Brewing compost teas for a guerilla grow

I've been reading up on composts teas and apparently you need to have an aerator to get good aerobic bacteria. I was planning on just letting my tea brew in 5 gal buckets at my site, but obviously I don't have an electric source for an aerator. I did a search on battery aerators and found some models that are meant to keep bait fish alive but the batteries last 2 days at most. I was hoping that I wouldn't need to go out to my site more than once every two weeks.

Brewing the tea at home and carrying to my site is not an option either because the bacteria dies off quickly without the presence of oxygen and plus it would be a lot of work to haul 2 - 5 gallon buckets back there every two weeks.

Anyone know of a way I can aerate my tea onsite? Or should I just not worry about it and feed my plants after mixing evreything together?

Why can't you take it out there and brew it for a day or two with that battery-powered bubbler and repeat every two weeks?

Which products are you looking at?

I carried 140 gallons last week it's not that much work.

hahaha damn tristy.
but yeah, just carry it out. yes, it is a lot of work, but nothings free, right?
ive read that it will stay aerobic for at least 4 or 5 hrs

but onsite, depending on your needs, you can get solar pumps for ponds for like 30 bucks

140 gallons and it's no work!! Damn Tristy are you a gorilla or what ?? hahahha just the thoughts of that just made me so tired I'm not gonna get nothin' done the rest of the day.

OP here is an option from a very knowledgable guy on the web. It has worked for me good luck Thanks CT

For the cheapest option I would go more for extraction than brewing of the tea. Take a few handfuls of compost (preferably vermicompost or worm castings), throw them in a bucket of de-chlorinated water. Add 1-2 T. of unsulfured molasses. Stir vigorously for a few minutes, and then repeat the process as frequently as possible over the next 4-6 hours and then apply.

You won't get the same levels of microbial growth, but you should be able to keep the tea aerobic with the stirring for a short period of time. Personally, I wouldn't bother with the urine in the tea.

Good luck!

Keepem green dirrtyd

urine? and on the subject of teas, why molasses? wouldnt simple cane sugar do the same?

bob loblough said:

urine? and on the subject of teas, why molasses? wouldnt simple cane sugar do the same?

Click to expand...

Molasses is high in P K and also calcium, iron and magnesium. Refined sugar is stripped of all of the good stuff

Muffy said:

Which products are you looking at?

Click to expand...

For the tea? High nitrogen Mexican bat guano, Age Old Fish and Seaweed, Age Old Kelp, FF Big Bloom and a little organic black strap molasses for veg.

For flower, budswell, FF Big Bloom and black strap molasses

The reason I can't carry the buckets to the sites is that both entry ways into my site are somewhat public. I'm doing this on the edge of an urban area. It would raise too much suspicion if someone happen to see me hauling 2 buckets back there. Going the back way would be a little less conspicuous, but it's an awfully long walk over rough terrain and I pass an artesian well on the way which would be a complete waste. I could use the other entrance in the dead of night but there's a little risk there as well, plus I'd prefer to have some day light to see what I was doing.

I think I'll just get one of the battery operated aerators and let it run for 36 hours. Apparently that is enough time for the microbes to brew. For some reason I thought the tea needed 3-5 days

Nice choice going with compost tea, you wont be dissapointed at all, its also great as a foliar spray but make sure its applied during the last few hours of sunlight as UV rays destroy microbial life. Make sure you dechlorinate tap water first or better yet use a natural source such as rain or pond water. Just curious did you happen to read the book teaming with microbes? It comes highly recommended

Also vermicompost or worm castings is excellent for brewing and if you have access to a hydro store you can probably get a genhydro product called Ancient forest which is really old decomposed alaska humus, has some of the highest microbe count around. Good luck and keep us posted on the results

Thanks for the tip. I'll give the ancient forest a shot

GuerillaMan10 said:

battery operated aerators

Click to expand...

That's what I'm wondering about. Which of these?

if you want to run it longer off battery...get more batteries and wire them in paralell.

here's a pic of them so far. About 7 to 8 weeks to go

Uphill on uneven footing while trying to avoid making a trail and it gets to be not so easy fairly quick into the season.