Not only does capturing rainwater help the environment by conserving resources, it also saves money. Depending on how much it rains where you live and the size of your house, you can accumulate a significant amount of water with a simple arrangement. During the summer, a rain barrel can save homeowners about 1,300 gallons of water. This extra water you save can really make a notable difference in your water bill.
Rainwater collected from rain barrels picks up very little contamination because it is gathered from the roofs of houses. Having a roof free of contaminants and debris will ensure that your harvested water is pure. The amount of contamination the water contains also depends on your roofing materials. The hard water and chemicals from the municipal water systems can cause an imbalance of the soil in your yard. This imbalance can make your plants and trees become weak and more susceptible to disease.
Water Shortage
Approximately one in nine people don’t have access to an improved water source. According to Business Insider, 1.2 billion people worldwide live in areas that have inadequate water supply. By 2025, two-thirds of the world will live under conditions of water shortage.
Meanwhile, an American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day. And many of us take longer showers than that!
Many areas in the United States are experiencing a threat to their safe and steady water supply. This is partially because people are using drinking water to flush the toilet, water plants, and for landscape irrigation. If people used harvested rainwater for those things, it would really make a difference for the planet.
Rainwater is an economical water source that can be used outdoors with hardly any treatment. Capturing rainwater also helps prevent urban flooding and surface water pollution because it reduces runoff that would otherwise pour into storm water flows.
Even if you live in a dry, sunny location like southern California, reusing rainwater can make a considerable dent in your water usage. In the summertime, watering gardens, flowers and lawns can add up to as much as 40 percent of water use.
What Can You Use Rainwater for?
Unless you have a special filtration system in place, it’s best not to drink rain barrel water. Store-bought rain barrels are often marked with labels saying they are for “non-potable water” (not for drinking) uses only. To keep your harvested water clean, make sure your roofing materials are metal and/or stainless steel, and don’t use zinc strips on your roof.
You can use the water collected in your rain barrel to wash your car, water plants, or top a swimming pool during a drought. Rainwater is ideal for these purposes because it doesn’t contain any lime, chlorine, or calcium.
If you want to salvage water from your downspout, place your rain barrel close to a downspout from your rain gutter.
Downspouts are usually attached to the house with straps and will need to be taken apart. Remove the screws that hold the straps to the downspout and any screws that might have been put in to attach the spout to the gutter. The downspout can be removed and set aside after the brackets have been removed. Remember to use safety glasses if you are using power equipment when you remove the screws and detach the downspout!
Once the downspout is removed, you must redirect the flow of water into the top of the rain barrel. It is imperative that the concentrated water flow is directed into the barrel or away from your house. Too much water in one place near your house could cause foundation damage. It’s not a good idea to let the water simply fall from the gutter into the barrel.
You should put your rain barrel on a secure and stable surface, like a wide concrete block. The barrel will be heavy when it fills up with water (water weighs about eight pounds per gallon).
If you get around 10 inches of rainfall during the spring and summer, an average 1,360-square-foot roof would yield 8,160 gallons of rainwater. Not bad!
Planting trees is a fun and easy activity to do with your friends and family. When you plant trees on your property, you can add a lot of beauty and value to your landscape. While planting a tree can seem like a very simple task, there are many rules that you need to follow to ensure that your tree and landscape thrives.
Read this post to learn how to properly plant a tree so that it can grow and stay healthy for years to come.
Research and Placement
Always research the type of tree that you would like to plant before planting. Different species can grow to unwanted sizes, send out roots that damage concrete and landscaping, or drop leaves and needles that damage roofs and patios.
When choosing where to plant your new tree, there are several things to consider. First, make sure that your tree will not be placed too close to your home’s foundation or concrete structures. Generally, a space of 10 feet or more should be between any structure and your tree. Also, make sure to check with your State Utility Center to make sure that you won’t accidentally sever any dangerous electrical or water pipes on your property.
Consult your local nursery or arborist if you ever have questions about which type of tree to buy and where on your property to place it.
When To Plant
Different types of trees prefer to be planted throughout different seasons. Generally trees should be planted early or in the middle of spring or early to mid-fall. Avoid planting trees during the middle of summer because the heat and dryness can stress and kill a young tree.
Digging Your Hole
The depth and width of your hole is very important. If a tree is planted too deeply, the roots will have trouble absorbing oxygen and water through the top layers of soil. If a hole isn’t wide enough, the soil around the root ball will be too compacted to facilitate root growth.
