The Best Compost Tea Brewer On The Market

Americans can get it here

$70.00 – $219.00

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There are tens of thousands of different species of microorganisms that have a huge part to play in the health of your garden.

They kill diseases, feed and protect plants, improve the soil, and perform a long list of other jobs.

In 2006, I was running my organic gardening business and learning that my clients’ gardens were deficient in proper biology.

And luckily I had just finished reading ‘The Compost Tea Brewing Manual’ and studying compost tea in general, and discovered the importance of bringing these important microorganisms back into the garden.

So I decided to try it. I started with the highly recommended KIS compost tea brewer – one of the first and still best tea brewers on the market (based on independent lab testing) – and I never looked back.

Even compost tea guru Elaine Ingham of Soil FoodWeb Inc. says the KIS brewers are among the best brewers:

“The KIS brewers are extremely easy to set up and use, very easy to clean, and make great teas by extracting all the species of bacteria, fungi, protists, and nematodes present in the compost into the tea. Using the right resources, the KIS brewer can get fantastic fungal biomass growing in their tea maker.

Using the KIS starter foods and compost, we have never seen the KIS brewer have a problem maintaining aeration. Even if “poor compost” has been used, where E.coli and other pathogens were in high numbers, these problem organisms have been dropped to less than detectable levels by the proper use of this machine.”

Dr. Elaine Ingham, Soil Microbiologist

“From the instant I got my KIS brewer, I knew it was going to be fun. The instructions were so simple that I set it up in about three minutes and turned it on before I went to bed. I used the tea in our greenhouse the very next morning (14 hours later instead of 12, but that was only because I slept in!). It was a fine looking brew with a great smell, good feel, and excellent color.

I was quite sure my plants would appreciate it and I couldn’t wait until the snow melted and I could get out and use the KIS-made compost tea on our gardens and lawns. Am I pleased with my KIS? Just try and take it away from me. Thanks for this important machine. It will change the world. I know it has changed the way we garden here in Alaska.”

Jeff Lowenfels, author of ‘Teaming With Microbes’

What Is Compost Tea?

The right side of this tree was sprayed only one time with compost tea from a KIS compost tea brewer, along with liquid fish fertilizer.

The leaves are so much more abundant, bigger and healthier on that side, actually hiding the cherries from view.

The purpose of compost tea is to reintroduce beneficial microorganisms into our gardens that ideally would be there in the first place, but often aren’t any more for many reasons.

As with mycorrhizal fungi, that includes past tilling, topsoil removal during construction, environmental pollution, pesticide/chemical fertilizer use, and so on.

Those microorganisms are largely responsible for the health of our plants. They help:

Increase plant nutrient uptake, making your plants bigger and healthier
Not only prevent plant disease but can even get rid of existing disease
Increase water and nutrient retention in the soil, so your plants get more of both
Breakdown toxins in the soil and on plant leaves

I mainly think about it as boosting plant health, which ultimately means more nutritious food and fewer pests.

Unlike SCD/EM, the tea is also a broad spectrum organic fertilizer of soluble nutrients that can be immediately used by both microorganisms and plants.

By the way, be sure to read the comparison to both SCD/EM and mycorrhizal fungi on the right side of the page.

Back to what compost tea is. To be clear, when I say compost tea, I mean the modern version, which is ‘aerated’ compost tea.

Some people even say ‘actively aerated’ compost tea, which means we use an air pump to aerate, not just a stick to stir the tea once in a while.

Compost tea traditionally meant compost that was left in a bucket for a few days and perhaps stirred a few times, and it can have some benefits, but a quality aerated compost tea with an air pump is going to be much more useful.

DIY Compost Tea Brewer

A lot of people want to make a diy compost tea brewer, and it’s certainly possible.

There are a lot of factors that affect tea quality, though, so if you want to make a good tea that brings in the big benefits, be prepared to do some lab testing and tweaking of your brewer to get it right.

But if you really enjoy tinkering and you have a bit of money to spend on lab testing, I could see that being fun even though you’ll end up paying more.

Most homemade compost tea brewers don’t cut it, so the most important advice I can give is to make sure you get a good air pump that pushes a lot of air – not a little aquarium pump like a lot of people on the internet suggest – that won’t make a tea that does much of anything.

The EcoPlus Commercial Air 5 is a great one, or even the Commercial Air 3 would be better than a little aquarium pump.

I figured out that it would actually be much more affordable to use a tea brewer that’s already been thoroughly tested, so that’s what I’ve always done.

So while I’ve played around with making my own brewer, I never did any testing because I already had a KIS brewer that was working great.

The KIS Compost Tea Brewer

They’ve recently changed the design of their brewer to something that’s more affordable.

It was designed by Tim Wilson and it’s called the Mini-Microbulator.

