Hi dirtguy,

I grow a lot of tomatoes, I am not a container grower, but I read most of the posts related to them. I was waiting for a container grower to answer your post, but I will take a stab at your question since the seem to be busy at the moment. (LOL!)

Mushroom compost averages 1.12 0.67 1.24 (nitrogen phosphorous potassium), and being organic is slow release. Tomatoes that are grown in containers generally need higher levels of nutrients than inground plants do since much of them will be washed out when the plants are watered. Most successful container growers that I know of water with a half strength balanced fertilizer every one to two weeks because of this.

That being said, using compost tea on your plants should not have any adverse effect on them, but you might want to go with the weekly waterinf if that is all the feeding you will do of your containers.

If you need more info, I think you'd be well advised to check out the Container Gardening Forum which I've linked to below.

Have a great day!

Betsy

Here is a link that might be useful: Container Gardening Forum

Agree with Betsy - it can't hurt but may not help much either and additional nutrient sources will be needed.

The quality of compost tea all depends on the quality (diversity of components) in the compost used. Mushroom compost is not normally considered a really great source.

And what many forget when using organic fertilizers and such in containers is that their effectiveness is totally dependent on an active soil micro-herd - bacteria to convert the organic nutrients to a usable form by the plants. Active soil micro herds of bacteria just don't exist in the soil-less mixes used in containers unless you put them there.

You can go strictly organic in containers but you have to give it a regular boost of soil bacteria as well as nutrients for it to work well.

Dave

Thanks Betsy and Dave for your input. I have no intention of trying organic in my earth buckets. It is easy to make the compost tea and thought the plants might get some quicker benefit from it. I don't know enough about what products are best to use but have gained trememdous knowledge in the short time I have been viewing this forum and asking question. Oh, this forum is habit forming too. lol Thanks again!