Horseshoe
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A Hatchling Earthworm
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Re:Compost tea etc - 2006/01/20 14:18
Christian, you can easily set up a vermicompost tea maker with minimal time and $$.
Mine consists of a five gallon bucket, an aquarium aerater pump, some tubing, and some airstones. (All those items, except the bucket) can be found in the tropical fish department of any major box store.)
What you want to do is fill your bucket with tepid water, lay the airstones on the bottom of the bucket (these of course are hooked up to the pump with the tubing), and using a cloth/mesh material similar to tulle wrap about two good handfuls of castings or compost in it. This is then tied up with a string and suspended in the bucket...it should only be deep enough to be slightly under water. Although you can now let this mixture bubble away for a couple days and let it go at that you can encourage much more "good bacteria" by supplying a good dollop of molasses to the mix. This will give the bacteria more sugar to feed on, thereby multiplying them much quicker. (I've even used cornmeal for this purpose.)
The bucket of brew will develop a "head", resembling a root beer float(!) and at this point you can then used the end product. This can be diluted at a ratio of 1:10 or more, depending on its use.
Hope this is helpful to you!
Shoe
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