nettles as a cash crop

[Paul Wheaton]

I took this video in september and finally got around to pushing it up on youtube:

YouTube

[Tricky Grama]

Really informative, thanks for posting.

Patty

[chickenista]

Very nice. I am a huge nettle fan. I grow it, drink it and eat it and dry it and feed it to my livestock.
I ahve yet to get around to using the fibers. But now I have a tub to rhett it in, so maybe this year.
The fibers can be rough, but can be made to be softer than silk. Makes great paper too.
Eat nettles!!!!

[mullberry]

Is that the same as stinging nettle? it grows wild here.

[chickenista]

Yes..same thing. Wonderful stuff. So very good for you. Wear gloves and only pick the tops when the plant is still young. The sting starts to fade once the plant starts to wilt.
Great on pizza! Great as nettle soup.

[rambler]

I think I'll continue to work to eliminate it, rather than cultivate it! Just saying...

--->Paul

[Paul Wheaton]

Originally Posted by rambler

I think I'll continue to work to eliminate it, rather than cultivate it! Just saying...

Well, I think the guy in the video is saying that he is earning more money per acre with nettles than with anything else. If nettles are doing really well in your area, maybe that should be your big cash crop.

[chickenista]

I cringe when people say they eliminate it. I moved from a nettle rich area to an area devoid of them. I have worked so hard planting new beds of nettles and encouraging them to naturalize.
I will always take anyone's nettles that they fill like digging up and sending/.

[snoozy]

Great little video! Thanks!

[Paul Wheaton]

Here's another one. I uploaded this just minutes ago.

YouTube

[Shrek]

I cultivate stinging nettle along with wild blackberry vines in my privacy hedge /perimeter fence. If anyone tries crawling through my north fence, they back up quick.

[7thswan]

They are big in Russia for female issues.

[romysbaskets]

Originally Posted by rambler

I think I'll continue to work to eliminate it, rather than cultivate it! Just saying...

--->Paul

Hey Paul,
I felt the same way until I did some research, tried them steamed and as a tea and used them in my compost.

Not only do I sell them a bit, I am getting requests from family and friends for the plants, tea and compost! If you don't wish to use them for anything and you find them annoying, simply pull them up, they are easy to pull up in moist soil. Then compost them, wonderful for that, like a manure in fact! If you do this be sure to remove them prior to the seeding as you will not want them in the wrong places.

I have read quite a bit on their uses....

A LOVELY TEA
A STEAMED VEGIE HIGH IN IRON/POTASSIUM/PROTEIN/MINERALS!
SKIN CARE BY WAY OF TEA or lotions
HAIR RINSE FOR THICKENING AND SHINE
ASTHMA
ALLERGIES
ENLARGED PROSTATE
GOUT (My sister's doc told her to drink it)!
BLADDER INFECTIONS
ARTHRITIS
JOINT PAIN
GARDEN COMPOST (can add like a manure it is so rich)

I am about to dry leaves for my sister and my daughter with asthma....

[sunflower-n-ks]

Originally Posted by Shrek

I cultivate stinging nettle along with wild blackberry vines in my privacy hedge /perimeter fence. If anyone tries crawling through my north fence, they back up quick.

Does that work for dogs and other predators also? LOL If it does, I know what I will be growing along my fence.

[romysbaskets]

Originally Posted by sunflower-n-ks

Does that work for dogs and other predators also? LOL If it does, I know what I will be growing along my fence.

I sure saw our dogs react to the nettle sting! I know everyone here avoids it like the plague. If I am dressed properly I can walk right through it. For anyone with bare hands that will provide a nice sting, they won't be expecting especially in the dark. I think along a fenceline is just fine. Dogs learn fast, ours did. Another nice thing about that, they don't want to pee on it either...heheheh Keeps your nettles clean that way. Our dogs don't go near them.

