This being planting season for farmers and fertilisers at record prices or unavailable to most small-scale farmers, we will be covering the simplest ways of making organic fertiliser in under one week.
Weed Tea
This is made by stuffing ¼ full of weeds into a bucket and filling it with water. It is then covered and the weeds are left to soak for between two to four weeks, stirring every week until the water turns brown (tea-like).
This adds nitrogen, the most important and most absorbed nutrient by plants, and hydrates them as well.
Weed seeds in the tea can be sieved out using a worn sack (gunia) to avoid the introduction of weeds to your crop.
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It is best fed to crops by pouring it at the base of each plant as most nutrients are absorbed through root hairs near root tips.
The mixture can also be diluted to the colour of weak tea and sprayed as a foliar fertilizer.
Manure Tea
A bucket is filled up to one-third with manure and water is added for the remaining two-thirds.
This is left to sit enclosed for two days, being mixed twice daily. Before scooping and feeding the manure tea to crops, the solid material is left for at least one hour to sediment.
The liquid manure should be diluted to a pale brown colour before being fed as foliar to crops.
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Manure tea helps primary nutrients, i.e, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), get absorbed faster by plants while avoiding scorching.
It is fed weekly to plants.