Nettle manure

When the nettle plants reach 30 cm, the first liquid manure of the season is prepared.

Here's how to do it.

Dressed in thick cotton clothing and wearing well-gloved gloves, use shears to cut enough nettle stems to half-fill a plastic bucket. Then lightly compress the stems in the container, which is filled with unchlorinated water. Stir daily with a stick. Fermentation begins after a few days and is completed 10 days later. The broth will then be very fragrant. It's time to filter. Filtered, the manure can be stored for several months in a cool, dark place.

To fertilize tomatoes, eggplants, cucurbits and other voracious plants, it is suggested to water the base of the plants with a 20% diluted solution, after a good rain.

To prevent the carrot fly from laying eggs, it is suggested to water the crop every 3 to 4 days with liquid manure also diluted to 20%.

Nettle roots can also be used to make a liquid manure. Researchers have found that such a manure reduces the growth of pathogenic fungi by 85%, making it a preventative tool for fungal diseases such as mildew and powdery mildew.

At the Jardins du Grand-Portage, each year we combine nettle and comfrey to prepare three purines that we apply as fertigation at the base of the voracious plants every 3 weeks starting in mid-June. This treatment complements the spring compost applications well and allows us to obtain exceptional yields at very little cost.

As a reference, I suggest the excellent book by Bernard Bertrand , Les secrets de l'Ortie, published by Éditions de Terran.

Diane Mackay, herbalist and seed grower.