For active growth and a good harvest: prepare a herbal infusion for feeding tomatoes

Tomatoes are perennial plants. For several years, the bush receives nutrients and microelements from the soil, blooms and bears fruit every season. Tomatoes grown in open ground are valued for their yield and taste. In just one season, a tomato bush can go through the entire development cycle with proper feeding, since without it the soil very quickly loses nutrients.

The vegetable grower's task is to provide the bushes with all the necessary substances in a form accessible to the plant. Many gardeners and gardeners prefer to use exclusively natural products for feeding tomatoes. Such compositions include herbal infusion. In this material we will talk about its advantages and disadvantages, methods of preparation and use.

Advantages and disadvantages of grass fertilizer for feeding

Tomatoes, like many other crops, require phosphorus and potassium, nitrogen, as well as many other microelements for active development and fruiting. All of them are part of the green mass of plants that grow on your site, including weeds and wild grasses. Their use for making fertilizers has a number of advantages:

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Tomatoes receive nitrogen in an easily digestible form.
The problem with disposing of weeded weeds disappears.

However, even such natural fertilizers should not be used uncontrollably on your site. The smell of methane, which is a byproduct of fermentation, is not the main nuisance. A large concentration of herbal infusion can cause a chemical burn not only to the leaves, but also to the roots of tomatoes and completely deprive you of your harvest.

Herbal infusion - as fertilizer for plants

Natural organic fertilizer has many advantages. The main advantage is that it is safe, natural and environmentally friendly. Moreover, it is completely free, because its basis is mowed greenery and weeded weeds. This could be nettles, dandelions, wheatgrass, quinoa, sow thistle, etc.

An infusion of grass is an excellent nitrogen supplement, which is extremely important in the initial stages of plant growth. And it works much better than mulch made from rotten greens. Such fertilizing helps to increase green mass and strengthens the plant as a whole. The solution contains a lot of potassium, which is essential for the normal development of the root system, flowering and fruit set.

Another advantage of the application is the saturation of the soil with beneficial microorganisms. By multiplying, they suppress the growth of pathogenic microflora and promote the proliferation of beneficial ones, thereby healing the soil and preventing the development of various diseases on plants. And all together this contributes to the growth of healthy plants and increased productivity.

Due to the alkaline reaction, fertilizing with this solution helps to deoxidize the soil, because some crops react very negatively to increased soil acidity.

How to prepare an infusion?

It is necessary to prepare the nutritional composition in a plastic container to avoid rust. Depending on your needs, you can use a bucket or barrel. Fill 3/4 of the container volume with weeds and herbs. Plants must be cut into large pieces.

If you use weeds, make sure that they do not have formed seeds. Fill the raw material with water so that it does not reach the top of the container by 5-10 cm: your infusion will foam and ferment, and it will need additional space.

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Cover and tie the bucket/barrel with film. Without air access, anaerobic bacteria process plant residues much faster. Periodically remove the film and mix the composition. When fermentation stops (the infusion stops foaming), your herbal supplement is ready.

At a temperature of +20-25 °C, this process is completed in two weeks.

Tip: experienced gardeners recommend using dandelions, nettles, chamomile, wormwood, celandine, wild mustard, clover, and legumes to prepare green fertilizer. Dandelions and nettles contain many microelements that are necessary to increase the yield of tomatoes. The following are completely unsuitable for processing into green fertilizer: the poisonous plant bindweed, which releases poisonous gases during fermentation, and cereals (wheat, rye, etc.), which produce alcohols that are dangerous for cultivated plants. A solution of effective microorganisms should replace pressed yeast, which many summer residents add to enhance fermentation. Microorganisms not only stimulate fermentation. They will restore the natural microflora of the soil once they enter the garden bed, which promotes more active growth of tomatoes.

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Herbal infusion for feeding plants without odor

This safe, natural fertilizer has one drawback: it smells very unpleasant. Moreover, if you still work with it without gloves, the smell remains on your hands for quite a long time. This problem can be solved by adding EM preparations (effective microorganisms) at the beginning of preparing the infusion. These can be ready-made, which can be bought in a store: Baikal, Siyanie, Vozrozhdenie, Gumate EM, Fitosporin.