Dig your hole at least 3-4 times as wide as the root ball of the tree. The depth of the hole should be slightly less than the height of the root ball. The ‘flare’ or collar of the tree where the base of the trunk begins to widen into the root structure should eventually sit just above the level of soil after the tree is fully planted.
Make sure not to compact the soil around the edges and bottom of your hole. Even using your shovel to loosen the surrounding dirt can assist the flow of water and root growth for your new tree.
Removing the Container
When you’re removing the tree from the container, be gentle but firm. Do not to pull the tree out by the trunk as this can hurt the entire root structure of the tree. Lay the tree on its side and tap and squeeze the container to loosen the soil. Gently slide the container off of the root ball of the tree. Cutting the container on both sides with a short blade (1-2 inches) can also help the removal process.
Separating the Roots
Depending upon how your tree was grown and how old it is, the roots may have formed to the shape of the burlap or plastic container. It is crucial that the roots of the young tree are not curling, twisted in circles, or bound around the tree. These types of roots will eventually expand and twist around themselves, essentially strangling or ‘girdling’ the roots of the tree and slowly killing it.
If the roots look ‘pot bound’ and twisted, use a short razor knife (1-2 inches) to make 4-6 cuts down the side and several cuts on the bottom of the root ball. This will cut and loosen twisted roots and force the tree to send out new roots in all directions helping it create an even and widespread root base.
Also, make sure to remove any stakes, ropes, and burlap from the tree before planting. These will inhibit root and tree growth.
Placing the Tree
Once the tree is prepared, place it in the center of your hole. Now is the time to align the branches and ‘pretty’ side of the tree to the main view point before you have fully planted it. Adjust the tree by the root ball, not by holding the trunk.
Make sure the top inch of the root ball is above the soil level and exposed. Place soil under the tree to slightly raise the level if needed. Once the root ball is in position use the soil you removed to fill in your hole. If your soil is mainly clay or particularly low-quality, you can use organic compost and other soil amenders to improve the quality. Avoid using heavy fertilizers and chemicals that can burn or kill a young tree.
After the hole is completely filled in, lightly tamp down the soil around the roots to stabilize the tree.
Creating a Berm and Mulching
Creating a water basin or berm around the base of your tree will fight soil erosion and hold water where the roots can absorb it. Make a 3 foot diameter circular berm about 3 inches tall around your tree. Make sure not to cover the trunk or flare of the tree.
Once you have created the berm, cover the entire planting area with 3-4 inches of mulch. Taking care to keep the mulch at least 2 inches from the trunk of the tree. Read our previous post for proper mulching techniques.
Watering
Finally you will want to water your newly planted tree. Give your tree about 5-10 gallons of water to begin with to help settle the soil and stimulate root growth. Water your tree daily for about two weeks and then every other day for about two months. Eventually you can water your tree once a week until it is completely established.
Now that you have successfully planted your tree, make sure to water, prune, and care for it properly throughout its entire life. Spending several hours a month caring for your tree will ensure that you have a healthy tree that will give add shade and beauty to your home.
If you ever have any questions or concerns about planting a tree, don’t hesitate to contact your local arborist or the professionals at Northwest Arbor-Culture Inc. We have over 30 years of experience caring for trees and landscapes and can help you with any tree care need.
Have you ever planted a tree? Tell us about your experience in the comments section.
Trees can add a lot of value and beauty to any property. They are fairly easy to plant and are relatively low maintenance. But, there are some important things that you can do for your tree to keep them happy and healthy.
One easy step you can take to keep your trees healthy and looking sharp is to mulch around the base of your trees.
When trees grow naturally in forests they drop leaves and needles which matt together and form a protective barrier over the soil, eventually decomposing and providing nutrients to the soil. Mulching is a quick and inexpensive way to simulate a tree’s natural environment and help protect and feed it. But if done incorrectly mulching can actually injure and even kill a young tree.
Read this post to learn why you should mulch your trees and how to properly apply mulch to keep your trees healthy.
Why Should You Mulch Your Tree
Trees have very complex root systems that provide nearly all of the water and nutrients for the tree. Yet while some roots travel deep into the ground, the vast majority of a tree’s roots are located within the top three feet of soil around the drip line of the tree.
