This is an old habit: mostly all kitchen waste is pushed into the trash or waste disposal area. This is a habit, which was in practice since before we were born.
However, trashing kitchen waste is a waste of useful resources considering that you can convert the waste into essentially useful products, which can be used to improve soil quality, plant yield, and growth.
Kitchen waste contains organic nutrients that can be used to make liquid fertilizer or compost manure.
The process is a good waste management strategy, which is an effective and environmentally friendly way of eliminating waste through recycling kitchen waste. Find more information about the ecological role of composting from here.
By recycling these leftovers and other kitchen scraps, these smelly scraps can be turned into something useful for the growth of your garden vegetables and flowers.
Read on to learn how to make liquid fertilizer from kitchen waste.
There is various kitchen waste that you can use to make liquid fertilizer at home.
Let us start with:
Before then, here are some recommended composting products:
- Compost Tumbler, buy here on Amazon
- Composting Grinder, buy here on Amazon
- Gardening gloves, buy here on Amazon
Banana Peels Liquid Fertilizer
Banana peels are an essentially good kitchen organic waste that can be fermented into a liquid fertilizer and use for healthy plant growth.
The peels of banana contain a high amount of potassium and magnesium, which are required by both fruits and flowers.
However, plants like green leafy vegetables do not like too much potassium and therefore you need to avoid feeding leafy green vegetables with Banana peels homemade liquid fertilizer.
Here is how to make liquid fertilizer from banana peels:
Read: How To Take Care Of A Garden (Vegetables & Flowers)
Recipes: banana peels, bucket, water
Method: to make liquid fertilizer from banana peels, just place the banana peels in a bucket with a lid. Cover the banana peels with water and allow to ferment for 2-4 days.
How to use: after 2 or 4 days, strain the tea into a separate container. If the banana tea is too concentrated, add some water to dilute the solution.
Apply on a small portion of your garden, if nothing happens to the garden and you observe a healthy growth from your garden plants, then go on to feed other plants with the fertilizer.
You will do this because there may be some plants in your garden that do not like too much and you don’t know.
Vegetables Waste Liquid Fertilizer
Those leafy green vegetable waste in your kitchen can also be turned into a liquid fertilizer when boiled. They contain a high amount of nitrogen, which is an essential nutrient for plant growth.
Recipes: leafy green vegetables waste ( such as spinach, lettuce, and cabbage), water, and boiling pot.
Method: collect the leafy green vegetable waste from your kitchen and place them in a boiling pot and add water.
Place the boiling pot on heat and boil for about 10-15 minutes. After this time, remove the pot from heat and leave it to cool down to room temperature.
You can also collect vegetables cooking water. It is also packed with many nutrients( such as vitamins and nitrogen) that can be used by plants.
How to use: allow the tea to cool down for about 4-5 hours. Then, apply the liquid fertilizer around the base of your garden plants. You can also spray this manure on garden beds made for vegetables.
Coffee Grounds Liquid Fertilizer
Coffee grounds are residue or remains of what you left when we strain our morning coffee.
These coffee grounds are somethings to be trashed because the grounds have numerous benefits and include supporting plant growth and improving soil fertility.
Coffee is parked with nitrogen and other essential nutrients that are required by plants.
here is to make liquid fertilizer from coffee grounds:
Recipes: coffee grounds, water, container,
Steeping time: 2-4 days
Method: fill any container of your choice with a lid to half with coffee grounds. Then, cover the coffee grounds with water and allow to steep for about two to three days. After this time, strain the coffee grounds tea into another container and cap.
How to use: you can use this coffee grounds liquid fertilizer to feed your garden vegetables and flowers. You can also correct soil with high basic PH.
Wood Ash Liquid Fertilizer
If you are using firewood to cook some of your foods, the ash that is produced from buying the firewood is an important resource, which can be turned into a liquid fertilizer and use to support plant growth.
The wood ash contains about 4 percent of potassium and 2 percent of phosphorus, magnesium, and sodium.
Note: do not apply wood ash fertilizer on soil that has a PH of more than 7.8. Additionally, do not use ash that is produced from coal.
Here is step by step to make liquid fertilizer from wood ash:
Recipes: bucket with lid, water, wood ash
Method: place a shovelful of wood ash into a bucket. Fill the remaining bucket with water. Cover the bucket with a lid and leave it to steep for two to four days. After this time, strain the tea using a strainer into another container.
How to use: feed your fruit plants and flowers at the base. You can also correct soil with a low level of pH with this liquid fertilizer. But, avoid feeding green leafy vegetables with this type of fertilizer.
Compost Juice Liquid Fertilizer
This is another good liquid fertilizer that can be used to enhance plant growth and improve soil quality. This can be found among gardeners who used to compost their kitchen waste.
Usually, before taking kitchen waste to the compost, kitchen waste is normally collected and gathered in a separate container.