Or you can use what everyone has on the farm. For example, sugar, honey or old jam. You can add an infusion of regular rice.

Pour ¼ cup of rice into 1 cup of water, stir thoroughly until the water turns whitish. Afterwards, pour the water into a separate cup and leave in a warm, dark place for about a week. Afterwards, the solution is filtered, milk is added in a ratio of 1:10 and again left to infuse for a week. After a week, the curd mass will separate from the whey; it must be separated. And add 1 tbsp to the whey. l. Sahara. And the EM drug is ready.

All EM preparations help to prepare fertilizer faster, and during its preparation there will be no unpleasant foul odor. On the contrary, it will be pleasant and reminiscent of the smell of kvass. In addition, these funds will then help restore beneficial microflora in the soil, its fertility, and increase the number of earthworms.

Using EM preparations in the preparation of herbal infusion, it is enough to add 70-100 ml of the working solution to all other components in a 10-liter bucket. Then stir, tightly close the container with a lid or thick film. Leave in a shaded place for 3-4 days.

Basic rules for using the infusion

Tomatoes should be fertilized with the appearance of each new flower cluster. Determinate tomato bushes in the middle zone, as a rule, bear fruit on three clusters. Therefore, these three root applications of grass fertilizer should be alternated with foliar sprays to enhance the effect. For this purpose, the same composition is used, but at half the concentration. Like any spraying, foliar feeding is carried out in the morning or evening to prevent sunburn.

The herbal infusion (fertilizer) is very detailed and understandable. Memo to the summer resident

Good afternoon, dear friends, gardeners and gardeners! Welcome to the website of the channel “Country Stories”

Green manure, also known as green fermentation and herbal infusion, is a popular organic remedy among gardeners. It is affordable and does not require large material or labor investments.

The disadvantages of green fermentation include an extremely specific smell, but this is typical of most organic fertilizers.

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1. Shelf life of green fermentation

All summer residents have long known the recipe for preparing green fertilizer.

To prepare the infusion, take grass with or without roots, often weeds, or green mass formed after pruning crops, and fill it with water. Approximately on the 5-7th day of fermentation, a strong smell appears - this is how the butyric acid of the infusion makes itself known, useful for plants, animals and humans.

A sharp smell is a signal that the fertilizer is ready for use in the garden, and it is advisable to apply it in the next 2-5 days.

If the infusion is not used in a timely manner, the smell will gradually disappear, and this is bad for the fertilizer: the beneficial qualities of the infusion disappear, and its value for the garden decreases.

The mineral nitrogen of the green fermenter, for which everything was started and which is perfectly absorbed by the soil and plants, evaporates.

For this reason, the shelf life of the infusion without loss of all useful characteristics is no more than 10 days after the start of the fermentation process.

After this time, the herbal infusion can continue to be used for watering the beds: the fermentation will not harm, but it will not bring all the benefits that it could bring.

2. Additives for herbal infusion. What can and cannot be added to green fertilizer.

Green fertilizer, or grass fermenter, is the most valuable natural fertilizer for the garden and vegetable garden, which is obtained for free. Various additional components, sometimes unexpected, are added to this organic fertilizer. What do they provide and how do they enrich an already extremely useful composition?

Additional funds are sometimes added to green fertilizer to increase its value.

2.1. Serum.

Whey will not harm the fertilizer: the lactic acid it contains binds ammonia with the subsequent formation of ammonium lactate. The latter, in turn, does not allow useful nitrogen to evaporate.

But it is very important to distinguish between whey lactic acid and lactic acid bacteria - they perform different roles. Whey helps the fermentation process, and the plantarum stick, on the contrary, will turn the green fertilizer towards canning. Thus, whey can be added.

2.2 Fitosporin and other preparations of Bacillus subtilis.

Fitosporin, a systemic drug based on Bacillus subtilis, will not add anything to green manure. Bacillus hay will not take root: it remains on the surface, and all the most useful substances are located at the depth of the container with the infusion.

