Nomad blackboard: Plant extracts

In Marimurtra we would not like to have a beautiful botanical garden, it is much more important for us to create a healthy environment for flora and fauna and to support the garden’s biodiversity. This is one of the reasons why chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not used. By changing the structure of the vegetation, the abundance of grasses and male insects is reduced, which are the main sources of food for mammals, as well as amphibians, the use of pesticides alters ecological systems with food chains. Chemical fertilizers alter the physicochemical and biological properties of the sun, which leads to weak microbial activity, reduction of the sun’s fertility, increase in pests, acidification and slag from the sun. Therefore, chemical fertilizers and pesticides affect wildlife directly and indirectly through food sources and habitats. To preserve the benefits of fertilizers and pesticides, Marimurtra produces our own biological extracts that have a positive effect on the growth and development of plants and the control of plant diseases and pests without altering ecosystems and biodiversity. . That’s why we produce extracts from the following plants

Nettle:

• Stimulates the microbial life of the sun
• Rich in nitrogen, which promotes growth
• Aphid repellent

Console:

• Strengthens the plant’s natural defenses and resistance to disease
• Stimulates the growth of seedlings

Common Ponytail:

• Naturally rich in silica, which reinforces the cell wall and the leaf surface
• Strengthens plant tissues and immune defenses

After planting these three species and cutting them when they are big, we hang the cut plants to dry. They must dry for a month. After that, the plant species must ferment. For this, we cut the plants into small pieces that we put in a bag that remains for two months in a barrel full of rainwater. It is important that the pH value of the water is 7, so when there is no rainwater left due to dryness, we must reduce the pH value of the tap water with vinegar and wait 24 hours until it has deposited the chlorine. For the fermentation process it is essential to close the parts of the plant every day with a blast of air. Small bubbles rise to the surface of the water during fermentation. A thin layer deposited on the surface and no more bubbles rising are signs that the fermentation process is finished. Then we mix the three extracts and fill them in jars, to use them for our garden plants. The extracts support the secondary metabolism of plants. Secondary metabolism is responsible for defense against potential predators and pathogens and is responsible for adaptation to environmental stress. Therefore, we use our biological extracts mainly in summer or winter to maintain the plants against the environmental stress of extremely high or low temperatures. Throughout the garden you can find plants that got positive effects from our treatment with extracts.

Following the path down to the entrance, there is a huge tree, a cypress with some dry branches. It suffers from Phytophthora, a genus of water mold that damages plants. Since we used our extracts on this tree, the number of dry branches has not increased anymore.

Marimurtra laurel species suffer from the invasive Stephanitis lauri also known as laurel tiger, a small 3 millimeter hemipteral insect that uses laurel as a host plant and has spread rapidly here in Catalonia for 10 years. We also use the extracts of laurel species in Marimurtra, which does not solve the whole problem, but helps the plant to cope by supporting the defense against potential predators and pathogens.