Home made fertilizers...

**Snadger** · 21-04-2009, 07:48 PM

Good question JimmerG!

I reckon animal manure is nitogenous but with a fair proportion of phosphate?

Soooo.......a barrel of water with a sack of comfrey, a sack of nettles and a sack of sheep sh*t should go some way to making an organic balanced fertiliser concentrate..........allegedly!

Phosphates aren't as fluid in the soil as Nitro or potassium and tend to linger attached to the soil particles. Winter rains can wash out nitro and potasssium very quickly but the phosphate levels usually stay pretty constant I believe!

**Two_Sheds** · 22-04-2009, 05:56 AM

root crops don't need any feeding (carrots, parsnips etc).

**FionaH** · 22-04-2009, 05:59 AM

Originally posted by Snadger View Post

Good question JimmerG!

I reckon animal manure is nitogenous but with a fair proportion of phosphate?

Soooo.......a barrel of water with a sack of comfrey, a sack of nettles and a sack of sheep sh*t should go some way to making an organic balanced fertiliser concentrate..........allegedly!

Can you imagine how bad that will smell?

**gojiberry** · 22-04-2009, 06:11 AM

I made some nettle tea last year but never put it into a sack, just put it in a tub of water. I still managed to use it ok but it didn't allow me to use a rose on the watering can. I have learnt by my mistake. Noticed the other day that the nettles have grown enough to make some for this year. Have also bought some comfrey roots but not likely to get much from them this year as they haven't even started to shoot yet. Don't know about the sheep poo might give it a miss this year.

Ian

**womble** · 22-04-2009, 06:37 AM

Originally posted by FionaH View Post

Can you imagine how bad that will smell?

Yes

I still have about 3 gallons of it here from last year, it's coming on nicely. That was nettles, comfrey, couch grass, a bit of horse poo, my very own urine and I read about using ash recently in there, so I stuck some of that in as well.
Guaranteed to make the kids interested when you tell them to smell it

**coreopsis** · 22-04-2009, 06:46 AM

Snadger,this is the 1st time I hear about using sheep deposits...
Nobody mentioned dandelions so far,I heard they are rich in potassium

**TonyF** · 22-04-2009, 06:53 AM

Best bit of the sheep is the 'daggins', the dirty wool round the sheep's bum, one of the oldest sources of liquid fertiliser known to man. If you can get it, put it in a sack in water and use at a rate of daggins water x 1 to clear water x 10.

Edit: I don't use the 'Californian Compost Activator' (as called by Lawrence Hill) aka human pee for fertilizer, I use it for the compost bins. Got to the point now where I have a 5 litre plastic bottle by one bin so I don't have to take my boots off to go indoors to pee. And before anybody asks, I use the bottle because the new compost bins are too high to pee into, even if you're a bloke and your aim is good

**coreopsis** · 22-04-2009, 06:55 AM

Gosh,Tony,can you imagine chasing the sheeps in the village?Not to mention what the local sheep keepers would say...

Good to know anyway

**sweetiepea** · 22-04-2009, 07:07 AM

I've been useing sheep droppings for about five years, with great success. The neighbours think I've lost the plot though!

I was hoping to try the nettle tea this year too. Do you just use the leaves, or can you chop the plant and use the stalk too?

**womble** · 22-04-2009, 07:22 AM

I like the idea of the dandelions.

If you want the dirty wool from around the bottom of a sheep, I suggest you try to get it in the middle of the night, wearing a big raincoat, with your hands in rubber gloves, then if you get caught around the bottom of a sheep in the middle of a field, it won't look in the slightest bit suspicious.

I use urine on compost bins, for fertiliser, on the leaf compost piles, on the woody compost pile, on the straw pile, I never seem to have enough.

**coreopsis** · 22-04-2009, 07:27 AM

Originally posted by womble View Post

If you want the dirty wool from around the bottom of a sheep, I suggest you try to get it in the middle of the night, wearing a big raincoat, with your hands in rubber gloves, then if you get caught around the bottom of a sheep in the middle of a field, it won't look in the slightest bit suspicious.

Yes,they would deport me straight away without even asking any questions

**pipscariad** · 22-04-2009, 08:59 AM

[QUOTE=TonyF;433290]Best bit of the sheep is the 'daggins', the dirty wool round the sheep's bum[QUOTE]

Would it work to put sheep droppings and bits of old wool scavenged from the fence together instead? I realise that it wouldn't have quite the same 'soaked through' properties as the daggins (bleuch, best not to think of it!), or is it not worth bothering with the wool in that case? I've got a field of sheep right next to my plot, so I'll deffo give the droppings bit a go - I do fling the odd bit onto the compost heap as it is.

Do any of you knowledgeable folk know of the top of your head what elements are contained in seaweed, or should I do a good old Google search instead?

**Nicos** · 22-04-2009, 09:02 AM

Originally posted by TonyF View Post

Got to the point now where I have a 5 litre plastic bottle by one bin so I don't have to take my boots off to go indoors to pee.

Cor ..you must have excellent pelvic floor muscles if you can fill a 5litre bottle Tony!!!!

**maytreefrannie** · 22-04-2009, 11:38 AM

Originally posted by coreopsis View Post

Nobody mentioned dandelions so far,I heard they are rich in potassium

Has anyone used dandelion in making plant food? Would it go with nettles to make a nitrogen and potassium feed?

Is it the leaves are used, the flowers, or both?

I'd love to hear from anyone who's tried it.

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