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2.3. “Azotovit”, “phosphatovit” and other new generation biofertilizers.

If you want to add nitrogen-fixing bacteria, it is better to opt for the drug “Azotovit” based on Azotobacter: it converts gaseous nitrogen into a soluble form that is well absorbed by plants.

The drug “Gulliver” takes root well in fermentation; “Phosphatovit” and “Kaliyvit” are also suitable. However, “Azotovit” and “Gulliver” are the best choice as additives to herbal infusion in order to increase shelf life. In this case, they act as excellent preservatives and retain the beneficial properties of the green fermenter for up to six months or more, if you add twice as much of the drug.

Thus, by adding modern biological products to the fermenter, you can create with your own hands a means not only to fertilize the soil, but also to stimulate and protect plants.

2.4. Ash.

Ash and other alkaline compounds are not added to the fermenter. This is fraught with the activation of methanogenic bacteria that decompose nitrogen, followed by the loss of ammonia. In addition, the unpleasant odor of the infusion will intensify. In general, the strong smell of fertilizer speaks in its favor, but it also scares off many summer residents from the idea of preparing an herbal infusion at home, even if it is super healthy.

It is also impossible to mix ash with the fermenter immediately before using the fertilizer. If you mix them, the nitrogen content will increase dramatically (you can even smell ammonia). It is better not to combine these two independent fertilizers, rich in useful micro- and macroelements, but to use them separately.

2.5. Fermented brew.

Along with the jam, the fermentation plant receives a large amount of sugar, which promotes the development of plantarum bacillus (lactobacillus). Based on the stick, the biological preparation “Baikal” is produced, which enhances plant growth and increases phytoimmunity.

Green fertilizer is incompatible with the plantarum stick: the herbs in the fermenter must rot and ferment, that’s the whole point, and if you add sucrose to the fermenter, the value of the green fertilizer will decrease. The undoubted advantage of the action of lactic acid bacteria is the suppression of unpleasant odor, but the beneficial properties will also be weakened, although sucrose does not cause direct harm.

If you add the drug “Gulliver” or “Azotovit” to the fertilizer along with jam, the situation will change radically. A proportion of 1:100 per barrel will be sufficient to enhance the effect of both the fermenter and lactic acid bacteria, which will ultimately turn the fermenter into an excellent tool for feeding, protecting and stimulating plant growth.

2.6. Banana peel and citrus peels

Adding banana peel has the same effect as adding sucrose: the plantarum bacillus develops, the acidity increases, and the canning process starts instead of rotting. Adding lemon, orange, and grapefruit peels reduces the pungent odor of the fermenter, but at the same time reduces the value of green fertilizer as a growth stimulant, and this is the main goal of the entire enterprise.

That is, we don’t add.

2.7. Sorrel instead (together) of vinegar or citric acid

Vinegar and citric acid contain organic acids, and they can be safely added to green fertilizer. They can be replaced with sorrel, the main thing is to collect a sufficient amount of leaves.

Oxalic acid has a beneficial effect on the root system of garden plants, prolongs the fruiting period of cucumbers. For the correct effect, take sour sorrel: in this case, the fermentation will turn out as it should. The proportion of sorrel should be at least a quarter, and ideally half a barrel with herbal fermentation. Don’t worry that acids will affect the quality of the soil. Neither acetic, nor lactic, nor citric acid in the volume in which it is presented in the fermenter acidifies the soil.

2.8. Homemade vinegar

You can add homemade vinegar, vinegar mother and its derivatives to the fermenter. It is unlikely that the vinegar queen will begin to massively convert herbal fertilizer into some complex alcohols: these processes are possible, but on a small scale. In addition, the sour component makes the fermentation process correct, suppresses the plantarum bacillus and promotes rotting.

2.9. Adding humates and yeast

Yeast and various microelements can be added to green fertilizer: they will enrich the composition and speed up the preparation process. Humates, on the contrary, will not provide anything useful to green fertilizer, since the finished fermenter itself is a source of humic substances.

