Liquid manure

[Essexboy]

This year I intend to make my own liquid manure by hanging a bag of muck in a dustbin full of water.
Will I need to dilute the resulting brew ?

[veggiechicken]

Probably depends on the ratio of muck to water and how long you leave it!

[4Shoes]

This year I intend to make my own liquid manure by hanging a bag of muck in a dustbin full of water.
Will I need to dilute the resulting brew ?

You'll get a more potent product by collecting sheep droppings.

Same idea.


With sheep droppings you will have to dillute

[toomanytommytoes]

Good article on DIY fertilisers here - https://www.motherearthnews.com/orga...ers-zm0z11zhun . A PDF of the full report is linked within the article.

They used dried chicken manure, but in short:

1 part manure to 10 parts water, by weight
leave to stand for 3-5 days, stirring daily
drain off and dilute by half before using

This is the method I use to make non-smelly comfrey tea. They say to use the liquid within a few days of making it since fermentation will change the pH etc. I've stored the comfrey liquid for a few weeks before and never noticed much of a smell (and I will never, ever forget the reek of traditional comfrey tea ).

[bikermike]

Just dropping on the end of this, I've made some weed tea, which has a pretty potent smell. Will that keep? and if not, what's the best thing to do with it, I suspect my compost is a bit low in nitrogen (having lots of wood in it). Will pouring it on the beds do anything?

[toomanytommytoes]

The smell probably means it's gone anaerobic. It may have lost a bit of nitrogen and sulphur as gas, but most of the other nutrients should still be in there.

[bikermike]

The smell probably means it's gone anaerobic. It may have lost a bit of nitrogen and sulphur as gas, but most of the other nutrients should still be in there.

Thanks - will it stay usable if kept, or should I bung it on now?

(as the aim was to drown weeds, I assume it has to be anaerobic?)

[toomanytommytoes]

Thanks - will it stay usable if kept, or should I bung it on now?

(as the aim was to drown weeds, I assume it has to be anaerobic?)

It should still be usable if kept, though may get even smellier! Yeah, all this type of fertiliser tea goes anaerobic after the microbes use up all of the oxygen in the water. I guess you could put something like a pond aerator in there to reintroduce some oxygen.

[Darren19]

Hi there new here so first bit of advice, whenever I have made liquid fertilisers iv always been taught to dilute to the colour of weak tea.. Seaweed soaked in water produces a really good fert that plants adore spray on foliage and they can adapt better to environmental conditions :-)