_Bleu_ said:
! 
I don't know any recipe. I was going to just mix some compost with water and let it sip for a few days then strain and drench the soil with it. Do you have a recipe? It is not plant-specific, is it?
I will get a bag of Black Kow in February (that's when I think we are supposed to start amending the soil in this area).
Recipes for teas have a targeted goal by design. One generic goal that is fundamentally broad based and good everywhere is increasing the quantity of amino acids available in soil while adding a food stock for the soil bacteria. Thus proteins and carbohydrates are used (food!) Aminos come from the proteins as does N, and bacteria munch on sugars like molasses.
The bacteria themselves die and become biomass and therefore food for fungal helpers that in turn have hyphae to draw deep nutrients and water from below up to the active zones in the top layers of soil. There are many good bacteria that are even antibiotic, such as could be added with Mycostop or Actinovate. Also there are inoculants, and Jobes or other organic fertilizers have added mycorrhizae or you could buy pure mycorrhizae. Tea is the multiplying medium, in which food and oxygen are available to keep them alive until final application.
So Tea is sourced through sugars and proteins added to a tea. If you were to add 3 ounces of molasses, 3 ounces of blood meal, or fish fertilizer, or soybean meal with your black kow starter or another live biotic additive you would have an enhanced tea easily produced in a 5 gallon bucket. Remember a tea is like bread yeast in that it proofs and grows until it runs out of food in its bowl and then dies back, so if you make a tea, keep it at warmish temps and use it soon, as in a 24 to 36 hour window. Additionally, an aquarium bubbler for oxygenation is used because oxygen oriented bacteria (as opposed to anarobic) are generally helpful around oxygen loving roots.
