# Make your own.



## SquidyPacheco (Aug 30, 2012)

*[SIZE=+1]       FISH AND SEAWEED EMULSION[/SIZE]*


As you may know fish emulsion, fish meal, seaweed/kelp meal, and liquid seaweed/kelp are some of the most powerful natural fertilizers and soil amendments in the world. 
_*NOTE:* For those organic gardeners who prefer vegetarian soil amendments, you can skip the fishy ingredients, it's not necessary. There is plenty of NPK in alfalfa meal and other grains that you can use._ 
Most commercial fish emulsions are rated *NPK = 5-1-1*. 
Most commercial liquid seaweed sprays are rated *NPK = 0-0-1*. 

Even though these NPK ratings to a novice may seem low, there are lots of important trace elements, growth hormones, disease control, and organic matter in these products. 

*Fish Emulsion* is mainly used for its quick high organic nitrogen and available soluble P and K benefits as a foliar feed. *Fish Meal* is mainly a great soil conditioner and great bacterial food to help feed the soil microherd. Even though there may be 4-5% organic N, 1% soluble P, and 1% soluble K in fish emulsion, there may be up to 6-8% total N, and 2-3% total insoluble P or K in it, that gets broken down later by the soil microherd. Most commercial fish products are made from the trash products of the menhaden fish. This fish is a relative of the herring, sardine, and anchovy fishes. Most commercial fish emulsions contain up to 5% sulfuric acid in order to preserve the fertilizer on the shelf, but also it supplies needed sulfur to the plant and soil. _Most economical fish products do not contain any fish oils in it, which supply extra beneficial soil fungi. Most also do not contain much fish bones which supply extra calcium_. 

*Seaweed/Kelp* has a low NPK = 0-0-1. However, just like the fish products and all other natural fertilizers, there are more insoluble NPK nutrients and other trace elements in the product than meets the eyes. There may be up to 1-3% total N, 1-2% total insoluble P, 3-5% total insoluble K in seaweed products. The real benefit of seaweed is not in its NPK amounts. _Seaweed/kelp can contain 60 trace elements, many growth hormones, and disease control properties in it! Basically every nutrient that any surface plant can ever need!_ If seaweed products are mixed with high N products like fish, you have an excellent complete natural fertilizer and soil amendment that will supply every NPK and trace element need of the soil and plant. Seaweed and other algae plants are some of the most powerful plants on earth, or should I say in the ocean. Seaweed is also an excellent food source for beneficial fungi in the soil. 

[SIZE=+1]*WHY MAKE IT HOMEMADE INSTEAD OF BUYING IT COMMERCIALLY?*[/SIZE] 
*A.* It's cheaper to make most natural fertilizers and soil amendments in large quantities. 
*B.* There are some nutrients that you get from homemade versions that are not in most commercial brands. For example, commercial fish emulsion since it is processed from trash fish, will have less fish oil, fish bones, and proteins than fresh fish parts or canned fish in a homemade brew. 

*C.* Aerobic bacteria and fungi are essential to hot composting, disease control, and soil health. In commercial fish emulusions there no little to no aerobic bacteria in the containers. If there were any growing and living in the containers, the bottles would explode on the shelves! Homemade brews always will contain more beneficial microherd than most commercial brands. 

[SIZE=+1]*HOW DO I MAKE A HOMEMADE BATCH OF FISH/SEAWEED EMULSION:*[/SIZE] 
You can use the following suggestions to the other suggestions in the *Organic Gardening forum FAQ's on Compost Tea recipes* when you brew these fish/seaweed foliar sprays or soil drenches. 

