A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Manure Tea

We raise sheep and after the shearer leaves we separate out the wool that has any manure imbedded in it. We then put the "dirty wool" into a wash tub and fill with water and let it set steep in the sun for several days or weeks depending on how busy we are. We scoop out the wool and have this nice manure tea left. My question is how much do I need to dilute the tea before putting it on my plants? I don't want to burn them but I've not seen anyone else with instructions. Does anyone out there use a manure tea?

I'd try it and see oldmike. MAybe try a cupful to a bucket of water, then 2 cupsfull. I wouldn't get above 10:1 i don't reckon. Small doses frequently would be better than a big hit all at once.

Oldmike,

As far as a general rule of thumb goes, dilute compost tea until it is slightly lighter in color than ice tea.

If the only liquid your plants are getting is the compost tea, then you may need to worry about burning your plants, but if you are supplementing your watering with compost tea (every other watering or every 3rd watering), then the other waterings will dilute the compost tea too.

The nice thing about compost is that it's very difficult to burn things with it. Sure you can do it, but you have to use very high concentrations, and since it has so much organic matter, it is practally burn proof. Of course if you let your compost tea reduce to a thick dark liquid, you might burn the leaves if it gets on the plants.