Cow dung maybe gross, but you should put that thought away if you are a cow breeder. It should be no problem for any cow breeder to deal with it. Not all gross-looking things are useless, as a lot of people actually utilize it to help growing their plants.
Cow dung is a precious ingredient to make an organic fertilizer. It is also said that organic fertilizer is less expensive compared to other type of fertilizers. Many people have tried to make it by their own, either for personal use or to be re-sold. You can also try to make it by your own!
After knowing how to make one, you will pay more attention to cow dung and will not let it wasted away since you know how to turn it into some cashes. In this article, you can read 8 easy steps to make an organic fertilizer from cow dung.
How to Make Organic Fertilizer from Cow Dung
1. Round up the dungs
The first and very basic step, it is suggested to clean and round up the dungs just after the cow defecates. That way it will ease your daily task of stable cleaning.
2. Get a dung container
After piling up the dungs, put it one inside a container. Make it a special one to differentiate it with other containers, and it should be big enough.
3. Drying
Before going further, the dungs should be dry and have less stinky odor. For this purpose you need to let it dry. Use rice sack or other unused material as the lining for the drying process. Consider to evenly spread the dungs to let it dry faster for 2 hours.
4. Prepare chopped hays
In this process you need hays for the mixture component. There is no requirement on a specific type to be used, however you should chopped it before mixing with the dungs.
5. Prepare the EM4 (Effective Microorganism 4)
Aside from hays, other additives need to be mixed up with the dungs that is EM4. You need to activate the EM4. First, make 1.5 liter of sugar solution by mixing 3-4 tablespoon of sugar with water. Then add 2-3 of EM4 and shake it to mix well. Let it rest for 2 hours (best to let it rest overnight).
6. Mixing with hays
The dried up dungs now is mixed with the chopped hays. Then spread the mix on top of the lining previously used during drying, and spray the EM4 solution evenly.
7. Containment
The next step is to contain the mixture inside a tightly sealed container. Do not let any opening/void for air circulation. You can consider to use a big plastic cover, however you should put some weights above it to prevent it got opened easily.
8. Processing
The processing step is to let it rest while being contained and covered for two days period. Afterwards you can open the container and start to use the mixture as a fertilizer.
By following the described steps you can properly make your own organic fertilizer. As the name stands, organic fertilizer is made from biological waste, mainly from plants or animals. It can be in the form of liquid or solid, depends on the production. The rich nutrition within the fertilizer helps the plant growth, starting from vegetative growth, roots and bud development, until flowers and fruits growth.
Meanwhile, cow dung itself has many benefits, such as:
- Environmental friendly since the cow dung-based fertilizer will not damage the soil condition.
- Cost friendly by using the unused waste which lead to cheaper cost.
- Cow dung contains good nutrient for all kind of plants. Below is the nutrient composition:
- Nitrogen production up to 28.1%
- Phosphorus production up to 9.1%
- Potassium production up to 20%
The nutrient composition is largely influenced by the weight of the cow and its dung. Therefore the composition as listed above will be adjusted.
That’s it! There are 8 steps to make an organic fertilizer from cow dung that you can easily apply by yourself at your farm to boost the growth of your plants without using chemicals.