This brewer makes high-quality compost tea (well tested and documented), with a reliable air pump.

It takes about 36 hours to make a tea.

Here’s a video from Tad who makes these brewers in the U.S.

What Comes With The Compost Tea Brewer

This comes with the air pump and all of the tubing.

You have the option of getting it:

Without a 5-gallon bucket and without brew kits, or
With a 5-gallon bucket and 3 brew kits.

And on this page, you can also buy extra brew kits, which contain the compost and microbe foods (or you can use your own compost and foods if you want to experiment with your own recipes).

The nice thing about the kits, though, is that the quality of the compost is excellent. It’s actually a mix of Alaska humus, worm compost (vermicompost), and fungal compost.

The compost tea produced from these brewers has been tested in a lab with this specific compost and this specific food mix and it makes a great tea, so all you need to do is follow a few simple rules you will have a great compost tea.

FYI, the kits are derived from sulfate of potash magnesia (aka sul-po-mag or k-mag), feather meal, soymeal, cottonseed meal, mycorrhizal fungi, kelp, and alfalfa meal. It’s registered organic, so all non-GMO.

How To Make Compost Tea

Here’s a video from Tim Wilson, the designer of this brewer:

Here’s how to make compost tea.

Air is bubbled through a bucket of water that contains a bit of quality compost and other ingredients.

The bubbles pull the microorganisms off the compost (as otherwise they’re kind of glued on there) and also give air for the microorganisms to breathe.

That’s important because we want to create a compost tea of mostly air-breathing (aerobic) microorganisms, as they tend to be the beneficial ones for our organic gardens. Of course, there are some not-so-good aerobic microbes, too, but many more are good guys.

Then the other ingredients are foods like liquid kelp and liquid fish and molasses that feed the microorganisms and cause them to multiply like crazy.

When it’s done, we have a solution with trillions of beneficial mostly aerobic microorganisms that we can spray into the garden (maybe even quadrillions if you did a good job).

One reason this is useful is because while there’s often not enough compost to adequately cover the garden, compost tea goes a lot further.

So if you haven’t been using compost, compost tea is going to bring many of the same benefits, other than the organic matter.

But even more interesting is that we can spray compost tea right onto plant leaves where the microbes will feed them nutrients and protect them from disease – in fact, if you make a good tea and get your leaves covered fully, it will be very difficult for diseases to live there.

It can’t be marketed as controlling disease because it’s not a pesticide, but we have clear research showing that the microorganisms in good compost tea keep disease populations in check.

How To Use Compost Tea

A decent 5-gallon brew will cover an acre of garden, but even if you only have a tiny garden, you can spray the whole batch of compost tea and that will be even better – it’s impossible to overapply it.

It’s preferable NOT to use a hose-end sprayer for compost tea because the container is far too small and because we mostly want to use it undiluted (i.e. not mixed with more water) in order to get the maximum concentration of beneficial microorganisms on the leaf surfaces.

That’s where a different kind of sprayer comes in – either a backpack sprayer or one that sits on the ground. Here are links to 2 of my favorites:

1. Chapin – $130. Tad Hussey, who’s in charge of manufacturing the compost tea brewers on this page, recommends the Chapin 1949 concrete sprayer. Being made for concrete, it has big enough filters to allow beneficial fungi through. I recommend home users get this one.

2. Birchmeier – $250. This brand of sprayers can get expensive, but it’s one of the best on the market, so they don’t leak and break down as much as most other sprayers.

While Solo sprayers are popular among compost tea users, they have more problems when compared to the sprayers from Birchmeier.

But backpack sprayers aren’t generally designed for compost tea, so you’re going to want to strain the tea first. A 400-600 mesh size is the sweet spot for letting the microbes through without letting organic debris through. A paint strainer bag is one good way of doing this.

One other method that some people use successfully is to drop a sump pump – wrapped in a mesh bag – down into the tea after it’s done, attach a hose to it, and spray from there.

I think this is a great idea for a small garden but haven’t tried it. Sump pumps work pretty fast, so you’d need to be ready to shoot the tea quickly, and then ready to turn the pump off so it doesn’t burn out.

For application, the rule of thumb is 5 gallons per acre for each 6 feet in plant height. So if you have an acre of plants that are 12 feet tall, you would need 10 gallons of tea.

But most of us are just doing our backyards, so 5 gallons will be plenty. It’s impossible to over-apply it, so even if you only have 500 square feet, feel free to spray the whole thing out there.

I recommend using compost tea at least two times per year. I tend to go with three times, but you might make this your main thing and apply it monthly, and that would certainly be excellent, too.

Get It Here

$70.00 – $219.00

Choose

In summary, the tea from this compost tea brewer:

Provides these main benefits: improved plant growth and nutrition, better soil structure/water-holding capacity/nutrient retention, decreased disease.
Increases the diversity and number of highly beneficial microorganisms in your soil and on your plants.
Is proven to be a high quality actively aerated tea.