Because these roots are so shallow, they are more susceptible to changes in the heat, moisture, and nutrients within the soil. That’s why mulching can be so important to protect and feed the trees roots around it.
Mulching helps:
– Retains moisture and reduces drying soil
– Suppresses weeds from growing around the tree
– Prevents damage from mechanical equipment like weed whackers and lawn mowers
– Regulates soil temperature by providing insulation above the soil
– Provides valuable nutrients directly onto the soil as the mulch decomposes
It is clear that mulching is very beneficial in keeping a tree and its’ roots happy and healthy.
What Types of Mulch to Use
There is no perfect mulch to use. Each climate and situation can benefit from different types of mulch. But there are some basics rules that can be helpful when choosing a mulch for your tree.
Try to stay away from inorganic materials like plastic and shredded rubber. Their inability to absorb moisture and propensity to trap heat can actually scorch the delicate roots of a tree.
Bark mulch and wood chips can provide a very beautiful looking, long lasting mulch that helps protect the soil. Especially if you’ve recently had a stump ground somewhere on your property, wood chips can be a readily available and inexpensive mulch.
But a major downside to these types of mulches are their lack of nutrients. Being high in carbon and low in nitrogen can make them break down very slowly and deplete some nutrients in the soil that would otherwise be going to the tree.
Straw and hay make decent mulch but tend to break down very rapidly and aren’t as aesthetically pleasing as other materials.
These mulches are usually utilized by vegetable gardeners where a shorter term mulch is required.
Organic compost is a decent mulch. It contains all of the essential nutrients, as well as, beneficial worms and microorganisms that can help the tree and soil stay healthy. If using homemade compost, make sure that it is broken down completely before applying to your trees. Also, compost tends not to stop the growth of unwanted weeds as well as other types of mulch.
Grass clippings are cheap and easy but tend to pack down very tightly and inhibit air flow to the soil. Though, some grass mixed with other mulch materials like leaves can still be a good addition.
Leaves can make some of the best mulch. They are readily available, free, and are the closest to mimicking the natural mulching a tree would create in the forest. Leaves can be chopped or ground down and watered to pack them into a neater looking mulch that won’t blow away.
Now that we know about the ups and downs of different mulch, let’s discuss how and when to properly apply your mulch.
How To Apply Tree Mulch
Mulch should be applied to the ground around the tree in a circular shape. This ring around the tree should be about as large as the circumference of the canopy or ‘drip line’ of the tree. This ensures that the majority of the water that is diverted by the leaves and drips onto the ground is absorbed by the mulch and soil. Also, protecting the main area of feeder roots that are located directly under the canopy of the tree.
When piling the mulch under the tree, make sure that the mulch layer is only two to four inches thick. Any thicker and you risk limiting the oxygen and nutrient flow to the roots of the tree.
Mulch should not be applied directly to the trunk of the tree, as well as, the ‘flare’ or sloping roots of the tree traveling from the trunk. Mulch directly on the trunk and bare roots can create decay and encourage the growth of pests and disease.
When To Mulch
The type of mulch you use and how quickly it tends to degrade can affect how often you will want to mulch your trees. But as a general rule, mulching annually in the spring is a good idea. Adding mulch before extreme temperatures and dryness occurs can help protect your tree and soil before any damage occurs.
Also, mulching after any tree injury like a broken branch or after trimming can be a good boost of nutrients and protection to help after the stressful incident.
Mulching young trees or saplings in the late fall can also protect the roots from cold and freezing during the winter.
Make Sure To Mulch
Now that you know how easy and beneficial mulching can be make sure to mulch your trees every year. Mulching will keep your trees healthy and your landscape looking sharp.
If you ever have any questions about what type of mulch to use or when to mulch your trees, feel free to contact the experts at Northwest Arbor Culture Inc.Our Certified Arborists and Master Gardeners have over 30 years of experience caring for trees and landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. We have the knowledge and expertise to help you with any tree care needs.
Have you mulched your plants and trees? We would love to hear about what materials and methods you use to mulch in the comments section below.
We’ve all wanted to channel our inner lumberjack and chop down a tree. The ponderosa that’s been blocking your view of the mountains is begging to be taken out.
How hard could it really be?
Just grab your chainsaw and a buddy. You’ll be rid of that tree in no time.
Well, we’re here to tell you that’s just the sort of thinking that can get you seriously injured or even killed. An average of 80 people die in the United States each year due to tree care accidents. Countless others are injured.