2.10. Manure and soil

Sometimes summer residents add a shovel of manure and a shovel of earth to the green fermenter. Microorganisms living in the substrates will stimulate and accelerate the fermentation process. Even taking into account the fact that manure contains methanogens, if the infusion is used in a timely manner, its quality will not be affected. You can add more land.

2.11. Trichoderma in the walker

The Trichoderma genus of mushrooms is excellent for green manure. Trichoderma multiplies on the surface of the liquid, significantly improves the smell of the fermenter (makes it more mushroomy).

2.12. Coniferous branches

No pathogens are stored in the fermentation! Any plants can be added to green fertilizer. It has been experimentally proven that even leaves and stems affected by late blight and powdery mildew become part of the fermentation and will not cause any harm subsequently.

2.13. Nettle, wormwood, dandelion

If you take these three plants as the basis for green fertilizer, you can eventually “prepare” silage (ferment) instead of fermentation. The resulting mass can be used in the garden, but the effect will not be as pronounced as that from fermented fertilizer.

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3. Storage and preparation of green fertilizer.

3.1. Valerian for smell

If you add a bottle of valerian to 50 liters of green fertilizer, the pungent smell can really disappear. True, this does not happen every time.

3.2. Compost fermenter

Herbal fertilizer stimulates not only plant growth, but also the development of beneficial microorganisms in the soil. If you ferment a compost heap, the value of the latter will increase many times over. There was a separate article about this on the channel:

3.3. Containers for cooking

You can safely use an iron barrel as a container for preparing green fertilizer; even the presence of rust will not harm the fermenter. It is important that the barrel is not made of stainless steel or aluminum and does not contain heavy metals. It is advisable to stir the fermenter every day to enrich it with oxygen, reduce the risk of the development of methanogenic bacteria, and increase mineralization. All of the above improves the quality of the final fertilizer.

3.4. White film and no odor

Mold on the surface is formed due to the fact that acid was not added to the fermenter. The mold itself does not pose any danger; the infusion just needs to be mixed properly. The absence of odor is a sign that the process is going wrong. The smell, even if smoothed out by some additives, should still be present - it indicates proper butyric acid fermentation.

3.5. Adventure game readiness

About 5-7 days after the start of the fermentation process, moderate gas formation will indicate that the fertilizer is ready. If the grass has managed to settle to the bottom, this means that part of the nitrogen has evaporated, and the value of the fermenter lies precisely in its composition. That is, the liquid should bubble, and the softened plant stems should float on the surface. This state is the best indicator of readiness.

Thank you for your interest in my article.

Author of the publication

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How to add the composition?

For root feeding of tomatoes, a solution diluted in a ratio of 1:10 is poured under the bush. One liter of nutritional composition is enough for one plant. Don't make the common mistake: don't increase the concentration of the composition. Thus, you can provoke an excessive gain of green mass. As a result, this will negatively affect the fruits: they will become smaller.

Be sure to follow the sequence of the procedure:

watering the plant;
feeding with herbal infusion;
watering;
loosening and hilling.

In dry and hot summers, it is recommended to use mulching. For foliar feeding, a solution of half the concentration should be used. They spray all the foliage on the bush.

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How to dilute fertilizer?

There is no need to dilute the infusion that has not had time to ferment (3-5 days). Most of the nutrients remain in the grass; after the liquid is used for feeding, the green mass is again filled with water.

The well-fermented mass is diluted 1:5 at the beginning of the season. By the middle of the growing season, the plants' need for nitrogen decreases; 10 parts of water are taken for 1 part of the infusion.

Important! If additional components are present in the liquid fertilizer, their concentration must also be taken into account.

How to water with herbal infusion

The concentrate diluted 1:10 with water is used for root feeding. Approximately 1 liter of nutrient solution is given for each bush.

Mandatory sequence of operations:

watering a tomato bush;
fertilizing with green fertilizer;
watering again;
loosening with hilling.

How to prepare all-purpose fertilizer with cow manure and grass can be seen in the video.

Nuances when growing adult bushes

Fertilizer in open ground

It is recommended to divide fertilizing into several stages.:

Some time after planting in the ground, young plants are fed with an infusion of grass.

