[WhippetMaster]

Does anyone else use nettle tea for a feed, I have been using it for about 2 weeks now and plants seem to be doing well on it.

I make it by picking nettles from the field and chopping up finely with garden sheers. Put  cuttings into a bucket and fill with water, leave in the greenhouse and a couple of days later a lovely sludge like green feed is made. It is supposed to be high in nitrogen which aids leaf growth.

It it also good for us if made from the young tips of the nettle plant and can be stewed for a brew, high in vitamin C and Folic acid.

Anyone else out there tried any of these two "magic brews."

[fibilou]

i left mine too long and it smelt like sick. Indeed I was sick in the hedge it smelt so bad !

I might give it another try if it only needs 2 days to work, there are loads of nettles on the neighbouring abandoned lottie

[WhippetMaster]

Yes greenhouse does smell rather foul, like a combination of cow poo and sick......Nice :shock:

[fibilou]

I left mine 2 weeks. You can imagine the stench  :evil:

[WhippetMaster]

Now mine has stewed for two days I'm tempted to evict it from the greenhouse for fear of scaring off any visitors!!!

[dereklane]

stewed slugs smell worse, and don't come off no matter how hard you scrub (I collected them last year in a 4 pint milk carton with a little beer in the bottom. First they drown, then they putrify. I felt bad, but they *were* eating my garden)

I have done the nettle tea (both as soup for me and for the plants). I like it, my wife doesn't. But the 'tea' for the plants is quite stinky, and I've heard its good for keeping away bugs too.

[Ruby Red]

On the big dig a woman who was into "Green "methods collected fag ends from a pub and stewed them for a couple of days. She then strained the liquid and used a plant mister to spray the green fly and other bugs on her beans. Is this ok do you think or would the beans end up tasting of fags. Wouldnt know whether to light it or eat it. It worked very well.

[Scribbler]

I can recommend the nettle tea. Did this when I had my lottie. Smell was so bad you could be sure it was doing the plants good, and they seemed to love it.

[Yorkie]

You really wouldn't want to put stewed fag ends on your plants.

Just think of all the carcinogens and other chemicals - nicotine for a start - which will not decay in water, and which will therefore be on / absorbed into your edible plants.

Nicotine used to be an ingredient of old pesticides or fertilisers, and was I daresay banned for a good reason  :shock:

[iwantanallotment]

Is the nettle tea sprayed onto the foliage or are the plants watered with it? Or both?
Are there any plants it isn't suitable for?

[compostqueen]

they use it on our site and they reckon it's good for stuff rabbits would otherwise eat, they're put off by the smell apparently

[Scribbler]

Stick it on the roots rather than leaves - it's powerful stuff.

[noshed]

Comfrey tea - don't spray it around just before you eat your sarnies.

[iwantanallotment]

Just bought comfrey seeds. Can't find nettle seeds  
Wish I hadn't been so thorough with the weeding now cos I had both, absolutely thriving :roll:
Yes I could go picking nettles in hedgerows etc, but folks already pointing at me as the person who scrapes 'oss muck up into carrier bags.....I don't want 'em seeing me bagging up nettles too, I gotta live here  :?

[WhippetMaster]

I live next to a lane covered in nettle leaves so the neighbours appreciate it when I rip out a bag or two. I water the tea into the base of the plant as a big nitrogen boost every two weeks. Try it on tomatoes it works a treat!!!

Don't fancy fag butts though, my plants might get addicted and start demanding Sky telly and bags of Walkers crisps