Nettle dressing for cucumbers and tomatoes
Content:
Briefly about fertilization and feeding
Gardeners very often use organic fertilizers. Among these fertilizers, there is a top dressing with nettles. Nettle food is popular because it requires no investment, has no side effects, and is very productive. However, it is important to know how to prepare and use this top dressing.
For which crops is nettle feeding suitable and for which it is better not to use
Top dressing with nettles is suitable for most agricultural and decorative flowering plants. It stimulates development and fruiting well, and is also a source of nitrogenous elements and silicon. It has a good effect on:
- Tomatoes;
- Pepper;
- Cabbage;
- Cucumbers;
- Strawberries;
- Garden flowers;
- Indoor flowers and many more cultures.
But under:
- Onion;
- Garlic;
- Radish;
- Plants from the legume family are not recommended.
Nettle top dressing: benefits
If you fertilize tomato bushes with nettle dressing, then they will develop and grow more actively, and you will also accelerate their flowering. Already adult specimens that have begun to bear fruit, with such feeding, will accumulate carbohydrate elements, which will have a positive effect on the taste of the crop.
This composition can be used for both root and foliar dressing. With such fertilizers, the synthesis of chlorophyll increases, and the plant itself is saturated with minerals. Also in the composition of the nettle are present:
- Minerals;
- Vitamins;
- Organic acid;
- Tannins;
- Phytoncides.
Such a composition has a very positive effect on plants, their growth, development, taste and quality of future fruits. Thanks to this fertilizer, as a top dressing for nettle crops, they build up a strong root system and increase their resistance to diseases and insect pests.
The maximum effect of such fertilization can be observed on weakened crops, for example, after transplantation. After making the infusion of nettle for the subcortex of plants, they adapt faster, get stronger and become brighter.
Earthworms also adore nettles, which is another plus.
Nettle top dressing: how to cook?
The most important step in preparing a nettle top dressing is the timely collection of plant materials. For the manufacture of top dressing, stalks and foliage will be needed, even before the seeds begin to ripen on them. It is better to collect it in ecologically clean places, away from roads and all kinds of enterprises. If you want to make an infusion, then fresh parts of the plant are suitable for this.
The first recipe for feeding nettle
The best option would be: watering directly under the root, or thoroughly spraying the foliage. But for different procedures, you need a different concentration.
First cooking method
It looks like this. One kilogram of fresh nettle must be chopped and placed in a large container, it must be not made of metal. Then fill it with ten liters of cold, clean water and put it in the sun. Every day you need to stir so that the infusion has access to fresh oxygen. The fermentation time is approximately ten to fifteen days.If you want to use the infusion as a foliar feeding, then you need to filter it and dilute it in a ratio of one to ten. If you decide to fertilize directly at the root, then filtration is not necessary. For leaf crops, the dilution ratio should be: one to one, and for vegetables: one to five.
Second cooking method
A suitable amount of raw material needs to be crushed. Fill the container with them by thirty percent, and fill the rest of the space with water, you need the water to be warm, clean and settled. The container must be tightly closed with plastic wrap. Every day you need to stir the infusion. If you want to carry out foliar processing, or spraying, then you need to dilute in a ratio of one in twenty. If root feeding is needed, then the ratio should be one to ten.
The second recipe for infusion of nettle for dressing
In addition to a pure nettle solution, a complex solution can also be made. For this recipe, you can use both fresh and dry yeast. But the cooking methods will of course differ. To get the nettle-yeast mixture-infusion, you need to mix:
- Ten liters - water;
- One liter - nettle infusion;
- Two hundred milliliters - yeast infusion.
First cooking method
Dilute one hundred grams of granulated sugar in one liter of water and add one hundred grams of fresh yeast for bakery products. Then mix everything well so that the mass becomes homogeneous and pour in another two liters of water. Then you need to put in a warm and bright place for successful fermentation. After the mixture stops fermenting, it can be used in business.
Second cooking method
You need to take ten grams of dry yeast, two tablespoons of granulated sugar and stir them in two and a half liters of warm water. Let it brew for twenty-four hours.
Third recipe: with a bakery product
You can make an infusion of nettle for plant nutrition from a nettle bush and bread. The bread can be either fresh or dry. How to do it: you need to take a large container and fill it with chopped nettles, dried bread crumbs and bread crusts, add any yeast and pour seventy-five percent water over it all. The time for the solution to be infused will have to be allocated, about ten to fourteen days. You need to dilute in a ratio of one to ten.
The fourth recipe, with a dandelion plant
First you need to grind the collected nettles and dandelions. Next, fill the selected container by sixty to seventy percent and add granulated sugar or jam. Fill the free space with warm water. You need to insist for about ten to fifteen days. In addition to dandelion, you can add other weeds that grow in the garden.
Nettle infusion for plant nutrition: application
This tincture can be used both root and foliar. The frequency of application depends on the feeding method. Root feeding should be carried out no more than once every seven days, approximately one to two liters per crop. For foliar feeding, the frequency should be once every thirty days. More frequent use can hurt the plant and burn its foliage.
Infusion of nettle for plant nutrition: photo
Nettle feed for tomato culture
In this case, the solution can be applied from the moment of planting to the very period of flowering. But complex fertilizers are still needed. You can fertilize once every fourteen days, allocating about one liter for each bush.
Nettle dressing for cucumbers
With this culture, things are like this: you can fertilize with nettle infusion throughout the entire period of growth and development. Feeding should be done once every fourteen days. Cucumbers will grow better and their fruits will be tastier.
Nettle dressing for grapes and strawberry bushes
Such fertilization will help the berries become more aromatic and sweet.You need to apply the infusion once every fourteen days.
How it can help fight disease and insect pests
Such infusion of nettle for feeding can protect plants from diseases. For example, it can protect tomatoes from late blight. This will require: one kilogram of chopped nettle, pour five liters of water. All this mixture must be boiled for fifteen minutes, then wait until the mixture has cooled, filtered. Next, for spraying, mix one to twenty with water. To process the bushes, you need about one to three times. For the treatment of the disease, this method is not suitable, only for preventive measures.
It can also help in getting rid of aphids from cucumber bushes. To do this, you need to take one kilogram of chopped grass, pour it with a bucket of boiling water. Let it brew for twenty-four hours. Then filter and start spraying, those parts that are affected.
Dried nettles can be mulched around the plant. This will be a good slug remedy. You need to pick the herbs, dry them and lay them around the bush. It will also help by retaining moisture. And then it will rot and become fertilizer.
Conclusion
Nettle can be not only an undesirable weed that causes burns, but also a useful fertilizer for garden and horticultural crops.