This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
liquid plant food
pash2
Posts: 95
Learn how to turn clumps of stinging nettles to your advantage, by turning them into nitrogen-rich, liquid plant food
Does this mean i dont have to buy fertilser or anything else
I already use lots of manure on my plants and the soil
Thanks
0
Posts
I think it's horses for courses, Pash. I make nettle manure and use it where I think plants look weak and on the veggie plot for things like toms, peppers, haricot vert, borlotti beans and squash. I don't put it on root veg as I know they don't like freshly manured ground so just assume they prefer to be underfed, rather than overfed. But I could be wrong.
I buy specialist feed for the pelargoniums in my window boxes and pots.
For anyone interested to make their nettle feed, just pick a whole big bunch of nettles, chop them up a bit and put them in a large bucket of water for about 2 weeks or until it's all smelly and dark. Then you can either use it straight from the bucket or decante it into plastic bottles. I have some old 5 litre plastic wine barrels (sorry to say) which I keep by the water butt and fill a normal size watering can with about a 1 part nettle to 10 part water mix. I am careful not to let the mixture touch the leaves of the plants. My old neighbour told me that. There was a nettle thread recently here.
Be warned - it is a smelly mixture but I'm sure it keeps a lot of pests at bay.
I do a rhubarb leaf mix the same and use it to spray on plants with black/green fly. Again a smelly business.
Thanks for that
I have clumps of stinging nettles behind my greenhouse, which I regularly cut down but do not remove. I put them into the compost bins, as they are great organic compost accelerators.
Had to get mine from the park where i walk the dog didnt have get some funny looks