Compost tea
Compost tea is microbial solution produced naturally during the process of worms composting materials. My indoor worm composting bins contains food and damp newspapers. The worms eat this material and turn it into worm castings. Over time liquid works it’s way downward, collects, and sits. Air reaches it allowing all sorts of fungi and bacteria to grow in it. This compost tea contains worm castings, organic food bits, and bedding. Consider compost tea as a natural fertilizer for your plants. This tea compost collects at the bottom of my worm composting bin and once there is enough, I pour it into a container. I generally mix this with water (with about a 1:5 ratio of compost tea to water). I let it sit out for several days and then use it on my indoor plants or take it out to the garden.
Benefits of compost tea
Some of the benefits of compost tea include returning nutrients to the ground. Also, this compost tea adds nitrogen to the plant. It also gives microbes to that plant that encourage growth and competes with pathogens that might otherwise interfere with plant growth. I personally see better yields in my garden when I add worm compost tea. A really like that I am using natural, organic fertilizer instead of store bought chemicals. And the compost tea is a free by-product of my composting worms!
Harvesting worm compost tea
With the right worm composting bins, this is easy! As the liquid and dampness works down the compost stack, it collects and picks up nutrients, microbes, and worm castings. This settles at the bottom of the composting bin and over time grows into compost tea. Simply drain this liquid (many indoor worm bins provide an easy drain for removing this compost tea!) into a container. Use this compost tea immediately, or store for later use.
How to use worm composting tea
Depending on the worm composting tea, it can be very powerful. I usually mix it with water for about 5 parts of water and 1 part of composting tea. I have two buckets near my indoor worm composting bins and simply pour it back and forth a few times (for aeration to allow oxygen in so that more things can grow in this tea) and then let it sit for a day or two. I pour it onto my plants as I would during a normal watering cycle. For my garden, I put the compost tea directly on the plants, trying to avoid wasting it. I understand you can get a mister and mist leaves with this, if you care to take the time. My plants have seen wonderful results from using the composting tea I am able to extract from my worm bins....give it a try!