As a free bonus when you order today, I’ll also enroll you in my online Compost Tea course.

Just choose your brewer and click ‘Add To Cart’ up above!

Notes

I ship in the U.S. only. I ship 7 days a week.
In the continental U.S., shipping is $15.
All of my products have a 1 year 100% money-back guarantee.
If you have a question about a product, leave it in the comment section below I'll try to respond within a few hours.
Dry fertilizers and compost tea brewers ship separately so they will arrive on their own maybe a day or 2 apart from my other products.
I send a percentage of every order to Thrive For Good and other similar organizations. They're working mostly in Africa to help communities grow organic, medicinal food for themselves, and then use the surplus food to generate income for themselves as well as feeding the orphans in their communities.

Free $25 Bonus When You Buy Today

When you buy one of these brewers, you get enrolled in my online Compost Tea course.

It’s an introductory course, a nice little bit of info on compost tea. My main goal is to show you how to make good tea and how to apply it.

The course includes 11 videos totaling about 50 minutes.

42 Comments

Phil Woodruff says:

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Forgive me if I missed it, but with this brewer do I still add nettles/comfry etc or just the ingredients in the packets?

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Just the ingredients in the packets for this one. A little bit of nettle/comfry could certainly be added for the benefits they bring, but I wouldn’t want to deviate too much from the standard recipe.
  
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  1. Phil Woodruff says:
    
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    Ok thanks – what’s the best plan then to turn my bucketfuls of nettle&comfry into sweet compost tea???
    
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    1. Phil says:
      
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      You can make a non-aerated ‘herbal tea’ as I show here in the 2nd half of this video: https://www.smilinggardener.com/organic-fertilizers/homemade-fertilizer/
      
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      1. Sandy Rowley says:
        
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        !do you have an online class? can you share the link? thanks!
      2. Phil says:
        
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        Hi Sandy, I’ll open it up for enrolment for a few days in October.
Jason LaMarche-Hunderup says:

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What are your thoughts on Stihl sprayers for compost tea?

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Could be good. In general, we want the tea to go through as little filtering as possible, so not too many fine screens and small holes to go through – just enough so that the sprayer doesn’t clog.
  
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  1. Jason LaMarche-Hunderup says:
    
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    I had picked up the solo sprayer from Lee Valley last summer and it was a bit flimsy, so I returned it. I thought about getting the Stihl sprayer but I wasn’t sure if there was too much pressure or that the nozzle was not going the be appropriate for compost tea, and only useful for chemicals. Is there anything you need to do to modify the Birchmeier to spray compost tea?
    
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    1. Phil says:
      
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      Some people go so far as to take out the filters (which means you’ll want to strain your tea very well), or replace them with 400 micron filters from a hardware store in order to make sure more of the biology gets through – takes a bit of work, but not too bad if you have the parts diagram that comes with the machine. It’s worth the effort.
      
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Tad Hussey says:

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Another sprayer I really like is the Chapin 1949 Concrete Sprayer. Their customer service is awesome and it’s designed to handle large particulate. We use ours around the Farm all the time.

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Thanks Tad – good to know.
  
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Bergen Anne says:

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Is a sprayer necessary in applying the compost tea? Can I just use an old-fashioned watering can?

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Absolutely, a watering can even has the advantage of causing less harm to the microbes. In order to apply it to the leaves, it’s nice if it has an attachment to turn the water into a coarse mist/fine shower.
  
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Diane says:

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Am confused. Does the green brewing kit come with 1 set of product to make tea once? Is it 3 different product to mix? And your website says for $39 you can make 3 more? How can that be if one is $300? Don’t know terminology well yet, so struggling to understand. Seems to me that sometimes brewer kit means the bucket & accessories; sometimes it refers to the product to make the tea. so new to this

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1. Phil says:
  
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  You’re right Diane, the word ‘kit’ does apply to both, so it’s possible that I’ve used it to refer to both. When you buy the $300 brewer, you get the air pump, the bucket and all of the tubing that pumps the air through the water. It also comes with 3 ‘kits’ that each contain the right amount of good compost and microbe foods to brew a batch of tea.The extra kits can be purchased when you’ve done your first 3 brews and want to make more, although some people elect to use their own compost and microbe foods at that point, using their own recipe such as this one: https://www.smilinggardener.com/soil-food-web/compost-tea-recipe/
  
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Raye says:

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Hi! I received the brewer a few days ago. Very excited to begin! Still cold here, though. 20F to 45F.

Instructions say to use it indoors, so I need to find a spot for it. I have no shed, barn or garage available but there is a small basement, and spare room/studio.

