[VegWill]

What are the nutrient requirements for leafy veg like Chard and Kale?

What organic fertilisers can be bought that would suit?

Can I make my own?

[mumofstig]

They need mostly nitrogen, I use chicken manure pellets - some are labelled organic, although I know some people prefer not to use them, or there is Blood Fish & Bone.

[JayG]

Animal-derived fertilisers from free range sources do exist but are hard to track down, mainly because the word "organic" has more than one meaning and is often used very loosely. 

Gurgling found a source of dried chicken poo from free range hens which was reasonably priced, but the additional delivery cost was more than the price of the fertiliser! 

What you buy mainly depends on your own definition of "organic" Vegwill.

[mumofstig]

I still trust Chase Organics Their Organic gardening catalogue is full of organic goodies, at a higher price than non-organic though, obviously 
http://www.organiccatalogue.com/display.php?p=about

It depends on your standards, and your pocket, whether organic just means 'natural ie non chemical' or the higher standards brands that Chace Organics, and the like, sell.

[VegWill]

By "organic" I really meant non-chemically derived. 

Can you make fish blood and bone into a liquid feed?

[JayG]

Organic fertilisers are generally regarded as a more slow release form of adding nutrients, which is no bad thing if that's what you're looking for, and if it's fine enough to disperse in water you will speed up the beneficial effects compared with just sprinkling it on the soil and waiting for the rain to wash it in.

Unlike liquid feeds made from chemical salts it's not soluble in the strict sense of the word - I suggest you do a test to see if it's fine enough to form a temporary suspension for long enough to water it in.

Dried chicken poo can also be dispersed in water, but you may have to powder it in your liquidiser first, which may not go down too well either with you or possibly your other half too!   

Using either could be problematic if you have foxes in your area - in my experience they eventually learn to avoid dried chicken poo (until they have cubs when it starts all over again) but FBB is the equivalent of Thornton's Continental to a chocoholic! 

[mumofstig]

You could dilute some pee and water with that - it's a good nitrogen feed 

http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/gardening/605742/urine_the_ultimate_organic_fertiliser.html

[Trillium]

I just use plain chicken manure that's aged a bit and I get whopper crops of all 3. I spread it in fall and let it mature all winter, then plant seeds in late spring. As usual, I have far too much crops and don't know what to do with half of it.

[gobs]

Lols! This thread just reminded me of a guy having an orchard next to us back, decades, far away... He bought a potable loo for fertilizing  purposes...

[Kristen]

By "organic" I really meant non-chemically derived. 

Can you make fish blood and bone into a liquid feed?

Its a minefield.  Blood comes from abattoirs, and non organically reared animals may well have high concentrations of antibiotics and hormones.  Perhaps they present more of a threat, absorbed through veg and back into the food chain,  than simple chemicals - such as Ammonium nitrate.

For a Nitrogen fertiliser I agree with dilute pee.  I don't use it on my veg (I'm not overly organic here, just try not to use herbicides and pesticides in / near the veg), but I do use it on leafy ornamentals - only not to waste it! - also pee onto compost heap as it is an excellent accelerator.

other alternative is to make Nettle tea - steep the nettles in water and then dilute the resulting stinky mix to the colour of weak tea.  It is best made when the nettles are in full growth, early in the Summer. (If you go down that route worth growing Comfrey to make a potash rich "tea" fertiliser - but get the Bocking 14 variety, which is sterile, otherwise they will seed all over the garden ...)

[Kristen]

Lols! This thread just reminded me of a guy having an orchard next to us back, decades, far away... He bought a potable loo for fertilizing  purposes...

I have a bucket in the garden, half filled with water.  Its in a secluded spot en route to the greenhouse ...

Nightsoil was popular years ago, but I'm not sure how sensible that is on veg - same reason as not composting dog poo (well, any meat-eating pet)