Any plant grower can prepare a liquid nettle fertilizer that is useful for seedlings and adult seedlings in all respects. Popularly, this composition is called “fermentation” or a fermented infusion of herbs.
According to reviews from fans of organic farming, this free fertilizer, rich in nitrogen compounds, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and other macro- and microelements, as well as valuable humic acids, will provide your seedlings with complete nutrition and eliminate the need to use synthetic mineral compounds.
It is especially important to apply nutrient solutions rich in nitrogen in the form of root dressings in the first half of the growing season of vegetables and flowers. The fermented infusion of nettles not only enriches the substrate in planting containers and the soil in the beds with nutritional components.
Due to the presence of beneficial bacteria in it, the use of fertilizer has a beneficial effect on the development of beneficial soil microflora. And these bacteria get into the solution along with the soil on the roots of the bushes.That is why experienced gardeners never shake off the soil from the root shoots of plants, adding the whole raw material to the infusion containers.
Nettle fertilizer recipe: step-by-step instructions
1. Take a large plastic bottle (volume 6 liters or more), fill it with nettles collected from the garden or the nearest vacant lot. It is most convenient to perform the procedure with disposable gloves to avoid burning and burns on the skin. Push the whole bushes into the wide neck, trying to get all the soil from the roots into the bottle.
2. Having filled the container almost to the top and lightly compacted the greens, fill the raw material with clean warm water (temperature about 40°C). There should be a space of about 0.5 liters left to the edge of the neck. This place will fill with foam during the fermentation process.
3. Screw the cap loosely and place the bottle in the warmest place, for example, in a sunny corner of the garden or greenhouse. If you prepare fertilizer on the balcony, then try to ensure that the sun hits the container.
4. Once a day, unscrew the lid, releasing the accumulated gas, and stir the greens with a long wooden stick. The readiness of the fertilizer is determined by the absence of foam on the surface of the cloudy, dirty green liquid, which becomes thick and foul-smelling.
Typically, it takes 10 to 15 days to ferment young nettle shoots along with roots, depending on the ambient temperature. The better the solution is heated, the faster the vegetative mass of the future fertilizer decomposes.
Features of using nettle infusion
The finished concentrate is thoroughly mixed and diluted with clean, settled water 1:4. The working solution is watered over all plants on damp soil. Never apply liquid fertilizer before watering to avoid burning the roots.
Both seedlings and adult bushes respond equally well to watering with a solution of green fertilizer. No less useful is the application of fermented nettle infusion under fruit bushes, trees, root crops, garden strawberries and strawberries.
Many greenhouse owners prepare nettle fertilizer directly in them. Not completely decomposed nettle thickets are either buried in the beds, or laid out under the plants in the form of mulch, or sent to compost. If you are going to immediately prepare the next portion of fertilizer, then it is recommended to leave the sediment from the half-rotten greens directly in the container, like a starter. In its presence, the processes of decomposition of greenery will take place much faster.
You can ferment the biomass of nettles and other weeds, as well as meadow or lawn grass in any containers at your disposal: barrels, buckets, brews, pans, etc. However, when the grass stands are infused in plastic bottles that are closed, albeit loosely, with lids, the appearance of an unpleasant odor in the areas where the fertilizer is prepared is minimal.
Use biological farming recipes to improve the conditions for the growth and development of plants in the garden, greenhouses and vegetable gardens for good!
