Before you throw away banana peels to trash, think twice! Banana peel is one of the highest organic sources of potassium. Potassium helps your plants by strengthening the stems and protects them from disease. It also helps the flowering process and is thought to be able to improve the quality of the fruit of your plants. Also in addition to potassium, it also contains phosphorous and calcium which are equally important for plants.
Let’s start the recipe for making banana peel fertilizer and then banana tea.
For Making Banana Peel Fertilizer:
- Collect some banana peels, preferably from ripe bananas.
- Next step is to dry these peels. You can dry whole peels or cut them into pieces for faster drying. You can sun dry them for atleast 2 days so that they become crisp and should break easily when you crush them. You can also dry them in microwave oven if you do not have adequate sunlight.
- Then once they are crispy and black, crush them to make a powder. That is it!
- This powder is our banana peel fertilizer powder.
- You can add one table spoon every 15 days around your plant and then water your plant. Preferably raking the soil before application is recommended. You should see some positive results within 3 months.
Then For Making Banana Peel Tea:
- You can take some banana peels and cut them into small pieces of any size.
- Add them into a bowl or any container.
- Add water to the container to soak these peels for atleast 3 days. All the nutrients from banana peel, mainly potassium is released into this water.
- You can discard the banana peels and use this banana tea in 1:5 dilution to water your plants.
Adding or burying raw banana peels directly into the soil around plants is not recommended, because its not only attracts insects and maggots but also it takes a long time to decompose and in its process of decomposition, it might even steal away nitrogen from the soil and your plant might develop nitrogen deficiency.
Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants
This means that you need to enrich your soil. Because most people are not making their own compost at home, they need to buy a fertilizer. Plant fertilizers purchased from the local nurseries often contain chemicals that may harm your plants. And also, these fertilizers can be a bit pricey. So why spend your hard earned money on these pricey fertilizers when you can make one yourself with just a little information?
So, How to Make Your Own Homemade Organic Fertilizers – Today I am gonna list out the Top 10 ways to enrich your soil.
Before that..
Making your own organic plant enriching formulas is really easy and fun. It should be noted that most people understand that the best way to get good garden soil is to use compost to amend the soil. Of course, that is true. Compost can be made at home out of leftover food scraps and lawn clippings, and so it is virtually cost-free.
While it may not be the most exciting of gardening topics, nothing is more important than having a basic understanding of fertilizer. All fertilizers are classified into two basic categories: chemical/synthetic – Inorganic and or natural/organic. I have discussed this in more depth in my previous video on NPK Crystals Fertilizer – the link is shown in description and also perhaps somewhere in a link towards top right corner of this video.
SO coming back to our List of Easy Household Fertilizers
There are actually quite a few common items found in your kitchen, and elsewhere around the house, that can be used as plant fertilizer.
The First in the List is – Aquarium Water
Water your plants with the aquarium water taken right out of the tank when cleaning it. Fresh water only please, do not use water from a salt water tank. The fish waste makes a grreat plant fertilizer.
Then Next – Bananas
Bananas are not only tasty and healthy for humans, but they also benefit many different plants. When planting roses, bury a banana (or just the peel) in the hole alongside the rose. As the rose grows, bury bananas or banana peels into the top layer of the soil – that’s called Top-soil. I have a separate video explaining what is Topsoil and subsoil in detail.
Anyways Both of these approaches will provide the much needed potassium that plants need for proper growth. So banana provide mainly potassium.
Cooking Water
Many different nutrients are released into the water that food is cooked in. Water that is used to boil potatoes, vegetables, eggs, and even pasta can be used as a fertilizer. Just remember to let the water cool before applying it to your soil.
Then very important one – the Egg Shells
Egg shells are rich in Calcium and contain about 1% nitrogen, about a half-percent phosphoric acid, and other trace elements that make them a practical fertilizer. Calcium is an essential plant nutrient which plays a fundamental part in cell manufacture and growth. Most roots must have some calcium at the growing tips to grow effectively. Plant growth removes large quantities of calcium from the soil, and calcium must be replenished, so this is an ideal way to “recycle” your egg shells. Simply crush them, powder them, and sprinkle them around your garden soil.
Epsom Salts
1 tablespoon of epsom salts can be combined with 1 gallon of water and put into a sprayer. Apply once a month, directly to the foliage for a quick dose of magnesium and sulfur.
Wood Ash (Like From Your Fireplace )
Ashes can be sprinkled onto your soil to supply potassium and calcium carbonate. Don’t use ash in areas where you are trying to maintain acid-loving plants – the ashes are alkaline and can increase alkalinity in the soil.
Green Tea
A weak solution of green tea can be used to water plants every four weeks. Use one teabag to 2 gallons of water.
Next interesting item is – Your Hair
Have you ever wondered, Hair is a good source of nitrogen. A good source for this hair is not only your hairbrush but also the local barbershop or beauty salon. Many of these establishments will save hair for your garden, if you ask them for it. But do not limit yourself to only human hair. Dog hair, horse hair, and cat hair also work very well.
Cow Dung or Horse Dung when dry and decomposed
- make an excellent fertilizer. It can be used as a soil amendment just by sprinkling it on top of the soil. Alternatively, it can be dissolved in water alone or combined with another organic fertilizer and applied.
Matches
The old fashioned easy strike matches are a great source of magnesium. To use this as a fertilizer, simply place the whole match in the hole with the plant, or soak the matches in water. The magnesium will dissolve into the water and make application easier.
Powdered Milk
Powdered milk is not only good for human consumption but also for plants. This source of calcium needs to be mixed in to the soil prior to planting. Since the milk is in powder form, it is ready for use by your plants.
NPK Crystals Fertilizer Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y654mtxQKmY
Epsom Salt in Gardening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1jw4b1LelE
Milk in Gardening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61WEepnGMYY