Manure tea the culprit?

[qmj]

I have recently made manure tea with a 5-gallon bucket half filled with cow manure and filled on up with water. I let it set about 5 or 6 days and poured some of it on newly planted blue salvia (Victoria), hibiscus, and a lantana. I didn't dilute it since we had had over two inches of rain and the ground was still wet----(black clay). I think I murdered my plants ! They looked like they had had hot water poured over them the next day. However, the hot wind had blown out of the south directly on them at a pretty high rate all day and this was after several days of cool, rainy weather. Now, three days later, the hibiscus looks okay, but the others still look wilted and on the way to dead.

My question: if they do die, can I replant the same type plants in the same spots? I have used this tea for years with no problems, but I think I goofed this time.

A lot older, but not much wiser,
QMJ

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

I would feel a lot better about using that tea if you changed the ingredients and the method. If you used compost instead of manure and you brewed it for 24 hours instead so many days, I think you'll have better results. When you use manure you are inviting the E. coli bugs into your garden. When you let it brew for so long, you are going to tend to kill all the beneficials in the tea and spray only pathogens. The effect of the pathogens might be to kill your weaker plants, as you seem to have done.

[qmj]

Thanks so much for your advice. Do you think I can replant in the same area?
QMJ

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

You probably can. Can you put a 1/3 inch of excellent, finished compost back on the soil? That should clean up any problems you might have.

[qmj]

Thank you. I did replant there, and I think it will be all right. Since I first wrote, I have decided part of the problem was underwatering. It dried out faster than I thought. As they say: too soon old, too late smart!

QMJ