Home Made Fertilisers
ON THIS PAGE:
COMFREY TEA / LIQUID SEAWEED:
Please remember when collecting seaweed from the beach to consider the environment and keep sustainability in mind. Seaweed is part of the shoreline ecosystem and it is important to not take too much from any one stretch of beach. My rule of thumb is to take no more than 10% of the seaweed from a stretch of beach. So if theres 10 bunches of kelp, I'll take one. If theres only a few bunches of kelp, I won't take any, better to wait till another day or find a better stocked part of beach.
To make comfrey tea / liquid seaweed, simply get a bucket or barrel, fill it up with loosely packed comfrey leaves / plants, or seaweed, and fill it up most of the way with water. Leave it to sit somewhere warm (outside) for a couple of weeks, or however long it takes for the comfrey / seaweed to liquify. Be warned, this process can generate some 'interesting' smells because of the high nutrient levels in the comfrey, so a cover for your container or a spot far from the house might be useful. Once the stuff has liquified, stir the whole lot up and dilute it with 4 parts water to 1 part fertiliser liquid before application to the garden. It's great for heavy feeders such as tomatoes, rhubarb, capsicums, brassicas, potatoes, etc.
If you are using a watering can to apply the liquid, it is a good idea to stir the slurry in the barrel and then leave it for a while for the suspended particles to settle. Then fill the watering can by dipping it in to the top of the barrel. This helps prevent the holes in the head of the watering can from getting blocked up. Alternatively, you can pull the head off of the watering can, the spout itself is much less likely to get blocked.
When you've used up most of the liquid, you'll probably find that there is some sludgy stuff left in the bottom of the barrel. This can be tipped on to your compost heap or dug in to a garden bed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
URINE:
Fresh human urine can make a great liquid fertiliser for your garden. I've done comparison crops between broccoli patches. Plants fed on urine (undiluted, applied directly to leaves and soil, with application ceasing 2 weeks before harvest) were more robust, had more leaves, and, most importantly, the broccolis were at least 1/3 larger than non-urine plants. Since then I've used it regularly and I am fairly convinced that it has contributed to good yeilds of veggies in many cases.
It will not surprise many to know that urine has actually been used as a crop fertiliser for thousands of years, particularly in asia, but also widespread around the world. It is only our modern paradigm of 'flush it and forget it' type sewage disposal in a hygeine obsessed culture that we have stopped using it as a fertiliser and even view its use as uncomfortable or disgusting. It turns out that urine from a healthy individual is actually nearly completely sterile. See the further down in this post for a breakdown of what urine consists of.
What are the advantages of using urine as an organic liquid fertilizer?
- If you’re not flushing this valuable liquid down the loo, you are reducing your water consumption – good for the environment and your pocket
- You’ll be reducing the amount of sewerage runoff
- Urine as a liquid fertilizer is available in an ideal chemical form for plants to use
- Gardening costs are less as your liquid fertilizer is free
- It is readily available all year round and there are no transportation costs
Just so that you know, fresh human urine is sterile (unless there is a urinary tract infection – this urine should not be used) and so free from bacteria.
I usually apply undiluted urine to crops, sometimes followed by watering but not always. I've never had problems with plants getting burnt or over-fertilised. Some people recommend that you dilute urine to 10-15 parts water to 1 part urine for application on plants in the growth stage. Dilute to 30-50 parts water to 1 part urine for use on pot plants as they are much more sensitive to fertilizers of any kind.
Trees, shrubs and lawn should cope well without dilution. Withhold the use of urine liquid fertilizer on all food plants at least two weeks before harvesting. Apply under fruiting plants, not directly on foliage.
Don’t use urine older than 24 hours on your plants as the urea turns into ammonia and will burn your plants. If it’s not fresh, add it to your compost heap. Adding undiluted human urine to your compost heap will help heat it up quickly as it is an excellent activator and will add to the final nutrient value.
As far as antibiotics, vitamin supplements and other medications go, yes they will end up in your urine, however they will not only be coming out in very minute quantities, but they will then be subjected to the metabolising effect of the soil and its microbes and plant processes. For all intensive purposes urine can be considered organic.
So put this excellent source of free liquid fertilizer to good use in your garden, rather than add to the burden that we as humans cause to our environment.
So...whats in urine?
Urine is approx. 95% water.
The other components of normal urine are the solutes that are dissolved in the water component of the urine. These solutes can be divided into two categories according to their chemical structure (e.g. size and electrical charge).
Organic molecules are electrically neutral and can be relatively large (compared with the 'simpler' ions - below).
These include:
- Urea - Urea is a form of nitrogen. It is an organic (i.e. carbon-based) compound whose chemical formula is: CON2H4 or (NH2)2CO. It is also known as carbamide. Urea is derived from ammonia and produced by the deamination of amino acids. The amount of urea in urine is related to quantity of dietary protein.
- Creatinine - Creatinine is a normal (healthy) constituent of blood. It is produced mainly as a result of the breakdown of creatine phosphate in muscle tissue. It is usually produced by the body at a fairly constant rate (which depends on the muscle mass of the body).
- Uric acid - Uric acid is an organic (i.e. carbon-based) compound whose chemical formula is: C5H4N4O3.
Due to its insolubility, uric acid has a tendency to crystallize, and is a common part of kidney stones. - Other substances/molecules - Example of other substances that may be found in small amounts in normal urine include carbohydrates, enzymes, fatty acids, hormones, pigments, and mucins (a group of large, heavily glycosylated proteins found in the body).
These include:
|
Individual elements: |
|
|
Small groups formed from a few different elements: |
|
The pH of normal urine is generally in the range 4.6 - 8, a typical average being around 6.0. Much of the variation is due to diet. For example, high protein diets result in more acidic urine, but vegetarian diets generally result in more alkaline urine (both within the typical range 4.6 - 8).
Note: This info is about the normal characteristics and constituents of urine. Abnormal components of urine are another topic.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORM FARM JUICE
Worm farm juice is simply the juice collected from a worm farm, diluted down and applied to the garden as a liquid fertiliser. Some worm farms collect the liquid from a tap at the bottom of the container, that drains into a bucket or similar container. Other worm farms have two or more 'tiers' to them, with the bottom one collecting the juice, and the top one(s) housing the worms and food scraps.
Dilute worm farm juice down to 1 part juice to 5 parts water before use. For more sensitive plants or more frequent application, dilute 1:10 or less.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MULCHES
- Pea Straw
- Comfrey Leaves
- Finely shredded seaweed
- Compost
- Rotted manure
- Lawn clippings
