Nettle Fertilizer

Discussion in 'Compost, Fertilisers & Recycling' started by jd67, May 8, 2011.

  1. jd67

    jd67 Gardener

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    Would nettle fertilzer be suitable to feed containerised potatoes and if so what would ratio be to water
     
  2. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    I'm thinking yes it would.

    Second question, difficult, it depends on how much nettle material you use to how much water during the brewing process.

    I dont think its science, and as such not too important, but go for the weaker mix to be on the safe side.
     
  3. Scrungee

    Scrungee Well known for it

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    I've always used (high nitrogen) nettle water diluted to the colour or tea, for crops above ground.

    I've always followed advice about not gathering them from other than shady areas, as lots of butterflies are supposed to lay their eggs amongst sunny patches of nettles .

    And the 'shady area' I use is under my apple trees nearest the road which is deliberately kept thick with them to discourage thieving toe-rags from even claiming they're only gathering 'windfalls', when every single one of those windfalls is used for juice production.

    EDIT: I've got 2 old domestic cold water storage tanks with one full of nettle water, the other full of nettle water and the stink is overpowering quite some distance downwind, so I'd think twice about pouring that stuff into the confines of a potato bag over crops I was going to eat unless it was going to be thoroughly flushed through.
     
  4. skinner

    skinner Gardener

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    Here's a recipe that I came across a while back that works well. 20 liters of water to 1 kilogram of nettles. ( so to your average beer drinking that interprets as 5 gallons to a carrier bag stuffed full ).

    You need to chop up the nettles and put them inside an old cotton pillow case, put it into a container with the water and cover the top ( a bin bag that is tied/taped around the rim works ok ). Then leave it for 3 or 4 weeks before removing what's left of the nettles.

    Dilute it 1 to 10 before applying it.

    ( Crickey Scrungee that's a big growing list you've got there! I'm impressed )
     
  5. Olivia9801

    Olivia9801 Apprentice Gardener

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    Will this nettle tea work on grass as well?

    I have used it before in my poly tunnel, but am wondering if this could be used on the lawns as well?
     
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