Amrut Jal for Plants – Preparation and Usage

Amrut Jal for Plants - Preparation and Usage

In an earlier post I wrote about how to prepare and use Panchagavya. Panchagavya is an excellent pest repellent, foliar spray and fertilizer for your plants. In our garden we use it mostly as a foliar spray and pest repellent. That is because the recipe of Panchagavya calls for a wait period of 18 days, but it can be stored for 2 months time. Hence it is convenient to make one batch of Panchagavya every two months and use small quantities as a pest repellent. For fertilizing the plants we use two other cow dung based solutions. Namely Amrut Jal and Jeevamrut. In this post I’ll be guiding you on how to prepare and use Amrut Jal.

Amrut Jal has been popularized by Prof Sripad A Dabholkar as a part of what is known as NatuEco Farming Technique. But most gardeners I talk to are blissfully unaware of this magic potion. I hope this post will reach out to as many Organic Terrace Gardeners and farmers as possible, so that everyone can reap benefits of this humble yet powerful gift of nature.

How does Amrut Jal work?

I first came to know about Amrut Jal from Urban Leaves blog and decided to try it in our garden. First we tried it on a flower plant that had dried up and had stopped flowering. Guess what! In about fifteen days the plant had started bearing flowers and in about a month’s time it was covered with them. And since then Amrut Jal has been a regular feature in our garden.

So how does it work?

Fresh cow dung not only contains nutrients for plants, it also contains millions of soil friendly microbes. When they are fed well, they multiply. And when you feed the soil with these microbes soil comes alive. They not only improve the structure of the soil, they also start to break down the available nutrients into a form, that can be easily taken in by plants. The process of making Amrut Jal is basically a process of increasing the number of already available microbial life in fresh cow dung of the Indian breed cow.

Amrut Jal Recipe

Ingredients

  1. Fresh cow dung of Indian breed cow – 1 kg
  2. Urine of Indian breed cow (Older the better) – 1 liter
  3. Organic Black Jaggery – 50 gms (can be substituted with 2 glasses of sugarcane juice or six over ripe bananas)
  4. Water – 10 liters

Process

  1. In a plastic or wooden bucket mix the jaggery with some water or urine to liquefy it. The jaggery serves as the food, which the microbes will eat and multiply.
  2. Mix in the cow dung and urine. Use a wooden stick to do the mixing. Alternatively plastic can be used. But do not use any metal to do the mixing. Cow dung contains different type of beneficial microbes. Cow urine contains microbes which help in photosynthesis. It also makes the food more palatable for the microbes.
  3. While doing the mixing stir slowly in one direction. If you stir too violently then you’ll be killing the microbes.
  4. Add in the water, cover the container with a piece of cloth or any other loose cover and leave it to ferment. Make sure that the cover is not air tight. Avoid exposure to direct sunlight and rain.
  5. Stir the solution 12 times in both clockwise and anticlockwise direction using wooden stick three times a day. This helps in distributing the microbes uniformly in the solution. Why 12 times? Well answer to that I really don’t know. But since the recipe calls for it lets stick to it.
  6. From the second day onward you’ll see that the fermentation process has started. On the fourth day the microbial activity reaches its peak. And that is when Amrut Jal is used.
  7. On the forth day for every liter of the fermented solution add ten liters of water and Amrut Jal is ready to be used.

Usage of Amrut Jal

Amrut Jal is best used on the fourth day for watering the plants. However we also use it on 3rd and 5th days. We use it in almost all gardening activities. They are

  1. Watering the plants using Amrut Jal on a weekly basis keeps the soil alive and rich in nutrients.
  2. Spraying filtered Amrut jal once a week or once a fortnight helps in lowering the chance of pest infestation. It is also an excellent foliar spray.
  3. Seed treatment using Amrut jal by soaking for 24 hours before sowing them helps in better germination rate and stronger plant.
  4. Root treatment of saplings for 30 minutes before planting them helps develop a stronger and more disease resistant plant.
  5. Dried leaves or dried sugarcane bagasse is soaked in Amrut Jal and then used as mulch for plants.

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37 thoughts on “Amrut Jal for Plants – Preparation and Usage”

  1. I would like to receive your newsletter regularly. I find the information and articles very useful . Thank you

  3. I want to know how to use this Amritjal in normal field crop like wheat ,mustard and Gram.

    1. Hello Neelesh,

      Amrut Jal can be used in the same way as mentioned in this post for normal field crops too. Additionally mulching helps to make application of Amrut Jal more effective by protecting the microbial life introduced by Amrut Jal from direct sunlight.

  4. This may not be the best question to ask since you may not have the answer. How does one collect fresh coding and urine in an urban area?

    2. There are small dairies in cities. You can try and find one near your area. Also ask your local milkman to get you some. He will be happy to do it for a small price.

    1. Amrut Jal is best used on the 4th day. You can also use it on the 5th day. If you want to store it for a couple of days more add a little fresh cow dung to it. But beyond that it can not be stored.

  7. FOR THE POT OF 12″ HOW MUCH SHOULD BE USED?
    CAN WE ADD THE NORMAL ‘GUD’ INSTEAD OF BLACK JAGGRY WHICH IS NOT EASILY AVAILABLE.

    1. Use Amrut Jal to water your plants. So whatever amount of water you used for a 12″ pot use the same amount of Amrut Jal. Generally it will be about a liter.

      Yes you can add gud. But dont add sugar. You can also add over ripe bananas if you dont have gud.

  9. Respected Sir,
    Myself Shashwat S.Asawa it was great to read such a descriptive blog on Amrut Jal We have a Gaushala of 40,000+indigenous cow we would be great full we can be helpful in any ways.

    1. Shashwat,
      You live very far from where I live. But in future it will be good to collaborate.

  10. It’s very important and beneficial information for plant growth and pest control as the problem of pesticide recidues is increasing day by day.
    Sir, on 4 or 5 day when we are adding 10 times of water to the solution. Can we use it directly to spray on plants or is there any recommendations as 10 ml/ litre or something.

    1. After adding 10 times the water on 4/5th day please strain it using a cloth and then use it for spraying. Do not add anything else.

  12. Also would like to know if the solution can be used in soilless farming. Substrates like Cocteau and others

    1. For soil less farming you need to have nutrients which are in a readily available form for plants. This is not one of them.

    1. As I said in the post it is best on the 4th day. You can also use it on 5th day. It is good for the soil. Hence good for all plants

  17. Sir for each plants how many ml we give drenching.Over dosage will effect a plants.Sir please reply.

  18. Prabal sir,thanks for your information. Sir for each plants how much ML we give.I have a 1000 black pepper plants. (Four months back i cultivated)please reply sir.

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