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Agrichemist’s solutions

MAKING LIQUID FERTILIZER FROM WEEDS

Around Botswana, we are beset by burs and prickles: the black jack, spear
grass and all the devil thorns you can think of. They get in our shoes or
attach themselves to our clothes, and the most troublesome of all is aptly
named Tribulus terrestris (‘land of the spiky weapon’ (pic: bottom middle).
While you may do a great job of weeding them out of your garden, you are left
wondering whether to add them to the compost pile - where the weed seeds will most
likely flourish, or to burn them - which will result in a lot of smoke, or feed them to
your chickens (if you have any)- where the prickles and burs will probably just be spread
around more thoroughly or cause injury.
However, a simpler solution exists - making weed tea! It’s actually very simple, add them
to a bucket, add water, cover with a lid, and leave them for 2 weeks or longer, stirring
intermittently. The fermentation process will most likely kill all the weed seeds, and the
nutrients that these weeds have stolen from your soil, can be fed right back to the plants
you want in your garden. Dilute the resulting solution 1:10 with water, and feed around
the base of your plants. Experiment a little, as each weed’s properties differ, and find a
recipe that works best for your garden. Text & photos S.C

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