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How to Make Your Own Fertiliser with Natives R Us Plant Nursery, Servicing Gympie & Sunshine Coast
How to Make Your Own Fertiliser ... a healthy, organic & economic fertiliser right in your own backyard.
What is better than liquid fertiliser? Free liquid fertiliser!
Making use of those pesky weeds.
This is a great project to get the kids in on and will not only give them an opportunity to expand their skills in the garden but also teaches the concept of resourcefulness- which, in our humble opinion, can be one of the greatest skills we can teach them.
To get started you will need a few bits and pieces to prepare yourself
- Bucket (no holes or leaks)
- Weeds (we use a variety of weeds so we can get a nice diversity of different nutrient and mineral content)
- Water (tank or rainwater is best- chlorinated water will potentially kill the natural biota)
- A few sticks taller than the bucket (optional)
- Some mosquito net or other material that will keep mozzies and other small critters from entering the bucket (we used matted coconut core)
- 3- 6 pegs or Occy strap
- Sieve or cheesecloth
- Clean, empty bottles with lids
- Labels & pens
- Funnel
Method: The first step of this process is... drum roll please... Weeding the garden!
Regarding ratios, we recommend using 1kg of weeds to 4 litres of water, approximately.
Once you have filled the bucket with the weeds of your choice then begin to add the water to the bucket- important to mention here is that it doesn’t matter if there is soil still on the roots as this will help build the healthy biota of the mix and offer a different variety of minerals to what’s found in just the leaves.
As you put the weeds in the bucket you may notice a few bugs that come along with the plant material- if your worried about the welfare of the bugs then we recommend placing a few sticks in the bucket and leaving for an hour or so, giving the bugs a chance to get themselves out of the bucket.
This is also a priceless tip if you have rain collection buckets out – small birds often try to drink from these buckets and can literally end up “in the drink” so having an escape route for them can be vital.
Once you have made the weed and water mixture then give it a good stir then cover the bucket with mosquito net or some other material to keep mosquitos and small critters out of the bucket (we used some coconut coir material and some pegs- see image 3).
Now all that’s required is a little patience as you let the bucket sit for 4 weeks, stirring once or twice a week.
Here is probably a good time to mention that the tea is likely to take on quite a pungent smell, when stirring take care not to get this on your skin or clothes as the smell can be well, a little over-powering to say the least.
Once the 4 weeks has passed, the weeds should be mostly broken down, the idea here is to break them down, not only extract the nutrient but also prevent the weed from regrowing, four weeks is a good amount of time to “drown” the weeds.
The mix will be dark in colour and, as mentioned previously, would have taken on a particular odour.
After giving the bucket one final stir, retrieve your sieve/cheesecloth, funnel, and bottles, then slowly pour the water from the bucket into the empty bottles via the sieve. Place the lid on and label with date and product description.
Once you have finished the bottling and labelling process then your tea is ready to be put to use! We recommend diluting one part tea in 10 parts of water (so 1 litre of tea to 10 litres of water) then apply either as a foliar spray or direct to the base of the plant- use this tea once a fortnight for best results.
This is a handy trick that has been used for centuries. Should you decide that the process is a little arduous then rest assured we have locally made fertilisers in store, for your convenience.
We look forward to hearing how you went with the tea!
We look forward to hearing how you went with the tea!
