We use a liquid organic lawn fertilizer to care for our grass. We live on a homestead with plenty of animals, which equals plenty of manure.
When we clean the barns and stalls out, we put all of the manure in a big pile. There it is allowed to age, with rain, hot weather and freezing temperatures. Once in a while we turn it, meaning we stir it, usually with a the bucket on a tractor. If you are dealing with a small manure pile, you can easily turn it and stir it with a spade or pitch fork.
Our manure compost pile consists of mainly manure, some leaves, some grass clippings and some hay/straw. Most of the manure is from cattle and goats.
To make our organic lawn fertilizer we use a barrel made of plastic or steel. We take two old pillow cases and fill them with the manure compost material. Tie a sturdy knot in the open end of the pillowcase after filling. We then set these two pillowcases in the barrel. Take a hose or bucket and fill the barrel with water.
We let this set for a couple of weeks. Think of the pillowcases as tea bags and the barrel of water as a teacup. We are letting the manure, soon to be fertilizer, steep in the water.
Next, gently and slowly pull the pillowcases out of the barrel of water. You should now have a barrel full of manure tea! You can put this solution in a lawn sprayer and treat your lawn.
1.The results of the strength of the manure tea will depend on what organic materials you used and how big the pillowcases were and how big the barrel of water is.
2.When filling your sprayer, leave the bottom inch or two of organic fertilizer in the barrel. If you have sediments, that is where they should be. They might plug your sprayer.
3.You should try a trial “patch”. If the organic lawn fertilizer is too strong you will want to add more water to the solution.
4.Check your weather before applying the organic lawn fertilizer. You do NOT want to apply the fertilizer if rain is in the same day forecast. It is best to let it absorb and go without rain or watering for at least a couple of days.
5.Try to keep from using materials containing chemicals like pesticides in your manure pile.
This organic lawn fertilizer takes a little time, effort and work. But the rewards are plentiful. You should only fertilize your lawn 1 to 2 times a year. Spring and fall are great times to fertilize your lawn. If you only want to fertilize 1 time, do it in the fall.
Store bought organic lawn fertilizer can be expensive. If you do not have animals, ask around. Most farmers are very willing to share their manure piles.
Try the manure tea. It’s a great organic lawn fertilizer.
