MADISON (WKOW) -- On Friday's Gardening Moment on Wake Up Wisconsin, Melinda Myers demonstrated how to make homemade liquid fertilizer for your houseplants, containers and landscape plantings.
All you need is some compost, cheesecloth or other permeable material, a bucket and water.
Myers uses compost harvested from her worm bin. Place a scoopful, about 8 ounces, of compost in the cheesecloth. Tie up the sides to hold the compost inside.
Place the bagged material in a five gallon bucket of warm water and let it soak for at least an hour, all day or even a week. Stirring occasionally helps prevent stagnation. The compost tea is ready when the water turns the color of weak tea.
Apply the compost tea to the ground in the garden or containers using a watering can, or do a little foliar feeding.
Strain the liquid through cheesecloth, fill a clean sprayer with the tea and apply to the leaves and stems of the plants. And be sure the sprayer has not been used to apply pesticides, including weed killers.
