AACT on a rainy day?

Hello all,

I've been reading up on growing organically for a little while and finally decided to get off my ass and try to make a simple aerated compost tea. Im still very new to this side of gardening so I kept it simple and just decided to pick up some cow manure from a nearby lowes.

I took 2 or 3 handfuls of the manure, a handful of my local dirt, and a handful of my compost mix to "get as much diversity as I could" lol. Not sure if that makes a difference, but figured different sources might have different microbes. *shrug* still pretty new. Ill build up to some of the more in depth tea recipes i've seen here once I have a better understanding of what im doing, and what condition my soil/compost pile is in lol.

Anyway, i've been brewing for about 28 hours as of now. My plan was to water in the morning, but weathers showing some rain coming our way tonight and tomorrow. My question is, is it a waste to use AACT on a rainy day? Would the rain "wash away" the microbes, or otherwise make the tea worthless?

Let me know what you pros think!

Thanks for the help.

youd be likely to over saturate the soil. if you do water them with tea, try and bring them indoors during the storm. otherwise pour your tea on your compost pile after the rain. you could just top dress the plants with compost before the rain.

Keep it brewing, I often use mine starting at 36 or 48 hours. Keep it aired up and sweet and it will only get better for a while. Sweet means molasses for carbs and it also has K and iron.

iHearAll said:

youd be likely to over saturate the soil. if you do water them with tea, try and bring them indoors during the storm. otherwise pour your tea on your compost pile after the rain. you could just top dress the plants with compost before the rain.

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Thanks for the reply,

Bringing everything inside wasnt an option, I have my entire summer garden started early this year and they're still in their containers outside. I made the mistake of using a new brand of local compost for ALL of my garden this year and the plants really seem to be struggling. Im hoping this tea helps line things out, or at least improves them. Growth is so slow.

Luckily the rain passed over us, so that wasnt a worry after all. I watered everything with full strength tea (manure/compost/dirt only), and poured everything left over directly into my compost pile like you said now its time to poke around here some more for a simple good veg tea recipe.

Appreciate the help!

hillbill said:

Keep it brewing, I often use mine starting at 36 or 48 hours. Keep it aired up and sweet and it will only get better for a while. Sweet means molasses for carbs and it also has K and iron.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply,

Rain ended up passing us over so I used all the tea this morning. By the way, is 48 hours pretty much the max amount of time you want to spend brewing? Everything im reading says 24-48 hours and then you start running the risk of letting things die out. The technical details still escape me, and the worry of E. coli is always in the back of my head lol. I know as long as the tea doesnt smell and is being thoroughly oxygenated I should be good, but I still wonder what the odds are of getting sick lol. Dang poop/dirt water!