I want to do a test run with water only. Sound reasonable? I want to check noise levels before deciding which space to set up.

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1. Phil says:
  
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  You can certainly use it outdoors when the weather’s good, although if your neighbors are close, they may not want to listen to it, although covering the whole thing with a big box does help. And yes, no problem testing with water only – you can even leave the water in the bucket for when you’re ready to do the real thing.
  
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Sharon says:

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Just bought your tea brewer kit. Instructions say: Add Simplici-Tea, compost, and molasses–how much molasses do I add? No quantity is given! Also, inside the paper bag is a mesh bag of compost (I assume), and a separate ziplock bag–what is inside the ziplock bag, is it the Simplici-Tea? The ziplock bag is not labeled, and the outer paper bag does not mention Simplicity-Tea, only that it contains ‘Compost & Microbe Catalyst Ingredients’. Your labeling and instructions could use a few edits to clear up these questions!
To recap my questions:
1) How much molasses do I add?
2) Is the Simpici-Tea inside the ziplock bag, and do I put that inside the mesh bag or loose in the water for brewing? If loose in water, won’t that clog my sprayer?

Thanks for your help in brewing tea with my new Simplici-Tea Compost Tea Brewer.

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Hi Sharon, I emailed the manufacturer and he says:
  
  I’ll need to revisit the label and get it updated. Not sure how that got on there. They do not need to use molasses if they bought our tea brewing kit. It has everything included in it. Basically the steps are the following:
  
  1. Make sure you have dechlorinated water or have treated the water.
  2. Drop in the mesh bag that contains the compost (biology) with the brewer running.
  3. Sprinkle in the contents of the ziplock bag.
  
  Apologies for any confusion, let me know if I can answer any other questions.
  
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  1. Raye says:
    
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    Phil, item 3 in your response….should that be to sprinkle the contents of the ziplock bag?
    
    You don’t have a slug problem. You have a duck deficiency. Bill Mollison
    
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    1. Phil says:
      
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      Yes, fixed, thank you!
      
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  2. Sharon says:
    
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    Thank you for your response. I will ignore the Compost Tea Brewer’s instruction sheet (#7) that says to add molasses, and assume that the contents inside the ziplock bag is the ‘starter food’.
    
    Glad to hear that the manufacturer will revisit his instruction sheet and bag labeling to clear up confusing information.
    
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Ansel Wade says:

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Phil,

Thanks for all the useful info, I’ll be getting my kit soon.

Best,
Ansel

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Kerry says:

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Hello,
I am interested in purchasing the micro – brewer plus the BioAg, Sea Minerals Fertilizer and the Humic Acids powder…my intention (please correct me if I’m totally wasting my resources) was to use some of my compost with these items and brew up a spray for the 80’x40′ garden before the winter weather hits – I’m in the process of applying all of my leaves and spreading some of my old grass clippings around (not nearly enough). I was also thinking to purchase some alfalfa meal.
Does this sound like a good plan? I’m hoping to do a no-till garden – but I’m just not sure what to do with the weeds in there now.
Any advice would be seriously appreciated!
Thank you,
Kerry

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Yep, that’s a great plan. As for the weeds, it depends on the weeds. Some weeds will find their way up through 6″ of leaves and some won’t. Regardless, they’re a lot easier to pull when you have a thick mulch. And then the tea helps improve the soil in multiple ways, eventually making it less hospitable for some weeds.
  
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Laura Arroyo says:

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I am just about to use the mix of products I bought from you last year, but I am afraid that the molasses will bring ants to my plants, can you tell me if I am correct, also I am doing compost the way I saw in the internet, with a paint bucket buried on the ground with openings for the worms to decomposed the stuff; the first one I took out was a little bit smelly and I don’t know if that is normal. The products I bought from you were molasses the Bio and the seaweed. I will appreciated your advise about my concerns.

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1. Phil says:
  
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  It’s possible that the molasses could attract ants. It also sometimes repels ants. You could try it on one plant and wait 2 days to see if anything happens.
  
  I’ve never done that method of composting but it’s not surprising that it’s smelly. If you mix in some dry, carbon-rich materials (like leaves/straw/sawdust/newspaper/cardboard) with the food scraps before you put out the bucket, that will help. And spray the scraps with the Bio Ag, too, as those organisms can really help with bad smells.
  
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Laura Arroyo says:

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I forgot to mentioned that the water I use for my plants is rain water, if I want to use compost tea, can I use the water from the rain?

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Rainwater is usually great for compost tea. That said, some rainwater gets contaminated from roofs that are made with toxic materials so you need to consider that.
  
