Hmmm...really? I'm interested to see how this develops and will be following this post to see what/how people use.

I'd be afraid to just throw some organic matter (fruit/veggie waste, coffee grounds, etc.) in the pot with my plants. Seems like it would draw roaches and vermin, possibly even stink as it goes through the decomp process. Maybe cause mold issues?

If people make up some kind of tincture or concoction, sieve and apply, maybe that might be different...?

Tyler

Oh, I saw one man do the straining you speak of. He boiled banana peels and coffee and tea (some other things I can't remember) , then strained the water to use.

Oh wow! That's very interesting! How do feed the earthworms? So their poo fertilizes the plants. Good idea!

Since there is no possible way for the homeowner to evaluate or measure the nutrients that are being delivered by these "materials", it seems like an extremely inefficient process that could leave your plants deficient in what they need for healthy growth and blooms. And most potting soils have very low levels (if any) of the soil organisms necessary to breakdown these materials and convert them into plant accessible nutrient forms, so a bit of a double whammy in that regard :-)

The vermicompost leachate comes closest to being a full range fert but even that is not something I would rely on to provide complete nutrition. A complete liquid or water soluble fertilizer, like Dyna Gro's Foliage Pro, removes all the guesswork and delivers exactly what your plants need. There is really no horticulturally sound way to shortcut this.

ETA: I am not a shill for any of the Dyna Gro products :-) I have just grown a wide variety of plants in containers for many years and have learned how best to address their nutrient needs. Really any full range commercial liquid or water soluble fertilizer will work equally as well.

I've done a little of this and a little of that. Rain water or aquarium fish tank water are some of the choices I have used for touchier, more delicate plants. But generally my well water has /usually/ been good enough. I have used vinegar to lower PH of water, or added sea shells or lime to water and let it stand a while to adjust PH higher but it can take time and practice to get that right.

Personally I do a lot of my own soil mixes. For my garden, I compost everything I can and add wood ashes from our wood stove to counter the acidic nature of our soil, so adding coffee grounds would be counter productive for my situation. To my soil mixes I add a touch of lime for a PH buffer but if you didn't want to buy lime, you can use thoroughly burned wood ashes in /small/ amounts. Again, practice and use a PH tester before you do that to your plants because it's easy to over do it.

I also add charcoal (activated is best and you can make your own) and worm castings, or bat guano. We had a colony of bats that I could easily access their dried droppings to add to soil mix after sterilizing it on the outdoor grill at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (wear a mask and gloves or buy safe already sterile guano at your local nursery).

I often use willow cuttings in place of rooting hormone if I don't need a strong dip. I grow willow for that purpose and it's also good for tea against headaches (do look up and research everything carefully before doing it).

Those are a few of my tricks I do here, though some of the materials it's just easier to buy ready to use. I've also added kelp powder on many occasions when plants were showing mineral or nutrient deficiencies since some of my adenium are very heavy feeders and require higher amounts of trace minerals than most ferts provide, yet it isn't ideal to build up the salts of fertilizers but over feeding to compensate. Manure tea (I have horses) is also a common wide spectrum feed, used diluted. But again as with everything else you need to be very careful not to over do it.

I also use Dyna grow products incidentally and to some degree agree with Gardengal, but not entirely. There are a number of things you can do for organic slow release or other adjustment that you /can/ measure but it does take some research and patience. Also, when in doubt, your local Agricultural Extension office is a much under utilized /free/ resource for professional guidance in precisely this sort of thing. Stop by and chat with them and you might be amazed and also be able to tap into a local ag university as a valuable resource. Much of it is free though the Ag Ex office does have minimal charges for various tests.

There was one recipe I tried, the title was something like "fast aging cactus fertilizer"? Had stuff in there like beer and molasses and ammonia and epsom salt. The ammonia scared me but people swore by the recipe so I made a batch. I didn't really notice anything amazing when it came to my cacti and succulents except that when my christmas cactus bloomed that late fall, they went absolutely CRAZY with the flowers. I did it for a couple years before I fell out of the habit of doing it.

Now that I'm thinking about the fertilizer... If my desert rose babies make it through this winter, It could be fun to experiment with the fertilizer on some of them and see how they react. At least on the ones that have boring pink flowers, then the risk wouldn't be much...

Hyn, if I recall correctly, I think aspirin is (or was originally) derived from willow bark. Does that sound familiar to anyone else?

Tyler

If your soil has nitrifying bacteria, as most soil will after a few weeks of use, the ammonia (if diluted and not added too strong as it can burn your plants) will then be converted into nitrites and then nitrates, and then onto nitrogen, which your plants can use. It's a natural cycle found in water as well as soil, etc. That's why high ammonia based manures like bat guano and chicken droppings are so widely used as natural fertilizers, as well as being rich in trace minerals (especially bat guano).