Any grass is suitable for this, with only one obligatory condition - the absence of seeds in it.
Tomatoes are fertilized with a mixture of 10 liters of water and 0.5 liters of herbal infusion. The solution is applied at the root at the rate of 1 liter per 1 plant.
During budding, wood ash is added. Water the soil well beforehand. You can sprinkle the beds with ashes, or add water to it and water the tomatoes with the prepared solution.
When the bushes bloom and form an ovary, they are fed with an infusion of mullein or bird droppings. The fermented infusion is diluted with water at the rate of 1:10 and watered with it on tomato bushes. It is important to ensure that the solution does not get on the leaves, as this will burn them.

In the greenhouse

To get a good harvest, change the planting location of tomatoes from time to time . Proper crop rotation prevents land depletion. It is unrealistic to carry out this procedure in a greenhouse, so greenhouse plants are fed for the first time even before planting.

In the fall, when digging, rotted humus is added to the soil at the rate of 2 kg per square meter. This method of preparing beds replenishes the missing amount of organic matter in the soil after the previous harvest.

At further stages, the schemes and recipes for feeding tomatoes in a greenhouse do not differ from those used for ground plants, but in greenhouse conditions many barren flowers are often formed.

To avoid barren flowers, bushes during flowering are treated with the following composition:

Iodine – 3 drops.
Water – 1 liter.
Whey – 3 tablespoons.
Hydrogen peroxide – 1 teaspoon.

This solution is used to spray the green part of the plant.

You can read more about feeding tomatoes in a greenhouse here.

How to feed tomatoes with yeast

Both fresh and dry yeast can be used to feed tomatoes.

Baker's yeast fertilizer can be prepared in two ways :

One package of dry instant yeast is mixed with 2 tbsp. sugar and add a little warm water until the mixture becomes liquid. Then the resulting substance is dissolved in 10 liters of water and 0.5 liters are used for each plant.
A three-liter jar is filled 2/3 with black bread, warm water with fresh yeast dissolved in it (100 g) is poured to the top and placed in a warm place for 3-5 days. After which the infusion is filtered and diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. For a young tomato bush, use 0.5 liters of solution, and for an adult – about 2 liters.

There is also the simplest recipe for yeast fertilizer: 100 g of fresh yeast is thoroughly dissolved in 10 liters of water and the resulting liquid is immediately poured over the tomatoes.

Yeast does not contain the basic nutrients of plants, so the yeast solution is more of a growth stimulant than a fertilizer.

Infusion recipes

Experienced gardeners use several recipes for preparing herbal infusion.

First way

The barrel is filled more than half with a mixture of herbs (you can add rotted hay), without compacting it.

Then they add:

half a half-liter jar of jam (accelerates the work of microorganisms);
three medium pieces of chalk (can be replaced with chalked eggshells);
I eat manure (not important);
two glasses of ash.

An armful of herbs is poured with warm water, the temperature of which is 25-30 degrees. After this, the herbal compost (from the plants) is thoroughly mixed and infused for 3 days (this is in hot weather, in the fall the composition is infused for 7 days). One liter of herbal solution is diluted with 10 liters of water.

Second way

It is the easiest and can be prepared quite quickly. Ash is added to the finished grass slurry. To prepare, take 2 cups of ash, 10 liters of hot water, but not boiling water. This solution is ready in a day. Diluted - 3 liters of solution per bucket of water.

Third cooking method

To increase the nutritional value of herbal fertilizer, add manure, a small amount of chicken droppings or 10 tablespoons of urea (if the container has a volume of 200 liters). You can also add a solution of ash there.

To prepare such a solution, you need to sift the ash so that you end up with 10 glasses. Then everything is poured with two liters of boiling water and left for several hours.

Feeding tomatoes in open ground

Tomatoes in the beds are fertilized several times per season:

After planting the seedlings, during the formation of the second pair of true leaves. Tomatoes are fed with infusions of nettle, dandelion, and a weak solution of iodine. Herbal compositions help protect plants from late blight and accelerate the ripening of crops.
When buds appear. The soil under the bushes is enriched with wood ash. It is a natural source of potassium. The ash does not contain chlorine.
During flowering and ovary formation. Whey with iodine is used for feeding. Fertilizer promotes early fruiting and serves as an additional prevention of late blight.