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Lance says:

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Hello,
I’ve used the 3 gallon pump sprayers to spray compost tea, but they are cumbersome to use, and tend to clog frequently. So lately, I’ve been using a hose sprayer from Ortho with the 8 oz setting, which I believe is a 16 to 1 dilution. I can thus water my plants and apply compost tea fertilizer at the same time. The one downside is disconnecting and refilling the sprayer a couple of dozen times, but since I’m accomplishing watering and fertilizing at the same time, it’s not that bad.

What are the pluses and minuses with this method?

Thanks & Regards,

Lance

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1. Phil says:
  
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  The main downside is that, when spraying the leaves, each leaf can only hold X amount of liquid, so you may be getting something like 16X fewer microorganisms populating the leaf surfaces.
  
  The other downside is, if the hose is using chlorinated water, that’s not ideal for the microbes in the tea, although I don’t recall seeing data on this. Certainly, we need to brew our teas without chlorinated water but I’m not so sure about how impactful it is using chlorinated water in a hose-end sprayer to distribute the tea.
  
  The upside is that hose-end sprayers make application (and cleanup) so much easier, and if that’s what allows you to get your tea out there, perhaps even more frequently, it may be a worthwhile compromise.
  
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Candace says:

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Hello Phil,
I have written you twice. About a year ago I responded to a customers question about the possibility of an air pump being too strong for a small batch of compost tea (5 gal.).
You weren’t really sure.And since I had just read about the possibility of the microbes being shredded, ( on Tim Wilson’s site ). I thought it would be a nice gesture to provide that info.
I never received any sort of reply and in fact my post was deleted.Since this is where I posted my response, I now see that the question was deleted also.
I was only trying to be helpful. I enjoy your site, and the knowledge that you share. I’m quite grateful for!

My question now is, that I wrote you again yesterday this time with several questions I knew that you could help me with. I believe there were 5 questions. Along with info about what I ‘be been doing in my garden and trying to help my 83 year old Mother with hers.
I do intend on trying several of the products that you offer. I’m still waiting on my stimulus check (I made a mistake filing but it’s all been corrected now) too much information but fund a currently a little tight.
Anyway, I realize that it takes time to answer and respond to all the questions, and feedback that you receive. But once again it appears that my text has been deleted. I don’t understand and I was hoping you could explain it to me. I included my last name in my last text. I’m not going to do that again. I wasn’t thinking about it being published. But I doubt that you have any other folks with my name. And of course you have my email.
I could really use your help. I’m very grateful for you and your site. I’ve learned a lot and continue to learn more every day. Thank you, for your time.

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1. Phil says:
  
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  I responded to your question last year. It was on a different post. And I’ve now responded briefly to your question from 2 days ago, on that post. Questions don’t get posted publicly until I respond to them (it’s to prevent spam). Good luck with your tea and AEM 🙂
  
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Bharati says:

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I would like to use my solo backpack sprayer to apply the brewed compost tea using your brewer. You suggested to repalce the solo filter so that more particles can go through. I looked at the solo manual and don’t see any filter part. Only the removable filter basket at the top. Is that what you meant?

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1. Phil says:
  
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  I was probably talking about the Birchmeier filter – some people remove it after they’ve strained the tea really well. I’m not sure about Solo.
  
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Tim Lancaster says:

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Is there any chance of buying everything but the pump? Been using the bubbler from compost tea lab. Elaine Ingham seems to say yours produces better tea quality

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Sorry for the delay, Tim. I contacted the manufacturer and they said no, they don’t ship the brewer separately from the pump. Note, too, that Dr. Ingham’s comments were referring to the whole package, including the pump. A pump that’s more or less powerful will give different results, and indeed, the KIS people ended up with their brewers based on trial and error of all of the components and a lot of looking through a microscope.
  
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Patricia Matheson says:

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Hi. I want to buy the compost tea brewer but I’m confused about how to apply it. How do you apply yours? In the video it shows you using a hose end sprayer, but then in the description you say that the hose end sprayer is not the best thing to use. I have a 1/2 acre with fruit trees, berries, vegetable boxes and ornamentals. I was thinking of getting a backpack sprayer. Or is it best to to use a watering can? Thank you!

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1. Phil says:
  
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  I use a backpack sprayer or at least a standalone sprayer. I’ve listed a couple of my favorites up above on this page. I use a hose-end sprayer for other things, rarely for compost tea. A watering can is great, but not for 1/2 acre 🙂
  
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Katie says:

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Hi, I bought the kit and started a brew yesterday. It has been about 17 hours so far and it is not foaming at the top like I see on a lot of videos I have watched. Is that ok? I followed the instructions exactly as written.
Thanks 😊

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1. Phil says:
  
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  Hi Katie, yes, sometimes there’s foam, sometimes not. It depends on the ingredients and it’s no biggie either way. I’ll quote from Dr. Elaine Ingham’s book The Compost Tea Brewing Manual, “The presence of foam on the surface of tea is considered a positive sign, but just means there are free proteins, amino acids or carbohydrates present. This can occur as the result of adding fish hydrolysate, certain organic acids or carbohydrates. If worm compost was used, excessive foam suggests a few earthworms were in the compost and their dead bodies are providing this source of protein/carbohydrate. Excess protein or amino acids should not occur if bacteria are growing well, although dead worms may continue to release proteinaceous materials throughout the brewing cycle. Foam can be suppressed by using organic surfactants, such as yucca or vegetable oil (not olive or canola oil!). Don’t use commercial de- foamers – every single one we have tested kills the organisms in the tea.
  
