Spring is finally here in SW Colorado. It's been kind of a cool start to spring, but it finally has started to warm up. Time to get those warm weather plants in the garden.
A few weeks ago I was at the local garden supply store I was talking to some people about the challenges of gardening here. I brought up Garret Juice and they had never heard of it. A few days later, I was at the feed store looking at some cherry trees, I brought up Garret Juice and they didn't know what it was either.
So, I thought maybe it would help some of you if I would write a little piece about it here.
Garret Juice was developed by Howard Garret, also known as"The Dirt Doctor". He has an organic gardening show on WBAP in Dallas, which I think is syndicated now. So maybe you've heard of him. I hope so, it's a very helpful show.
Let's get the recipe out of the way.
Garret juice :
-1 cup concentrated compost tea or liquid humate (store bought) or DIY compost tea. (There are a couple different ways to make compost tea. I'll cover the way I do it a little later.)
-1 oz. molasses
-1 oz Apple cider vinegar
-1 oz liquid seaweed
-(optional) 1-2 oz liquid fish (hydrolyzed fish)
If your like me, I hate not understanding why I'm putting things on my plants. Let's go over why we would put this concoction on our plants.
-Compost tea is kind of an easy one, it's a nutrient rich fertilizer.
-Molasses is a carbohydrate, for the beneficial organisms.
-Apple cider vinegar is a low acidity fertilizer. It also adjusts the PH of the Garret Juice for maximum absorption. Do not use white vinegar, it is too acidic, it is a herbicide!
-Liquid seaweed has plant growth regulators and hormones for faster and healthier growth.
-Liquid fish or hydrolyzed fish is another fertilizer.
Garret Juice should be used once a month as a soil drench and a foliar feed.
Now onto making your own compost tea, which is much more economical than buying store bought compost tea concentrate.
To brew compost tea fill a 5 gallon bucket about 1/4 way up with finished compost or worm castings.
Add water to 5 or 6 inches from the top. I use rain water that I collect. I worry about chlorine from tap water, but have been told that if you let tap water set out for a couple days the chlorine dissipates.
Let the mixture steep for a couple days, give or take.
It's probably good to go at this point, but I think aerating it helps with the microbial life. So I aerate it. You can use a aeration stone (like for a fish tank), or make your own aeration system from PVC like I did. You can make one easily using some short sections of PVC, a bunch of 45 degree connectors, a 90 degree connector running a pipe up to a pneumatic nipple for an air hose. You can really make it however you want as long as it send air into the compost tea.
A note for people making there own PVC aeration loop, if your using a small capacity compressor, make sure it doesn't over heat. Do a tank of air every hour or so.
Well that's about it. Hope you have great results in all you gardens.
Thanks,
