Steeping plants to make fertilizer? tell me more (Experiments)

Advanced Techniques
#1

i recently heard Dragonfly Farms(BC folks) speaking on the PotCast(#25, 4hr talk) and they describe collection of various plants, chopping them up, steeping & brewing the stuff to make their special juice. sounds very interesting & holistic & likely very viable/applicable.

indeed, i have a couple of the plants they suggest using(prickly-pear & berry vine), and yucca, and LAB, and indigeonous microbe sources(vermicompost), etc. some mammothP as well & some mammoth+molasses(cheapskate :grin:).

their facebook posts have a bit of info on the technique but iā€™m curious if any of yā€™all are familiar with this or do it?

:evergreen_tree:

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#2

I have mixed feelings about DEM. I think they do some really cool things, but make organics way harder than it needs to be IMO.

Now that being said, yes steeping plants for their secondary plant metabolites is a simple and effective way to feed the soil/plant. I use neem and kelp in a cold steep every three or four weeks. Plants from the mint family are also useful as IPM treatments.

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#3

Yup fpj is nothing new really. Rice wash is one of the more cheap/common. With it you donā€™t need all the extra sugar for fermentation. If youā€™re using lawn clippings the added sugar needed makes the price unrealistic. You add some yogurt seabird n eathworm to that n you got a recipe for n awesome grow. Edit forgot seaweed for your k

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#4

Come again pretty please!?

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#5

Whatā€™s your question bud? Did ya get hung up on the yogurt part?

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#6

maybe you could be a bit more specific about the application, and the ideas behind it?
recently another customer in a grow store told me yogurt could be used in place of bokashi starter, but I havenā€™t seen any specifics about what cultures are viable for composting/growing, the ideas behind it, and the actual method of usage.Iā€™m highly intrigued, and using cultures in compost certainly makes sense, but Iā€™m still hesitant to put dairy fat in my compost.

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#7

HAHAHHA Correct i did.

Maybe a link to study more about it?

Please and thanks

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#8

@cannabissequoia I donā€™t know anything about dragonfly earth medicine, but Iā€™ve been planning to make a similar tea with a ton of lemon balm and herbs from my garden. Iā€™ll let you know how it goes. I get great results mulching with fresh chopped lemon balm, and then watering through it. Iā€™ve been looking for a way to use the outdoor lemon balm in my indoor grow with minimal risk of cross contamination, and tea seems like a good option.

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#9

Really? I just made my first FPJ with dandelion greens, banana, and sugar. Let it sit for a few days, strain and diluteā€¦ It was a pretty easy process on my scale and the plants seemed to like it quite a bit.

Is it just that you a self proclaimed lazy gardener and rather just top dress and water? Lol

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#10

Sorry donā€™t have a link to a study. Just my experience to offer. Think about it though itā€™s a super food for good reason. Itā€™s got nitrogen (fat) potassium phosphorus every micro nutrient the oldest benifical bacterial culture know to man amino acids on n on. Weā€™re talking about something you literally pour shit on yet every1 gets worried when I suggest yogurt. Lol

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#11

Yep, thatā€™s pretty much my answer to everything. That or run it through the worm bin first.

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#12

we need some detailed direction on how to make fpj from wild plants please @skiball.

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#13

FPJ really easy:

Take your plant matter, cut it up quite fine and mix in equal amount of weight in brown sugar. Place in jar with paper towel covering the top and let stand in cool dark place for several days depending on weather.
After a few days it should smell like alcohol then simply strain out most of the plant matter and refrigerate the remaining FPJ. Can be fed at 1ml to 10ml per 1000ml

For veg use greenish fast growing weeds like dandelion and for flower use orange fruit / veg like banana, mango, paupau, pumpkin or butternut.

if my write up doesnt make sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp6ZAmtbDj8

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#14

Iā€™m very interested in the idea but have some questions before i start trying it.

what species/matā€™l rules are there?..i.e. some good/some bad?
only healthy plants? only certain parts?..i.e new growth tips or root tips etc?
what about pest & pathogens coming along? do they drown/get ā€œeatenā€?
(dragonfly farms) indicates that aeration is key to eliminating less desireable anaerobes.

what can go wrong? things to watch out for?

and then of courseā€¦ recipes? :wink:

iā€™ve seen composting books with %s of NPK/etc. that has some lists of common matā€™ls but nothing extensive. it seems like an almost hyper-local/regional thing, in the way microbes areā€¦to me.

the dragonfly folks speaking on the subject mentioned a few species i have: berry vines, prickly pear, aloe, yucca, weeds, etc. anxious to do this. :nerd:

:evergreen_tree:

#15

Got all my info here: https://ilcasia.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/chos-global-natural-farming-sarra.pdf

Iā€™ve bombed plants with this and seen no bad effects. Itā€™s not like bottle nutes itā€™s more a supplement to enhance your organic setup. As the username suggests Iā€™m still new at it and the plants dont dislike it so.

Recipes, I do a banana, papaya, black molasses with a small splash of beer along with sugar for flowering. Feed that once a week in flower. For the fruit ones you just chop it all up but for the veg ones you can rather harvest grow tips and roots but Iā€™ve gotten lazy and I just bomb whatever weeds are close by in with all the bits. I dont do much fpj in veg though maybe a splash of root fpj for seedlings. Prefer fish emulsion in veg

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#16

(1) and (2) ā€“ The plants that will provide the most benefit are those that have the same nutritional needs as the one youā€™re feeding, and the same is true for the parts of the plant youā€™re looking to benefit. Growth tips have the highest nutrition and hormone levels, especially during periods of fast growth. Avoid damaged plant matter, or any you suspect is diseased.

(3) I believe you are correct. The high sugar content and then alcohol content should handle basic pests.

(4) In most cases there will be a huge amount of airspace when you start. Itā€™ll take a while for enough liquid to build up to displace the bubbles.

(5) If thereā€™s any ā€œoffā€ odors, toss it.

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#17

@Worcestershire_Farms @anon98152597

Thanks! :thumbsup:

:evergreen_tree:

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#18

I have some and I just add it to water and feed with it before the get into the super soil. How do you use it?

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#19

Pretty similar, I use it when the seedlings dont respond to a worm tea. From my understanding its as close as you can get to a bottled veg nute. I donā€™t like making it though, smells sooo bad, luckily a batch seems to last for quite long. Current batch is on 8 months but almost finished

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