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The main difference between compost tea and SCD Probiotics/EM and mycorrhizal fungi is:

With compost tea, we’re brewing thousands of different species of beneficial organisms, although we don’t know exactly what we’re going to get because the process is much less controlled (that’s why we need to use high-quality ingredients, to make sure whatever we do get is good for the garden).
With SCD Probiotics and Effective Microorganisms, we’re getting only dozens of different species of microorganisms (mostly fermenting microbes), but we know what we’re getting because the production process is controlled in a lab and we know these organisms are highly beneficial.
With mycorrhizal fungi, we’re only getting a handful of microorganisms (very specific fungi in this case), but they just happen to be some of the most important soil microorganisms in the world.

So what does this all mean? With microbial inoculants, it can be difficult to distinguish between them because they all bring many of the same benefits.

Mycorrhizal fungi are used in the soil and they're arguably the most important microorganisms down there.

Compost tea and SCD Probiotics/EM are sometimes sprayed on the soil, but especially right onto plants. They ultimately bring many of the same benefits as each other.

The potential benefits of compost tea are probably greater because of the huge diversity of microorganisms, but it costs more and is more work to create compost tea.

I recommend EM and mycorrhizal fungi as being the easiest to use, while still offering huge benefits, whereas using compost tea, while still easy enough, is more for the serious gardener who’s looking to go the extra mile.

And indeed, when the biology is the main factor that’s deficient in your garden, compost tea can bring unbelievable results if the tea is good.

"Products working out great...several days after applying EM/seaweed, one languishing pumpkin took off so quickly that in all seriousness I did a double take to make sure I got the right plant. No coincidence, never experienced this before. Seems everything is more green, and happened quickly....family noticed too!"
Ann H.

"I have only sprayed twice and I can see such a difference already! I just inherited an orchard with the purchase of our new home. The trees are sick and I am sure it is from the overuse of chemicals and fertilizers having been sprayed for at least a decade. I have healthy new shoots prolifically growing from very sick trees. I am so excited to see if i can turn the orchard back into a healthy place. Also, I found the information on this site very informational, and ordering process so simple (and fast!). I am so lucky that I stumbled upon this site."
Barbara M.

"I've been using the regimen of EM, kelp and sea minerals/fish on a weekly basis and I've never seen anything like it! A couple of the tomato plants are about 9 feet tall with virtually no yellow leaves all the way to the bottom of the plants. I even had to hammer in a 10 foot stake the other day to keep them upright!"
Brian T.

"First of all, I would like to thank you for your commitment to helping other people. I’ve been dealing with an increasingly limiting intolerance toward food preservatives for over 2 1/2 years now. It got me to only tolerate meat, broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini at its worst. Finally, I found great information about the activated microorganisms and they have helped me immediately after I found your website. Thank you! Eczema, redness, burning and itching of my face have disappeared (and reappeared after I ran out!), no more tummy aches, swelling, diarrhea/ constipation, greater tolerance of foods, overall feeling more energized and sharp, less sluggish. I am taking at least 3 shot glasses, 3 times a day and little sips while eating. Immediate improvement. I wanted to let you know about those results so you can pass them on and help others. Also, I’ve shared them with my plants (potted). Everybody seems to have loved it, on leaves and in the water. I have a beautiful rose that would not heal from mildew. After 2 treatments with the microorganisms, it is now finally looking healthy and I will keep taking care of it. Oh, I’ve also applied them directly on bite scars of our cat which seems to be starting to regrow nice fur now."
Nina

"My San Marzano tomatoes were suffering from blossom end rot. I read that BER is caused by uneven watering and/or calcium deficiency. I suspected that something was preventing the absorption of the calcium, or the plant was suffering because of our watering restrictions (we're in Long Beach, California). So I put a bit of your EM in the watering can and prayed. Not kidding: every tomato that developed and ripened since the EM application showed no blossom end rot! I'm sure it was the prayer! :-) Thanks for all you do, Phil!"
Jenn

