Irrigating with compost tea

[DirtDiggler]

I have a 7000 square foot garden and and I have installed 4 impact sprinkler heads to irrigate it with well water. I have a 250 gallon container and a pump which will allow me to make and dispense compost tea through the irrigation system. Has anyone tried this? Can anyone foresee a problem doing it this way?

[Bluestem]

Its been done successfully in large green house operations. Make sure your tea does not have large chunks in it. which could clog the sprinkler heads. Also remember to flush the lines when you are through.

[DirtDiggler]

In case anyone is interested (thanks bluestem)) I have been irrigating with the compost tea. My pump turned out to be no good so I went a little lower tech; I put 10 gallons of compost tea into a plastic barrell and then fill it with water. I installed two spigots into the barrel taps, ran a washing machine hose from the source to one spigot and then from the other spigot to the irrigation system. After about 30 minutes the water in the barrel is almost clear and I turn the water off. Does not meter the water/tea ratio to an exact amount but judging by the intense sweet smell afterward, I think it is doing a very good job of distributing the tea over a large area evenly and at a sufficient strength. I generally run the sprinklers a few minutes before to wet everything down and generally do this once (sometimes twice) a month right before dark-hoping the solution will stay active overnight. This is my first year of going all organic so I have no real reference as to how my garden would perform without the tea but it seems to be working about like Miracle Grow-very good yields with excellent quality. I was a little concerned about burning plants if some of the mixture was too strong but have not seen any burning and intend to try higher concentrations toward the end of summer. In addition, have had virtually no pests and all the plants are in much better shape than they usually are this time of summer. Warning to anyone trying this- be sure to limit the water pressure into the barrel- I am running 45-55 lbs of pressure and it makes the barrel swell up quit a bit-don't think the average barrel was really intended to be used this way but is sure is convenient and cheap. Now that I know it is worthwhile, I intend to get a pump and do it the way I intended next year.