>
> I am interested to know how well the seeded nettles grow.
> a bd grower in Germany told me that he tried to grow nettles from seed for
> nettle tea production and increase the amount of nettles available for
> his own use. He tried several times, but failed, while in some areas of
> his property they grew very well. He said to me that he believed, nettles
> grow best naturally and are very difficult to produce 'artificially'.
>
> Christiane
>
Hi Christiane
Maybe this is worth a try - Sheep manure !! -
everywhere we put the stuff nettles spring up as if by magic and they wont
go away for years - this is the annual nettle - but I believe all nettles
are a soil condition plant and very responsive / sensitive to available iron
in the soil - and this should apply to the BD nettle as well?
This is such a dramatic effect that no farmer in his
right mind around here would use sheep manure in the garden because of the
nettles that would grow. However you can overcome that by putting molasses
out with the sheep dung - iron again!
I dont believe this has anything to do with the amount of seed
around cause I never saw a sheep graze stinging nettles and they dont grow
in our pastures - at all! But put out some sheep manure and I guarantee you
will have wall to wall nettles in this neck of the woods.
My guess is that the manure causes a serious tie up of
available iron that the nettles then set about to repair - put iron out via
molasses and the need for that disappears - hence the nettles dont grow - it
makes a quite spectacular experiment!
Cheers
Lloyd Charles
