Compost Tea Brew Kit

Our Compost Tea Brew Kits contain all the ingredients necessary to produce the most active, diverse, microbial-rich solution possible. These kits produce thousands of strains of beneficial bacteria and fungi that are not found in any pre-packaged product. These organisms are normally found in the rich soils of jungles and tropical rainforests and do not have a shelf-life – the only way to produce them at home is with the proper ingredients and brewing equipment.

A single 5 gallon brew will produce enough concentrated AACT to make up to 50 gallons of finished solution that can be watered directly onto plants!

We began formulating these kits back in the early 2000’s, when we first learned about AACT (Actively Aerated Compost Tea; more on that below). AACT sounded just too good to be true. But then we tried it, and the results inspired us to begin a journey that has spanned many years, and continues to teach us how amazing the soil food web is and what we can learn from it to grow better plants.

Over the years we experimented with many different ingredients and recipes. Hundreds and hundreds of hours looking through the eyepiece of a microscope, and learning. With the help of many experts in the field we were able to source the very best organic inputs, and put them together in the proper ratios to produce something amazing.

We were then lucky enough to work directly with a microbiologist from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) nearby, and he was able to help us perfect the recipe over the course of the next two years. What a treat it was for us to be looking through the microscope together with someone who worked on the development of the NASA Human Exploration and Development of Space (HEDS) Lander, and was involved with the Mars Greenhouse Experiment Module! We thought we knew a lot about microbiology but this guy really taught us some incredible things.

We’ve brewed many thousands of gallons of AACT over many years and we are convinced you will not be able to find a better set of ingredients, in the proper proportions, than what we have put together in our Compost Tea Brew Kits. Everything you need is already included. We highly recommend starting with just the contents of the Brew Kit. Once you see how well the tea works fee free to experiment. But please consider this – over the years we tried adding many different ingredients, “enhancers” and other inputs to our tea in hopes they would make an improvement. To our surprise, many of the additives that we thought would absolutely make the tea better actually had a detrimental effect on the microorganisms. We learned that’s it’s not the quantity of ingredients, it’s the quality, freshness and how/where they were sourced.

If you do want to add other organic inputs to the tea, we highly recommend adding them to the finished solution, as opposed to adding them to the brewer. Brewing these inputs rarely improves them in any way, and adding them directly to the tea during the brewing process is more likely to harm the tea than benefit it. 

Contains:

• three different types of fresh, bacterial and fungal-rich compost
• microbial inoculants
• alfalfa
• kelp
• molasses
• fish hydrolysate
• other organic inputs, food sources for the microbes, and more…

The compost is supplied in a breathable bag to keep it fresh and aerobic; it can be used as a tea bag in brewers that require this. The liquid ingredients are in a separate bottle, and the remaining dry ingredients are in a plastic bag. To use, simply empty all ingredients into your brewer and brew for approximately 24 hours (18-36 hours), no other ingredients are required (nor recommended).

Application

A single 5 gallon brew will produce enough concentrated AACT to make up to 50 gallons of finished solution that can be watered directly onto plants.

If you use our compost tea kits with this brewer, the AACT you produce will be highly concentrated. It can be used full strength or diluted down to 1:10 (one gallon of tea per 10 gallons of dechlorinated water). When using at 1:10 simply water plants as usual. When using at full strength simply pour a small amount on the base of each plant (e.g., 1/4 cup per mature plant). You can’t over fertilize with this tea so if you use as much or as little as you like. The more you use the quicker you will see results, but even a teaspoon will eventually have a big impact on the health of your soil. When using as a foliar spray we recommend a dilution rate of 1:1, or full strength.

Don’t throw out leftover tea! Dump it on your lawn, trees, shrubs, landscaping, houseplants – all plants benefit immensely from AACT! There are even companies that come to your house or business with a truck fitted with a tank containing AACT and will spray your property every couple of weeks for a period of time to revitalize it and bring it back from the dead. 

AACT

If you’re not already familiar with AACT (Actively Aerated Compost Tea), you can think of it as a liquid version of regular compost – on steroids (but in a good way). When the proper equipment and ingredients are used, the finished solution is nothing short of liquid gold to plants. One teaspoon of compost has 1 billion bacteria. A teaspoon of AACT contains 4 billion. And the microbes aren’t bound up in the compost so they go to work immediately. AACT is one of the most crucial parts of the soil food web, in a bottle.

AACT should not be confused with nutritive tea or compost extract. Those solutions normally involve suspending compost or organic fertilizers (bat/seabird guano, worm castings, etc.) in water for a period of time to produce a liquid fertilizer. It’s kind of like dropping a tea bag into water and steeping it to make tea. The finished product contains some nutrients, but very little (if any) beneficial organisms.

AACT, however, contains vast amounts of bacteria and fungi, which are incredibly beneficial to plants. Why is this important, you might ask? Because plants don’t eat organic fertilizers – not directly. An organic fertilizer or ingredient must be broken down, or processed by the beneficial microbes present in the soil so that it is in a form the roots can actually absorb.

In short, if you want to grow the healthiest plants possible then you must feed the soil, not the plants themselves. You feed the soil, and the soil feeds the plants.

Think of a lush jungle or rainforest, where plants flourish the most. Organic material is continuously falling onto the ground. The ground is incredibly rich with all kinds of beneficial bacteria and fungi, which slowly decompose and break down this organic matter into compounds and exudates that benefit the plants in many ways. There is no one there mixing 2 teaspoons of fertilizer per gallon and watering the plants with it every month – the plants get everything they need from what the microorganisms in the soil produce.

You might be asking yourself why one would consider taking the time to make compost tea when you can simply purchase a product off the shelf that contains these beneficial organisms. The answer is simple – you can’t. It’s not possible. Yes, there are many, many products claiming to contain beneficial microorganisms. But if you look at the label you will find that even the most expensive products contain only a couple of dozen different strains of bacteria and/or fungi. That’s because these are living organisms, and there are only a small number of species that can be “pickled” in a jar and stored for a period of time. And even so, most of them diminish over time and have a relatively short shelf life.

AACT contains thousands of different strains of beneficial bacteria and fungi. This incredible diversity, coupled with the enormously high population of each strain present makes AACT the richest, most beneficial product you can possibly give your plants.

AACT isn’t just for the root system. It can also be used as a foliar spray; if outdoors you can even water the foliage with it. AACT feeds the plants through the leaves and protects them at the same time. It contains compounds that repel many insects, and also destroys downy and powdery mildew.