Dandelion FPJ

Not yet, but I am about to try for my 2022/2023 outdoor Southern Hemisphere grow.

I am going to collect Dandelions from our local common this weekend - flowers, stems, roots and all. Folks have asked for help to eradicate them as they are encroaching on other indigenous plants.

I'll also be visiting and culling a Nettle patch I've seen locally on my cycle ride.

I've harvested Bull Thistle from my garden already.

That is soaking in
- a 20 litre drum
- snap on lid
- dechlorinated water
- a litre of lactobacillus brew
- a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses
- a handful of earthworm castings/vermicompost.

The lacto and microbes absolutely destroyed the thistle - within 24 hours the broad fresh green leaves turned into clumps of brown rotting gunk. The liquid is too dark for light to penetrate after a week.

I am going to add the dandelion and nettles to that withes' brew, and let it soak for a month or so.

I give it an aggressive whirly stir every morning to bubble it up and aerate a little.

Before I feed, I'll dilute the end result to the point where the liquid is transparent ... still with colour, but dilute enough to see through.

What's important about my feeding is that my soil is 3 year-old living soil packed with microbes, and a 4 inch layer of light compost mulch.

So when I pour and top dress with my teas and ferments, they sit and filter through an activated mulch layer where they are broken down by the topsoil microbes before the mixtures get down to reach my plant's roots.
 
I’ve always thought about using sticky weed, it grows rapidly in the spring and easily gathered.
@TaoRich have you used that concoction you’ve made before or is it an experimental brew?

Im planning on starting one with sorrel, periwinkle and sticky weed this weekend that I’ve got from around the garden.
 
GreenestBasterd said:
@TaoRich have you used that concoction you’ve made before or is it an experimental brew?
Click to expand...
Experimental ... but founded on experience and research.

It's an extension of what I have used to get good results.

e.g.
Prickly Pear Cactus

Aloe FPJ (Fermented Plant Juice)

Used up the first small batch already. We have a lot of plants in this house; not just mj. Turned out so well that we are in the process of making another even larger batch and I have a another huge aloe that will also be turned to FPJ. These are plants I had on my windowsill for 3-4 years. They...
www.rollitup.org

It's also based on other people's reports on what they use for their cannabis, and a lot of it that comer from inspiration from seeing what their wives have used on tomatoes etc. to get good results.

These crop up all over as 'super foods'
  • Nettle
  • Dandelion
  • Comfrey
My reading and researching also goes both ways ... look hard for the negative as well before experimenting.

I was also going to add these ... which we get locally.

They have excellent medicinal and nutritive properties for humans ... so I had already harvested and started the ferment on the fig, and I have scoped a place to forage the blackjacks.

Bidens pilosa (blackjack)

Carpobrotus edulis (hottentot fig)

CABI Digital Library

www.cabi.org www.cabi.org

Yesterday however, I learnt a new term and opened up a new door in my learning:

Allelopathy

en.wikipedia.org

Allelopathy - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Allelopathy is a biological phenomenon by which an organism produces one or more biochemicals that influence the germination, growth, survival, and reproduction of other organisms. These biochemicals are known as allelochemicals and can have beneficial (positive allelopathy) or detrimental (negative allelopathy) effects on the target organisms and the community.
Click to expand...

Both the blackjack and the fig show potential signs of allelopathic effects.

So those are now off my list.
 
GreenestBasterd said:
I'm planning on starting one with ... periwinkle and sticky weed.
Click to expand...

Please please don't take me for anything of an expert ... I'm just another google keyboard warrior with an enquiring mind,

And this whole topic and science of Allelopathy is pretty damn complex.
  • Some plants are positive allelopathic, some are negative allelopathic.
  • Some plants are positive allelopathic with some plants, but that same plant can be negative allelopathic towards others.
  • Some plant extracts are negative allelopathic at one dosage / dilution level ... but at different levels cause just the right amount of stress to induce vigour which is then positive.
Here is a good 'introduction'.

KZN Agriculture & Rural Development - Allelopathy

KZN Agriculture & Rural Development
www.kzndard.gov.za www.kzndard.gov.za

- - -

So I searched for your intended weeds, and added 'allelopathic'.

Periwinkle

Vinca minor (small periwinkle)

Small (or Common) Periwinkle – SSISC

ssisc.ca ssisc.ca

Periwinkle is allelopathic: it produces biochemicals that can inhibit germination and seedling growth in plants of other species, which may add to its competitive advantage.
Click to expand...

Sticky Weed

Galium aparine (cleavers)

CABI Digital Library

www.cabi.org www.cabi.org

As well as severely reducing yield, G. aparine has other economically important effects. Water-soluble extracts of G. aparine contain substances that have allelopathic effects on oak seedlings
Click to expand...


- - -

Perhaps proceed with caution?

I would try with one plant and not my whole crop.
 
TaoRich said:
Please please don't take me for anything of an expert ... I'm just another google keyboard warrior with an enquiring mind,

And this whole topic and science of Allelopathy is pretty damn complex.
  • Some plants are positive allelopathic, some are negative allelopathic.
  • Some plants are positive allelopathic with some plants, but that same plant can be negative allelopathic towards others.
  • Some plant extracts are negative allelopathic at one dosage / dilution level ... but at different levels cause just the right amount of stress to induce vigour which is then positive.
Here is a good 'introduction'.