You can use fresh fish parts or any cheap canned fish. The juices, sauces, or oils in the can can be used to breed beneficial microbes and supply extra proteins in the tea, so use it. 
_(NOTE: If you use canned fish products, you may want to let it decompose mixed with some finished compost, good garden soil, etc. in a separate closeable container for a few days before using. Since most canned meat products contain preservatives, this will guarantee that the good microbes in the tea will not be killed off or harmed in brew making.)_ 
You can use any fresh or dried seaweed. Fresh seaweed has more N in it, but that really isn't important for seaweed teas. You can buy fresh or dried seaweed at most oriental grocery stores. Seaweed decomposes better if chopped up or liquified first in water before brewing. 

If you are using fresh fish, you need to compost it separately in a 5 gallon closeable bucket. _Fill bucket 1/2 full with extra browns like sawdust, leaves, or straw. You can add molasses to the fishy mixture in order to build up microbes in order to speed up decomposition. The sugars will also help control odors too. Open the bucket and stir the fishy paste daily or every other day in order to get air in the mix for better decomposition and better aerobic microbial growth in the emulsion. Let this paste rot for at least 1-2 weeks. The browns help control offensive odors and absorb organic nitrogen from the fish so that it is not leached out or evaporated_. 

Since commercial fish emulsions contain sulfur in the form of sulfuric acid, if you like you could add 1-2 tblsp of Epsom salt to the mix for extra magnesium and sulfur. Or to mimic the acidity of sulfuric acid and add extra trace elements you could add 1-2 tblsp of apple cider vinegar to the mix. NOTE: Recent studies have shown that unsulfured molasses or dry molasses powder is best for faster microbial growth in tea brewing. 

You can now safely take the decomposed fish paste from the 5 gallon bucket and add it to your regular hot composting piles or add it to your special compost tea recipes. The more vegetable or fruity organic matter that you add to fishy compost the better you remove the offensive smells and the more trace elements you add to your compost and teas. This of course is optional. 

You can add molasses or brown sugar to your teas also. Sugars are high carbon substances that not only can cause speedy microbial growth, but also sugars are an excellent natural deodorizer. 

At this point you may want to decide whether you want to make a simple tea or an aerobic aerated tea for your needs. 

When you make fishy tea, you need to add the seaweed at brewing time. Let it brew for at least 1 week, stirring every few days. If you decide to brew it aerobically with an air pump, try up to 3 days, or until the brew has a "yeasty" smell, or has a foamy top layer on the tea. 

_You can apply this fish/seaweed emulsion at a dilution rate from 1:1 to 1:5 ratio (5 gallons of tea to 25 gallons of water)._ 
If you like, you can add a few drops of mild liquid soap per gallon as a wetting agent to get better coverage as a foliar feed at application time. _(NOTE: If you are concerrned that using soaps may harm the beneficial microbes in your teas, you may want to just use liquid molasses, dry molasses powder, fish oil, or yucca extract as a spreader-sticker.)_ 
You can use this tea as a foliar feed or as a soil drench or both. Soil drenches are best for building up the soil microbial activities and supplying lots of beneficial soluble NPK to the plant's root system and the topsoil texture. Foliar feeds are best for quick fixes of trace elements and small portions of other soluble nutrients into the plant through its leaves. Foliar feeds are also good for plant disease control. Foliar feeds work best when used with soil drenches or with lots of organic mulches around plants. You can poke holes in the soil around crop roots with your spade fork, to get more oxygen in the soil to further increase organic matter decomposition and increase microbial activity in the soil. 
Remember all your homemade fertilizers and soil amendments can be as diverse and unique as you are. So have fun and keep composting! 
Happy Gardening! 





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## SquidyPacheco (Aug 30, 2012)

Fish emulsion is a balanced organic fertilizer made of partially decomposed finely pulverized fish. It's high in nitrogen and a source for many trace elements needed by all plants.

A fishy smell is most likely to last for several days after application. But, today many manufactures make a deodorized version.

Many gardeners believe that you cannot add too much fish emulsion fertilizer. 

However, research has shown that it burns plants if a very strong solution is added to plants, especially those in pots.

When adding the emulsion, be sure to deep water after application. This will help reduce the risk of root burn.

