Waking up plants and compost tea

I figure it is time for my overwintered peppers to get back into the swing of things. I let the 5 gallon containers soak in water as well as top water them and have set them where they will get some ambient light. They will go outside, probably Thursday. Should I be concerned about hardening them off? They have no leaves or shoots at this time, only the nubs.

I also bottled two liters of compost tea. It's the runoff from kitchen scraps and the plants I have chucked over the last six weeks, along with potting soil I have swept up from the floor, and sludge left from watering plants.

Can I cap this stuff or do I need to leave the lid loose so any gas can escape?

This stuff has to be nearly lethal if not diluted. It is so rich in nutrients - I can't wait to use it in my garden this summer.

Mike

Mike leachate is what you have and hard core composters swear its not as good as compost tea. I havent tried using either on my plants yet so I cant say for sure how good/effective it is. I would think its good though.

I presume the reason it is not as good as is because it has not been aerated?

Mike

yes something to do with aeration is supposed to increase microbial life. One thing for sure is that any compost or liquid from compost would be expected to have nutes in it. I have a little worm farm and have been saving the worm compost for a year, Just a little heads up composting is almost as addicting as peppers.

Lucky for me, I have an unused air pump and airstone laying around. The brew is getting aerated quite nicely now.

Yeah, I know about composting being addictive - I pick up bags of leaves, grass clippings, bush trimmings if I see them laying around. The family know that if is is food but not meat, it goes into my bowl. I'm letting my wheat grow as tall as it can before I absolutely have to cut it so I can till the garden - just so I will have more material.

Ideally, I would love to have a permaculture type of garden where all I need to add that I don't create myself is plants.

Mike