"I found Smiling gardener about 6 or 7 years ago, when I was so discouraged with info learned in MG School. Now, everything I put on my plants, or put in ground, is a product of the ocean. The romaine lettuce in my garden is green all over. The taste is. . .better than ever. I’m so enthused about gardening now. That IS a direct result of what I’ve learned from Phil. Gardening is so much easier. I’m going out to pick 1st small batch of raspberries this year! Thank you, Phil. Still telling people all about you! I’m hoping for the best year ever! I’m also a smiling gardener."
Claire

"After using Mycorrhizal Fungi, SCD Probiotics, liquid seaweed, and blackstrap molasses this year I am convinced I need to move to the next level of gardening... Using your products we had the earliest tomatoes and a very abundant crop. Best tomato crop in many years. The pickling cucumbers produced exceedingly well but the thing that impressed us the most was the condition of the vines. Usually after a few weeks the vines get beat up from picking and become brittle. I fertilized once a week and they were still going strong when I pulled most of them the first of Sept.
Ron

"I think it is a great thing you do, that's why I bought the products from you....purely to support. We have great gardening supplies all over NYC. But your cost is also very affordable. You are....AWESOME!"
Nora

"Phil, your products I purchased from you are great! I used them immediately after receiving them and have seen a marked change in my plants. Thanks for checking in with me, that does mean a lot. I've never had anyone to do this before. Thanks again Phil, you're a great guy!"
Bobby

"Thank you for the timely delivery, the wonderful customer service, the great products AND most of all your SUPERB gardening advice and encouragement. I am a fan."
Sheila A.

"Wow thanks Phil. I did not expect the kind of service you are providing. I also do a lot of internet "schooling" of my customers as I am a cycling and triathlon coach. Your level of service parallels that provided by some of the best coaches I know. Thanks."
Gordy

"Everything I see from you is right on the mark in my opinion - very impressive. I would not hesitate to recommend you to anyone interested in growing more nutritive food."
Scott L., Organic Farmer

"I was applying (once a month during March/April) a cocktail of 1/2 cup each of liquid seaweed, BioAg and Molasses with my Gilmour hose-end sprayer set on 1 tablespoon. Even though it's still early in the season, my plants are responding very well. We haven't seen this much healthy growth EVER in our yard."
Barry C.

"I've been using most of the products this season and the results are like nothing I've ever seen, even just 6 weeks after transplanting from indoors!"
Brian

"Want to thank you for helping me improve my organic gardening skills and knowledge. I got your 15 lessons, downloaded you ebook and started using SCD Probiotics and mycorrhizal fungi. My garden has thrived this year and I love the idea of growing more nutrient dense food."
Richard

"EM has made a huge difference in my veggie garden. Wow! I love it."
Denise

"I gave my starving zucchini some compost tea before I went to bed last night. I woke up to find them perky and very happy looking. Amazing!"
Holly

"You are absolutely amazing! Thanks for sharing your wealth of information and research. I really enjoy your videos and now consider you my #1 source. I am just 'figuring' this all out and have made my share of mistakes along the way but I feel like I have a clear road map now for the basic organic fertilizers, etc. My order arrived promptly so I would order again from your site. Again, I really enjoy your educational style and depth of knowledge!"
Diana

"The endomycorrhizal fungi that Janice and I got from you last month has been incredibly effective. I'm particularly surprised by how quickly roses react to it. After inoculation, the roses I treated dropped all their diseased leaves and flushed out in new healthy growth. I've treated my own plants and several client 'rose gardens' now with the same encouraging results."
Kathy

"We have been using your products since the beginning of the summer and we are having good results. Thanks so much."
Isabelle

"I received my order and was quite impressed by the quality of product and service. It is apparent to me that this gardeners pantry is about more than profits; a rarity in our world today. I'm sure I will be doing business with you once again."
Kalum

"I'd bought some sickly looking plants on sale with yellowish leaves & within 2 days of using the EM the leaves turned a much healthier shade of green. Inside of a week they were back to 100% healthy. I can't say enough good things about EM."
Catherine

"Well it's 2:00pm Aug 30 and I got my order. That's less than 24hr service -- great. Will keep you in mind for additional items."
Andrew

"This year my tomatoes have seemed to be 'stalled' in growing, and I planted very late which was already trouble in the brewing. I transplanted them to a more sunny area and applied your ocean fertilizer, which has them looking alive and they have grown about 3-4" already having applied the liquid seaweed a day after delivery. Thank you for the product. I may have tomatoes in September, thanks to Sea Crop and the fish fertilizer."
MJ

"I am on a two-week spray schedule, alternating each time between Liquid Fish and Sea Minerals – the base spray is 2 Tbsp Molasses, 2 Tbsp Bio Ag, and 2 Tbsp Liquid Seaweed, in 2 Gallons Water. I have also been doing a monthly soil drench with Compost Tea. This is in addition to the plants being mulched with homemade compost. The growth and health of the vegetable plants is nothing short of amazing! And, for the first time, the squash plants have not developed powdery mildew as they normally due during the humid summer days."
Larry

