I don’t think there’s enough milk and sugar to make this stuff drinkable!!!
A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across a YouTube video from David The Good called Totally Insane Compost Tea Recipe that got me to thinking. I had read about this idea a few years ago in Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture, and kind of filed it away as something to try later. Well, it’s later…..
We’ve had a big morning glory problem in our gardens this year, with all of the late rain and hot/humid conditions, and I needed a way to dispose of it. I had been yanking it up, and hanging the carcasses on the fences to dry out, or chucking it into the driveway where it hopefully will not re-root. Morning glory is one of those weeds I consider noxious, even if the USDA doesn’t agree with me. Once it gets started, it will take over quickly, and strangle plants and bushes. If you pull it out, and don’t get every little teeny-tiny bit of the root, it comes back with a vengeance; kind of like horseradish. And if you let it go to seed; well you just don’t want to do that. It’s not something you can really “chop-and-drop” either, I’ve had plants re-root themselves and grow back after pulling it up.
Now unlike horseradish, I don’t know of too many redeeming qualities for morning glory. I don’t think it’s really edible, the flowers are nice- but very short-lived, it does provide a living cover- but it tends to kill whatever it covers, the vines really aren’t good for doing anything with- unlike wild grapevines. What on earth was it created for??? Well thank you David The Good for showing me a way to use morning glory, and reminding me about the benefits of compost tea. Turns out The Creator actually had a purpose in mind for this noxious weed we call morning glory.
An unused, shady corner of our big garden had become an absolute massive jungle of morning glory. Impossible to even walk thru. I scared up a barrel, and started working on cleaning up this corner.
Why the barrel? Well, it’s one of the important parts of the compost tea; the other 2 parts – water, and weeds. I spent several mornings pulling morning glory vines, and stuffing them down into the barrel. I put a lid on the barrel to keep the mosquitoes out. After filling the barrel, and packing it down, I had nearly 100 pounds of morning glory vines in a 40 gallon barrel! I said we had a morning glory problem. I filled the barrel up to overflowing with water, and let it work for a few days. Oh, and if you watch the video all the way to the end, there’s that secret ingredient that I added as well.
After about a week in the heat, I ended up with the WORST smelling liquid I’ve ever run across. I was a little afraid to dip it out, but I dunked a half-bucket out, watered it down a bit, and poured it on some of the fall cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprout seedlings. The smell was so strong, I half expected the plants to either wilt over, or grow 2 feet in an instant; kinda like in a cartoon. That didn’t happen, but within a week’s time, those puny little seedlings definitely put on some growth. I’ve since dosed the okra plants, and seen some noticeable results. I missed a couple plants, and they aren’t putting out the okra pods yet, like their neighbors are starting to.
Another benefit of the Insane Compost Tea – since the weeds are rotting away in the water, I feel fairly safe in using the rotted remains of the vines as a mulch (mulchilizer). I would never consider doing this with even dried up morning glory vines. I would be afraid of one of them taking root again. But the remains of these vines could not possibly be viable – I hope. I just planted a fall crop of peas and snow peas today, maybe I’ll side dress the seedlings with some morning-glory-vine-mulchilizer.
Anyway – hopefully, this will inspire some folks to try the Insane Compost Tea, and turn an otherwise useless, noxious weed into valuable fertility for the garden, and delicious, nutritious home-grown produce.
Until next time…..
