Natural Fertilizer Science Projects
Every farmer going back fifty years or
so — whether a farmer of large acreages or an urban
backyard farmer, knew that to produce healthy plants, you had
to improve the soil. If your soil is weak, your
plants will be weak. And if your plants are weak, then they're
more susceptible to insect infestation.
While
some people think that home
gardening
is expensive side, others — the smarter ones —
think of it as a sort of natural fertilizer science project.
Think about it. If home gardening is all about the soil, then
shouldn’t you be paying more attention to cultivating the soil
than to anything else? And natural fertilizers, as opposed to
chemical fertilizers, encourage microbial life in the soil,
keeping it healthy for plants to
grow.
Seaweed
There are many
low-cost methods for making your own fertilizer. One of the
easiest and best is manufactured from seaweed.
As your natural fertilizer science project, start
by preparing several trash bags, which you'll
use for collecting kelp from areas along the Pacific
Coast. After collecting enough kelp, empty it into a
55-gallon drum, fill it with water, and then cover it.
You'll know if the seaweed is beginning to
decompose from the color of the water. If it’s brown,
then it means that decomposition is successful. This natural
fertilizer science project may take some time since
it takes about two months before the seaweed can fully
decompose. When that happens, take some amount of the liquid
concentrate inside and dilute it with water for spraying or
pouring around your plants.
You can also combine this
natural fertilizer science project with the addition of fish
emulsion. Plants sprayed with this mixture seem more
insect repellent, and generally show some renewed
growth. The only pitfall to this natural fertilizer
science project method is that you may smell somewhat
fishy and oceany around your garden. The smell, however,
usually only lasts a day or two after application
only.
Earthworm Compost
Another one
of the easiest fertilizers to make comes in the form of an
earthworm compost pit. For your natural fertilizer science
project involving earthworm compost, dig a pit in a convenient
place in the backyard. Add kitchen scraps, grass clippings, leaves, etc. into the pit. As
earthworms process these scraps, you'll soon have a rich,
black amendment for your garden.
Add your
compost in volumes of about 10% into your garden.
Generally, that is all that is needed to increase the health
and insect repellency of your trees, vegetables, and other
garden plants.
Eggshells
Another idea for a
natural fertilizer science project is eggshells. You've
probably heard of “liming” a garden or lawn, right? If you haven’t, liming is
just the process of sprinkling some lime or calcium carbonate
throughout the garden. Plants love this. But did you
know that eggshells are 93% calcium carbonate?
For your
natural fertilizer science project then, don’t throw out those
eggshells just yet. In addition to calcium carbonate, they
also contain about 1% nitrogen, about half a percent of
phosphoric acid, and other trace elements that make them
practical raw materials to use for a natural fertilizer
science project.
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