Page 14 - Simply Vegetables Summer 2022

some resistance to pests and disease. Commercially there was a trend to using materials high in silica to help give fruit trees some pest and disease resistance, but it has not as far as I know come onto the amateur market yet.
The manure feeds are usually made using horse or sheep’s manure or homemade compost can be used, fill a hessian sack or pillowcase with the manure and suspend it in a drum or dustbin of water, leave for 10 to 20 days and shake
the sack occasionally so that the nutrients move out of the manure into the water. Again, once ready dilute to the colour of tea and use for a liquid or foliar feed.
I cannot complete this article without mentioning urine, some members may now be smiling but disgusted from Tunbridge Wells will not be amused! Urine is a very useful substance as it contains nitrogen and some potash and all we do is to flush
it down the loo (well most people do)
to cause algae blooms around the U.K coastline. Urine is a very good compost activator, will give some control of apple scab (spray the leaves before they drop (after picking the apples!) and don’t stand down wind!) apple scab overwinters on the fallen leaves and by spraying with urine this
Medicago lupulina (yellow trefoil) green manure
Phacelia green manure 3
speeds up the decomposition and prevents the scab fungus completing its lifecycle. As urine contains both nitrogen and potash
it can be used as a liquid feed and would be quite safe on flower crops, lawns and fruit trees and bushes after picking or well before harvesting. There are no health issues in the U.K but I doubt people will
be keen to eat something sprayed with one’s urine! As a guide urine contains 14
to 18% nitrogen, 13% carbon, 3.7% potash and some trace elements along with
some calcium and sodium; that is a higher percentage of nitrogen than many fertilisers sold, both hoof and horn and dried blood are only 12 to 14% and bonemeal is only 4%. Urine can be added to comfrey tea to give a more balanced feed as the comfrey is high in potash and the urine in nitrogen. A figure from some American research stated that if only 10% of the U.S population collected their urine it would supply 330 tonnes of nitrogen and 20 tonnes of potash, that’s a lot of plant food! I should mention that urine should be diluted 1 part urine to 10 parts water if used as a plant food. So go
Comment
Bullock is best!
Mix with other materials
Rather wet and smelly!
Will vary depending on what is added to the heap.
Contains other substances
Also, calcium
This is higher than dried blood and hoof & horn!
Mustard ‘Caliente’ 3
Material
Cattle manure
Horse manure
Sheep manure
Chicken manure
Pig manure
Homemade Compost
Spent hops
Seaweed , Kelp or similar
Shoddy
Wood ash
Soot
Human hair
Nettles
Comfrey
Eggshells
Feathers
Nutrient value
0.6%N, 0.3%P, 0.6%K
0.7%N, 0.3%P, 0.6%K
Similar to cattle
0.7%N, 0.6%P, 0.2%K
0.7%N, 0.7%P, 0.5%K
2%N, .5 to1%P, 2%K
0.6%N, 0.2%P, trace K
0.5%N, 0.1%P, 0.2%K
2 to 5%N, 0.5%P, 2 to 5%K
2to10%N,traceofP&K
.5to1%N,2to5%P,5to15%K
2to7%N,traceorP&K
12 to 16%N
3%N, 2%P, 3%K
2%N, 3%P, 5%K
1%N also calcium
15% N
Woodchip pile
on give it a go it saves flushing water down the loo and will feed your plants which is good for the plants and climate change as we need to reduce our water consumption.
Wormery juice is another good organic feed, I am not sure how many members have a wormery (it is something I keep meaning to give a go but not quite got there yet). The juice is collected from the bottom of the wormery via a tap and into a container again it is a dark brown colour and should be diluted 1 part to 10 parts water and used as a plant or foliar feed.
Other materials that can be used to make liquid manures or teas are grass cuttings which are rich in nitrogen and also smell vile but are easily available. I
am often asked what to do with perennial weed roots which are best not composted unless you can reach temperature of 60°C to kill them. I put them in an old paint tin half full of water and leave them a couple of months to rot and then add it to the compost heap, but it could also be used for a liquid feed. Dandelion, dock, convolvulus, and other deep rooting weeds often have
a high nutrient level so will make a good plant food. Other materials that I have seen mentioned in books / magazines are coffee grounds, eggshells and banana skins if
you have a source of these, they may be worth a try I believe banana skins are high in potash.
On the subject of potash wood ash is a good if low source of this nutrient, make sure it is wood ash and not coal or coke ash and nothing toxic has been burnt on
14 Simply Vegetables