Easy Homemade Fertilizer

As a frugal gardener and plant keeper, I really like to make my own fertilizer/compost, etc.

Here's a super easy method that you can make at home.


Ingredients

Egg Shells
Coffee Grounds
Water
Greens (Optional)


Generally, I start a new batch of this whenever I run out of the old stuff.

Save the coffee grounds from your latest roast and add them to a large mason jar, old ice cream bucket, whatever is on hand. Some people say not to use plastic, as it might leech whatever chemicals are in there into the fertilizer and then into your plants...I'm not too worried, but I have a huge pickle jar that I use especially for fertilizer tea.

Add enough water to cover the grounds by one inch. As the days go by, add in your old egg shells. Crush them down with a stick, or an old wooden spoon. Add enough waterto cover, just keep doing this until the jar is almost full. I also add any discarded greens to the mix, and I swear it makes a difference, but I can't really quantify that statement.



Once your tea jar is full, let it steep in a sunny place for a few days or a few weeks, it's not fussy. Visit it every few days and unscrew the lid to make sure too many gasses don't accumulate in thereand scare the crap out of you when its time to strain it.




When you're ready to use the tea, strain it using cheesecloth, a coffee filter, or a fine mesh strainer. Use it diluted, 1/4 cup of tea to 1 litre of water. I use this on allof my house plants and garden plants usually every two weeks or so. They really love it.

Right now I'm rehabbing this zoo zoo/zaa zaa/ I have no idea...plant for a friend. Should be a fun project.



Enjoy, cheap people of the world.

a reply to: Atsbhct

Compost in a jar, neat idea.

Visit it every few days and unscrew the lid to make sure too many gasses don't accumulate in there and scare the crap out of you when its time to strain it.

Just a note…

I would be careful, methane is produced during the decay process, expanding gasses could burst the jar, scattering glass shards and stinky stuff.

a reply to: intrptr

Exactly why you have to open every day. My grandmother says this is nonsense, but I'd rather not have exploded decay juice all over my house.

a reply to: Atsbhct

Yah a bio bomb, instant bacterial infection from cuts from flying glass.

You could put holes in the lid. it will still work, just smell bad.

Maybe keep it out side on the ledge or window sill. Ether that or leave the lid loose.

Or rubber band a plastic bag over the top? when it fills up, take it outside to vent.

Imo, don't seal that jar and keep it in the house.

a reply to: intrptr

Honestly, I've been doing this with sealed jars for 15 years, and I've never had an accident, but safety first.

a reply to: Atsbhct

Eggshells are great, but nothing beats earthworms. Find them in a store or dig them up yourself, either way those slimy little miracles do wonders for the soil.

P.S that plant in the last picture is a Zanzibar gem-I had one myself.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

We set up a little worm tea farm in the basement this year, but it isn't producing much yet!

a reply to: Atsbhct

Why don't you just perforate the lids so you don't have to open them each day ? or does it need to be air tight most of the time for the compost effect ?

a reply to: Atsbhct

I have seen of a method where gardeners use a mild electric shock inserted into the ground that brings the worms to the surface but i don't know how it works.

But I can tell you that eggshells work without a doubt. Here is a tip to get seedlings thriving-get an empty plastic bottle, cut off the bottom and place the top of over a seedling-it's creates a greenhouse effect and it speeds up growth.

a reply to: Discotech

It's just how I learned to make it. This stuff is stinky! Feel free to innovate as you see fit.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

I would suggest you make a mini green house for seedlings. We don't use many plastic bottles, so we either make little pots with old newspapers, set then in a big tinfoil pan, and then make a plastic dome; or we have a wooden box with a glass lid that also works.

Epsom salts and calcium antacid tablets make a great supplemental fertilizer for tomatoes too! Or anything I guess. I haven't met a plant that doesn't like everything you posted, or the Epsom salts. Seaweed is another great fertilizer, I make a compost tea with that too. Haha, I guess it's just about the same except the greens are seaweed and the calcium is a few tums since my son is very allergic to eggs.

I've never tried to make it inside, does it smell when you water with it in the house plants? Most of the house plants like the used coffee grounds sprinkled in their soil, except the African violet. Rinsing your milk jugs of the trace milk and watering with that is great for them too, but I found out the hard way that everytime I watered for awhile afterward my house stank like sour milk. The plants loved it, but I didn't. So that's now only for the summer, outside.

a reply to: Atsbhct

About the eggshells do you mix them in raw or cooked?

Yes, the top two additions are that seaweed and worm dirt.... those two alone will do wonders..... like when topdresing with the stuff..... the roots come up to the top to get the good stuff

a reply to: mamabeth

I do both. Cooked might not have as much calcium, but I'll still shove them in the tea jar or chuck them in the compost pile.

Everything goes into this unit. Works great.