How to:Simple fertiliser

Here is a relatively simple way of providing a natural fertiliser and insecticide for your plants that will be perfect for their strength and growth, using only stinging nettles which you will probably either have in your garden or local woods. They’ll be almost anywhere where other plants grow.

You will need

Nettles


Container


Shears


Mashing stick!


Bowl


Step 1
Find your nettles and cut down as many as you can with your shears, being careful not to get stung. Lots of guides say to get about 1kg but I didn’t fancy weighing out nettles with the chance of being stung so get as many as you think you need, the more nettles you get the more fertiliser/insecticide you’ll end up with. Once you’ve cut down your nettles put them into your container. The amount of nettles I have in the photo will give you at least a few litres of you overall mixture.


Step 2
Now with your nettles in your container you need to cut them into smaller pieces, you don’t want them too small so you can’t decant the mixture later on, but you don’t want them too big or the process will take a bit longer. Below is a photo showing roughly how much to cut them up.


Step 3
Once you’ve cut up your nettles you need to add enough water to just about cover them, rain water can be used if you want it to be really organic but tap water will do just fine.


Step 4
Next you need to take your mashy stick and MASH, take out your new hatred of nettles because of the stings they gave you, make sure you crush the stems well as this is where most of the nutrients will be, the process will also be faster the more your mixture is crushed. After a few minutes of mashing and leaving it for an hour the water has started to turn a darkish red, this is good!


Step 5
Now you have to leave your mush in a cool place, for 4-14 days stirring it each day if you are intending to use it as a fertiliser, your mix will now become a darker red. You can use the mix as an insecticide after 24 hours and spray it on your plant leaves. But to use it as a fertiliser it’s best to leave it for a longer period of time to get more nutrients from the solution. After it has been left for your desired amount of time you should carefully pour it into another container. (Directly into your sprayer if you can filter it with an old shirt or rag)

I didn’t have an old shirt or rag so I held the nettles back as best as I could whilst pouring the liquid into another container, I then picked out the remaining bits of nettle.

Step 6
Once your mixture is strained and a nice dark red, pour it into your sprayer or watering can.


Now you have a very effective natural, free insecticide that is also very good as a fertiliser! Use your mixture every 15 days if it is as an insecticide, and every 3 weeks as a fertiliser. Every plant reacts differently so test out a little bit and increase usage in small increments. (Sometimes you can use it every other week depending on your plant)


WARNING: Some things described on this site are potentially dangerous/illegal. The writers of this site assume no responsibility for the consequences that may result from attempting the activities described here.

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