Fertilizing Your Garden 

Many organic fertilizers receive their nitrogen from fish that have been processed and added into the mix.

You can buy a liquid fertilizer concentrate made from fish processing waste combined with mineral rich seaweed/kelp. Simply mix the concentrate with water and apply directly to your plants' foliage.

Add about 1 inch of compost each year to your lawns, flower beds and vegetable gardens, then supplement with seaweed and fish emulsion, and you may probably never need to add any other organic fertilizer again.

Mix seaweed, molasses and fish emulsion fertilizer in water to make the ideal foliar spray or soil drench.

How It Works 

Fish emulsion is undoubtedly an organic fertilizer. This is a liquid fertilizer produced from byproducts of the fish-oil and fish formula industry.

It's suitable for a lot of uses within the garden, although it's particularly beneficial as a garden fertilizer applied early in the growing season. It's also very useful for leafy green vegetables, because of its high nitrogen material.

Numerous organic fertilizers work well, but they're slower performing, since they need to decompose to release their nutrients into the soil. Fish emulsion, on the other hand, has nutrients that are instantly available to your plants. At the same time, it's a comparatively gentle fertilizer.

So if you're looking for a nitrogen boost for your plants, or something that you can use as a foliar spray, look to fish emulsion fertilizer.




Another fish emulsion tea
 &#8226;1Liquefy the fish and or seaweed by placing it in a blender with warm water and blending thoroughly until you've created an emulsion.


&#8226;2Pour the fish emulsion into a 5 gallon bucket. Be sure to use a bucket that has a lid which can be sealed tightly.


&#8226;3Add shredded newspapers, dried leaves, sawdust or brown grass clippings to the bucket to feed your fish emulsion fertilizer as it decays.


&#8226;4Pour molasses into the bucket to control odor and contribute healthy microorganisms to your organic fish emulsion fertilizer.


&#8226;5Open the bucket each day and stir the fish fertilizer. Opening the bucket also helps "burp" the fish emulsion as it's decaying.


&#8226;6Wait 2 weeks until the entire mixture has turned dark brown before using. If you want to get rid of the fishy odor, you can add brown sugar, molasses or pureed fruit to the mixture and ferment a few days longer.


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## SquidyPacheco (Aug 30, 2012)

Thai Banana fertilizer

Instructions
 1 
Collect banana peels, ,banana stump,banana leaves in a bucket or tub. To stay true to Thai-style fertilizer, use mostly banana peels and banana leaves, as bananas are one of Thailand's major crops. Bananas make Thai fertilizer rich in potassium 

 2 
Add Molasses to scraps in bucket. Molasses, added to mix will help induce fermentation. you can add molasses every few days to keep all them good microbes fed.. try mix in 5 gallon bucket first.. add 1 tblspoon of molasses for every 7 banana peels...


3 Wash white rice save water, boil rice for 15 -20 minutes, strain left over wate to the tub to cover the scraps. Rice is a staple foodstuff of many countries and rice water is rich in vitamin B.

 4 
Place a lid on the tub or bucket, and leave it for six to eight weeks in a dark dry location.open lid and stir daily to keep areobic. or add air stone still  opening lid stirring daily

 5 
Strain the solution through cheesecloth or burlap, and dilute the solution as needed for fertilizing. Dilute the solution with at least three times as much water.


Using a banana peel too clean dirt from you leaves will leave the leaves shiny..


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## 4u2sm0ke (Aug 30, 2012)

:48:


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## SquidyPacheco (Aug 30, 2012)

Liquid Bone Meal

Bone meal is a high phosphorus fertilizer source, normally made from crushed animal bones that are ground into a fine powder. Many fertilizers contain a bone meal or phosphorus rock element to help them achieve optimum results in the garden. Most gardeners find that making their own bone meal is a cost-effective way to produce fertilizer. Liquid bone meal can be produced easily at home using a few basic cooking tools. Does this Spark an idea? 


