Making Manure Tea
It's
easy to brew manure tea.
Our goal is to transfer nutrients from the
manure into the water. Start with about a gallon
of composted manure. Fresh manure can burn
crops, and poses a greater risk of pathogens.
Add warm to hot water to help speed up the
brewing process. Place your bucket out in the
sun to keep the water warm.
I always add
important trace minerals to my manure tea.
This supplements the minerals in the manure to
more completely meet the needs of the plants and
soil.
Sources of Manure
Good sources of composted manure are
cow manure, horse manure, goat manure, rabbit
droppings, chicken or turkey litter, duck
manure, and fish manure, gathered from the
bottom of your fish pond.
You can purchase composted cow manure and
composted chicken manure (mushroom
compost) at your local garden center.
Brewing your Manure Tea
Brewing your tea with a "Tea Bag"
Put your manure into an old gunny sack,
grapefruit bag or panty hose,
so as to keep the solids out of your tea. Tie
off the top, then suspend your “tea bag” in your
5 gallon bucket filled to within 6 inches of the
top with water. Keep the bucket covered to keep
out flies and mosquitoes. Stir once or twice a
day with an old broom handle. Within 2 or 3
days, the water should be the color of weak tea,
and is ready to use.
Adding manure directly to the water
For faster brewing, just add your gallon of
manure directly to your water,
stir, then let sit. Your first batch of tea may
be ready within a few hours.
After drawing some tea off of the top, add more
water, and stir once or twice a day. When the
water is the color of weak tea, you are ready to
draw more off of the top and apply. Then add
more warm water, and let it steep a little
longer.
Speed up brewing by "Boxing"
To hasten the process,
break up the clods, then pour the mixture back
and forth between 2 buckets. This is called
boxing. Once the water is the color of weak tea,
let the solids settle for 20 minutes, then draw
your tea from off of the top, and apply. Add
more warm water, and continue brewing.
Finishing Up
You will know
that your manure is exhausted when it no
longer makes a weak colored tea. Strain off the
tea. Placing a burlap bag over a second bucket
and pouring the tea through it works well for
this. Then add your manure to your compost pile,
or scatter it on your garden.
Manure tea is
rich in Nitrogen,
but generally
lacking in trace minerals. Consider
adding an ounce of
concentrated sea
minerals
to each gallon of manure tea to meet this
critical need.
Check out my home
page,
Healthy Vegetable
Gardening,
for a wealth of information on growing nutrient
dense food.
(Return from Brewing Manure Tea to Manure Tea)
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