I've been using worm tea all year after I read about how beneficial it has been to plants last year. I setup a large worm farm to avoid having to buy the casting and have FRESH casting to brew my tea. I follow the same steps, but the key with molasses is to use sulfer free molasses, and I use warm chlorine free water because the microbes grow faster in warm water. Also I brew mine with an additional tablespoon of alaska fish fertilizer and keep a 100 watt fish tank heater in my 5 gallon bucket to keep the water at 81 degrees. At first the brew will smell horrible, but after 6-8 hours with a large 180 gallon air pump and 2 air stones I can only smell the fish and molasses in the water slightly. If you continue to brew from 12-16 hours the top layer will create a thin slurry and you won't be able to smell any of the molasses or fish emulsion as the bacteria will have consumed both of them. That's when you know it's ready and the microbes are at their peak. If you allow your water to go cold and use a small air pump and stone it can take up to 24 hours for the bacteria to peek and use up all the food in the water. I usually start my brew mid day and it's ready by dawn the next day. I first strain and foilar feed the plants. Since foilar feeding allows the plants to intake the microbes directly it's about 70% more efficient over feeding the soil directly. I do however pour the tea and used compost directly into the plants soil afterward giving foilar feeding each plant giving them a double feeding. I do this about twice a month until my plants start to flower then I cut back to once a month.