This post will highlight some of the most common mistakes people make when trimming and chopping down trees.
We hope after reading this you will see the overwhelming advantages to hiring a professional tree service like Northwest Arbor-Culture Inc. for all your tree care needs.
Power Line Problems:
Heavy storms and powerful winds can cause trees to fall or lean against nearby power lines.
Many homeowners make the mistake of attempting to trim or drop trees away from the line hoping that they can prevent a tree or dead branch from falling on their home or car.
Power lines are not something to mess with. According to Preservation Tree, an electrical arc from a power line contains 25,000 watts of power reaching 2000 degrees F.
That’s a lot of power!
You should never touch a power line or any tree touching a power line. Even getting close to downed lines can be dangerous.
Power can travel from the downed line and through the ground, electrifying the area around it. One person died when he touched chipper 20 feet away from the source of the electricity.
Always call a city electrical official or a professional arborist when you notice a downed power line or fallen tree. Never attempt to fix electrical problems on your own.
Risky Heights:
Many DIY tree trimmers run serious risks when they climb trees and ladders. Even falling from a small height can cause serious injury or death.
People can be hurt when a supporting branch breaks and causes them to fall the ground. Also, human error often causes safety equipment to fail.
One man, who had accidentally cut through his safety line while sawing a branch, fell 50 feet to his death after leaning back to take a rest.
If you think a ladder will solve your height problems, reconsider. Ladders can be very unstable. It is easy to slip and fall from a ladder if you are stretching and straining while working at a high height. Using a chainsaw or power tools from a ladder is enough to make even a professional cringe.
That’s why experts often use bucket lifts to allow them to access even the tallest of branches in a safe way.
Avoid risky heights and dangerous drops. Let a professional Arborist with the proper tools help you trim your tall branches.
Chainsaw Injuries:
Sure, it looks easy to fire up a chainsaw and hack away at a tree trunk. But, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.
Chainsaws are very powerful and dangerous tools. They can be very unpredictable and even the slightest contact with a moving chain can cause serious injury or death.
Inexperienced operators most commonly are injured because of incorrectly cutting in to a piece of wood, allowing the tip of the bar to be pinched causing ‘kickback’. In blink of an eye the saw kicks back and rapidly lunges back towards the operator. Kickback is the leading cause of chainsaw injury.
36,000 people are injured in chainsaw accidents every year. Don’t be one of them.
Contact a professional arborist and make sure you don’t become another safety statistic.
Falling Trees:
Finally, one of the most obvious dangers of cutting down a tree is the risk of the tree falling on you or someone else.
Trees contain a huge amount of water, foliage and wood weight that can crush homes and vehicles. A ¾ inch diameter branch falling from a tree can cause serious injury and death.
When felling a tree, the angle of your cut can usually determine the direction the
tree will fall. But, factors like wind, slope, wood-rot, and nearby trees can cause a
tree to fall in unwanted directions.
Also, a common phenomenon known as ‘barber chair’ happens when a tree splits and violently kicks back before it is completely cut.
Trees are large and powerful objects. If not cared for properly trees can become a liability instead of an asset to your property.
Our 30 years of professional knowledge and experience ensures that we get the job done right and within your budget.
The staff Northwest Arbor-Culture Inc. continuously exceed industry standards of excellence and upholds our philosophy of preservation, safety, and aesthetic enhancement.
Contact a Professional:
Many things can go wrong when trimming and cutting down trees. It takes a true expert to safely remove a tree.
Make sure that you asses the risks involved with tree trimming and removal before you consider beginning any tree care project. Hopefully you will see that it is always better to call in a professional service like Northwest Arbor-Culture Inc. to safely provide any tree care services that you need.
Have you ever attempted to trim trees on your own? Let us know what tree trimming challenges you’ve had in the ‘comments section’.
It’s time for tea, and we’re not talking about chamomile.
Compost tea is a healthy drink for your plants or lawn. It can be a great way to spruce up any parts of your yard that are looking a little sad. In this guide, we reveal some of our expert compost tea tips that will make your garden healthy and your neighbors jealous.
Arborists know that adding compost to soil can increase the minerals and nutrients available to your plants. This is like plant food – it helps your plants grow big and strong. Compost also contains bacteria and fungi that help protect plants from disease and infection.
But compost can be arduous to spread. Sometimes what seems like a large amount can be surprisingly little – not enough to give your plants the nutrients they need.
