One of the best natural solutions to make your plants healthier is through the use of compos tea. Compost tea is the process by which you use compost to brew a liquid solution that you will then “feed” to your plants. Compost tea can be applied to vegetables, trees, bushes, flowers, or in short anything that you grow that you want to get healthier.

The first step is to get compost. You can buy compost from a local nursery or garden center but the better option is to make your own. You make compost from organic material. In other words grass, leaves twigs, and food waste to name a few.

You then take the compost and mix it with water. After about an hour of soaking you can use the compost enriched water on your plants and you will get excellent benefits, but if you really want to get the most out of your compost tea, you have to brew it.

To brew compost tea you simply add an air pump to pump in fresh oxygen into the water as well as one to two ounces of molasses. What you are doing is creating an environment where bacteria that live in the compost will thrive.

After brewing for a couple of days separate the compost from the liquid with a strainer such as cheese cloth or an old screen and you are all. Put the liquid in a watering can or sprayer and let your plants have it. It is the most natural type of fertilizer you can ever apply to your plants that no chemical can reproduce.

Compost tea introduces healthy minerals and nutrients into the soil as well as “good” bacteria that work hard in the underlying ecosystem to create an environment for the roots of your plants to thrive.

Compost tea has also shown to prevent many diseases found in plants due to the microbial population found in compost tea.

You should apply compost tea first thing in the morning and if you are putting it directly into the soil it is ok to apply during rainy conditions, however if you are applying it directly to leaves then you should wait for a dryer day.

Studies have shown it is best to use your compost tea within 4 to 6 hours after you brew it. Remember you have living organisms in that tea and having it sit around too long can kill them and render your tea useless. Besides you have been waiting 2 days to use it while it’s been brewing.

As you can see compost tea has many benefits. Whether you are an avid vegetable, flower or shrub gardener, or are new to gardening altogether, then you should get to know how to brew compost tea, and start applying it to your gardens immediately.

Organic Gardening Articles: http://www.organicgardenarticles.com/

Author: Bruce A. Tucker

Bruce is the co-author of the book Vegetable Gardening for the Average Person. It is a practical easy to follow book that teaches gardeners everything from composting techniques, aeration and frost conditions, to choosing the right tools and picking the right seeds. To learn more about Mr. Tucker you can visit: AveragePersonGardening.com.

via Compost Tea: The Natural Elixir of Gardening that Mother Nature has Perfected.

Many people have somehow acquired the misconception that compost normally stinks, that it must be a smelly affair. Nothing can be further from the truth. An earthy scent is normal and inoffensive, but a well-built compost shouldn't produce unpleasant odors.

So if you have a bad smell coming from your compost bin, answer these few questions to help determine the problem and find out how to fix the problem.

1. Did you accidentally throw in leftover meat or bones with other composting material?

If you did, remove it quickly, for you will definitely get a rotten smell coming from the bin.

Meat and meat bones should never be added to your compost pile because…

a) Especially in the summer, heat causes the meat to rot quickly and within hours develop a very bad odor.

b) Cooked meat is “dead” food so adds nothing to your compost.

c) Finally it attracts animals who will tear your bin apart to get to the meat.

2. Did you accidentally throw milk or cheese products in the bin?

Again, milk and cheese will turn acrid and cause a smell in your bin, so all must be removed from the bin.

3. Is there an ammonia smell coming from the pile?

If so, your pile has too much “green” stuff such as fruit peels, tea leaves, vegetables, and peelings.

To change this condition, you must mix in brown stuff such as buckwheat hulls, dried grass clippings, paper, or peat moss (and the list goes on). In other words, the compost pile must be rebuilt.

The best way to create a “non-smelly pile” is by beginning with one layer of “greens” followed by one layer of “browns”, and continuing this process of alternating each layer until you have no more ingredients to put into the pile.

4. Is there a “rotten egg” smell coming from the pile?

If so, there is too little air getting to the center of the pile. Since air provides the necessary oxygen which enables bacteria to carry out “aerobic' or non-smelly decomposition, it is very important to keep plenty of air flowing through the compost pile to help the decomposer organisms do their job.

Because air penetrates only the first few inches of the pile, it needs help to reach the center. Therefore if you suddenly get that nasty rotten egg smell around the compost, it means that anaerobic bacteria are moving in, and the pile may simply need to breathe. (Oh, the pile will decompose, but the decomposition will be accompanied by this rotten egg smell.)

There are five ways to add air to your compost pile…air which is absolutely necessary in order to develop the high temperatures needed to kill harmful bacteria and speed the process of decomposition:

A) Turn you pile inside out with a garden fork

B) If you do not want to do the work of turning the pile, try stirring it with a stick instead (much harder to achieve results

C) Use an aerator tool, a rod with flaps on one end and a handle on the other normally found at a garden center.

D) Create an air stack by building your compost pile around a perforated pipe, a bundle of long twigs, or a tube of wire mesh.

E) Build your compost pile on a raised platform of loosely spaced boards and allow air to be drawn up from the bottom. If you choose this method, be sure to sprinkle soil throughout the compost to add those essential soil bacteria.

I have had up to three compost bins in my back yard, and I have never been bothered by smell. So if you follow the above steps, you should not have any more problems with “smell.”

Organic Gardening Articles: http://www.organicgardenarticles.com/

Author: Marcie Snyder

For more easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions on how to make compost using any or all of the four plus methods outlined (yes, also for those living in an apartment), download my new ebook at BackyardCompostingGuide.com. It even deals with the “smell” factor.

via Why Does Compost Stink?.