauladiesusanto5684]

Thanks for this knowlegde. Watching from Indonesia.

[@janethaig4032]

Thanks. I am going to try the compost on my strawberry bed

[@Danfoodforest]

Great video and information Thank you

[@desertroseandsage1717]

Thanks for all that information!

[@miraclezzz]

Thanks. Focused me on using my work castings in this way. Especially to speed the heading of brassicas before winter. Mild winter here in South Australia. That in combo with chicken manure should be strengthening for them.

[@miraclezzz]

Worm

[@nataliethompson9771]

Thank you for not making this process over complicated and explaining both ways to create compost tea. So many people who posted videos made it seem like you have to have equipment to create usable compost tea. 😅

[@ashleyerwin3566]

We have started planting our scraps from the kitchen Thur the year and it has made our garden so full of worms u can't dig without finding worms everywhere. Can u do a video on barring scraps? Or others ways to compost

[@angelabariteau]

How do I make the compost to use as tea tho? I'm afraid of compost piles attracting rats, mix, bugs etc LOVE LOVE LOVE your channel. As a first time gardener this helps ALOT!

[@Schaub3]

Smart very valuable info Luke ! 😊

[@toddseger5137]

Use steeped by using a 5 gal paint strainer bag you can get at any paint store. Put one bag in bucket placed over the rim and add one shovel of organic manner of what ever you use. Steep for two to three days. Pull bag and dump on drip line then dump solid in other area away from plants a little

[@toddseger5137]

To add to the info. Steeping is only lift strainer bag once a day lifting the bag in the water pulling one side of the bag and then the other to break the organic material around the bag. Then I generally put a piece of plywood over the pail as the pail sits in the back yard. Once you dump the solids and slowly pour the tea around the plants drip line. Generally I put it in the soil a week or two before planting. Then feel free to repeat every two weeks.

[@JohnDoe_88]

I let nature create compost tea and worm castings for me in my beds so I don't have to do separately outside of my garden beds. I just mulch heavily around plants with organic matter witch creates oxygen rich compost tea every time it rains and already has a great environment under the mulch for worms to multiply and create tons of worm castings

[@classicrocklover5615]

Smart!

[@zaria5785]

I find leaf mulch to be the easiest and best way to get this result.

[@ewellacres]

I have found one of the best teas I love to grow is using worm castings and miracle grow. I will take compost let worms further refine it then aerate it to allow it to better stir.

[@scottfickerson1508]

Ewell Acres ditch the miracle-gro. It’s just chemical fertilizers and not nutrients! Just add a good layer of compost!

[@ninaligya7188]

Great information Luke! You mentioned having a chloride filter on the hose...where do I get one from and how does it go on the hose? I do know that chlorinated water is bad for the plants but I didn't know there was a filter for it that'd go on the hose. If you have a video on it please let me know. Thanks again for the great informational videos!

[@a1lowboy]

Thank you!

[@MarcMallary]

I've been using wood ash tea, it works great too, but has no nitrogen.

[@tystephenson4132]

that was so useful......

[@dennisshields7246]

Great info Luke

[@priayief]

I'm curious. Have you done any kind of comparison plantings to see if using this particular tea is worth the effort? If so, I'd be really interesting in seeing the comparison. Thanks for posting.

[@ericsisk2424]

enjoyed the background show !

[@robmarkovitch]

Hi Luke. Great video. Question about when to apply. Morning? Evening? Does it really matter?

[@SuesSecretGarden3]

Thank you

[@CustomGardenSolutions]

Great stuff Luke. Do you ever use a sprayer so that it gets a follier feed,?

[@jordang7749]

Great video. Only question is why you didn’t check the PH of the tea before applying?

