Have you made fertiliser teas from anything other than nettles or comfrey?

LG_

Someone suggested to me that it was a use for green alkanet. I've mostly beaten it in my garden, but do have to deal with regrowth where I can't dig down to get all the roots, so would have material. But it has occurred to me that you only ever hear about comfrey or nettles being used to make plant food - is that because other plants just don't work?

UpNorth

Alkanet and Comfrey, i believe both from the Borage family.   I have used Alkanet and have been working through my stored bottles slowly.  I can't validate that it works, but i can say it hasn't harmed any small shrubs, plants, trees i've used it on.

i've taken to just putting the alkanet leaves onto my compost pile to add some value.

Helix

I have made some with horsetail (equisetum) which has useful trace elements and is supposed also to be an antifungal.  Also make one from ferns to help get rid of aphids and also supposed to be a more general insecticide, but don’t often have enough ferns.

I also make an evil weed tea.......basically ground elder, bindweed and other nasties which I drown in a bucket of water for at least a week, and then use the liquid on plants as it does have some nutrients in it.  The soggy dead stinky mess gets dumped in a pile and once I’m completely sure it’s dead it can go in compost heap.

Apparently seaweed is good too....(as long as you don’t steal live seaweed!)

Skandi

elder tea is ment to work as an insecticide, I have not tried it.

LG_

Interesting, thank you all.

I'm not getting the impression that a green alkanet tea would be particularly worth the hassle (or smell!) of making it. But I might just give it a go if I find I have enough at any one time.

Hampshire_Hog

I use seaweed that I collect from the beach you should collect it below the high tide mark and that is free and /or floating.
Anything above high tide line is left as the birds sift through this and feed on all the little critters that live in it.

I also use horse manure in an old hessian sack soaking in a water butt for a few weeks.🐖 

josusa47

Not a fertiliser, but back in the day when more of us smoked, I heard of people boiling up cigarette ends to spray insect pests.  If you think comfrey tea smells bad .....

LG_

Ugh @josusa47!

I'm nowhere near the sea, unfortunately, @Hampshire_Hog. Tell me more about your strange horse manure rituals...?! Does it have to be fresh? Can it be cow / chicken / guinea pig manure?

Hampshire_Hog

@LG_ Re horse manure I use what ever I have at the time fresh or old just put two or three shovel fulls in an old hessian sack and just chuck it in the water butt leave it for a few weeks to ferment then use it as a general fertiliser at about a 10% solution but I don't bother to measure it. and yes I understand you can use cow or chicken but never heard of anyone using guinea pigs 🐹🐹 but I don't see why not.

I have three water butts one each for seaweed, horse manure and comfrey. 🐗

LG_

My apologies, @Hampshire_Hog, I didn't see your response - must have missed the notification. I don't think I'd have a water butt to spare here, but perhaps just using the same method in a sealed bucket or dustbin might be the future. Thank you.