Nettle fertilizer – properties, application in fertilization and plant protection
Nettle is usually associated as an unpleasant stinging weed that you must remove from the garden. Meanwhile, it has a lot of valuable properties and instead of throwing it away, you can obtain valuable nettle fertilizer and plant protection preparations. Such as nettle slurry, decoction and extract. Interestingly, nettle find its use in herbal medicine, cooking and cosmetics.
Nettle – properties
Common nettle (Urtica dioica), it is the most common species of nettle in gardens, is actually not a particularly representative and beautiful plant. However, in each garden there are places, invisible to anyone, where you could allow it to develop and reproduce freely. Due to the valuable properties of nettle and the possibility of its use in fertilizing and protecting plants, it will be of great benefit to you and your garden.
What does this plant contain so valuable? Well, you can find a lot of vitamins (e.g. A, B2, C, K), mineral salts (in large amounts potassium and nitrogen as well as phosphorus, magnesium, iron, calcium, silicon, manganese, zinc) as well as chlorophyll, carotene, xanthophyll , pectins, enzymes, organic acids and mineral salts. These substances contained in nettle have a great influence on the developmental processes of plants, as well as their yielding and flowering.
Such a large amount of nutrients also has a significant impact on health and appearance. It improves the condition of the skin and hair (also removes dandruff), lowers blood pressure and blood sugar levels, reduces sweating, improves liver and kidney function, and cleans the body of toxins and inhibits bleeding (including vitamin K). Nettle is also an excellent herb for anemia.
Remember, however, that young nettles that do not bloom yet are best for harvesting for further processing. This is because they contain the most concentrated amount of minerals and vitamins.
In order not to waste such valuable properties of nettle, it is good to know how to use it effectively. So let’s start with the garden where the use of nettle can bring the most benefits. We can use it in the form of liquid manure, extract or decoction to fertilize and protect our garden plants.
Nettle fertilizer – slurry
How to prepare nettle slurry?
Nettle slurry is the most popular of the preparations. To prepare it, you’ll need a suitable container, preferably a plastic bucket or barrel (metal vessels are not suitable for this purpose, because unfavorable chemical reactions between the solution and the metal may occur during fermentation).
Place the collected and cut nettle in a pot and then pour water over it. As the liquid foams during the fermentation process, you should not fill container to the top.
Leave the prepared solution in the container for about 2-3 weeks. Although in the period of high temperatures, fermentation may even end after about a week. If you notice that there is lack of foaming it means end of fermentation processes.
Unfortunately, the nettle slurry gives off a very unpleasant odor (to weaken it a bit, you can add valerian, dolomite or basalt flour to the solution). It has a lot of nitrogen and potassium.
Application of nettle slurry
Slurry is a high value nettle fertilizer. The ready preparation is used for watering plants. Especially those with high nutritional requirements (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, roses, annual flowers and perennials, shrubs and fruit trees).
Attention!
Nettle slurry is a very strong fertilizer. Therefore, it should be used in the form of a liquid diluted with water. Depending on the needs of the fertilized species, in a ratio of 1:10 or even 1:20. It perfectly improves the condition of plants and accelerates their growth and development.
You can also use nettle slurry as a spray for plant protection. In this case, you should also be dilute it with water, depending on the plant and pest or disease. For example, to prepare a spray for combating aphids and spider mites, dilute the liquid manure 1:20 in the spring before bud break. For downy mildew and gray mold – use a 1:10 diluted solution every two weeks.
What vegetables should be fertilized with nettle slurry?
Diluted nettle slurry is good to use to fertilize vegetables. Vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, white, Italian and Chinese cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower and celery respond very well to fertilization with nettle slurry.
It is especially advantageous to water these vegetables with nettle slurry in the initial period of their vegetation, when they produce a large mass of green parts.
However, you must remember that the nettle slurry is a fertilizer that supplies large amounts of nitrogen. Therefore, you should not use it to water vegetables sensitive to excess nitrogen.
For example root vegetables, vegetables with a short growing season, in which nitrates and nitrites may accumulate after such fertilization.
Therefore, avoid watering such vegetables as: lettuce, spinach, leek, onion, garlic, carrot, parsley, celery, radish, beans and peas.
Nettle extract
Nettle extract is a much milder form of the preparation than liquid manure. You can use it without dilution with water, mainly for protection against pests. It is made in the proportion of 5L of water per 0.5 kg fresh plants. After pouring water on the nettles, put container aside for about a day.
Then the liquid is ready to use preventively on garden plants. You can use nettle ferilizer throughout the growing season. It will keep pests such as aphids or spider mites away from your plants.
Nettle decoction
Nettle decoction can be used to combat stem disease and potato blight on tomatoes. Prepare the stock from 0.5 kg fresh plants and 5L of water. Boil the nettle with water for about 0.5 hour. After cooling down, dilute the finished preparation with water in a ratio of 1 : 5. Water or spray the endangered plants. Most often, the decoction is used in early spring.
Good to know!
Ready-made nettle preparations in the form of a concentrate for spraying and watering (stimulates and strengthens plant growth) and liquid manure for spraying (reduces diseases and pests) appeared in garden stores. Thanks to this, you can enjoy the benefits of nettle, without the need to prepare preparations based on it.
How to fertilize potted plants ?
Nettle – use in the kitchen and cosmetics
Salads, tea, and nettle juice
This valuable plant can successfully support your health and appearance. You can treat it as a herb and use it to prepare delicious salads. Even prepare nettle tea or fresh juice to drink. In this form, the nettle retains most of its valuable ingredients. Only fresh, young leaves, collected from plants that have not yet bloomed, and of course from places away from urban pollution, are suitable for consumption.
The collection of young specimens or leaves from the tip of the shoot is very important. In the older leaves, substances that are unfavorable to our health begin to appear. Before use, scald leaves with boiling water or let them wither, which helps to get rid of unpleasantly stinging hairs.
You can also obtain infusions and teas from dried herb (drying in the dark and in loose bundles).
Nettle herb rinses
In addition to using nettle in your menu, you can use it as an ingredient in herbal rinses. You can prepare a nettle rinse using only this plant or add it to other plants that improve the condition of your hair and scalp. And because, like horsetail, nettle contains a lot of silicon, it is perfect for this purpose.
It strengthens the hair, prevents greasy hair and effectively helps to get rid of dandruff. Besides, for rinses, you can use not only the green part of the plant but also the roots. The preparation is a bit laborious, but it is worth it because they are really very effective and, apart from a little effort, they cost you nearly nothing.
In general, prepare a decoction of nettle and herbs (although you can also make a tincture) – after pouring water over them, cook over very low heat for about 0.5 hour. After cooling down, rinse the previously washed hair with a decoction, without rinsing the preparation. It will slowly penetrate the hair structure and affect the scalp.
An example recipe for a hair strengthening nettle rinse: 3 parts of fresh thyme, 3 parts of nettle herb, 2 parts of grated burdock root, 2 parts of nasturtium leaves, 1 part of mugwort. Pour everything over with water to cover the plants and cook for 15-20 minutes.
You can add hops to the mixture, which has an extremely positive anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and anti-seborrhoeic effect, and horsetail, rich in silicon. After cooling, pour the liquid into a bottle and store it in the refrigerator for about a week. You can rinse your hair with the preparation twice a week.
I hope that I managed to convince you that nettle is our underestimated friend and not, as is often believed, a troublesome enemy.
