Organic ways to feed plants potash

hello932

Hi

Ive got a few things in my garden-tomato, strawberries,broad beans, blueberries and green grape. I know there are plenty of chemical feeds you can buy but is there a natural way to feed these plants potash in order to increase crop yield?

I do have quite a few beans around and beans fixate nitrogen (beans are part of the legume family?)-would moving some of these peas around to other plants benefit them?

dardevle

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a liquid feed of comfrey will do the trick as regards potash ...specifically the 'bocking 14' variety - a barrell full of leaves in rainwater, allowed to rot down over about 4 weeks will provide a ready to use tea, alternatively chopped leaves placed at the base of trees or shrubs will feed them for the season....not sure how big an area you are cultivating but as regards legumes and nitrogen fixation, the nitrogen is stored in nodules on the roots and only becomes available when the plants are cut down and the roots allowed to rot in the ground....might be better to consider introducing a nitrogen fixing green manure such as phacelia/winter vetch mix into your rotation to maintain soil condition.


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hello932

is this bocking 14? http://www.johnstowngardencentre.ie/comfrey--symphytum-officinale/symphytumpd.aspx

Not said on site but seems to be useful as a organic fertilizer..

dardevle

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at a guess i would say it is but you can confirm this by phone.....all comfrey have the same properties but the 'bocking' is the best for this purpose.



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goat2

dardevle wrote: »

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at a guess i would say it is but you can confirm this by phone.....all comfrey have the same properties but the 'bocking' is the best for this purpose.



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do nettles do the same thing
i also use these, i put them in barrell of water for 5 weeks, am i doing right
i also do the comfrey, but have heard nettles are also good

hello932

I think i read somewhere that nettles are high in nitrogen but i dont think that have much in way of potash or phosphorus.

Though i do deliberately keep a nettle weed in my back garden-as nettles are the preferred breeding plant for ladybirds!

dardevle

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nettle tea is a good nitrogen feed for plants.....the difference being that nitrogen promotes healthy leaf growth while potash is essential for flower/fruit growth - so i keep a batch of each on the go all season.:)




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Nonmonotonic

I have two woodburning stoves so I have a plentiful supply of wood ash which I riddle ( to remove nails, etc ) and put around my various fruit trees. There is potash in wood ash ( not a lot ) and none in coal ash ( never use) but its a good way of recycling for me.

Potash bio here ( wood ash info at the bottom), love the method of extracting potash.

fodda

When you say your woodash contains nails, how come what is the source of your wood for burning?

hello932

I still have some questions regarding the use of comfrey as fertilizer for vegetables and fruit to be eaten-

1. Is comfrey not toxic?-seems to cause liver damage and cancer in livestock when animals eat compfrey

2. According to this http://www.giyireland.com/article/66/companion-planting slugs prefer comfrey to other plants-so if i leave a pot of comfrey out the slugs will go for this instead of my vegetables/fruit?

dardevle

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in large doses comfrey can be toxic to animals when ingested directly and the roots are 10 times more toxic than the leaves.....no evidence to suggest that it is toxic to humans from a liquid feed applied to plants that will eventually be consumed- the alkaloids present in comfrey are also found in certain honey's and cow's milk among many other things..... as far as a distraction for slugs go, try planting hosta's.... few other plants attract slugs like a healthy hosta:(

Nonmonotonic

@ fodda - I'm not proud, I will burn anything wooden that fits in my big Waterford stove. My greatest achievement up to now is when I burned an old piano ( needed the riddle for the wire and tensioners! )

I'm sure I can find a use for the nails but its a bit time consuming straightening them

The wood ash seems to work though because each year I get a great crop of apples and raspberrys.

doctor evil

I've got some chopped up nettles submerged in a big ceramic pot with an old dustbin lid on top. This was done about five days ago and when I lifted the lid it had already started to stink!

Is it broken by anaerobic bacteria? The basin is filled to the brim with rainwater collected in various recepticles.

dardevle

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yes..the activity is accelerated by ambient temp so the process is speeded up in hot weather- like we are having now....what can take 3 weeks in cooler temps may be achieved in only 1 when temps are warmer...stirring the mix and watching for bubbles will help to time it right, if you stir and don't see bubbles then the job is complete...the wonderful aroma is just a bonus;)


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fodda

Nonmonotonic wrote: »

@ fodda - I'm not proud, I will burn anything wooden that fits in my big Waterford stove. My greatest achievement up to now is when I burned an old piano ( needed the riddle for the wire and tensioners! )

I'm sure I can find a use for the nails but its a bit time consuming straightening them

The wood ash seems to work though because each year I get a great crop of apples and raspberrys.