Water usually tend to gather in this container. And this water is a good soil amendment and plant growth booster. You can collect water in a separate container and feed your garden plants.
Related: How To Make Compost From Kitchen Waste At Home
Compost Tea Liquid Fertilizer
This type of liquid fertilizer can be by steeping already finished compost in water for about two to three days. This type of organic fertilizer makes an excellent liquid fertilizer that can be used to vegetables and flowers.
Read: How To Make A Compost Step By Step (With Pictures)
Epsom Salt Liquid Fertilizer
Epsom salt is also good for making liquid fertilizer and can improve soil quality by enhancing soil fertility and water retention capacity.
Learn more about Epsom salt in compost
Eggshells and Weed
Eggshells contain a rich amount of calcium and weed is high in nitrogen. And so they can make a good combination for the growth of plants. Soak them in water and leave them to steep for two to four days. After this time, feed your plants.
Other households and kitchen waste that can be composted are tree leaves, grass clippings, and manure tea.
Note: always dilute the solution with water before feeding your garden plants with homemade liquid fertilizer. This is because the solution is very concentrated and can injure plants. Moreover, it is recommended to ferment the kitchen waste for 2-3 days. This can also extract the required nutrients from organic waste.
Takeaway
Before we go, here are some important tips you need to know about feeding your garden plants with liquid fertilizer:
Before feeding your garden plants, know the materials from which the liquid fertilizer is made. This is because different garden plants have different fertilizer requirements.
Some plants require a high amount of potassium while other plants require a high amount of nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron. So, it is important to know the fertilizer requirements of your garden plants.
Additionally, pay close attention to the type of soil you want to establish your garden. Soil can be acidic or basic.
And so, when you supplement basic soil with a fertilizer that contains a high amount of potassium, the pH may increase and this is not good for both plants and the soil.
So, it is always important to know exactly the type of materials you are dealing with when making liquid fertilizer and also the fertilizer requirements of the plants you want to fertilize. This can help you avoid damaging your plants and garden soil.
Recommended:
- Garden Pots, buy on Amazon
- Germinating Tray, buy on Amazon
- Gardening Wheelbarrow, buy on Amazon
- Gardening Gloves, buy on Amazon
- Gardening clothes, buy on Amazon
- Garden Pots, buy on Amazon
- Germinating Tray, buy on Amazon
- Gardening Wheelbarrow, buy on Amazon
- Gardening Gloves, buy on Amazon
- Gardening clothes, buy on Amazon
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make Liquid Manure?
To make liquid manure, find a container of a reasonable size like a bucket. However, the size of the container completely depends on the amount of liquid manure you want to make.
Fill half of the bucket with dried out cow manure. Then, fill the remaining space of the bucket with water. Then, cover the Bucket and leave it to steep for one to two days. Make sure you are stirring the mixture at least two times a day.
What is the best Homemade Fertilizer?
The best known homemade fertilizers that are parked with nutrients, which are required by plants include coffee grounds, banana peels, weeds, grass clippings, and manure, compost, eggshells, kitchen waste.
What animal Poop is the Best Fertilizer?
This solely depends on the type of crops you are feeding. For instance, sheep manure is regarded as the best manure for feeding asparagus, which is a plant that likes potassium.
Sheep manure is packed with potassium. And this makes the manure of sheep an ideal fertilizer for potassium-loving plants.
However, some of Gardner’s considered rabbit manure as the best organic manure while others regarded cow and goat as the best organic fertilizer.
Is Milk Good for Plants?
Milk is regarded as a good source of calcium for plants. The proteins and vitamins are shown to improve plants’ growth and yield.
Can you use Human Poop as Fertilizer?
Using human poop as a fertilizer may be risky. This is because human poop may contain disease-causing pathogens, which can be passed on as a foodborne disease.
Is Chicken Poop good for Fertilizer?
Chicken poop is a good organic fertilizer that adds organic nutrients to the soil when added. It also increases the water retention capacity of the soil and plants’ growth of beneficial microorganisms. The manure was shown to add nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to the garden plants.
How much Manure do I mix with Soil?
You can feed your garden plants with 20-30 pounds of manure for every 100 square feet of garden.
It is recommended that you avoid feeding your garden plants with fresh and excess manure. This is because excess and fresh manure can damage your garden plants.
Conclusion
Converting your kitchen scraps into a homemade liquid fertilizer can benefit you with many benefits and include eliminating unwanted rubbish materials and leave you with a useful organic fertilizer that is used to feed your organic garden.
Before trashing your kitchen waste, make sure you determine if the kitchen waste can go into the compost or can be converted into a liquid fertilizer.
In this article, we take into consideration almost everything you need to know to start making liquid fertilizer from kitchen waste.
We hope will find this article useful in understanding how to make liquid fertilizer from kitchen waste. Let us know if anything to ask in the comments section below.
Reference
1. Liquid Fertilizer From Food Waste – A Sustainable Approach
