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Homemade Liquid Compost

Lancashire LassLancashire Lass Posts: 367
in Tools and techniques
Is anyone else making there own liquid compost, and if so what are you using to try and satisfy the appropriate N-P-K balance?
I have started using a Hozelock liquid Composter which mixes the feeding components with water inside a sealed, filtered container. Left to soak for a couple of weeks, it produces a liquid that can be added to water on a 10-1 basis for watering outdoor plants. There is no smell and the Composter can be used to stir the mixture without opening the container.
The first liquid that i made used nettles and banana peel, chopped up. My thinking is that the nitrogen and pottasium elements would be satisfied by using these ingredients. I'm not sure how i can introduce the phosphorus element to be honest!
One thing i particularly like about the Hozelock Composter is that the dregs and the damp solid remains can be put into the compost bin so nothing is wasted.
I have produced 7 litres of liquid feed from the first mix and having bought the Composter it is all free and organic. 😁
Any discussion from fellow gardeners would be most welcome.🌸🌷



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Posts

  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,318
    I make my own @Lancashire Lass out of comfrey, nettles and any old weeds I dig up. I don't have the benefit of a purpose built composter just use buckets and a garden sieve.

    The comfrey gets used for tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and occasionally beans, mostly use the nettle to kickstart the garden compost or for plants in containers. Comfrey has the full N-P-K range, nettle is more N but lots of other good stuff. I use it sparingly and don't worry too much about the science to be honest.
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • Lancashire LassLancashire Lass Posts: 367
    I appreciate is not an exact science, far from it in fact but it's interesting that coffee grindings may be suitable. That is something i can use from my daily cuppa.
    I suppose it's a suck it and see situation. I plant new plants with a sprinkle of fish, blood and bones and the liquid compost is a feed throughout the season.
    And yes, Pansyface, i AM having fun! 😄
  • UpNorthUpNorth Posts: 376
    Take care with spent mushroom compost, it is quite alkaline I seem to recall, so not suitable for rhododendron or other acid loving plants.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    I've been making and using comfrey 'tea' for decades and use it on anything which needs feeding.  Wonderful stuff!  Ericaceous plants also get a specialised feed in addition though.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • SmudgeriiSmudgerii Posts: 185
    @Lancashire Lass Do you have a link to the composter?
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    My comfrey patch for future comfrey tea is a weed-infested patch of rock-hard clay that needs serious work and soil improvement before I can plant the comfrey, so my plants and veg won’t be drinking it anytime soon! 

    Any tips @BobTheGardener re growing it, is it very hungry and thirsty or happy to do its own thing? Assume you use Bocking 14?
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • Lancashire LassLancashire Lass Posts: 367
    Smudgerii said:
    @Lancashire Lass Do you have a link to the composter?

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-Biomix-Natural-Gardening-Grey/dp/B07KQRKMF4/ref=asc_df_B07KQRKMF4/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=269038055427&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9211160580002933489&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006509&hvtargid=pla-736233855964&psc=1&th=1&psc=1 Hope that gets you there. 😁
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    Mine does seed around a bit @Nollie so not Bocking 14 but once established it won't give a hoot about conditions as the roots go down several feet.  Just make sure you plant it where you won't ever want to remove it!  I have 3 clumps and harvest them in such a way that there is usually one of the clumps in flower all summer, which the bees absolutely adore.  I've had an occasional nest of small communal bumble bee nests appear in my more 'wild' bits over the years, found by following the bees from the comfrey.  They didn't appear to be interested in any other flowers!   
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Hi Bob, thanks thats very helpful, thanks. The intended spot is in front of a raised raspberry bed (raised to fill with ericaceous compost as I have alkaline soil) and I would need Bocking 14 as I don’t want it self-seeding in the raspberries. Need to be able to get a spade in the ground to plant it first though! 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    I now do comfrey and nettle separately.....nettles go in a bucket of water for about 10 days, and comfrey gets wrapped in a bit of old netting, on top of a few bricks in an old bin.  A few weeks later I drain off the black stinking liquid, and pop it in bottles to dilute as needed.   Both bin and bucket live as far away from the house as possible as they stink!

    And my comfrey gets no special treatment whatsoever, and mainly inhabits the bits of the garden where nothing else grows.  I don’t have bocking 14 but a wildish type, and a very pretty one that a friend gave me. So I guess they’re not as nutritious, but still seems to perk up plants I feed it to.
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