inexpensive sources of high nitrogen

[ooha]

What are the most inexpensive sources of chemical fertilizers for high nitrogen application?

[Lorenzo L. Love]

Pee.

Human urine contains lots of urea, a good nitrogen source. And the price is right.

Lorenzo L. Love

you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.? Cicero

[Vivie veg]

I use a bale of straw in a corner of an unused shed. Anybody wishing t relieve themselves while in the garden is free to do so. After about months I get a wonderful rich brown composed ready for garden use Obviously easier for men than women

- Vivie ve Keep planting!

Vivie Ve

----------------------------------------------------------------------- posted via

[Laser6328]

Hair.

It takes a while to compost in the pile but it is a god source. I collect a bucketfull a week from a local barber. I would avoid the hairdressing salons because of the chemicals.

Ed

[Richard Cline]

Just get urea. It is 40-0-0. That is almost all nitrogen. You do not pay for the other, frequently non-essential, items.

Dick

[simy1]

I of course have used urea (46-0-0) in the past but another good, cheap source of nitrogen which is virtually free are green manures, grass clippings (best mixed with brown), and another really "green" (stinky) is when we go picking peas right around this time of year (maybe next saturday). the shells of two bushels of peas (which we freeze) go bad very quickly, and are nitrogen rich (smell really bad). Currently in my developed garden (one that has been composted regularly since 1997) my only sources are kitchen scraps, grass clippings, horse manure and pea shells, applied about 2 inches every second year.

also, lets not forget pulses crops, with peas and favas my favorite ones. One crop injects enough nitrogen in the soil that no fertilizer is needed for three years of normal veggie gardening. More if the pea plant is chopped and thrown back in.

[Kawika]

don't forget to spread the pee around, not just in one place...too much pee becomes a herbicide...

[Laser6328]

Another excellent source of HIGH nitrogen content is chicken manure. Look in your yellow pages for a chicken of egg farm. Be carefull with it though. It not only stinks like ---- but it will also burn your plants.

Ed

[someone]

Grow comfrey, then chop the leaves and compost them in water as a liquid fertilizer. Smells like hell, though.

Comfrey flowers are great for attracting bees.

s.

[Pen]

Here's another god source :D

[Frank Miles]

IIRC comfrey is illegal in some places -- due to invasiveness.

-f

[Jack1000]

I was told to help kill slugs in my garden, mix 1 part ammonia with three parts water, and spray around my plants where I saw the tiny baby slugs. Well, in my back yard I now have 6 foot tomato plants. In my front yard they are half the size. I guess Ammonia is a real good and cheap nitrogen source.

[Richard Cline]

I'm not sure that ammonia is all that cheap in the quantities you would purchase. Certainly, it is almost totally nitrogen. It is probably the major fertilizer used comercially.

Dick

[belly]

On 06 Jul 2004 13:30:43 GMT in , [e-mail] (Laser6328) graced the world with this thought:

a bucket of urine from the barber a week? Surely he could do better than that.

[someone]

Eh??? Never! I've had comfrey growing for over 20 years both in my home garden and on my allotment (UK). It's never been a problem. Maybe you're describing a different variety of comfrey? Please post a URL if you have information about invasive comfrey, I'd be very interested.

BTW, large comfrey leaves are useful for putting down on the bottom of pots so the soil doesn't fall out :-). That's what I do.

s.

[Jim Carlock]

Agreeing with someone... don't know about illegality.

Taken from a book written in 1975, "Companion Planting For Successful Gardening" by Louise Riotte...

Comfrey (Symphytum officinale). Comfrey, also called knitbone or healing herb, is high in calcium, potassium and phosphorous, rich in Vitamins A and C. It was an ancient belief that comfrey preparations taken internally or as a poultice bound to injured parts hastened the healing of broken bones.

It is possible that the nutrients present in comfrey actually do assist in the healing process since we now know that the herb also contains a drug called allantoin, which promotes the strengthening of the lining of hollow internal organs.

The very first leaves of comfrey, gathered in the early spring, are quite delicious to eat, but let the later ones go. The leaves of Russian comfrey are ideal for the compost heap, having a carbon- nitrogen ratio similar to that of barnyard manure.

Hope that helps.

[Ray]

A plant that gets along fine in one environment may be very invasive in another. That is especially true if you are talking about two different continents.

Examples abound. Kudzu and Water Hyassins are a big problem in Southern USA, but not a big deal where they came from. There are many plants that are local to me (central Michigan, USA) that are no big deal here, but are causing big problems elsewhere.

Ray Drouillard

[Jim Carlock]

The following link indicates it needs constant water, so it might be invasive in areas around rivers or lakes or rain forests.

also indicates that some parts of the plant are poisonous. So I take back what the author of the book I was reading said.

[someone]

Hi Jim, yes, I think you're right both about what you read and what your link said.

From what I've understood for many years, Comfrey can be made into an ointment to rub on the skin to get rid of bruises or things like that. Or so the homeopathists say, but I don't know.

People here also used to think you could make tea out of it and drink it. But, as your link indicates, this is probably not a good thing to do. Comfrey has a lot of silica in its hairy leaves, and these silica shards shouldn't be ingested.

Nevertheless, it's a plant worth growing if you want some easy nitrogenous fertilizer.

Ray could be right as well when he says that Comfrey is invasive, although I've never had a problem. It does have a very long tap root, and if it lives by water, could be difficult to get rid of. My garden is quite dry and it's easy to yank the root out.

OTOH, maybe we're talking about two different, related species of Comfrey.

Anyway, the manure works on tomatoes!

s.

[YT2095]

the Air you breathe is 78% Nitrogen, and legumes can lock up thi

nitrogen thanx to some wonderfull little nodes it has to do this with. they will literaly take the nitrogen from the air and convert it int plant matter, then all you do is compost this and use it, Free Nitroge all locked up and ready to use from fresh air :)

it doesn`t come much cheaper than that! :

- YT2095 - The Resourceful On

Say it with Flowers,,,Give her a Triffid :

----------------------------------------------------------------------- posted via