That’s where ‘compost tea’ comes into the mix.
Making compost tea is simple. The process is very similar to making actual tea. You can spread it over large areas, covering plants with microorganisms that fight the spread of plant diseases and improve the health of your plants.
What is ‘Compost Tea’?
“Compost tea is a liquid extract of compost that contains plant growth compounds and beneficial microorganisms.”
Agriculturists have used liquid extracts and fertilizers for hundreds of years. Solid compost is a great source of beneficial nutrients, but you can only mix it with the soil. This forces the plant to create its own ‘protective barrier’ of microorganisms on its foliage.
Compost is also difficult to spread over large areas. For the homeowner wanting to fertilize their lawn or trees, it isn’t always the best choice.
Compost tea is the solution to these problems. It allows agriculturists to take the best parts from compost and put them in liquid form. You can easily spray that liquid over an entire plant or lawn.
Generally speaking, there are two types of compost tea: aerated and non-aerated. While we want you to become a compost tea expert, we’re going to take baby steps.
Making aerated compost tea gets complicated (and expensive). For the sake of learning, this post will focus on the simplest method of making compost tea.
Making Farmer’s Tea (Non-aerated Compost Tea)
The process of making Farmer’s Tea resembles that of brewing actual tea. Like the name implies, you make non-aerated compost tea by ‘steeping’ or soaking compost in water.
While your compost is soaking, you’ll need to stir and agitate it by hand. This introduces air into the mixture, allowing colonies of good bacteria, fungi, and yeast to grow in the liquid.
Once the water is saturated with beneficial nutrients and fermented with microorganisms, you want to strain it into a spraying device and apply it to your plants.
That’s an overview of the whole process – start to finish. Now we’ll cover each step in more detail.
Materials Needed
You can pick up all these materials at your local nursery or garden shop.
Two 5 gallon buckets
Water source (not chlorinated) *
Ready-to-use compost (organic and not entirely manure-based) **
Stick or tool for stirring
Burlap sack or a large knit cloth bag
Handheld spray bottle or garden sprayer for application
* Do not use chlorinated water. It will kill the organisms in your tea and contaminate your plants.
** The most important ingredient in your compost tea is the compost. Quality compost contains thriving colonies of microorganisms and helpful plant nutrients. If you start with quality compost, you’ll make a quali-TEA. That is, a quality tea.
Avoid using animal manure compost. These composts don’t contain the same amount of microbial colonies as organic compost. It can also contain E-Coli and other harmful human pathogens.
Step 1
Make sure that your equipment is clean and free of contaminants like pesticides and chemicals. These can kill helpful microorganisms and contaminate your plants.
Step 2
Fill your bucket about half full of compost.
Step 3
Pour water on top of the compost until the bucket is nearly full to the top with water.
Step 4
Let your compost soak in the bucket for at least one day. Some people like to brew their tea for an entire month, but one to eight days is a sufficient amount of time.
You should agitate the mixture with your stirring tool at least twice a day. Stirring introduces oxygen into your liquid and helps bring nutrients into solution. The more often you stir your fermenting tea, the quicker and stronger the beneficial microorganism colonies should grow in your tea.
Note: If you are brewing your tea on a hot day, make sure that you are stirring more often (once an hour). You also want to keep your mixture out of direct sunlight and harmful UV rays.
Step 5
Once your tea has been brewed you should strain the particles out of the solution. For this part of the process, you’ll use your burlap sack or any type of large knit cheesecloth-like material.
Pour the mixture through the cloth into the second 5 gallon bucket. You can reuse the separated compost particles as a soil amender, or throw them into a compost pile.
Using Your Compost Tea
Now that you have successfully brewed and strained your batch of compost tea, you should be left with a particle free, amber colored liquid. If your liquid is very dark, it may be too concentrated and can be diluted by adding extra water until a lighter color is achieved.
Fill your clean handheld spray bottle or garden sprayer with compost tea and water. A general guide to tea dilution is as follows:
For house plants use a 1:1 (tea to water ratio)
For larger areas like lawns or trees use a 1:3 (tea to water ratio)
As you begin applying your protective brew teaming with microorganisms to your plants observe the health of the plant to guide how much tea you spray. Sick plants will generally need larger amounts of tea than healthy plants.
When Should You Spray? And How Much?
Whenever you see signs of disease or undernourishment these are good indicators that your plants may need a dose of compost tea.
