If you garden and raise rabbits (or are near someone who does raise rabbits!), you can forget about having to buy Miracle Gro or fertilizer ever again. Make your own Bunny Berry Tea to fertilize your gardens!
Brewing a batch of Bunny Berry tea can add nutrients to your garden soil. A form of compost tea, manure tea contains beneficial microorganisms, bacteria, nematodes, enzymes and organic matter that you want to add to the soil. Unlike compost tea however, the goal in brewing manure tea is not to increase the good bacteria or multiply microorganisms, but merely to pull the nutrients out of the manure and dissolve them into a liquid ‘tea’.
Tomatoes, asparagus, cabbage and watermelons specifically benefit from some extra nitrogen in the soil. Rabbit manure fertilizes your garden by adding nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, too. Fresh rabbit manure has about 2% nitrogen, 1% phosphorus and 1% potassium, according to the National Gardening Association. Composted rabbit manure contains about 2.4% nitrogen, 1.4% phosphorus and 0.6% potassium, according to the University of Kentucky. Bunny Berry tea will also give your garden these boosts of nutrients.
So how do you make your own Bunny Berry tea and tell Miracle Gro to take their product and shove it?!
- Make a ‘tea bag’ for the manure using an old pillow case. Fill the pillow case with rabbit poop and put it into a 5-gallon bucket. Cover with water. (About 1/3 bunny berries and 2/3 water.)
- Let the pail sit in a sunny location uncovered for a week or so. Introducing oxygen to the solution by dunking it a few times a day so pathogens and bad bacteria won’t grow. Your resulting ‘tea’ should resemble iced tea in color when it’s done.
- Apply to your plants.
How easy is that?!
Note: Manure tea is most useful when given to young seedlings and plants for a boost of nitrogen to help them grow. Apply the manure tea once a week using a watering can or hose sprayer attachment around the base and root area of the plants until they start to flower. Because of the potential for pathogens, don’t apply to root crops (such as potatoes, beets, carrots, etc.) and don’t apply to leaves you will be consuming (such as lettuce, kale, spinach or other greens). Wash your hands after each use and keep leftover tea stored outside loosely covered.
Thank you to Fresh Eggs Daily for inspiration for this post!
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Tagged: bunny berries, gardening, how to prepare your soil, make your own miracle gro, rabbit fertilizer
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