Instructions
 1 
Place the bones in a large pot with water and boil them for about an hour. This will rid the bones of any remaining fat or marrow.

 2 
Place the bones on a charcoal grill and char them for about 45 minutes. The bones should be black all around and brittle after this amount of time.

3 
Place the bones into a coffee grinder or a high powered blender that can grind harder materials. Grind them down as fine as you can, then place the bones into a coffee can or compost pile and skip the liquid part..

 4 
Use a ceramic hand grinder to pulverize the rest of the bone fragments inside the coffee can. This tool is shaped like a muddler and is normally made out of stone. It is available at many cooking supply stores.

 5 
Pour the bone powder back into the pot and add about 1 qt. of water and 1/2 cup of baking soda. Heat the mixture to a simmer while stirring frequently. Allow to cool and use along with other fertilizers or compost.

Tips & Warnings

Use bones from leftover meals, such as chicken bones or pork ribs.

You can purchase bones from slaughterhouses if you need more


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## SquidyPacheco (Aug 30, 2012)

4u2 :48:


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## orangesunshine (Aug 31, 2012)

seems like a bit of work----far as i know the feed store here doesn't have a bananna fertilizer---that's a lot of ####ing bannanas---but we got many other goodies---fish powder is what i am toying with now---think it's just pulverized fish---mix in the watering or top dress---not sure if it will make it thru the sprayer yet

:48:


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## pcduck (Aug 31, 2012)

Nice info Squi :aok:

I have begun making my own also.

I am trying out Rabbit Pellets, Willow leaves, K-Finish(horse supplement), Strawberries, Peaches, Coffee, Rice and just about anything else I come across.

I brewed a EM-1 batch to help with the decomposition, that I add to what I am trying to make. Added it to the strawberries and it only took a week instead of the month or more that it would normally take


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## SquidyPacheco (Sep 1, 2012)

Orange :rofl: its is a smelly process, but worth it specialy with prices for MJ ferts..  :ciao:

Duck :yay:  , im be expermenting with the banana tree, leave, stalk, fruit  and peels (for a flower tea)... And a homade fish/seaweed emulsion for veg... id also like to make a dried banana peel fert .. I grow lots of bananas and actually was taught as a kid when you cut a banana stalk down you take the whole tree down cut up stalk and leaves an pile at base of banana trees.. its amazing how big and sweet our bananas get and get comments all the time about how big my apple bananas get.. id like to be able make alot of ferts at once and store until i need to use or give away to friends and family for their  gardens.. 

Aloha
Squidy



 In today's world, one must find any way to save money and for anyone trying to plant their own vegetables in their own little back yard organic garden can be expensive. Simply planting an indoor garden, fertilizer can be very expensive, especially organically derived fertilizer. 

Anyone with a little bit of determination can make their own plant food, especially if a small organic garden is being planned. You can buy prepared organic fertilizer that will serve most any grower's needs, but sometimes the expense can be prohibitive


Some backyard gardeners build a small compost pile or construct a bin and discard their refuse from table scraps and layer it on a regular basis with a little loamy soil and keep it watered. 

How About an Unorthodox Approach

By making your own organic fertilizer you will save a lot of money. You can use simple organic waste and prepare it yourself very easily. One example when you or someone else in your household is about to throw out their banana peel, tell them to save it. The next step is to dry it in a small toaster oven or regular oven until you can pulverize it to powder in a small dish.

Example of the Analysis of Banana Peel and Other Organic Materials

Banana peel N=0 P=3.25 K=41.76
Cantaloupe rinds N=0 P=9.77 K=12.21

The values shown are for stem and fruit growth and as can be seen the K value for the banana will yield large fruit.
It should also be noticed that in order to maintain "green leaf" growth you should add either fish emulsion or blood meal.

