Preparation and Use of Some Organic Manures
Preparation and use of some organic manures are discussed in the sections below. These are excellent sources of NPK nutrients and keep the plants healthy and smiling.
1. Bio slurry
Add fresh cow dung, neem cake and groundnut cake, approximately in equal quantities by weight, into a container. Optionally, you could also add a bit of jaggery cakes. Add water 10 times the volume of the mixture. Stir well and leave the container in a cool place. Stir once every day.
After 5 days, the slurry is ready. Dilute with equal amount of water and apply to plants. 250 ml per plant is a good quantity to apply. More if the pot is large. Can be given once every week, or even more frequently.
The NPK values of the ingredients is given in the table below. The resultant slurry is an excellent source of NPK and is full of micro-organisms.
| Sl. No. | Item | %N | %P | %K |
| 1 | Cowdung | 2 | 1 | 2.4 |
| 2 | Neem cake | 5 | 1 | 1.5 |
| 3 | Groundnut cake | 7 | 3 | 2.2 |
2. Fish emulsion
Add equal amount (by weight) of any small-size fish, such as Sardine or Anchovy, and jaggery into a container. Can even use fish waste. Add enough water to cover the mixture and mix both well. Cover the container and leave it in a cool place. Stir occasionally. Sardine mixture smells very bad, mixture of fish like Anchovy smells less.
The manure is ready after two weeks. The NPK value of fish emulsion is 4:4:1. It is high in Nitrogen and Phosphorous and contains trace elements. Dilute one tablespoon on the mixture with one litre of water and apply to plants.