Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Homemade Fertilizer Series Part 2 - Starch Water

Hi everyone !! 

Do you have plants stuck for fertilizer due to lockdown?? 

Yesterday we talked about homemade NPK fertilizer, today we will talk about what more your plants need. So here goes our second homemade fertilizer for plants, STARCH WATER. 

Starch water is basically the residual water left after rinsing and boiling eatables like potatoes, rice, macaroni, or pasta. The white residual water is a rich source of Starch. The next time you boil or steam some vegetables on the stovetop, don’t pour the water down the drain. Once the water has cooled, pour the vegetable water in your garden or planting containers to “fertilize” your plants instead of wasting it.  

Detailed Process: Cool down the starch water if it is boiled water. Leave it in a jar or a bowl for 5 to 6 days to ferment. Also, cover the jar or bowl with cotton cloth, allow air to pass through. After 5 days shake it, take 1/10 of this fermented starch water and mix with 9/10 portion of mil and again leave this for 5 to 6 days to ferment. After the complete process takes this mixture and mix with 20 parts of water and pour them to your plants.  

Benefits: Starch water mainly has lactic acid and very minimal NPK qualities. Starch water + Milk + Time = Lactic Acid Bacteria. It creates lactic acid bacteria, which significantly improves soil health by decomposing any organic matter and reducing any chance of unwanted pathogens associated with decaying material. It will also remove foul odors associated with composting and manure. This starchy water will allow the growth of indigenous bacteria. Milk will be used to isolate the desired bacteria needed for the best fertilizer possible while the unwanted bacteria will die off. 

Questions

1) Can we use it directly without fermentation?
Ans: Yes, one can pour this starch water without the fermentation process, but only after cooling and dilution.

2) What should be the quantity and how frequently one should give them to plants?
Ans: Quantity is similar to the amount you pour water to plants. Frequency should be twice a week. 

3) I usually add little salt while boiling macaroni. Can I use this starch water?
Ans: Never use salted starchy water as it may harm plants.

Thanks for reading !! 
Comment below if you have any more queries. Do follow us for future updates
Stay home Stay safe Stay connected. 
Love TheDreamDecorStore

No comments:

Post a Comment

Know what is wrong with your soil

Many of us bring plants from our local Nursery but fail to grow them healthy and bushy as we do not understand what exactly the problem i...