{"content":[{"text":"Make Your Own Liquid Garden Fertilizers","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.046023,"width":0.8229580000000001,"height":0.04722199999999999}},{"text":"In permaculture and sustainable agriculture we strive to produce an abundance of healthy plant products while \n actively working to enhance the health of the ecosystem that supports us. To do this effectively, we need to \n enhance the cycling of nutrients and fertility on our farms and in our gardens to ensure that we do not deplete \n soil reserves and provide the proper nutrients to plants at the optimal time in their growth cycle. While \n fertilizers of all types are readily available at garden centers, to create truly sustainable agricultural systems it \n becomes essential to explore ways to cycle and enhance fertility from resources we produce on site. Creating \n your own plant fertilizers is a fun and empowering process too!","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.126243,"width":0.8806269999999999,"height":0.12346200000000002}},{"text":"There are a number of simple, effective liquid solutions and brews we can make with more-or-less readily \n available materials to transform the health and character of our plants and soil. This document is a primer on \n several of these including comfrey, nettle, horsetail and seaweed teas; urine and aerobic compost tea.","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.267657,"width":0.867509,"height":0.052754999999999996}},{"text":"Why Use Liquid Fertilizers? \n Liquid fertilizers provide plants with high concentrations of easily-absorbed, soluble nutrients, thereby \n enhancing their health and productivity. Easy to make with readily-available biological materials, these fertilizers \n are completely organic and cost nothing to make. Improved yields; pest and disease suppression; enhanced soil \n texture, structure and fertility; reduced watering; and the elimination of the need to use additional fertilizers \n and pesticides are all beneﬁts to be gleaned from these homemade brews.","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.338485,"width":0.881583,"height":0.10818900000000004}},{"text":"What types of fertilizers can you make? \n Depending on your resources and needs, different fertilizers can be made to provide different results. Plant \n teas are made by steeping leaves in water for several weeks, thereby dissolving the nutrients into the solution. \n These teas are used to supply speciﬁc macro and micronutrients to plants at the appropriate time of year.","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.464845,"width":0.8712390000000001,"height":0.07526399999999994}},{"text":"Aerobic compost tea is literally a liquid inocculum of beneﬁcial micro-organisms that work to actively \n build healthy soil and plants. This is explored in detail below.","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.557987,"width":0.844589,"height":0.03515199999999996}},{"text":"While not covered here, you can also make ‘leachate’ brews using compost, worm compost and manure by \n steeping the dry material in water (or pouring water through the screened material). Some care should be \n taken here though to ensure that the solution is not applied when anaerobic as this may adversely affect the \n health of the plants and soil biology we’re working to enhance.","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.611091,"width":0.855392,"height":0.07043199999999994}},{"text":"Comfrey, Nettle and Horsetail Teas \n What are their beneﬁts? \n These liquid fertilizers are rich in important plant nutrients and can be easily stored and transported and \n applied to plants by watering or spraying. The nutrients they contain are readily available and only need be \n applied in small quantities. Nitrogen (N) stimulates leaf growth, potassium (K) promotes developing ﬂowers \n and fruit and phosphorus (P) enhances root growth.","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.699888,"width":0.855368,"height":0.11547300000000005}},{"text":"Comfrey \n Comfrey supplies extra potassium unavailable to most other plants. The plant's deep roots accumulate \n potassium from subsoil and it's leaves are high in nitrogen (even more than livestock manure). It has an N : P : \n K ratio of about 8 : 2.6 : 20.5 %.","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.825859,"width":0.871514,"height":0.074098}},{"text":"Mark Krawczyk","bbox":{"left":0.058824,"top":0.924344,"width":0.18225000000000002,"height":0.020464999999999955}},{"text":"www.keylinevermont.com","bbox":{"left":0.356265,"top":0.92443,"width":0.24026399999999998,"height":0.020301000000000013}},{"text":"keylinevermont@gmail.com","bbox":{"left":0.679062,"top":0.92443,"width":0.257559,"height":0.020301000000000013}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}