2 Steps to Make Nettle Manure

Summary

    – Focus on nettle slurry

    – Step 1: Prepare the nettle slurry

    – Step 2: Spread the nettle manure

    – To go further…

Nettle manure is a fertilizer that helps vegetable garden plants and other crops resist disease.

Anyone can make it themselves, but you can now find it on the market.

Here are the recipe and tips on making and using nettle manure, a very organic product.

What is Nettle manure?

Nettle manure is an anti-parasite used as an insect repellent, as it repels insects, aphids and mites. Its contribution of nitrogen, iron and nutrients helps bring vigour and growth to plants, making it an excellent natural fertilizer.

And even if the final composition of the liquid manure varies with the season, the manufacturing process and the application, the properties of this mixture are not in doubt.

Caution: during the preparation, fermentation is a delicate step that requires daily attention.

1. Prepare the nettle slurry

Remove stinging nettles before they bloom (mid-April or September).

    – Cut off the roots.

    – Put 1 kg in a non-metallic container.

    – Leave this mixture to macerate in 10 litres of water (preferably rain or spring) and outside (the water should not be chlorinated, nor too basic or acidic).

    – Some tips to obtain a good fermentation and avoid putrefaction:

        ◦ Stir this mixture daily.

        ◦ The fermentation time to be respected depends on the ambient temperature:

            ▪ 14 days at 20°C;

            ▪ 21 days at 5°C;

            ▪ above 25°C, the risk of putrefaction becomes significant.

        ◦ Chopping the nettles accelerates fermentation (if the amount is large, spread the nettles on the ground and run the mower over them).

        ◦ During the fermentation phase, bubbles rise to the surface, forming a white foam; it is finished when they disappear.

        ◦ Cover the container with a cloth during this fermentation; you will limit the malodorous effluvia a little. Avoid that flies attracted by this high protein mixture come to lay eggs.

    – At the end of this maceration (as soon as the foam disappears), filter the nettle slurry solution (on a fine cloth) to remove all the nettle residues.

    – Then, store the slurry in tightly closed, opaque plastic containers, away from light and at a temperature of about 18°C.

Note: if you use tap water, it is advisable to let it settle for a few days, so it is not too chlorinated.

2. Spread the nettle manure

As an anti-parasite

    – Dilute 1 litre of preparation in 10 litres of water (rain or spring).

    – Spray the leaves of the plants with this mixture every 2 to 3 weeks.

As a natural fertilizer

    – Dilute 2 litres of preparation in 10 litres of water (rain or spring).

    – Water the plants at the foot every week, at the beginning of the season.

    – Do not exceed 1 litre of mixture per m2.

As a compost activator

Water the compost with undiluted (and even unfiltered) liquid manure: it will activate the decomposition of your waste.

To go further…

    – Respect the dilutions because an excess of liquid manure can harm your plants and, in particular, burn them.

    – Nettle manure is aggressive to the skin, so don’t forget to wear gloves.

    – Do not treat the plants at the beginning or during flowering; the foliage development would be to the detriment of the flowers.

    – Nettles are home to some butterflies, so don’t pull up all the nettles. You would remove the butterflies from your garden.

    – This plant is undoubtedly the friend of the gardener, to whom it allows a beautiful ecological gesture, but let us not forget the culinary and medical virtues of the nettle.

Equipment to make and use a nettle purin

Watering can with apple

Gardening gloves

Pressure sprayer