How Does Manure Tea Help Plants?

Nitrogen Content

Manure tea is primarily a potent source of nitrogen. Nitrogen is the prime nutrient in the formation of healthy leaves and foliage. Leafy plants will thrive on regular side dressing applications of manure tea. While nitrogen is essential for any leaf growth, it also has the potential to burn leaves and roots if applied indiscriminately. The great thing about manure tea is that you can vary the strength of your solution easily. Make sure you use a very dilute solution when you are applying regularly, and water it thoroughly into the ground after application. Foliar feeding is a definite benefit for many plants, and an extremely dilute solution of manure tea is an ideal material for this purpose. Make sure you discontinue foliar feeding when plants are ready to form flower buds, as high amounts of nitrogen will encourage leaf growth at the expense of flowers.

Long Lasting Soil Amendment

Manure tea helps both present and future garden plants. It carries immediate nutrients to the plants presently growing in the garden. It also enriches the soil as it continues to decompose, leaving the garden in better shape for the next crop to be planted. This is a form of soil amendment that doesn't have to wait until after the current crop has been harvested. It starts working on next season's crops while it is helping the current season to produce as bountifully as possible. It's not often you find a fertilizer that does such easy double duty.

Healthy Plants Can Defend Themselves

An additional benefit of manure tea is in strengthening the overall health of the plants it is applied to. A strong plant is less vulnerable to pests and diseases. When predatory insects show up, they look for the weaker plants to attack. In addition, a stronger plant is better able to recover from insect predation. The same is true for plant diseases. Any plant diseases will have a difficult time getting a foothold on a supremely healthy plant, and will produce less damage if they do get into the plant's system.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Manure tea is a great source of macro and micro nutrients and valuable enzymes. It contributes those to the plants it feeds and leaves a supply behind in the soil for the plants to follow. At the same time, unlike many inorganic fertilizers, it does no damage to the nutrients and organisms already present. It builds a healthier soil without damaging the environment of the earthworms and other natural inhabitants of the garden. It becomes a healthy part of the garden cycle, giving benefits that will carry through from year to year without creating conditions that will lead to an imbalance in the natural health that every gardener tries to build into their soil. Any plants that live in that garden, now or later, can only thrive and shine in that kind of environment.

Resources

• "Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web"
• "Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long"