Mullein is an effective natural fertilizer that is used to feed plants in the garden. Find out how to use it correctly to significantly increase your yield.
Mullein, or cow manure, is a natural fertilizer that is used to increase the yield of many garden crops, as well as to strengthen the immunity of plants and protect them from diseases. You can prepare mullein yourself, and it is absorbed by plants much better than many mineral and other types of fertilizers.
What is mullein?
Mullein is an organic fertilizer made from cow excrement. There are no chemicals in mullein, which is why many gardeners choose it. It is used fresh and added to compost. For tomatoes, diluted mullein is mainly used.
Interesting!
The amount of nutrients depends greatly on the food the animal eats and the age of the animal. It has been noted that the excrement of an adult contains fifteen percent more nutrients.
Manure contains a lot of nitrogen, which is responsible for the growth of greenery. Potassium and calcium are necessary during fruit formation. And also phosphorus in small quantities. Such a substance as magnesium is not found in all varieties of mullein, but tomatoes also need it for full development. Manure contains elements such as B, Cu, Mg, Zn, Co and Mo in small quantities. Mullein takes a long time to decompose, so it can nourish plants much longer than mineral fertilizers.
Varieties of mullein
This organic matter can be divided into three types, and all of them are successfully used in agronomy.
- bedding;
- slurry;
- without bedding;
Litter is manure mixed with bedding materials, peat, straw, hay. If peat predominates as litter, it contains a huge amount of ammonia nitrogen. This fertilizing is better and faster absorbed by plants. As for the minuses, there is no magnesium in bedding manure.
If straw predominates in the substrate, then it contains magnesium, which is vital for plants, as well as potassium and phosphorus. This mixture is suitable for fertilizing the soil in the autumn and for preparing compost.
Slurry is a liquid fertilizer; it is not recommended to use it fresh. Since it may contain various viruses and bacteria dangerous to plants. It is used after the solution has fermented and all microorganisms have died. It contains high levels of nitrogen and potassium. Must be diluted with water before use. Some gardeners apply slurry in the fall for plowing, then over the winter it will have time to decompose and replenish the amount of nutrients in the soil. This fertilizer promotes active growth of tomatoes and increased productivity. It is recommended to apply 5 kg of manure per 1 m2.
Without litter – the consistency is medium density, it contains high levels of nitrogen. Mullein also differs in its content of other nutrients. Before use, it is diluted with water and used as watering for trees and various garden crops.
It is also worth noting that there is also factory-made mullein. For those who live within the city and do not have a farm, getting fertilizer can be problematic. But thanks to the fact that progress does not stand still, various manufacturers began to produce it in convenient packaging. This can be a half-liter container, a liter container, or a five-liter container.
Interesting!
1 kg of dry granules can replace 4 kg of fresh substance.
Dry granulated mullein is packed in polyethylene and cardboard boxes. It is already disinfected and ready for use. Fertilizer should be applied to the soil strictly following the instructions. You can purchase it at any gardening store. The most popular are “Radogor” or “Compost BIUD KRS”.
Horse manure as fertilizer for tomatoes
Another option for nutritional feeding is horse manure as a fertilizer for tomatoes. The composition of organic fertilizer includes:
- 0.47% nitrogen and 0.38% phosphorus;
- 0.35% potassium;
- 0.20% calcium.
Horse droppings are suitable for feeding during the warm season, although in this case it must be diluted with water. It is also useful to incorporate fertilizer into the soil in the autumn, then horse droppings can increase next year’s yield.
Preparation of mullein feed
Rotted manure
During storage, water evaporates from manure, and aggressive nitrogen decomposes. The substances rot when placed in compost. To do everything right, first you need to dig a deep hole and cover its bottom with film. The first layer is sprinkled with sawdust, foliage, grass and all this is watered with mullein, then sprinkled with sawdust again. Alternate until the pit is full. Some gardeners recommend adding wood ash to the substrate.
Humus can be added to the soil during plowing; 9 to 11 kg of the substance is usually used per 1 m2. You can also prepare an infusion for root feeding from it. To do this, add 1 kg of humus to 5 liters of water. Many gardeners use it to prepare a substrate for growing seedlings. To do this, it is mixed with fertile soil, taking one part of humus and two parts of earth.
Infusion
In order to prepare it you will need slurry or fresh manure. When in contact with water and kept for 3 days, nitrogen, which is dangerous to plants, decomposes and becomes completely safe. Manure is added to water, keeping a proportion of 1 to 5, then the liquid is well stirred and infused in a warm sunny place for approximately 14 days. Bubbles are a sign of the beginning of fermentation. Before watering the tomatoes, mullein is diluted with water again.
