When I started this blog, I wrote a post on Panchagavya and its benefits for plants. I didn’t think that it was going to get so popular. There has been so many requests for Panchagavya. I decided to make an exclusive post out for Panchagavya and its benefits.
First things first. What is Panchagavya ?
Pancha means five and gavya means substance obtained from Cow. When you mix the 5 products from cow such as Milk, Curd, Cow dung, Cow’s Urine and Ghee(Clarified Butter) in a proper ratio and allow it to ferment, the resulting product you get is called Panchagavya. The Origins of Panchagavya and its recipe can be traced back to Vrikshayurveda. Vrikshayurveda is a medical science for Plants. It means Ayurveda for Plants.
Panchagavya is considered to be an effective organic manure and also acts as a pest repellent. 3% solution is found to be effective in most of the studies done on Panchagavya. That said, one can always experiment with different ratios for different plants.
Preparation of Panchagavya is simple. It does take lot of time though. Looking at the requests I was getting I thought I will prepare it at home. But living in an apartment and going in hunt of fresh cow dung and cow’s urine seemed almost next to impossible. When I almost gave up trying I got to meet Vishwanath, an organic grower of Sapota (Chikku) and vegetables. He started preparing Panchagavya for his farm a while back and has been using the same for all his plants.
There was a cow in his farm whose products were used in the preparation of Panchagavya(PG). When I discussed with him about making PG available, he readily agreed and was also kind enough to share photographs of the whole preparation of this wonder manure.
Panchagavya is known to contain millions of microbes and adds life to soil. Let me take you all through the steps of making Panchagavya.
Traditional Panchagavya used only 5 ingredients from Cow. There has been many modifications to it and more additives has been added to enrich the liquid. Here goes the pictorial guide.
Finest Panchagavya starts with the simple thing you see in many places. Cow dung. It is important to use dung of a local breed cow that is free ranging.
Fresh cow dung
Cow’s urine is added to the cow dung.
Cow's Urine being added
Ghee is one of the 5 ingredients and that is added in the pic below.
Ghee is added
Here goes curd.
Curd getting added
and Milk too.
Milk is added
Ripe banana and jaggery provide the substrate for microbes.
Ripe bananas
Tender coconut water is added according to the recipe.
Tender coconut
Jaggery
Daily stirring is very essential. It aerates the the container and keeps it from deteriorating. The container when all its ingredients are added, it is closed with a insect proof net and kept in shade. It takes two weeks for it to be ready.
Its all done! Now the wait begins
Daily stirring
After two weeks, It is ready for usage. 30 ml of it is mixed with 1 litre of water and can be sprayed on leaves or applied to the soil. If you are using a sprayer it is good to filter out the sediments and then spray.
Here is a chemical composition of Panchagavya in its concentrated form.
| Chemical composition | ||
| pH | : | 5.45 |
| EC dSm2 | : | 10.22 |
| Total N (ppm) | : | 229 |
| Total P (ppm) | : | 209 |
| Total K (ppm) | : | 232 |
| Sodium | : | 90 |
| Calcium | : | 25 |
| IAA (ppm) | : | 8.5 |
| GA (ppm) | : | 3.5 |
| Microbial Load | ||
| Fungi | : | 38800/ml |
| Bacteria | : | 1880000/ml |
| Lactobacillus | : | 2260000/ml |
| Total anaerobes | : | 10000/ml |
| Acid formers | : | 360/ml |
| Methanogen | : | 250/ml |
To buy Panchagavya, please send an email to Vishwanath (panchagavya108@gmail.com) or send me a note.
The price of Panchagavya is Rs 100/- per litre.
For convenience, I have some limited stock in my place in Bannerghatta Rd, Bangalore. For large quantities, please send a mail to Vishwanath.BTW, Vishwanath is a grower of Organic Sapotas. Do contact him for supply of pesticide free chikkus.
See you all in next post!
Until then, Happy gardening.
GG
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