[coldandwindy]

I make "nettle tea" once I can find some nettles. I'm interested what brews people make & what else you use. Can I make my own liquid seaweed? Is there something else I can dissolve or ferment at this time of year, to start feeding things in the cell trays before the nettles are growing? (I have access to seaweed, non-organic cow and sheep manure & all the usual weeds  )

[Kleftiwallah]

Good morning coldandwindy,  you can make liquid feeds out of oooodles of stuff.  I make seaweed liquor by hanging a bag of seaweed in a waterbutt, I've also made comfley tea from the hedgerows (but there's a bit of a cerfuffle over 'Bocking 14' people seem to think any others are substandard).

I've also made liquid feed from well rotteh horse manure but I've never kept records as the the relative effectiveness of once agains another.

Cheers,  Tony.

[Aunt Sally]

Blocking 14 has sterile flowers, so is favoured because it doesn’t propargate itself easily.

[Russell Atterbury]

I generally had excellent results from alternate weekly feeding of black bladderwrack and burdock leaf teas. i used them on everything i grew in mostly poor soil.

[jaydig]

I tend to use comfrey in my small water butt - just cut it and dump it in and nettles and weeds in another.  The smell is awful, but the results are good.  Comfrey for anything that flowers, including cauliflowers and broccoli, and nettles and weeds for anything else. 

[Alank]

I tend not to give any additional feed when seedlings are still in modules etc I find it better to give any required feed once seedlings are in their permanent growing area.

[coldandwindy]

Thanks. Any idea how big a bag (hessian?) in how much water?

When I make nettle "tea" I fill a bucket with very well stamped down nettle tops then fill it with water, wait 2 weeks & use it diluted about 1 in 10. The brassicas seem to appreciate it! 
I can't gather nettles here until May but there's loads of seaweed.

I remember Geoff Hamilton putting a hessian bag of sheep droppings in a water butt but I don't remember the details. Plenty of sheep here (about 20 for every person at the last count! )

[coldandwindy]

Blocking 14 has sterile flowers, so is favoured because it doesn’t propargate itself easily.

Is the resulting liquor superior to using nettle or other weeds?

[coldandwindy]

I tend not to give any additional feed when seedlings are still in modules etc I find it better to give any required feed once seedlings are in their permanent growing area.

I'm thinking of some cabbages that have been in cell trays for a while & the leeks that are very small yet but will be in pots for another month at least.

[Alank]

Personally I would just pot them on into larger pots or cell trays as I think they would benefit more from the extra available compost and better root development.
My show leeks are potted on five times before going into their final growing position and they are not kept in a small pot and fed.
If you don't have time or space to pot on I would only feed with a week feed mix.

[Growster...]

I still use a few handfuls of 6X in a holed carrier bag, which I hang in a container for a great liquid feed.

It's mainly chicken droppings anyway, and when used 'young' smells quite 'nice' too!

Then I add comfrey and nettles and make the place pong like crazy...

[al78]

Blocking 14 has sterile flowers, so is favoured because it doesn’t propargate itself easily.

Just make sure you plant it somewhere where it is not going to become a nuisance, because once it establishes, it will grow from the smallest root cuttings, and the roots go deep, so getting rid of it is very difficult without chemicals.