This infusion is used in case of obvious signs of nitrogen deficiency, or when the growth of young plants is stunted. To fertilize tomatoes at the flowering and fruiting stage, experienced gardeners advise adding minerals to the solution.
Mullein with added minerals
At the time of flowering and fruiting, tomatoes especially need elements such as potassium and phosphorus. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them in mullein. But you can add them to the solution additionally. For example, half a kilogram of wood ash, or 100 grams of superphosphate, is added to 10 liters of concentrated substance.
Thanks to this fertilizing, fruits will actively set and productivity will increase. The taste of the tomatoes will also improve.
Recommendations for the use of manure
Manure is considered one of the most effective and affordable organic fertilizers. But in order for mullein not to harm the tomato crop, but to benefit it, it must be applied as a top dressing in accordance with strict rules.
- Fresh manure has a very aggressive chemical composition with a high nitrogen content. It is prohibited to apply it under the roots of tomatoes in the spring and summer; this will have a detrimental effect on the tomatoes, since the concentrated mullein will burn the roots of the plantings. It is much wiser to use fresh manure on empty beds in late autumn - mullein embedded in the soil for the winter will improve its composition and ensure high tomato yields next year.
- It is recommended to carry out autumn feeding of tomato beds in a short time, within a couple of days. The nitrogen compounds present in fresh mullein quickly disintegrate and erode; if you delay the digging process, fertilizing the soil will not bring the expected result next year.
- Fresh mullein has excellent insulating properties. This quality of manure is often used when planting tomatoes in greenhouses. In the fall, high beds are built in the greenhouse and fresh mullein is planted in them with a layer of 50 cm, and straw is laid on top and 30 cm of nutritious soil is poured. It will be possible to plant tomatoes in such beds earlier than usual, and accordingly, the fruiting of the crop will also begin earlier.
To fertilize tomatoes during planting and at any stage of cultivation, use mullein, ripened with compost for 1-2 years. Such manure usually smells like earth, the concentration of nitrogen in it is extremely low, so mullein is perfect for diluting in water and incorporating into the soil at any stage of growing tomatoes.
Fertilizing schedule
Feeding at the seedling stage
Two weeks after the seedlings have appeared, you can feed the seedlings with mullein solution. The substance is diluted with water 1:20, and the tomatoes are watered at the root. For a better effect, you can add one spoon of nitrophoska or 0.5 tsp to the solution. boric acid.
Fertilizers with mullein after planting in a permanent place
The tomatoes must adapt to the new conditions, and after 14 days you can add mullein in the same concentration as in the previous case, adding 1 tbsp. l. potassium sulfate. This fertilizing activates the growth of the plant and brings the flowering time closer. For preventive purposes, add 3 grams of potassium permanganate to a bucket of the substance. For low-growing varieties, use approximately 500 ml of solution. For tall tomatoes, increase the dosage.
Feeding with mullein during the formation of ovaries
At this time, tomatoes especially need to add additional substances to the soil, and experienced gardeners use the following recipe for this:
Add 1 liter of mullein, 2 tbsp. to water (10 liters). l. superphosphate and 1/3 teaspoon of copper sulfate and mix thoroughly. Then the soil is fertilized with the resulting composition. This fertilizer can also be used at the stage of fruit ripening.
Useful tips
- Tomato feeding is carried out immediately after watering, in the morning or evening.
- To introduce mullein, grooves are made next to the plant, into which manure is poured.
- Humus can be used as mulch; it will simultaneously retain moisture in the soil, serve as an obstacle to the growth of weeds, and will gradually saturate the tomatoes with useful substances.
- Fresh manure can only be applied in the fall before plowing the soil. Over the winter it will rot and saturate the soil with vital microelements.
- If you use fresh, undiluted mullein, it will burn the root system of the plants.
Advantages and disadvantages
Compared to modern mineral fertilizers, cattle manure has both pros and cons.
The advantages include:
- environmental friendliness - neither he himself nor the cows that produce him pollute the environment;
- low cost - it is cheaper than even the most inexpensive fertilizers, because it is a natural waste product of cattle;
- balance - it not only fills the soil with inorganic compounds, but also compensates for humic acids spent on plant development.
The disadvantages include:
- huge volume - to replenish the same amount of minerals, hundreds of times more fresh manure or humus obtained from it will be required;
- the need to convert it into humus, because the latter is not only non-toxic to plants, but is also many times more effective as a complex fertilizer;
- duration of transformation of excrement into fertilizer;
- difficulty of use - fertilizing with manure requires more steps and more time.
If we compare cattle excrement with the manure/litter of other animals or birds, then in terms of overall usefulness for the garden it is superior to pig manure, comparable to the excrement of small ruminants (goats and sheep), and is also slightly inferior to horse manure.