Whey with iodine

Feeding tomatoes with whey with iodine.
Recipe for preparation and use of fertilizing:

Add 1 liter of whey and 20 drops of pharmaceutical iodine to a bucket of water (10 liters) and mix thoroughly.
Pour one liter of the composition under the bush.

Foliar feeding of tomatoes with ash

In addition to adding wood ash to the soil, it is used to spray bushes:

Add 300 g of ash to 3 liters of water and boil for half an hour.
Infuse the solution for about 5-6 hours, add water to a volume of 10 liters. To better fix the composition on the leaves, add a little liquid soap and mix well.
The finished mixture is filtered and the tomato tops are sprayed.

Nettle decoction

Fertilizer for tomatoes from nettles.
Herbal infusion is prepared from young nettle leaves:

The container is filled 2/3 with nettle greens, then filled with water, and covered with a lid. Keep in a warm place for seven to ten days.
Add 1 liter of the prepared solution to a bucket of water, mix and water the bushes at the root, 1-2 liters at a time. The frequency of feeding is no more than once every two weeks.

Fertilizer with iodine solution

Preparation and use:

1-2 drops of iodine are diluted in 3 liters of heated water, and young plants planted in the ground are watered.
Add 4-5 drops of iodine to a bucket of water, apply 2 liters per adult bush.

What is green (grass) fertilizer

Grasses actively absorb nutrients from the soil. Gardeners can turn this property to their advantage by preparing green fertilizer from them. This term refers to the plant mass of uncultivated grasses, mowed or collected for use as soil fertilizing and care for cultivated plants.

This grass fertilizer is used in 4 forms:

freshly embedded in the ground immediately after mowing;
in liquid form, used after preparing the infusion;
when dried, form a mulch layer;
in a rotted state they are used as compost.

To prepare herbal fertilizer, young shoots are used before the seeds form on them. The most popular plants are representatives of the legume and cabbage families, nettle, celandine and lupine.

To prepare a liquid infusion, you can use diseased plants, since the pathogens die during the fermentation process. Some herbs, when decomposing, release toxic substances, such as field bindweed. It is not recommended to use them to fertilize garden crops.

Feeding seedlings

Productivity directly depends on the quality of tomato seedlings. If it is strong and healthy, the bushes can subsequently produce a large number of ovaries. Seedlings grown in poor soil, poor in mineral and organic substances, will grow frail and sickly.

There are effective ways to feed seedlings using traditional methods. Recipes depend on the condition of the bushes:

If the leaves curl and wilt, they are lacking copper. To solve the problem, pieces of copper wire are stuck into pots with seedlings and the soil is watered generously.
The leaf turns yellow from the base, but does so unevenly—watering the seedlings with manganese is required. The lack of this microelement is compensated by a light pink solution. This is also an excellent method of prevention against late blight and other fungal diseases.
If the leaves on the back side acquire a lilac tint, this is a sure sign of phosphorus deficiency. A small amount of meat and bone or fish meal is added to the soil.

These simple methods of feeding plants using folk remedies make it possible to grow healthy seedlings. If the soil is poor, it is better not to use it for growing young plants, otherwise you will have to use chemical fertilizers.

Top dressing

As soon as fermentation has stopped and bubbles are no longer released, you can start feeding. The residues sink to the bottom and no filtration is needed.

Do not use undiluted due to the high risk of burns.

The concentrate from the barrel is diluted in the following ratio:

for root application 1 to 10;
for foliar irrigation 1 to 20.

Experienced gardeners advise feeding tomatoes every time a new cluster with inflorescences forms.

In temperate and middle latitudes, determinants bear fruit on 3 clusters.

To enhance the effect, alternate root watering with leaf irrigation. The composition is the same, only for spraying the solution is made 2 times weaker. Treatment is carried out in the morning before 8 o'clock or in the evening after sunset.