liquid plant feeds
This talk of feeding clematis with granulated chicken manure to provide nitrogen reminded me...
There, in the corner of the greenhouse and saved from last year are my own-produced liquid plant feeds.
Now, years ago, my grandfather would mix manure with rainwater to provide a feed for his greenhouse plants. Liquid feed is ideal for getting nutrients into potted or contained plants in a way that can be accessed immediately.
The feed should be heavily diluted so that the liquid meets the roots as it would in the soil. Too strong and you may damage your plants.
I use two simple 'recipes' to create our own plant feeds.
The contents of the small bottle on the left of the photo are made by immersing perennial weeds, roots shoots and all in water. The nasties break down to provide an excellent nitrogen feed for plants. It is very strong - and smelly- and so requires dilution.
The other, larger bottles contain high potash feed made from comfrey leaves. I steep the leaves in water and then drain the liquid off. Once again, pongy and strong. It needs dilution but is ideal for flowering plants and tomatoes.
Organic, effective and free!
8 comments:
You can also use horsetail (Equisetum arvense) this way to make a liquid that can be used to dispel the black bean aphid.
In Dutch, we call those liquids 'gier' (pronounced 'geer'). Does they have a specific name in English?
Anne
I am very interested to hear about the use of horsetail. Is that used as a liquid feed or is it sprayed onto the leaves?
Liquid feeds are also sometimes termed 'teas', but only rarely.
Rob
The horsetail tea (yes, indeed, now I remember to have heard that already) is sprayed on the leaves... (and when I tried it last year, it worked as a charm!)
Aphids are a real pest. I will try and make a horsetail tea this year. Thanks for the tip Anne.
Rob
That's a great tip from Anne! I'll have to try horsetail tea, too.
But, how do you make your solutions, exactly? In a large tub of some sort? They sound excellent.
We talk about compost tea in this country, but it's a tame concoction steeping compost in water for a relatively short time. I saw a great demo at Yalding Organic Garden about using comfrey and nettles as a green manure, which got me curious.
Cheers,
Lisa
Lisa
i don't think there's sufficient precision in what i do.
I place comfrey leaves in a container (usually without water) and then after several weeks there has collected a pungent liquid I drain off. I then add a slurp to the watering can. The plant feeds is the palest of brown.
Lawrence Hills, the founder of the British organic gardening movement doesn't bring much more precision when describing the process in his books.
Is this okay?? I feel that I should have greater clarity!!
Rob
Hi, Rob-
I'm not a very precise gardener, so this sounds quite fine to me. I wouldn't have thought that comfrey leaves would decompose quite like that, but I'll have to try it! (We have a patch, or did, near our teaching greenhouse).
It's interesting that comfrey leaves are rich in potassium and nettles in nitrogren. I was putting compost on some of my beds today, and wondering exactly about its nutrient composition.
Thanks,
Lisa
Lisa
I know that it sounds improbable - but this is the way it works.
The leaves slowly release an ooze rather than simply lying there and drying out.
You will probably need to use a sealed or lidded container.
I will be interested to see how you go on.
Cheers
Rob
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