Make Your Own Organic Fertilizer

In today's world, one must find any way to save money and for anyone trying to plant their own vegetables in their own little back yard organic garden can be expensive.
home made organic fertilizer, easy to make organic fertilizer, low cost organic fertilizer

For your interest, the NPK composition of other organic materials are: Banana peels = 0-3.25-41.76; cantaloupe rinds, 0-9.77-12.21; fish scraps (average composition), 4.75-1.5-6; 

 If anyone else knows another method, let us know.


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## pcduck (Sep 3, 2012)

fyi on store bought fish emulsions.

When they pasteurizer the emulsion to combat the smell, that kills many of the beneficials. 

I am in the process of fishing for my own fish scraps to make my emulsions.

Air tight bucket with fish scraps and some EM-1 and let it decompose. Will smell bad but the EM-1 keeps the smell somewhat in check.


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## juniorgrower (Sep 3, 2012)

Nice info Squiddy thanks for taking the time to share with us.


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## SquidyPacheco (Sep 3, 2012)

pcduck said:
			
		

> fyi on store bought fish emulsions.
> 
> When they pasteurizer the emulsion to combat the smell, that kills many of the beneficials.
> 
> ...


 
:ciao: JuniorGrower  thanks  I hope it gives you ideas ..

dUCK 

hope you catch a whooper....  i havent used EM-1 yet .. just got done looking at their website.. sounds like good stuff to get the MOST out of your home made fert... on to the fish im going to use canned tuna .. start with a 8 0z can oil and all in mix. and use banana peels.3 cups washed rice water and molasses and some watermelon rinds.. and see what happens.. addding molasses and sugar will help withthe smell but there is no way around it being somewhat smelly.. i will be ordering some EM-1 for sure.. thanks Duck 

*Another fish emulsion tea*


1Liquefy the fish and or seaweed by placing it in a blender with warm water and  blending thoroughly until you've created an emulsion.


2Pour the fish emulsion into a 5 gallon bucket.  Be sure to use a bucket that  has a lid which can be sealed tightly.


3Add shredded newspapers, dried leaves, sawdust or brown grass clippings to  the bucket to feed your fish emulsion fertilizer as it  decays.


4Pour molasses into the bucket to control odor and contribute healthy  microorganisms to your organic fish emulsion fertilizer.


5Open the bucket each day and stir the fish fertilizer.  Opening the bucket  also helps "burp" the fish  emulsion as it's decaying.


6Wait 2 weeks until the entire mixture has turned dark brown before using.  If  you want to get rid of the fishy odor, you can add brown sugar, molasses or  pureed fruit to the mixture and ferment a few days  longer.


 
i will be replacing the saw dust with brown dried banana leaves, and peels.. banana stump like 3 inch cube minced..  and will be try that EM-1 thanks for that info


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## SquidyPacheco (Sep 3, 2012)

oh yeah 

You can use fresh fish parts or any cheap canned fish. The juices, sauces, or oils in the can can be used to breed beneficial microbes and supply extra proteins in the tea, so use it. 
(NOTE: If you use canned fish products, you may want to let it decompose mixed with some finished compost, good garden soil, etc. in a separate closeable container for a few days before using. Since most canned meat products contain preservatives, this will guarantee that the good microbes in the tea will not be killed off or harmed in brew making.) 
You can use any fresh or dried seaweed. Fresh seaweed has more N in it, but that really isn't important for seaweed teas. You can buy fresh or dried seaweed at most oriental grocery stores. Seaweed decomposes better if chopped up or liquified first in water before brewing. 

If you are using fresh fish, you need to compost it separately in a 5 gallon closeable bucket. Fill bucket 1/2 full with extra browns like sawdust, leaves, or straw. You can add molasses to the fishy mixture in order to build up microbes in order to speed up decomposition. The sugars will also help control odors too. Open the bucket and stir the fishy paste daily or every other day in order to get air in the mix for better decomposition and better aerobic microbial growth in the emulsion. Let this paste rot for at least 1-2 weeks. The browns help control offensive odors and absorb organic nitrogen from the fish so that it is not leached out or evaporated. 


Aloha
Squidy :ciao:


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