This follows on from my last post in seasonal tips which is about pumpkins. I am now stewing tea from nettle and comfrey leaves adding some wood ash to it and pouring it on toms, cucumbers etc, to avoid buying tomato food and of course save money etc renewable/organic etc. Does anyone else do something like this and is it successful?
Compo
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If it's just for the tomatoes as long as they got a good start the wood ash alone would be sufficient, maybe the comfrey as well if you feel the need for more. You certainly don't want too much 'N' from the nettles. Charcoal in the wood ash is helpful in the longer term.
Hi Compo,
I feel that you are going to too much bother because Comfrey itself will do the job. The Charcoal content of wood ash can be and generally is of a very high PH and should be used very sparingly.
The whole of the Family Solanacae prefer slightly Acidic conditions so too much Charcoal may have an adverse effect to the one you are after so if you are to use it do it sparingly.
I feel that you are going to too much bother because Comfrey itself will do the job. The Charcoal content of wood ash can be and generally is of a very high PH and should be used very sparingly.
The whole of the Family Solanacae prefer slightly Acidic conditions so too much Charcoal may have an adverse effect to the one you are after so if you are to use it do it sparingly.
JB.
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Jenny Green
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I use woodash around peppers and other plants in the greenhouse to prevent slug attack when they're young. I also use it around all kinds of fruit. It seems to do the plants a lot of good, but its nutrients are very soluable. It might be a better idea to put it dry around the bases of the plants so that it's more gradually washed in, rather than them getting a load in one hit, so to speak.
Hi Compo and Jenny,
Of course there is Wood Ash and there's Wood Ash.
Sounds very much like a nit-pick but I can assure you that it is not. The Wood Ash from my Log Burner is of an entirely different texture to any Wood Ash from a bonfire. When the Ash from the LB is removed it is a very very fine powder and if thrown to the wind it would all disappear it is that fine.
Certainly in that form the charcoal has been burnt out and that I feel could be used in very small quantities. I feel that Jenny's idea of leaving the wood ash on the surface is a very sound idea to me because it is then only administerd very slowly as you water the plant through leaching.
The chemical break down of Comfrey is better than that of Marinure and that on it's own is recomended as a Tomato feed. So Compo I still feel that you are going to an awful lot of unnecessary bother when Comfrey will do the job and the Nettle Tea could be used elswhere to super effect.
Of course there is Wood Ash and there's Wood Ash.
Sounds very much like a nit-pick but I can assure you that it is not. The Wood Ash from my Log Burner is of an entirely different texture to any Wood Ash from a bonfire. When the Ash from the LB is removed it is a very very fine powder and if thrown to the wind it would all disappear it is that fine.
Certainly in that form the charcoal has been burnt out and that I feel could be used in very small quantities. I feel that Jenny's idea of leaving the wood ash on the surface is a very sound idea to me because it is then only administerd very slowly as you water the plant through leaching.
The chemical break down of Comfrey is better than that of Marinure and that on it's own is recomended as a Tomato feed. So Compo I still feel that you are going to an awful lot of unnecessary bother when Comfrey will do the job and the Nettle Tea could be used elswhere to super effect.
JB.
Returning to your original question, I have one butt, filled with water, on my allotment that I put all my pernicious weeds in. I dunk my watering can into it after about a fortnight and use the liquid as a general feed. It is topped up regularly with water and weeds, which is just as well as I seem incapable of growing comfrey and my nettle patch disappeared! Like Jenny, I save my woodash for putting round fruit, tomatoes and peppers.
Hi Angi,
I scarce believe that you have difficulty growing Comfrey but that aside the wood ash will assist ripening fruits but very little else. Wood Ash will provide 'K' content and very little else so either the nettles or the comfrey will provide the other two main ingredients to a home made fertilizer.
Your drowned weeds will give a small amount of feed at every watering which is probably the best way to feed a plant as it then has a constant source of nutrient. As mentioned before to put the ash on the surface is really doing the same thing.
I had a friend who used to make his own fertilizers by making 'soups' rather than 'Teas' and he used Comfrey, Valarian, Tanzy, Nettle, Ground Elder Root and he used to put a big chunk of Oak Bark in it. It was mainly Comfrey with small amounts of the others.
This was diluted several times and was really good but sadly he is no longer with us. Oh and I missed out Dock Root which he said was most important.
He was a retired Industrial Chemist and knew the analysis of the various plants and could construct his feeds accordingly. I have been busy looking for some of his recipes which I have in a small book but for the life of me I cannot find it. It should have been on my book shelves but I have a habit of putting small notebooks within a large book then I cannot find things. I have about 1000 books so you can see the problem.
I scarce believe that you have difficulty growing Comfrey but that aside the wood ash will assist ripening fruits but very little else. Wood Ash will provide 'K' content and very little else so either the nettles or the comfrey will provide the other two main ingredients to a home made fertilizer.
Your drowned weeds will give a small amount of feed at every watering which is probably the best way to feed a plant as it then has a constant source of nutrient. As mentioned before to put the ash on the surface is really doing the same thing.
I had a friend who used to make his own fertilizers by making 'soups' rather than 'Teas' and he used Comfrey, Valarian, Tanzy, Nettle, Ground Elder Root and he used to put a big chunk of Oak Bark in it. It was mainly Comfrey with small amounts of the others.
