Fertilizers are used to optimize plant growth and health and increase soil fertility. However many commercially available fertilizers have adverse effects on the environment and are expensive to buy. For the home gardener they are unnecessary as nature provides us with nettles and water from which we can easily make our own excellent, organic, environmentally friendly fertilizer. This plant food can be used to fertilize any garden plants and its organic nature makes it especially ideal for vegetable gardening.
Nettle Liquid Manure Plant Food
Nettle love has not come easily to me ever since, as a child, my donkey threw me off into a pile of nettles when wearing shorts (me, not the donkey). However I have made my peace and now see them as a must have in any garden. They can be used to make an excellent liquid fertilizer which has helped the health and productivity of my vegetable garden enormously.
Nettle home brew, known in France as purin d'ortie is so good that the French government has banned its sale and also the publication and distribution of the recipe. However it is legal to make and use at home in France. One can only presume this childish move was due to pressure from the oil and fertilizer industries as this stuff is better than anything they are churning out for profit. Anyway, banning something just brings out my rebellious streak so as this is a Canadian website ( I am not that rebellious) here is the recipe. It might look complicated but actually just amounts to leaving a pile of nettles in a bucket of water for two weeks.
- Grab a large bag or sack and, wearing good gloves, pick the stems and leaves of the nettles, preferably before they have flowered.
- Scrunch them up a bit by stomping about on the bag and then empty them into a large bucket or rubbish bin somewhere away from where you eat your lunch (it will get smelly). Warmth will speed up the process but avoid leaving it in full sun as, if it gets too hot, fermenting bacteria will be killed off.
- Fill up with water, preferably rainwater as chlorine will inhibit the fermentation process.
- Ideally, keep the leaves under the surface with a piece of chicken wire cut to fit snugly inside the container.
- Leave for a couple of weeks until it is smellier than a chicken farm on a hot summer's day. Some people advise daily stirring but I have not found it essential. It will be ready when it stops bubbling. This can be anything from 10 days to a month depending on how warm the weather is.
- Strain it off keeping the liquid and putting the mush on the compost heap where it will aid the composting process.
- Dilute the resulting foul liquid approximately 1 in 10 with water. It should look tea colored. Water onto the soil around the base of plants.
Using a little once a week or fortnight is better than a lot more often. Mine is usually ready in two weeks so once used, I immediately refill for the next batch and continue this until winter.
Why it is so good
Nettles are masters of taking up nutrients from relatively poor soil. They are particularly rich in nitrogen but also take up iron, silica, calcium, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.
It can also be used as an insecticide
I have found it to be particularly good against aphids and, in my garden, it has helped reduce, but not eradicate, black fly.
To use as an insecticide, follow the recipe above but don't dilute it at the last stage: just spray it on neat. It will need to be well strained to prevent the spray gun from blocking.
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