Homemade Liquid Feed Tips?

[RosiePosie]

I'd like to start making up some homemade liquid feed for our toms and courgettes. We have a healthy patch of comfrey and some stingers growing around the compost heap.
Where should I start? Any useful tips?

[Bren In Pots]

Rosie have a read at this older thread :-

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ice_78272.html

[dim]

do it proper .... google and learn about actively aerated compost tea

a cheap solution to get you started is:

buy a beer brewers bucket (25 litre food grade)

buy a decent aquarium airpump (piston type) 140 litres per minute minumum (Halea have good valued reliable ones)

a bit of airpump tube and a large aquarium bubbler stone and you are ready to brew

add rainwater or if using tap water, let it bubble for 2hrs before adding any ingredients so as to remove the chlorine

add 2 tablespoons of unstrapped organic molasses (unsulphered).... available from most health stores or online

add 4 handfuls of homemade compost, or/and some leafmold or if you dont have that, go to a wooded area near your home and take some topsoil from beneath a tree (not a pine tree).... the best compost to use is vermicompost (worm compost) .... if you do not have compost with loads of worms, there are guys on ebay selling vermicompost for cheap

bubble for 24-36 hrs and apply to all your plants

that is a basic recipe, but you can add extra ingredients such as seaweed extract, bat guano, fish hydrolosate etc but do not add manure (bat guano is ok, but add it to the brew at the end of brewing)... bat guano can be bpought online or from your nearest hydroponic store

basically in a nutshell, you are creating a super concentrated form of liquid compost, that is rich in life (beneficial fungi and bacteria), and you feed the soil, not the plant

there's a lot more to it, but that will get you started .... also google and check youtube videos of Dr. Elaine Ingham of the Soil Food Web Institute

[Bigmallly]

Or if that all sounds a bit too advanced, try: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...bes_78094.html

[Compo72]

Too technical for me too !

A cupful and shovel full , is about my limit

I'm unsure of any science behind it

Everyday I keep my apple orange and banana peel before composting them
Steep it for a few days in water in a bucket .
Feed the water solution to plants n bushes around the garden

Unsure if does any good .
Though it perked up seedlings

I'm trying to grow comfrey from seed in a large container
I've had very poor germination so far.

I have a large plastic trug I keep a bit of manure in .
In case I need a bit for a job in the garden
When empty I let left it out to get rainwater in .
Then went round and fed the plants .
Though I wouldn't use it on the fruit n veg growing already







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[roitelet]

Chuck whatever you are using, Comfrey Nettles etc in a bucket, cover and let it brew for a few days. Put clothes peg on nose and strain the resulting liquid. Use diluted 10 to 1. Comfrey for things that need potash ie tomatoes and nettles for nitrogen ie cabbages.

[Artychoke]

Chuck whatever you are using, Comfrey Nettles etc in a bucket, cover and let it brew for a few days. Put clothes peg on nose and strain the resulting liquid. Use diluted 10 to 1. Comfrey for things that need potash ie tomatoes and nettles for nitrogen ie cabbages.

Oh! I was told nettle tea is good for tomatoes and courgettes. I have made some, much to my husbands disgust because of the smell, and used it a couple of times on the tomatoes. I guess I'd better put it on the cauliflowers and get some cabbages in!


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[Two_Sheds]

Any useful tips?

Don't spill any in your wellies

[Two_Sheds]

Oh! I was told nettle tea is good for tomatoes and courgettes.

Nettle is high in nitrogen, so good for green leafy veg, eg cabbage

For fruiting plants, you need high potash (comfrey)