worm casting compost tea

I just made a worm casting tea and I would like to know , besides unsulfered blackstrap molasses and the worm casting , what else should I add to make the compost tea ? This is for veggies.

Did you also make some compost tea along with the worm castings and blackstrap?

http://www.thesoilguy.com/SG/CompostTea <~~~click

Zomo, what have you decided to do?? 

Maybe it was me but the soilguy article sounded like he was mad at people or something. 

I find the the topic of worm casting tea very controversial.  I think you have to study up on it and see for yourself on what to believe!  To me its like gardening, you just keep hearing different things all the time.
I've got 9 Rubbermaid containers of worms and I just use the castings straight up.  Meaning I dig it in around plants and water it in.  When I sell castings at the farmers market I give people a little sheet for making tea if they want, but always tell people to read up on it too.   Best wishes!

llama momma wrote:Zomo, what have you decided to do?? 

Maybe it was me but the soilguy article sounded like he was mad at people or something. 

I posted the link because there was actual science involved with empirical study results. The soil guy wrote as if he was a bit exasperated about all the snake oil type hype and myth swirling around the compost tea bucket.

No biggie, he may shine in a lab but not as much in pubic relations    

zomo wrote:I just made a worm casting tea and I would like to know , besides unsulfered blackstrap molasses and the worm casting , what else should I add to make the compost tea ? This is for veggies.

ZOMO: I'm new at making tea. I just bought two 4 lb jugs of worm castings at Wal-Mart and am going to make my first batch of tea today. I also bought unsulphured molasses, a 40 lb bag of composted cow poop, liquid Kelp (couldn't find liquid seaweed) and Fish fertilizer.
      There are so many recipes out there and this one seems pretty simple. As far as the worm castings go, I'm going to use about one cup.
                    My experimental recipe is:
                     4 gallons bottled spring water
                      Few hand fulls of composted cow manure
                     2 TBS Molasses
                     About a one cap full each of fish fertilizer and kelp.
                     About one cup worm castings.                                
 
I'm looking for some thumbs up OR some thumbs down on this recipe. If anyone thinks this may not work, please let me know before I get started. I would appreciate a good tried and true recipe.. Thanks.

I hope others respond as I am not experienced in worm casting tea. In making compost tea, I think the purpose is to release nutrients, and multiple and release microorganisms from the compost. In the recipe, I'm seeing mainly nutrients, which could be diluted and applied directly to the beds. I don't know how many active organisms are in the bagged/container ingredients. If you really want to apply liquid to your beds, go ahead. But, it's the micro- macro- life in the beds that are doing the job of making the mix nutritious for the plants. Thumb horizontal, maybe slightly down.

Hi folks

I use one of these (and BTW, allotment-garden.org is one of my fav sites): http://www.allotment-garden.org/worm-composting/can-o-worms-problems.php

The worm juice collects in a sump and can then be drained off. I dilute 1:15 ish and water plants with it. The worm castings are being collected to add to the allotment.

Worm juice is liquid rocket fuel for plants. I reckon that if you bought some worm compost and drained some water through it, you would get a pretty good worm juice!

sanderson wrote:I hope others respond as I am not experienced in worm casting tea.  In making compost tea, I think the purpose is to release nutrients, and multiple and release microorganisms from the compost.  In the recipe, I'm seeing mainly nutrients, which could be diluted and applied directly to the beds.  I don't know how many active organisms are in the bagged/container ingredients.  If you really want to apply liquid to your beds, go ahead.  But, it's the micro- macro- life in the beds that are doing the job of making the mix nutritious for the plants.  Thumb horizontal, maybe slightly down.

 Thanks Sanderson. Looks like I may have over done it yet again. I made 15 gallons.. lol

After just recently discovered the benefits of compost tea I decided to get me some. In the Teaming with Microbe books an extensive chapter is dedicated to this subject, it explains the many variations of teas that can be made, fungi dominated, balanced, and bacteria dominated. It does mention that worm castings creates the most valuable type, however, properly made compost is also very good. I've made 2 batches already, it looked good, I'll only know where I am able to see results between plants I added to and those I didn't.
Unchlorinated  water is a huge factor for chlorine destroys bacteria. Using a crock pot, filled with water below my five gallon bucket filled with rain water I brought temperature up to 75 Degrees. I added 4 - 5 cups of compost to a nylon stocking, then tossed it into the bucket.It looks as if bacteria activity will raise the temps also.
Since aeration was indicated to be important, I purchased the item pictured below, nice gentle and many air bubbles.
I also added 2 tablespoons of unsulphered molasses, mixed in a separate container before added to the bucket. Let is go for a day 24- 36 hours..it looked like nice mix...Now to see how it works.