Don’t throw away those weeds from your garden. Instead, turn them into nutrient-rich weed tea for the plants. Here is how to make a liquid fertilizer from weeds plucked from your garden.
Weeds are always known as a nuisance in the garden. They are constantly in fight with the planted plants for the nutrients and water from the soil. It is also a hardship to get all the weeds out of the beautiful landscape.
What do we usually do with the weeds? Put them in the green waste and throw them away. Well, never do that anymore. Weeds are a bank of plant nutrients. All the nutrients they have absorbed would be inside them, and it would be a real waste to throw them away, wouldn’t it?
Benefits of weeds
The uses of weeds range from being part of the mulch to being the fodder for cattle. All those are acceptable, but why not use them for the benefit of the plants again? The organic matter can be retrieved to feed the plants. The medicinal value of the weeds, if it has some, would also be passed on for the benefit of the growing plants in the garden.
Turning the weeds into the nutrient-rich weed tea would give you a concentrated liquid fertiliser that is full of nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and other plant nutrients that would have gone to the planted ones. Now is the time to get it all back.
How to Make a Liquid Fertilizer from Weeds?
- After pulling out the weeds from the soil, put the whole thing into a large container or bucket and pour water over it.
- Add the water in the ratio 1: 8, for every pound of weed, add 8 cups of water. The idea is to ferment the weeds in the water.
- After adding the weeds and water in the container, give it a good stir and close the lid.
- Keep it for 2-4 weeks at least.
- Remember to stir it every week, once or twice. It may be necessary to have something to cover your nose to save you from the stink. (Yes, it will stink, stink badly. That is the reason why you should have the container with a tight lid.)
- There is no need to add anything for the entire period.
- After the stipulated time, open the lid.
- Using good quality cheesecloth or any fine cotton cloth, strain the whole mix to get the liquid separated.
Keeping the weeds in a cheesecloth bag right from the beginning would save you time while straining. Simply lift the bag and let the water drain from the bag. You could also give it a little squeeze.
This filtered liquid is our liquid fertilizer. The solid weed is a waste now and should be discarded, as the seeds would still be viable.
How to Use Weed Tea Fertilizer?
The liquid fertilizer should be diluted before using it on the plants. Dilute it with 10 parts of water for every part of the liquid. It can be poured at the base of the plants or as a foliar spray, whichever suits you well. For the foliar spray, dilute the liquid further so that it looks like a weaker tea. Never use the fertilizer on the fruits or the vegetables that are ready for harvesting.
As nutritious as the weed tea might be, it may not be the only fertilizer for the plants. Use it as an additional source to feed the plants.
Moreover, you can make liquid fertilizer from kitchen waste such as onion peels, banana peels, and other waste items. The procedure is similar to the one mentioned above. Regardless of the basic substance that you used, make sure to dilute the obtained tea before you apply it to the plants.