"I did receive your products and will be using them in a few weeks to start seeds. Meanwhile. I put some Seaweed, Humic, Molasses and EM in with the watering of my house plants, WOW!! What a difference!"
Brian

"I want to praise Phil for following up on my recent order, which hadn't arrived yet when he sent me an email. He found the delay at UPS, re-sent the order with expedited shipping, and added a free gift, when the delay wasn't his fault in the first place. I will always buy my garden and orchard supplies from Smiling Gardener in the future. THANKS, Phil!"
Pat

"We started mulching Oct 2009 on soil that was about 80% sand. The increase in growth and biodiversity have been incredible. Our only additions to the mulch have been seaweed (yearly), EM solution (1st spring) and endomycorrhizae (to individual plants)."
Kathy

""The smiling gardener is the Premier outstanding resource for high quality products at a great price. The best I have found so far. The clear information provided in the videos and on the website are a tremendous resource for our gardens well being. Thank you Phil for providing such a premium product resource and information, which when applied has the potential to restore the earth and humanity to our original pristine paradise. And thank you everyone here that uses these products, tools and methods of caring so much about the future of our Mother Earth. May the great gods of the goodies and gardens smile upon you, for the extreme dedication and devotion to our soil, plant, and animal friends. It's a 10 star out of 5 rating"
Kelly

"Thank you for this GREAT info packed website! I bought the Beginners Kit and my patio garden is SO happy!! I harvested lettuce, two kinds of kale, and cilantro after planting them 18 days ago. Best salad ever!!! I look forward to seeing how the rest of this year works out in my patio garden!! The first two years the yield was inconsistent, lots of pests, and I lost interest after two months. Lots of money, effort, and hopes down the drain. Not this year! Plants are growing right before my eyes it seems so I’m taking photos once a week to compare results."
Stephanie

"THANK YOU for the unbelievably effective products you offer. Finding your website has been the best thing I've ever done to finally get rid of nasty gnat and variety of pest infestations and to finally grow a healthy amazing garden. Over the past 10 years, I had tried every product you can imagine to battle against gnats and variety of pests but nothing worked more than a day. With one week of using your few products, Bio Ag, seaweed etc. they’ve vanished and I have the most beautiful garden in the Neighborhood. I’ve already learned so much about organic gardening and look forward to continuing with studies in your academy. It’s worth every penny. You are a miracle. Thank you for what you are doing to save our beautiful planet."
Niloo N.

"I thought I would give you some feedback on what I’ve seen in only about 2 weeks:
* Holly Hedge. The aphid or white flies that have been weakening and killing my steeds holly hedge for a couple of years almost completely disappeared after just 1 foliar spraying (w/the seaweed, probiotics and molasses). After a second spraying a week later – they are nowhere to be found. I also did a soil drench of the fungi. This hedge is now bursting with new growth.
* Arborvitaes. I did the same foliar spray for my 12’ arborvitae hedge in my yard (probiotics, seaweed and molasses) and they are also doing very well. This is the hedge that I nearly killed with too much fertilizer. This hedge was also filled with aphids/white flies too. The aphids are gone and I am expecting these arborvitaes to be on a road to recovery (I’ll never use plant-tone again).
* Grass. The established grass and the newly planted grass at the graveyard have grown by leaps and bounds – it’s really unbelievable. I used the fungi, molasses, probiotics and seaweed and in less than a week everything was sprouting and growing like crazy."
Regina S.

"For anyone trying to decide on whether all these products have a benefit, I assure you they deliver more than you can believe. I’m from the Beaverton, Oregon area with a traditional collection of Northwest plants. Hemlocks, firs, vine maple, blueberries, huckleberries and rhododendrons would make up the backbone of my garden. Each shrub gets an annual dose of rock dust or Azomite and a monthly spray of a mixture of sea minerals, seaweed, BioAg and molasses. I’m not sure if I’m doing things correctly but don’t tell my plants. They look spectacular! The hardest part of going organic and following Phil’s approach is getting started. Once you do you won’t go back."
Andy S.

"I was really impressed with the level and depth of information on your site. I've been equally impressed by the entire retail end of your operation. I just received my shipment of EM and mycorrhizal inoculant and am looking forward to putting some of your expansive research to good use. I really appreciate your attention to detail, all the info you provided about using the products, and your overall friendly manner. Thanks for all your hard work."
Keith S.

"The amount of info on your website is astounding. I am learning so much. I started using your bio-ag, liquid fertilizer and micorrhizal fungi last year and I’ve been very pleased with the results. I had almost completely given up on organic gardening, but the information and product recommendations I’ve gotten from your sight are helping me to have more successful results than I’ve had over the last 5 years since I began attempting all organic gardening."
Anna D.