Every passionate homeowner lush notably healthy houseplants or garden growth. And there’s no one to check commercial foods to accommodate plant increment.
However, there are many reasons to turn your back on supermarket foods on indoor/backyard plants.
Why not utilize simplistic homemade plant foods to deliver necessary nutrients? There are many recipes available to recover, support, ensure consistent growth.
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Why Should You Use Homemade Plant Food?
- Commercial fertilizers are considerably expensive for low-scale applications. At-home foods can save you hundreds of dollars every time.
- Particular nutrition deficiency is difficult to conquer with commercial fertilizers. It’s possible to trigger issues regarding over-fertilization.
- Only a minimal share of the available foods can support indoor plants. But you don’t have to worry about the foods prepped at home.
Let’s explore the DIY plant foods ideas to implement using household materials.
1. Soda-Ammonia-Salt Recipe
It’s arguably the most common homemade fertilizer to cost you nothing. The intended recipe is a great nitrogen booster for houseplants.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Epsom Salt
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon of Ammonia
- 1 gallon of freshwater
Directions
Use a suitable plastic jug of water to mix all the ingredients. Allow the mixture to sit for at least half an hour. It should dissolve all the ingredients in the water properly.
Directly add the prepared fertilizer to the roots of your garden plants. Lightly top the soil once a month. Set the amount, interval & even concentration based on response.
2. Seaweed Steeped Fertilizer
Presence of mannitol actually makes seaweed an excellent absorbance booster. It lets the plant dig into the soil for nutrients & minerals.
Ingredients
- 8 cup seaweed
- Household water
Directions
Take a 5-gallon bucket to fill the space using water. Gently throw in the chopped seaweed in the water. Cover the bucket using a loosely attached lid.
Allow the mixture to ferment for about three weeks. Fill an empty bottle with the intended formula. Directly pour the plant food on the soil/root.
3. Diluted Fish Emulsion Fertilizer
Remains of everyday fish can provide a heavy level of plant nutrients. Fermented food comes loaded with essential nitrogen, calcium & minerals.
Ingredients
- Sufficient fish waste
- Clean household water
Directions
Fill the ⅓rd of an empty 55-gallon drum with watered random fish parts and guts (waste). Allow the remaining ⅔rd portion to remain empty for 24 hours.
Fill the entire drum with clean water to let it ferment for at least three weeks. Spread the food directly on the soil, covering 100 square feet with 3-gal fertilizers.
4. Tea-Urine-Leaves Mixtures
No need to wait for three weeks with the intended garden mixture. The blend appears rich in essential nutrients to enable plant growth.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Epsom salt
- 2 cups urine
- 2 cups wood ash
- Pile of leaves
Directions
Mix the Epsom salt, urine & ash in a large bucket. Continue stirring the ingredients to add the leaves. You can consider grass clippings, weeds & pruned green leaves.
Pour sufficient water on the bucket to let the mix near the brim. Allow the items to steep for three days. Strain the mix into empty bottles for direct/diluted application.
5. Manure Teabag Fertilizer
Well-aged animal manure can enrich the soil with much-needed nutrients. And its easy dissolving spec lets you spray the fertilizer directly.
Ingredients
- Well-aged manure
- Clean freshwater
Directions
Fill a large-sized pillowcase or burlap sack with sufficient manure. Suspend the ‘teabag’ inside a 5-gallon bucket filled with water. Add the water at 5 (water):1 (manure) quantity.
Leave the combo to ferment or steep for 2 weeks. Suspend the bag high to let the excess water drip from the fertilizer. Further, dilute the food by half of its actual density.
6. Kitchen Compost Fertilizers
It’s indeed the simplest formula to prepare a blend of nutrient-rich DIY fertilizer. Almost anyone can try the method on indoor/outdoor garden plants.
Ingredients
- Food scraps
- Clean water
Directions
Fill an empty jar with water to its ⅓ – ½ portion. Add any kinds of food scraps from the kitchen to the jar. Make sure the compost always remains covered with water.
Seal the opening on top after filling the jar with all-natural waste. Let the mixture seat for several days to enable fermentation. Apply the recipe directly to the plant.
