Nettle Liquid Manure

How to make your own nettle liquid manure

Nettle Manure is an organic and free plant/soil feed which can be easily made in any garden, all you need is some young nettles and some water (ideally, rainwater). Almost every plant seem to benefit from its application.
It is considered to be pest-repellent and supplies the plants with nitrogen, potassium and silicic acid - especially silicic acid (SiO2) is said to improve the taste of vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers. In addition, nettle liquid manure lures earthworms into the soil.

Nettle Manure can be started in the spring when the young nettles begin to appear and can be continued throughout the Summer and early Autumn to give a valuable plant/soil feed throughout the main growing seasons.

The preparation is simple:

For 10 litres of liquid manure, cut 1 kilogram of fresh nettles into a container (use gloves!). Add 10 litres of water and stir vigorously every day. Make sure that all plants are covered with water. Cover the container to prevent rainwater causing it to overflow. After approx. 2 to 3 weeks the liquid manure is ready fermented. It is ready when no more rising bubbles are visible.
The nettle liquid manure can give a fairly earthy and bad smell. You can reduce this smell by adding a handful of rock flour, compost or bentonite, while at the same time increasing the mineral content of the liquid manure.

Before you use the liquid manure, sieve off the plant residues and dilute them with water in a ratio of 1:10 to 1:20. 10 litres of liquid manure will result in up to 200 litres of watering water.

You can also spray the diluted liquid manure on leaves as an insect repellent, but only on leaves that you do not want to eat later. Before spraying, you must also strain the liquid manure through a cloth to prevent the nozzle from being blocked.
Use up the liquid manure quickly.