Yes, precisely, Tyler. Willow bark is where aspirin comes from originally and has long been widely used as a mild tea or tonic. But it's also rife with rooting hormones which of course are not present in aspirin, contrary to misconceptions about adding modern aspirin to cuttings.

Yes, aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) was originally derived from willow ((Salix) species. But then lots of medicines and/or osteopathic remedies were originally derived from plants. That doesn't necessarily make them good fertilizers :-)

I teach horticulture, including classes on soils and fertilizers. It is really rather remarkable the lack of knowledge many hobby gardeners have regarding these subjects and their plants and gardens often suffer as a result. One of the major sources of confusion is the difference in how prepared commercial fertilizers and naturally occurring organic fertilizers act and with an increasing emphasis on gardeners wanted to adopt "organic" methods, unless they understand the differences, they risk not providing their plants/gardens with the nutrients they require. I encourage everyone to gather as much knowledge as they can to understand these concepts and how to apply them. But not all sources - and most definitely online sources - are equally reliable with science-based information. Do look at those with the .edu suffix, as those are typically University extension based websites and most of the time the data they publish is very good.

This is not always the case when dealing with the extension offices in person. Very often their 'help desks' are staffed with master gardeners (as part of their volunteer requirements) and while as helpful as they are, their knowledge base is limited. There is a limit to how much knowledge one can amass in 60-80 hours of study compared to a 2 or 4 year degree. Just something to be aware of :-)

Good points, though our ag offices are staffed mostly by UGA grads, not master gardeners. That said, you hardly need a degree in this field to experiment and see what works best for you in your home growing situation. It does take some care, practice, and research but after more than 40 years as a gardener, hybridizer, and propagator of many species and hybrids myself, you do tend to pick up a few things along the way to say that there is value in both research and experimenting. Just be careful with personal safety and go slow, testing on small amounts of plants rather than risking a large investment. Generally doing online research is sufficient if you find many divergent resources that agree without saying precisely the same thing. Not everyone can access science journals without signing up and paying expensive subscriptions, alas. But you can access some university data as mentioned and it's well worth doing so when you are able.

Typically, there are extension service offices in every county of each state, yet only a couple of locations in each state for the land grant universities responsible for these offices. Tough to have a grad student man an office clear across the state from where their school is located :-) That's why the master gardener program was originally created, to relieve the extension agents from having to field all the consumer calls/visits and focus on the ag related issues.

My hubby used to make a liquid comfrey fertiliser by compressing wild comfrey leaves and adding water, the smell was gross but he grew some darned good tomatoes! I don’t brew anything myself but often water the garden plants with the pond water when I backflush my fish pond filters. The pond is crystal clear but the effluent is thick and green/brown and full of plant nutrients and goodness knows what else!

Gill

I've used guano, and still sometimes use aquarium water. But I regularly use dyna gro.

I just have a really good soil mix that should not require fert for years. Once in a while I will top dress with compost or even use a compost tea. I always use reverse osmosis (ro) water so as to not destroy the beneficial bacteria in the soil.

abrahamx, that sounds like an interesting mix. Would you care to share your recipe/brand? ...and, you use this for you succulents? I, for one, would like to know more. All of my succulents and cacti are in some form of gritty mix or another, some of which are pretty lean. It would be nice to have to fertilize less often (which, to be honest, I don't always have the time to do) for those that need it.

Tyler

let me see if I can find my post where I posted my soil. Otherwise I will post it sometime this weekend. Off to work in a few.: Quickly not an exact recipe but I start with 50% Sphagnum Peat/ProMix/Premier Peat - whatever
25% compost and or earthworm castings or mix of both
25% aeration - lava rock/Perlite/Rice Hulls - etc. as a base mix.

I know alot of folks dont like to use peat but it works for me

Then I add in

alfelfa, kelp, fish, bone, blood, meal. bat and seabird guano. some azomite and or rock phosphate(glacial rock dust, greensand). I use alot of rice hulls for areation. Probably missed a few things, but I mix all this up and let cook for about 4-6 weeks as its a HOT mix. I water using compost tea to keep moist during the process or just stick it outside.

I have grown other high nute demanding plants and it works for years like I said. Just add water when needed. Like once a month for adenium. Kelp meal works wonders for all plants inside or out. I get 50 lb bags from my local elevator. Has worked for me. A few of these plants are 27 years old now. I have had them about 22 years.

Thank you for taking the time. Where are you located, please?

6b I believe. se MI

Y'all don't wanna know.

Following ... Awesome thread. I have always loved the use of natural ingredients in the garden and am still a big fan of the tonics used by Jerry Baker, Master Gardener.

So, I take it you don't like Jerry Baker. I never did a background check on the guy but have been using some of his methods for over 25 years and they have worked very well for me and everyone I've shared them with. That's evidence enough, I'd say. You don't have to be a botanist to grow a plant.

Did the grumpy lady delete her rants? Lol!