Bonnie has a few questions about how to use Dave’s Fetid Swamp Water:
1. Do YOU or any of your knowledgeable garden friends know if weed seeds decay in water, and how long it takes?
Generally, they do decay. But not always. It depends on the species. The longer they sit in the water, however, the less likely they are to be a problem. Weed seeds might survive for a few days or a week or two, but are much less likely to still be viable after a month or more. If you are concerned about spreading a particular weed, skip adding it when in seed.
2. RE: coffee grounds in the compost tea. I read an article from someone claiming that coffee grounds kill earthworms — the leftover caffeine does it.. She had photos of the dead worms. I know coffee grounds are popular for compost. People even go to coffee shops to lug away plastic bags of their spent grounds. But are they bad for microbes and worms?
Anything that dies after drinking God’s Gift of coffee deserves to die.
That said, I add coffee grounds to my worm bins, often in huge quantities, and they have not died on me. These are Einsenia foetida, AKA red wigglers, however, and are not the same worms in garden soil.
3. It sounds like you applied the tea full strength in your garden That’s what I did with the spruce tree, but various articles generally advise diluting the tea in more water.
If I made a strong batch – say with fresh chicken manure – I would probably thin it. Generally, though, it’s just a bit of manure, some fish waste and some weeds, so I use it straight.
Making fetid swamp water is an easy way to feed the garden, and it’s hard to screw it up. If it has bugs in it or mold in it or mosquito larvae or whatever – don’t worry about it. The plants won’t care.
Also, check out Aardvark Screenprinting’s Fetid Swamp Water t-shirt.
I love mine.
Today I’m going to make a few more batches of swamp water, plus go harvest some cow manure for the gardens. It’s been very dry lately and we need to increase the fertility in our gardens as much as we can. The potatoes are already starting to come in, and soon we’ll have the sweet potatoes starting to run. The swamp water I gave to our corn has already made a big difference and I want to keep the momentum going.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
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Uh oh. Using DFSW and some katuk leaves started to curl. In my first batch started 18 months ago—I remembered I added unidentified horse manure from a field by church.
Full stop! Aminopyralids?
Now sprouting some beans to test it per https://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/thank-saving-garden/
My original notes on 1st DFSW batch:
2020-12-06
Worked on fetid swamp water liq fertilizer barrel. Using an old 35 gallon brine tank from a water softener system (disguises well). Today, so far: well water, 10 gal canal water, Epsom salts, molasses, moringa, weeds, horse manure, topsoil, shredded office paper, eggshells, coffee grounds, iguana manure, saltwater fish heads/guts, old chicken veg soup, rotted mahoe leaves,
Soon: old fridge squash / sweet potato, fish bones, …. urine! And worm castings
2021-04-01 So ripe and stinky! Also, I’ve added lots of weeds from the yard. And, more urine. Maybe 1.5 gallons so far.
I have a few plastic barrels but how do you know if they are safe to use for this? They may have had chemicals in them before I found them. Thank you!
Just a brief report. I combined a biochar burn with DFSW to charge it for about 3 weeks. The results are impressive so far in my Florida sand. I was hoping that the biochar would trap nutrients a bit better than the sand and used the swamp water to “charge the battery” so to speak. I have 3 rows of purple hull peas in a 10×4′ bed. The center row has the DFSW soaked biochar deposited about 6″ below the center trough. The plants in that row are double the size and producing earlier than the outer 2 rows. I’ll testify that the swamp water is great solution if you’re growing on a budget. Will definitely continue the practice.
“Anything that dies after drinking God’s Gift of coffee deserves to die.” Hilarious and I couldn’t agree more!
I heard I could use chicken run dirt to make a tea. I thought of mixing in some comfrey and some worm castings to the mix. Thoughts?
My friend Elizabeth says it works great. I am going to try it.
Random question that I haven’t really seen asked yet… I created some weed compost tea using just tap water, weeds from around my house, some ash from my BBQ pit and a bit of sea salt. I put a cover on it and left it for 3-4 weeks in the sun. It got moldy and smells like satan’s asscrack. Is that what I should have expected? Should it smell absolutely heinous? Am I ready to dilute it and throw this on the garden?
Do it brotha! The plants will love it, your neighbors… depends on which way the wind blows.
Can you put squash plants infested with vine bore beetles in the swamp water? Or any diseased plant a no-no?
I do and don’t worry about it.
Can you put dried poke weed in the DGSW?
Sure, why not.
How often do you use it on plants versus trees and how much?
what about using swamp water in Kratky or other hydroponic systems. some of us dont have any dirt to work with. thanks, don
It’s worth trying, but I would dilute heavily.
Can swamp water be used on things such as onions, garlic and potatoes or will it wreck them?
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