7. Quick Fixing Food Mixture
Despise the week-long process of steeping or fermenting the formula? Spend some additional time in the kitchen preps the ready-to-go fertilizer.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup crushed eggshells
- ¼ cup bone scraps
- 3 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
- 3 tablespoon hydrogen peroxide
- 3 teaspoon powdered iced tea
- 1-gallon milk
- Banana peels
Directions
Take all the ingredients on an empty jug for thorough mixing. Fill the remaining jug space with clean water. Continue stirring to completely dissolve particular items.
Leave the formula in the jug for at least 30 minutes for completion. Store the fertilizer in a suitable can for proper sprinkling. No need to add water for further dilution.
Again, thrive the plant health/growth with the simplistic DIY fertilizer formulas right at home.
8. Aquarium Water
Water from freshwater aquariums contains many essential plant nutrients. Fish waste directly contributes to the level of nitrogen & potassium. Save the water for the garden or indoor plants while cleaning the aquarium.
9. Banana Peels
Large quantity of potassium makes the residue an ideal fertilizer for plants. Bury the fresh peels a few inches under the soil, keeping a slight distance. You can also steep the peels like seaweed for ⅔ weeks using household water.
10. Beer
Mixing 1 cup beer with ½ cup ammonia & 1 cup Epsom salt on water prep the food. It’s great organic support for ornamental indoor plants like orchids. Gently stir the mixture well to apply about 0.5oz once every two weeks.
11. Blackstrap Molasses
Many boosting organic chemicals are available in the well-known drink. It features calcium, carbon, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese & sulfur. However, it goes extremely well in a combo with Epsom salt or green tea.
12. Bone Meal
It’s a nutrient-rich mixture of finely grounded animal bones & slaughterhouse waste. The slow-release formula is a great source of protein & phosphorus. Apart from using it as an organic fertilizer, you can feed it to pets.
13. Coffee Grounds
Used coffee grounds contain multiple major nutrients for definite growth. And it holds essential soil minerals like potash, nitrogen & phosphoric acid. Simply mulch around the plant roots and scatter the small pieces on the soil.
14. Cooking Water
Meanwhile, water to boil the vegetables also features several nutrients. Also keep the water to boil potatoes, eggs & pasta into consideration. Allow the warm water to cool down completely before putting it into applications.
15. Corn Gluten Meal
The wet-milling byproduct features about 10% nitrogen to go by an organic pre-emergent herbicide. Spreading a thin layer on the soil for later scratching will do the trick. And it causes no harm to already-sprouted plants.
16. Eggshells
Nitrogen & phosphoric acid makes eggshells a preference for plant growth. Crush the large shells into bits first to make powder grinds using a coffee grinder. Uniformly sprinkle the powder all over your garden or plant soil.
17. Gelatin
It’s indeed a great source of the plant’s most essential element – nitrogen. Mix an entire pack with three parts of cold water against one part of warm water. Simply dump the fertilizer around your garden soil once a month.
18. Green Tea
Its featured nutrients can stimulate oxygenation to improvise the root system. Steep a tea bag contents or some tea leaves using clean water. Apply the mixture directly on the plant but no more than one time a month.
19. Match Sticks
Classic match sticks contain a great deal of magnesium on the top. You better take the red section out in fresh condition for beneficial applications. Either plant the stick or soak the top in water to allow the magnesium to dissolve.
20. Powdered Milk
The excellent calcium source can precisely prep the soil prior to planting. And you can directly apply in a scattered amount without mixing with water. However, you can also apply a diluted solution to the soil or plant root.
21. Vinegar
Mixing 1 tablespoon white vinegar to 1-gallon water checks the high acetic acid level. It can easily perk up flowering plants with other common houseplants. Use the shaken formula every 910 days to achieve the best outcome.
22. Wood Ash
The ashes contain a sufficient amount of calcium carbonates with potassium. Sprinkle the ash coming from chimneys or fireplaces directly on the soil. But make sure there’s no charcoal or lighter fluid to cause plant damage.
There are additional ingredients to consider for plant foods. The list holds – grass chippings, Epsom salt, human hair, dried leaves, animal manure/waste.
You must know the accurate dose to prevent over-fertilizing the plants. Also, try to avoid fresh manure to apply directly without eventual fermentation.
Final words
There are too many options to utilize the intended ingredients for the soil/plant. However, you must know the deficiency or requirements to save any potential issues. Applying the perfect homemade plant food will immediately push the health with growth.
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