[@pondholloworchards]

Great work

[@derrickkissoon8891]

Thank You👍

[@jjcalnan]

🌟🌟🌟Great video, can I ask is this good for your grass/ land?🌟🌟🌟

[@loo2a82]

i read you can get rid off chlorine and other things using the air pump for one hour so you dont need to wait for 24 h adding variations of bacteria wont harm anyone i add LAB and if i have fermented rice water i ll add little with the black molasses brewing is important so bad bacteria dont show up and for more bacteria to be in the tea

[@tvtoms]

The subject of organic and inorganic fertilizer is actually a pretty fascinating one and far from being as simple as inorganic = bad, organic = good. Something like miracle gro isn't a bad thing and sometimes compost tea is not such an organic thing. Some compounds in organic fertilizer need to be broken down by soil bacteria and fungi into that very same "inorganic" state in order to be soluble and taken up by plant roots in the first place which takes time. So in cases where you really need a fast result, the use of a so-called inorganic fertilizer might be the only thing to do. By the way, the term inorganic means the stuff went through a manufacturing process. So if a machine mixes soluble nitrogen (a completely natural organic thing as described above) with something else, that means it must be called inorganic. That's the entire threshold for being called inorganic in plant fertilizer. It is a subject that is best researched, but in a pinch organic stuff like compost tea will be a very low concentrate as Luke says, so far less likely to do unintended damage. However inorganic fertilizers have their place too and they don't automagically cast an evil spell on your crops. Sorry to go on, but as I said it's not as simple as compost tea = organic = good, anything in a box = inorganic = bad.

[@skidood2186]

Well said and good point. It’s an ongoing debate amongst so many gardeners but I agree with you. And you bring up very good points and definition. I try to keep things simple and cheap, which is why I usually do teas and so called “organic” but in reality if I need a quick boost that my super soil mix is not currently satisfying I will add an organ I long term amendment in addition to an inorganic feeding to give an immediate boost. My sister was a bio major at UC Berkeley and said there is absolutely nothing wrong with “non-organic” ferts assuming you know the difference, when and how to use them. Essentially like you said, broken down into useable nutrients are both technically non’organic at that point. The main concern and consideration is how clean and environmentally friendly are the processes of making bottled synthetic nutrients. If that doesn’t bother said person, then the nutrients themselves will have the soluble/useable nutrients readily available to you in a much stronger and more concentrated dose. You have to be careful and have a little experience with using them (start light and increase if needed from there) because can harm plants mainly by burning roots. Compost teas are great when you just want useable nutrients from something you maybe already have on hand (soil, compost, worm casting) all of which can be used for teas. And these will not harm your plants due to the lower NPK/PPM’s in the nutrient water mix (tea). Organic (long release) soil mixes are great, and will provide nutrients, and micronutrients to your plants through the long term and will have nutrient readily available as time goes on, which will lessen the amount of deficiencies, pests and molds/fungus to affect your plants. And also are great if you miss a feeding, they still will have the base of what they need. Boosting with teas once a week and a stronger synthetic fertilizer a few times through the summer (mid veg and mid bloom) can be a great boost to growth and blooming/fruiting. Also sorry for rambling. But you brought up a good point/discussion. Thanks for your thoughts!

[@Juanrivers2022]

But Miracle-Gro is owned by monsanto so bad bad

[@mgstrip]

@@Juanrivers2022 oh really? i didnt know that! YUCK!

[@capicuaaa]

Oh please! Enough with the synthetic fertilizers... The soil is cooked from all that nasty stuff.

[@tvtoms]

​@@capicuaaa Done your own research, have you? Nice. Whatever works for you.

[@williamlatham6160]

Great video, can purified, or distilled water be use?

[@barbarahasenauer2630]

I dont know if I missed in video but about how much worm castings would you use in a 5 gallon bucket? Thank you...you do us gardeners a great service...

[@Anna_ep]

I think he filled the bucket about 1/4 way. But as you could see, he re-used the worm castings. You can add as much as you want. Then add more water to the leftover castings just like he did. As long as it's really fully composted materials and worm castings. Unfinished compost will burn the leaves.