This was diluted several times and was really good but sadly he is no longer with us. Oh and I missed out Dock Root which he said was most important.
He was a retired Industrial Chemist and knew the analysis of the various plants and could construct his feeds accordingly. I have been busy looking for some of his recipes which I have in a small book but for the life of me I cannot find it. It should have been on my book shelves but I have a habit of putting small notebooks within a large book then I cannot find things. I have about 1000 books so you can see the problem.
JB.
Hmmnnn - I use a watered down feed of wood ash, comfrey, nettles and anything else in the tub. I also buy tomato feed from the nearest Pound Shop - this year we've been subject to containers twice the usual size for a pound or 99p which I use in watering cans twice per week per plant.
The first of my chilli plants have had in excess of 50 fruits on them. I've had at least 2 Cucumbers per day, per plant, more Peppers and great numbers of Tomatoes. Aubergines and Cape Gooseberries are further behind but showing some promise.
The first of my chilli plants have had in excess of 50 fruits on them. I've had at least 2 Cucumbers per day, per plant, more Peppers and great numbers of Tomatoes. Aubergines and Cape Gooseberries are further behind but showing some promise.
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Compo
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Thankyou fellow allotmentettes!
A veritable plethora of advice, I will make comfrey tea for the toms, cues and courgettes etc..... I will also make nettle tea for the rest of the allotment, I have a small stove on the plot for boiling water, its called a kelly kettle and burns cardboard, twigs etc I will sprinkle the ash from that around fruit bushes etc.
Thanks for the advice.
Compo
A veritable plethora of advice, I will make comfrey tea for the toms, cues and courgettes etc..... I will also make nettle tea for the rest of the allotment, I have a small stove on the plot for boiling water, its called a kelly kettle and burns cardboard, twigs etc I will sprinkle the ash from that around fruit bushes etc.
Thanks for the advice.
Compo
If I am not on the plot, I am not happy.........
As compo says, a veritable plethora, but before you get too excited bear in mind that if you are going down this path,unlike the presently unfashionable approach with them there chemicals which the organicists won't abide you won't know what quantities of nutrients you apply so don't overdo it.
My tomatoes are now getting Chempak 4 once a week with their automatic watering but they did get a top-up of wood ash from the bonfire, that somewhat counteracts the usually acidic effect of the organic matter they got to start them off. They all seem very happy on that, first fruits this week.
Allan
My tomatoes are now getting Chempak 4 once a week with their automatic watering but they did get a top-up of wood ash from the bonfire, that somewhat counteracts the usually acidic effect of the organic matter they got to start them off. They all seem very happy on that, first fruits this week.
Allan
An old gardener I came across a couple of years ago told me of his liquid feed, in fact he gave me a couple of litres to try.
GRASS: Put grass cuttings into a butt in the same way you do with Comfrey etc....dilute to use. Don't use grass cuttings from a treated lawn.
It smells almost as bad as Comfrey
GRASS: Put grass cuttings into a butt in the same way you do with Comfrey etc....dilute to use. Don't use grass cuttings from a treated lawn.
It smells almost as bad as Comfrey
I am in my own little world, ...it's OK, ...they know me there!
Seeing that some of this mailing is in the September magazine I would like to add a bit more detail.
First, with the 'non-chemical' ingeredients you could be adding these in the wrong proportions.
Second is to do with Osmosis. Water and ions (e.g. NPK) are pulled into the plant by this mechanism whereby water goes through a semi-permeable membrane from a weaker solution (outside) into the plant's sap (stronger). If you add so much chemical as to make the soil solution stronger than the sap in the plant this process could be reversed making the plant wilt, possibly die.
In the case of commercial feed it is standard practice to add a small quantity of Epsom Salts to avoid manganese deficiency, this would be unlikely to be present in the homemade brew.
Thanks to the editorial staff of the magazine for publishing the extract.
First, with the 'non-chemical' ingeredients you could be adding these in the wrong proportions.
Second is to do with Osmosis. Water and ions (e.g. NPK) are pulled into the plant by this mechanism whereby water goes through a semi-permeable membrane from a weaker solution (outside) into the plant's sap (stronger). If you add so much chemical as to make the soil solution stronger than the sap in the plant this process could be reversed making the plant wilt, possibly die.
In the case of commercial feed it is standard practice to add a small quantity of Epsom Salts to avoid manganese deficiency, this would be unlikely to be present in the homemade brew.
Thanks to the editorial staff of the magazine for publishing the extract.
Compo,I'm sorry, I don't know what I can do to help your understanding. Osmosis is a basic concept of physics/chemistry, it should be in any basic chemistry book and biologists have to know about it, it is the basis of how plants work, how nutrients go up to the top of the tallest trees etc. Otherwise you will just have to accept that too much fertiliser of any type, natural or otherwise, can harm plants.
If you care to spend a bit of money, under a tenner, look at the thread on favourite book as I have recommended a book that tells all about "plants in action", published by the BBC in 1981 and in my opinion never bettered.
Later
Try this one:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmosis
Allan
If you care to spend a bit of money, under a tenner, look at the thread on favourite book as I have recommended a book that tells all about "plants in action", published by the BBC in 1981 and in my opinion never bettered.
Later
Try this one:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmosis
Allan