That's ok then as i thought it was pallets as i found this great website the other day which i think is still being built and it had this in it regards pallets near bottom of page, i have burnt pallets and i didnt know this.

http://grow-your-own.ie/landforage.html

And there was something else about growing in tyres on this page aswell

http://grow-your-own.ie/vegetables.html

Seems a great little information website

doctor evil

dardevle wrote: »

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yes..the activity is accelerated by ambient temp so the process is speeded up in hot weather- like we are having now....what can take 3 weeks in cooler temps may be achieved in only 1 when temps are warmer...stirring the mix and watching for bubbles will help to time it right, if you stir and don't see bubbles then the job is complete...the wonderful aroma is just a bonus;)


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Do you use it all in one go or can you keep adding and taking away nettles and liquid. Does the tea ever go off?

dardevle

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i usually make a batch of about 20 litres of nettle feed and then dilute this in the watering can at a ratio of 1:10..... so a single batch will last for a while, allowing you to have a fresh batch on the brew in the meantime.



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fodda

Can you use a seaweed feed made the same way?

goat2

you say the nettles give nitrogen, what then are they useful for as i have loads of this goulash made, as for seaweed i would also like to know how to do that and what is it useful for

fodda

goat2 wrote: »

you say the nettles give nitrogen, what then are they useful for as i have loads of this goulash made, as for seaweed i would also like to know how to do that and what is it useful for

Feeding your plants. or did you mean something else?

goat2

fodda wrote: »

Feeding your plants. or did you mean something else?

yes feeding plants
just wondering what plants benefit from this as a feeding

hello932

goat2 wrote: »

you say the nettles give nitrogen, what then are they useful for as i have loads of this goulash made, as for seaweed i would also like to know how to do that and what is it useful for

Am am i to understand that by 'nettle' you mean the common weed nettle?

nitrogen is useful for leaf production i believes-do nettles contain potash?

hello932

Also does anyone know where i can buy a already grown comfrey plant in dublin? I went to the jonhstown garden centre in naas a few days ago and they were out of stock in the herb section. I asked them when they would be back and the people gave me a generic 'maybe next week'.

Lots of places like woodies, mr appletons etc dont seem to stock comfrey at all. Very disappointed- wanted to make comfrey tea for some vegatables i did.

dardevle

fodda wrote: »

Can you use a seaweed feed made the same way?

... you can make a seaweed feed in the same way but it takes quite a bit longer to break down in water as you can imagine...i prefer to use the seaweed as a mulch around the base of various plants, just rinse it in fresh water first to remove some of the salt from it.

seaweed is a good source of potassium which is an essential element for overall plant growth, it also contains many of the essential trace elements needed in small quantities ( iron ,cobalt, zinc, copper etc).

as said before nettles are a source of nitrogen which is essential for foliar growth and comfrey is a source of potash which is essential for good flower/ fruit production.


@ Hello 932
the Organic centre had a stand selling comfrey plants at bloom this weekend so you could give them a try,




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hello932

thanks but according to this http://www.theorganiccentre.ie/search/node/comfrey looks like their all sold out for the 2010 year. I guess i should have bought some earlier. Sigh!

dardevle

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they had sold out in eary spring but according to their facebook page they def had plants on saturday at bloom so it may be worth an enquiring post on FB to see if they have any surplus.



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goat2

hello932 wrote: »

Am am i to understand that by 'nettle' you mean the common weed nettle?

nitrogen is useful for leaf production i believes-do nettles contain potash?

yes the weed you see growing on the side of the road and your garden

doctor evil

Does it cause damage to the plant if the nettle tea goes on neat?

flutered

yes it burns them, the big house near me used a mixture of 8 to 1. rubarb leaves keep brassicas free of pests, not too srtong or you will taste the damm stuff.

doctor evil

Lil'bit thick here, is this one part nettle tea to eight parts water?

dardevle

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nettle tea neat is just too high in nitrogen and will burn the plant...i use a 10:1 water to nettle ratio which is easy because my watering cans have a 10 litre capacity...... so i just put 1 litre of tea in the can and top up with water.:)


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