Brewing worm tea! Am I doing it right?

by Paul
(Central Oklahoma)

Question:


I am making worm tea.

I have brewed it for 24 hours…

I really have not seen the "skim" that everyone talks about.

? Is that a problem?…

The brew does not smell, so I think it is working.

? Also, How do I know when the food source has run out? Can I brew it for four days? Or will the microorganisms peak at 24 hours then decline with no food source.

Thank You very much
-Paul


Answer

Hello Paul.

sorry for the late reply but things have been very busy here on my side.

I'ts difficult to tell you if you did brew a proper worm tea as I don't know how you did go about it?

To brew a good worm tea you need a bucket, chlorine free water, a food source for the micro organisms that you want to multiply and some worm castings.

Below I give you a simple worm tea brewing recipe that you can use as a guideline for future efforts.


How to brew the tea!

This recipe is worked out for a 20 liter / 5.29 gallons

1.Fill your bucket with water that is chlorine free. If you don’t have access to pond water add the air stone, switch on the air pump for 12 hours and let the chlorine evaporate

2.Add 1kg / 2.2 pounds of pure worm castings

3. Add 25 ml / 1 tablespoon of molasses

4. Let the air
pump run for 24 hours

5. Remove the air stone


It is difficult to work out exactly when the food source which in most cases is molasses will be running out but most worm composting experts estimate it to be after around 24 hours.

At this stage the worm tea should be at its best with the most beneficial micro organisms active that the tea can possibly hold and produce.

Once the micro organisms have used up all the molasses they will soon start to starve and die.

The worm tea should be used as quickly as possible (within a few hours) to give to plants and soil the best treatment they can get.

It will stay beneficial for a longer period but will definitely be at its best fresh.

In my opinion it doesn't make sense to brew your worm tea for 48 hours or even longer as you just would have to add more molasses to your brew at a later stage to keep the micro organisms alive.

I wouldn't worry if there is nothing to skim from the top of your worm tea. This means only that your worm castings you are using are very clean and free of debris.

Have a look out our worm tea brewing page at https://www.worm-composting-help.com/worm-tea.html to get some more information about worm tea.

All the best and happy worming

Stephan Kloppert
Author of
"How to start a profitable worm business on a shoestring budget"

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