Kenyan experts are running a demo day showing farmers how to make bamboo smoke, which Ugandans combine with chicken tea to blend a perfect organic fertiliser and pesticide that is halving their pesticide use and improving their crop yields.
On 7th March, Cookswell, the makers of energy-saving jikos and kilns, will host a training session on making wood vinegar at Isinya. You can register to attend here: FarmBizAfrica’s farm tours.
Bamboo wood vinegar which is made by trapping smoke from ‘cooking’ bamboo is diluted to make a foliar spray that halves disease while improving vegetable production. Chicken manure tea meanwhile is a nutrient-rich organic fertiliser that has been shown to increase crop yields by up to 50 per cent.
The half-day session will cover the choice of bamboo or wood for making wood vinegar, preparation of bamboo wood vinegar, charcoal/biochar and wood vinegar collection, wood vinegar and tar separation as well as the storage and uses of wood vinegar.
Grace Nsubuga a horticulture farmer in Bulindo, a village 17 kilometres northeast of Kampala, started using the bamboo wood vinegar and chicken tea manure after attending a 2018 demonstration held at Makerere University on how to make the potent fertiliser and pesticide mixture.
“The first step is to compost your chicken manure for three to six months, she said. This is done to get rid of diseases in the manure such as Salmonella and E. coli and also reduce the high nitrogen levels in fresh manure that can burn plants or transmit diseases to humans.
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Chicken tea manure is among the best sources of nitrogen (1.5–6%), phosphorus (1–4%), and potassium (0.5–3%) which are all key for quick and strong plant development.
“We then mix the manure with compost or straw to balance its nutrient content,” she added
Then make a ‘tea bag’ from a porous bag such as an old sack/gunia. This bag is filled with the aged chicken manure and put into a bucket about one-third full of water. A brick can be placed on top of it to ensure it is fully in the water.
The bucket is left to sit for about three days to two weeks outside in the sun depending on how strong you want your fertiliser to be.
“You will have to mix it every day to ensure the nutrients quickly get into the water,” she explained.
Water is added to the concentrated manure tea at a 1:4 to 1:10 ratio depending on if it is used as a fertiliser to be applied in the soil or to leaves as a foliar. The final mixture will look like a weak pale brown or yellow tea depending on the level of dilution.
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The bamboo vinegar is diluted with water at a 1:100 ratio and then mixed with the brewed chicken manure tea starting with a small test batch to observe any reactions.
“We apply the mixture to the soil around plants or as a foliar spray during early morning or late afternoon to prevent leaf burn,” Grace illuminated.
Both chicken manure tea and bamboo vinegar are very potent and farmers must ensure they are properly diluted to prevent them from burning your plants.