Undernourished plants may have yellowing leaves, stunted growth and smaller than normal flowers or fruits. Signs of a fungal disease include wilting foliage, failure to flower or bear fruit, and discolored leaves. Pest problems and other diseases produce many of these symptoms as well.
To use your compost tea, you can spray it on plant foliage (leaves), spray or soak the soil around a plant, or even treat seedlings by dipping their roots into compost tea before planting them.
Medium houseplants require about 2 cups of tea each treatment. For lawns apply tea once or twice a month during growing season, just before or just after regular watering. One gallon of compost tea mixture covers about 1,000 square feet.
If you are seeing signs of disease or undernourishment spray at least once a month, or as often as every other week. If you have healthy plants, spraying once or twice a season can still be beneficial.
Note: Do not spray your plants in direct sunlight or excessive heat. UV rays and extreme temperatures can damage your compost tea.
You may not see immediate changes in your plant health, but be patient. It takes some time for the beneficial microorganisms to grow and proliferate around and on the plant.
Storing Compost Tea
You can only keep and use compost tea for several days after decanting from the original brew.
Compost tea does not keep well for long periods of time because the living microorganisms in the solution will quickly ‘eat’ all of the available food and eventually die. By storing compost tea properly, you can help it stay ‘good’ for several days after decanting.
Store compost tea away from direct sunlight and harmful UV rays. Also, make sure to keep your tea away from extreme temperatures (between 60-90 degrees F).
Do not store your brew in a closed container. Natural biological and chemical reactions can create pressure and cause a sealed container to burst.
Cautions With Compost Tea
Do not apply compost tea to any vegetable within 3 weeks of the planned harvest date. Compost tea can contain some human pathogens and should not be ingested or introduced into the body.
Also, not fully matured compost can contain E. coli. Make sure your compost is fully broken down to help ensure that no unwanted pathogens are introduced into your compost tea.
Creating quality, fully matured compost is a very complex subject that we will explore in a different post. Until then, here is a link to making quality compost.
Beautiful Blooms & Green Gardens
Now that you know how to brew amazing compost tea and properly spray your struggling plants, all you have left to do is sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Soon you will have jealous neighbors complimenting your gardening prowess and begging for your growing secrets.
Have you ever made compost tea before? We’d love to hear about your personal tea recipes and success stories in the comments section.
Planting trees is a fun and easy activity to do with your friends and family. When you plant trees on your property, you can add a lot of beauty and value to your landscape. While planting a tree can seem like a very simple task, there are many rules that you need to follow to ensure that your tree and landscape thrives.
When choosing where to plant your new tree, there are several things to consider. First, make sure that your tree will not be placed too close to your home’s foundation or concrete structures. Generally, a space of 10 feet or more should be between any structure and your tree. Also, make sure to check with your 
Removing the Container
Creating a water basin or berm around the base of your tree will fight soil erosion and hold water where the roots can absorb it. Make a 3 foot diameter circular berm about 3 inches tall around your tree. Make sure not to cover the trunk or flare of the tree.
One easy step you can take to keep your trees healthy and looking sharp is to mulch around the base of your trees.
tree would create in the forest. Leaves can be chopped or ground down and watered to pack them into a neater looking mulch that won’t blow away.
When piling the mulch under the tree, make sure that the mulch layer is only two to four inches thick. Any thicker and you risk limiting the oxygen and nutrient flow to the roots of the tree.
We’ve all wanted to channel our inner lumberjack and chop down a tree. The ponderosa that’s been blocking your view of the mountains is begging to be taken out.
Many DIY tree trimmers run serious risks when they climb trees and ladders. Even falling from a small height can cause serious injury or death.
chain can cause serious injury or death.
falling from a tree can cause serious injury and death.
little sad. In this guide, we reveal some of our expert compost tea tips that will make your garden healthy and your neighbors jealous.
Compost is also difficult to spread over large areas. For the homeowner wanting to fertilize their lawn or trees, it isn’t always the best choice.
Undernourished plants may have yellowing leaves, stunted growth and smaller than normal flowers or fruits. Signs of a fungal disease include wilting foliage, failure to flower or bear fruit, and discolored leaves. Pest problems and other diseases produce many of these symptoms as well.
Do not apply compost tea to any vegetable within 3 weeks of the planned harvest date. Compost tea can contain some human pathogens and should not be ingested or introduced into the body.