KZN Agriculture & Rural Development - Allelopathy

KZN Agriculture & Rural Development
www.kzndard.gov.za www.kzndard.gov.za

- - -

So I searched for your intended weeds, and added 'allelopathic'.

Periwinkle

Vinca minor (small periwinkle)



Sticky Weed

Galium aparine (cleavers)




- - -

Perhaps proceed with caution?

I would try with one plant and not my whole crop.
Click to expand...
Cheers mate! some really interesting reading there.
 
I've just made nopal cactus leaf fpj and haven't used it yet. It's really slimy. Had anyone ever used this for fpj before?
 
I've made all sorts of different fermented concoctions. Never used a cactus, however Aloe isn't to far off of cactus in the slimey side. What benefits are you looking to preserve and use from this cactus?
Fermented Aloe is a staple for me. But at the moment I have a mix of burdock, red/white clover, nettles, comfrey, lambs ear, ground ivy, wild spinach and dandelion.
 

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will do now, currently, im picking flowering nettles for a flowering plant food, going to try it on my sunflowers this year, there ment to have 1 1/2 foot across heads, loads of bird seed


alo makes a great cutting gel, i believe you add some VIT B1 to it and it works great, never thaught of it as a ingrediant for plant food though.

also got to re establish my comfrey this year, we got rid of loads last year as its invasive, so looking to take some root cuttings. great plant food for potassium in particular
 
TaoRich said:
Not yet, but I am about to try for my 2022/2023 outdoor Southern Hemisphere grow.

I am going to collect Dandelions from our local common this weekend - flowers, stems, roots and all. Folks have asked for help to eradicate them as they are encroaching on other indigenous plants.

I'll also be visiting and culling a Nettle patch I've seen locally on my cycle ride.

I've harvested Bull Thistle from my garden already.

That is soaking in
- a 20 litre drum
- snap on lid
- dechlorinated water
- a litre of lactobacillus brew
- a tablespoon of blackstrap molasses
- a handful of earthworm castings/vermicompost.

The lacto and microbes absolutely destroyed the thistle - within 24 hours the broad fresh green leaves turned into clumps of brown rotting gunk. The liquid is too dark for light to penetrate after a week.

I am going to add the dandelion and nettles to that withes' brew, and let it soak for a month or so.

I give it an aggressive whirly stir every morning to bubble it up and aerate a little.

Before I feed, I'll dilute the end result to the point where the liquid is transparent ... still with colour, but dilute enough to see through.

What's important about my feeding is that my soil is 3 year-old living soil packed with microbes, and a 4 inch layer of light compost mulch.

So when I pour and top dress with my teas and ferments, they sit and filter through an activated mulch layer where they are broken down by the topsoil microbes before the mixtures get down to reach my plant's roots.
Click to expand...
have you thaught about the flowering ones having more p/k in it, nettlels are great for N, but not so much P/K
 
I was actually wanting aloe to ferment but unfortunately don't have any around. We had our pasture brush hogged and I found a big patch of nopal so I collected 10 pounds of it and made a big batch of fpj. I had been using dandelion and male mj plants that I pulled but needed more material to make a big batch. So I used the cactus for that opportunity since it was there. It's just not a source that I'd really heard much about anyone ever using. The calcium and silica is high, plus I know how drought resistant it is so I was hoping to bring that to my plants. This is my first season here in southern Missouri and heard there was a drought lady summer. Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it.
 
peerow said:
I was actually wanting aloe to ferment but unfortunately don't have any around. We had our pasture brush hogged and I found a big patch of nopal so I collected 10 pounds of it and made a big batch of fpj. I had been using dandelion and male mj plants that I pulled but needed more material to make a big batch. So I used the cactus for that opportunity since it was there. It's just not a source that I'd really heard much about anyone ever using. The calcium and silica is high, plus I know how drought resistant it is so I was hoping to bring that to my plants. This is my first season here in southern Missouri and heard there was a drought lady summer. Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
You could try some yucca, just like aloe it's a surfactant and has drought tolerance.
Check out kelp4less.com
 
That's a great idea. Thanks. Speaking of surfactants, have you ever used the aloe as a substitute for a wetting agent? I've got hard water here so it always leaves water spots behind on foliar applications. I plan on making the jadam wetting agent but until I get that done I was trying to think of something I have on hand that could work in the mean time.
 
peerow said:
That's a great idea. Thanks. Speaking of surfactants, have you ever used the aloe as a substitute for a wetting agent? I've got hard water here so it always leaves water spots behind on foliar applications. I plan on making the jadam wetting agent but until I get that done I was trying to think of something I have on hand that could work in the mean time.
Click to expand...
No problem!
Aloe as a wetting agent, yes it works very well. As far as an alternative... a drop or 2 of dish soap works good too.
 
I made a small amount using dandelions early in the season but snapped the heads off and only used the greens, stalks and roots as to promote vegetative growth and it worked extremely well.
 
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