Why make your own feed

[ESBkevin]

ESB I don't disagree with your overall view but wonder about the bit about plants absorbing natural elements better, would plants absorb a natural (home made) feed easier than they would a manufactured liquid feed, and before there is any splitting of hairs, I mean any proprietary brands

It's a very valid question Rary, I can only summise. Because synthetic fertilisers tend to be used in relatively dead soil, it's hard to say they need the support of the soil food web and mycorrhizal fungi to function when clearly it can be demonstrated that they work without much support, at least in that principle activity.
Natural fertility release may or may not be from a much smaller reserve, but the uptake is perhaps much more efficient and without the clear damage to the topsoil over sustained use demonstrated by artificial fertilisers and intensive cropping. There is no evidence of nitrate run off poisoning rivers and waterways or causing green algee from soil treated to organic methods. Does that suggest over concentration of the synthetics to obtain the minimum uptake? I have nothing scientific to add in support of my suggestion. If anyone has evidence or experience, I'd be very interested to hear.
While I seem to be doing all right with my mostly no dig and mulch a lot system, I can't claim to have done intensive trials over years or decades. For that you need people older and wiser than me (the former is getting harder - but plenty wiser). Good old Charles Dowding has an evidence based track record of his methods here in the UK. Others claim similar with thier own adaption or development of 'organic/no dig/Korean' from around the world.
It has me intreagued enough to be trying it. I think because I remember back to my youth, when I saw the effect of rotting plant material that had been laid out in rows and ploughed in under a barley crop. The ridges of taller more mature heads in the rows was obviouse for all to see. That though has haunted/informed my gardening over the last 30 years and I've turned thick clay on a building site into my lovely black rich flower beds in front of my house (and more recently a neighbours).
A good question though and one that set me off thinking, thanks.

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Wouldn't it be great if we could easily identify how much nutrients our growing plants were utilising at any given growth period, so that we could tailor any additional nutrients for maximum growth.
The same system could be used to identify the nutritional content of our weed teas, manures, composts etc as well as guidance on concentration volumes of artificial enhancements to prevent "run off"
However, if we knew for sure that our natural soil improvers, (composts, teas and manures etc), don't enter the water system to create algal/other pollution, we wouldn't to identify it's content, unless deficient

[rary]

I don't make a liquid feed, but use plant remains, especially comfrey leaves direct on the soil surface - just chop and drop, like the Gertrud Franck method.
It seems to me an easier way to feed plants and it's not smelly LOL.

Does that system really work Thelma, and if so will it last a full season?

[rary]

My own preference is making my own liquid feed, I usually have 3 different feeds which are comfrey, I couldn't use Thelmas method as I collect the leaves about half a mile from the garden, nettles of which there is an abundance of n the field behind the garden and seaweed, which I collect quite regularly and yes I know, I can't walk half a mile for comfrey but can go seven miles for seaweed but when I go for the seaweed I let my OH buy me a fish supper, she thinks we go for the supper I think we go for some he seaweed
I use the comfrey on my tomatoes and container plants feeding every third day, the seaweed goes on once a week over the garden or a weak solution every watering if any plant looks a bit iffy, the nettle feed once a week to onions, lettuce and cabbage

[Mark_Riga]

I do a comfrey tea for greenhouse (20'x8' growing space) vegetables. Fill a 200L water butt with leaves then top up with water. Usually twice a year and this seems to be enough. May be once a week 10L between the plants followed by 60L water from a water butt The rest of the garden has to make do with own produced compost prior to planting ( the garden recycled).

[MyWifesBrassicas]

I do a comfrey tea for greenhouse (20'x8' growing space) vegetables. Fill a 200L water butt with leaves then top up with water. Usually twice a year and this seems to be enough. May be once a week 10L between the plants followed by 60L water from a water butt The rest of the garden has to make do with own produced compost prior to planting ( the garden recycled).

I also use this method, my recipe is comfrey/nettle mix with no real ratio quantity,
Mark, when you fill with the butt with leaves and then fill up with water to the top and it breaks down, are you happy with the correct concentration?
Have you tried diluting to see if you get the same results, ie extending your stock?
I'm never sure how concentrated my solution is and how much i need to dilute, I once killed the majority of my tomatoes, peppers, chillis, squashes, very little survived. I'd poisoned them, i think my stock solution was too strong and as a consequence I over dilute.
I dont know whats in my tea?

[Mark_Riga]

I also use this method, my recipe is comfrey/nettle mix with no real ratio quantity,
Mark, when you fill with the butt with leaves and then fill up with water to the top and it breaks down, are you happy with the correct concentration?

Well I sort of dilute it by watering it in afterwards from the water butts. Each tomato/pepper gets about 10 seconds from a smallish watering can then about 1/2 a gallon of just water. Not very scientific but then nature isn't either and it works OK for me. Yields from the greenhouse are usually pretty good.

[ESBkevin]

I also use this method, my recipe is comfrey/nettle mix with no real ratio quantity,
Mark, when you fill with the butt with leaves and then fill up with water to the top and it breaks down, are you happy with the correct concentration?
Have you tried diluting to see if you get the same results, ie extending your stock?
I'm never sure how concentrated my solution is and how much i need to dilute, I once killed the majority of my tomatoes, peppers, chillis, squashes, very little survived. I'd poisoned them, i think my stock solution was too strong and as a consequence I over dilute.
I dont know whats in my tea?

With my teas, I place the leaves (nettle or comfry) in a bucket with a half brick to sink them and fill with rainwater. Leave for 2+ weeks and drain off the concentrate (sometimes weeks later). To use I add a glugg (official international measure) to cover the bottom of a 9 ltr watering can about 5ml deep and dilute to taste! I will use nettle, comfry and urine in the same can at the same time but again similarly diluted. Application to tomatos about twice a week and always with other watering as required.

[Mark_Riga]

According to a Garden Organic leaflet, for a ready mixed liquid feed that can be used without diluting, it is 1kg. comfrey leaves to 15L of water.

If you produce a concentrate by collecting the run off as it decomposes without adding any water, if it is thick and black, dilute 20:1, when it is thin and brown, dilute 10:1.