[@gkarenstratton]

I bought a bag of worm castings and the directions said 1 pound for a 5-gallon bucket of water...left to 'brew' about 24 hrs.

[@backtoedenallnaturallandsc5547]

We personally use fresh rabbit droppings mixed with rabbit urine. We mix about half a shovel full in a 20-25 gallon bucket.

[@sbjorgy]

have you ever made fertilizer from fermented weeds/grass clippings?

[@johncoody9947]

Great video. Would adding yeast hurt it?

[@mikefarmer7653]

Happy holiday brother.....

[@andrewlittlefield3425]

Luke you are way ahead of everyone else 👍🏻😁

[@DeadeyeJoe37]

Do you just water your plants with this, or can you apply this as a foliar spray? Does this increase chances of disease on the leaves?

[@joesasnett5379]

Great video. I've subscribed.

[@harrellt1405]

Hey luke...i grow in containers and use compost alot. My trunk is slowly getting buried by the extra compost and mulch. What should i do? Should i remove the top layer every year? Im scared i might damage the feeder roots but at the same time avoid trunk rot

[@ivetteblanco-torres980]

Please list all you put in your compost tea. I only heard you say worm castings. Thank you 🙏

[@christopherheinzman204]

Luke I love your videos... I was watching your compost tea videos... what are your thoughts on using Coffee grounds for Compost teas... i can get free coffee grounds from star bucks... can i just add coffee to water and let it sit for a few days?

[@alexwolf3684]

And I just came in from building my new compost bin.

[@jovanbergh33]

If you put a cup of sugar in water it doesn’t instantly dissolve, it takes a few minutes with agitation to get it there. The 1-2 hours wait time is probably to let suspended solids settle, but it’s all preference.

[@edmguy2010]

Luke, I'm going to try compost tea this week with composted chicken manure. At the same time I plan on adding, per directions a microbial instant tea from Mighty Plant, inc. Any experience on this type of "instant" microbial tea?

[@katiez5660]

I worked with fish. You can use hot water and let it cool to drive off the chlorine.

[@rachelhall4808]

Have you ever added anything to your compost tea like fish fertilizer or anything like that? Would it be beneficial or a waste?

[@kathygreeson6001]

Great information Luke!! Thanks! Would this work with mushroom compost? Thanks again!💕

[@richlaue]

Yes this works great, or sprinkle the compost on the soil

[@sunkisshomesteadgardens9997]

Luke There was a test done on city water and believe me you can smell the chlorine in the water leaving the water out for 24 hours did dissipate the smell at the chlorine but it barely measured any degree of getting rid of the chlorine. So do you have any fats that would make this test inaccurate if so I'm very interested. I've never used a tea before but I think I will Thanks for the info.

[@DettolObsessed]

Also, so wouldn't using molasses and a bubbler to increase the amount of bacteria will fix the problem of having city water kill the bacteria in compost tea? Or will the chlorine kill the bacteria irrespective of how much bacteria is there? I figured if you multiply the amount of bacteria, you'll still have left to fertilize well. I find it a little tiring to let water sit. I don't have a rain drum and it hardly rains here so I mostly use city water.

[@mellieaqua6954]

Hi, im very inexperienced newbe garden n bought bag of mushroom compost? Can i make tea from that and can I leave city water out in large bucket to have the clorine avaporate then use that water to make tea ? Thank you so much for all your great videos 😊👍🏽🙏🏻🙌🏼😁

[@valjalava1951]

We make a tea with sheep manure can I add some worm casting to my tea with the manure great video

[@geeyoupee]

Would it be useful to add any additional items with the worm compost? Char, azomite, mycorrhizae?

[@erikacronje8985]

I have made compost tea before with a bubbler, but I am always wondering if they fresh municipal tap water should rest for 24 hrs is it so good to water our gardens with it straight from the tap? I intend getting a rainwater tank this winter (I am in South Africa in winter now) to have rainwater for the garden at least

[@weldonnicks8153]

Do you plant according to the farmers almanac