HOW TO MAKE ORGANIC FERTILIZER

What are homemade liquid fertilizers? They are the organic farmers' best solution for topdressing. They are easily made at home with very simple ingredients and tools. In fact you can make them from any kind of green (organic) matter plus water with the help of a bucket, a panga and a stick.

Stinging Nettle

As I said, you can use any kind of fresh, green plant material like weeds or hedge cuttings e.g. to make your own fertilizer, but there are three special plants that I would like to mention because of their high nutritional value. The first one is stinging nettle (Urtica). Every farmer and gardener should grow a patch of it in a corner of their plot. Stinging nettle is usually regarded as a weed and much hated becuase it gives you a terrible itch, when you touch it. But for making liquid fertilizer it is my favourite!

Tithonia

The second plant is Tithonia, a plant that is grown in many parts of Kenya, often as hedges or wild along the road side. This one is my plant of choice when I am making Phosphorus-rich fertilizer.

Comfrey

The third plant that needs extra mentioning is Comfrey (Symphytum). I have often seen it on farms being grown as a fodder crop (especially for pigs and poultry) but also as a spinach. It is very healthy and rich in Vitamin B12, which works as a growth stimulant. I therefore use fertilizer made from it at transplanting.

How to make it....

1. Collect enough fresh, green plant material (weeds, stinging nettle, tithonia, comfrey, borage, etc.) to fill a bucket. You can choose any size bucket, depending on the amount of green materials you have.

2. Use your panga or secateurs to chop all materials up, roughly into the size of your hand. (For stinging nettle you better wear gloves!)

3. Fill the bucket with the chopped up material. 

Chopping up the material

Chopped Stinging Nettle in a bucket

4. Fill the bucket with water until all the plant material is completely covered.

Adding water

5. Cover the bucket losely so that mosquitoes can't breed in it.

6. Use a big stick to stir your "brew" daily to incorporate oxygen. The more oxygen you can incorporate, the better.

7. Leave the "brew" for about 2 weeks, stirring daily.

Stirring daily!

8. The "brew" will start to bubble and smell (some people would say stink...). This is good, it means that the fermentation process is well under way. After about 2 weeks the bubbling will stop. The plant material will have more or less disolved and only the harder parts will remain as kind of a sludge. Remove them with the stick. The fertilizer should now have a dark green, opaque colour.

No more bubbles

The finished product

9. Strain the liquid through a cloth (if you want to apply it with a sprayer) or a sieve (for application to the root area).

10. Store it in a closed container in a dark, cool place until you want to use it.

Sieving

How to use it...

1. Never use it undiluted. It is very strong and can chemically burn your crop. Always dilute 1 litre of liquid with 10 litres of water (1:10) for root application or 1 litre of liquid with 20 litres of water for foliar application.

2. Apply it with a watering can to the root zone of each plant or use a knapsack sprayer to apply it as a foliar feed. No protection gear is needed.

Fertilizerapplication

3. Weekly applications are recommended.
This article is an exclusive copyright of Anja Weber

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