Liquid Manure

SKIPPY54

Hi,When feeding the plants in the greenhouse today it came to me that I hadn't seen a thread on this great plant food.
I mix up two onion bags full of equal parts horse and sheep manure and steep it for a couple of months in a dustbin full of water,with the lid on as it can get abit whiffie.
When its ready I dilute 50/50 with water and feed my plants once a week with it,its cheap and effective.The sheep manure is off the grave stones in the church yard,as they are the grass cutters and the horse manure is from freecycle.
Just thought I would share it as some newbies may never have heard or seen it before.
keep topping up the water as you use it.

Money_saving_Diva_2

Sounds smelly but a wonderful idea. I have a normal compost bin now in the garden but I know with wormeries etc you can get liquid compost as well as the regular type out of it which apparently can be diluted and is a very good fertilizer.

knightstyle

Some "green" friends make theirs by soaking stinging nettles for a couple of weeks. But they have been told there is an EU directive banning this!

SKIPPY54

knightstyle wrote: »

Some "green" friends make theirs by soaking stinging nettles for a couple of weeks. But they have been told there is an EU directive banning this!

This is not because of cruelty to nettles is it:rotfl: :rotfl: ,wouldn't put it past that mad lot in Brussles.

Who's going to enforce that one!!

mark13

we use liquid worm fertilizer from our wormery - diluted.

Lotus-eater

knightstyle wrote: »

Some "green" friends make theirs by soaking stinging nettles for a couple of weeks. But they have been told there is an EU directive banning this!

I don't mind a bit of playing, but fgs, soak as many nettles as you like, I doubt if the EU parliament is going to come down to your allotment and take away your equipment. :rolleyes: Or even your "green" friends equipment.
The other thing is called a manure tea, search on google for it.

olly300

Nettle fertilizer isn't banned by the EU it's only banned in France.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortie#Jardinage_:_Purin_d.27ortie
(It's in French)

Larumbelle

Actually, even that site says it's not strictly true anymore:

...In France, a decree from 1 July 2006, under the law of agricultural guidance from January 2006, prohibits the sale, possession and promotion of pesticides not approved. The decree whose implementation raises many questions does not call into question the household use of manure nettle.

On Sunday, March 25, 2007 at 12.25 pm, the radio "France Info" announced that "the mythical-liquid-nettle is again authorized"...

Although it is technically illegal at the moment it is only because of arguments about exactly how the wording of the legislation is refined. French politicans are in pretty much universal agreement that it was not their intention to stop home gardeners from making nettle tea for their own gardens.

Filey

olly300 wrote: »

Nettle fertilizer isn't banned by the EU it's only banned in France.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ortie#Jardinage_:_Purin_d.27ortie
(It's in French)

It is not banned in France. Only the commercial production, promotion and distribution of herbal remedies based on nettles is banned. You can make nettle fertiliser as much as you like, and your old granny's rheumatism cure, and cook young nettles like spinach. Oh yes, and make paper and cloth too if you are so minded.

knightstyle

Thanks for finding all that, we are in France and had been told about this by a neighbour. Anyway our friends are continuing to use it, they swear it is the best tomatoe feed ever. Plus the French ignore any rules which they don't like.

Money_saving_Diva_2

knightstyle wrote: »

Some "green" friends make theirs by soaking stinging nettles for a couple of weeks. But they have been told there is an EU directive banning this!

Ok, forgive me if I sound stupid, but do you literally just put stinging nettles into a bucket of water and leave for a week or two?? Don't they go mouldy? I have a 'wild' area of my garden that I keep for the insect and wildlife and I have a patch of nettles for the butterflies but would love to get some use from it too!