I don't think I saw anybody explain how to ELIMINATE the sting right away? I mean if you get alot of them...ouch! I have heard people suggest aloe but here is the fail safe works like a charm old fashioned remedy....we use it each time and it works!

GRAB THE NEAREST FERN that grows by the nettle. Break the leaf and rub it on your sting. In a very short time, the sting goes away! If you don't treat the sting, it can be felt all day!

I watched the video too. It takes little effort to wear rubber gloves, long sleeves and avoid getting it in your face. The other day I was doing a fair amount and felt one single sting. If you allow yourself to be stung alot, of course you will react to it after that. They have stated in articles that the same chemical in the plant causing the sting helps to treat allergies. It stands to reason, alot of stings could cause an allergy to the plant! Too much of a good thing?

Be very careful to consume only young leaves, once it is budding, it is not advised just like the video warns.

[rhome]

There's a local Mom&Pop company that makes a nettle arthritis relief product, the nettles are processed and distilled.
The nettle juice/oil is applied to either a cloth to use with an Ace bandage or a patch similar to a nicotine patch.
Owner/inventor started this biz when he was suffering with severe arthritis.

Transdermal Innovations Inc. Bremen Oh, they might have a website.
I've no connection with this company.

[romysbaskets]

Originally Posted by rhome

There's a local Mom&Pop company that makes a nettle arthritis relief product, the nettles are processed and distilled.
The nettle juice/oil is applied to either a cloth to use with an Ace bandage or a patch similar to a nicotine patch.
Owner/inventor started this biz when he was suffering with severe arthritis.

Transdermal Innovations Inc. Bremen Oh, they might have a website.
I've no connection with this company.

From the reading I have done on the nettles and if you noticed the lady in the white hair talking about it in the video.... A fresh sting from the nettle is supposed to relieve arthritis, I am not so sure about the distillation process only to say that if you steam them or dry them, they lose their sting 100% So I suppose one could incorporate these many ways. I wonder though if the sting part is supposed to relieve the pain what the distillation process does to that benefit as there is no sting after that.....mmmmmmmm just another thing to ponder.

It is the root they use to treat prostate swelling and not the tea or plant. I think the nets being made from the stems sounds cool...should try that next...

[PhilJohnson]

Nettles grow like weeds around here. One wouldn't even have to cultivate the stuff where I live, just drive around and offer to remove people's nettle problems While most folks complain about the sting it has a very mild effect on me, at worst it mildly stings for about a minute.

[romysbaskets]

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

Nettles grow like weeds around here. One wouldn't even have to cultivate the stuff where I live, just drive around and offer to remove people's nettle problems While most folks complain about the sting it has a very mild effect on me, at worst itmildly stings for about a minute.

Hello Phil,
For those who may wonder at the difference with what you said....you could be tougher than others, they don't affect me that long either but.....

THERE ARE OVER 500 VARIETIES OF NETTLES IN NORTH AMERICA!

In Washington we have ones that grow only a foot tall and then the tall ones! I grow the taller ones, they can reach 10 feet high. Mine don't since I am harvesting them.

You will want to find out the variety you have or want to use prior to. Every nettle is considered to be great compost. I imagine these are graded by their sting like you would grade a mint plant by it's fragrance. Mine are said to give a whopping sting. As a lady who handles alot of hot stuff in the kitchen, I have developed hands that handle heat and the few times I did get stung on them, no big deal. It was another matter when my leg got stung once...that was a sharp sting...I rubbed the fern on it and it went away so I don't know how long it would have stung if I didn't treat it.

The kind we have here is referred to as the Greater Nettle, reaching heights of several feet up to 10 feet, while there are the shorter nettles which don't come up every year so their seeds drop to replenish their patch or they blow all over. The nettles I have come up every year plus they produce the seeds. I can easily gather nettles all over the island and get paid to do it. I am considering just that already. As I sell mine, I am seeing how I could help out my neighbors for a price, who complain about them and I would then sell what I removed...gee a no brainer!

[PhilJohnson]

The nettles around here get quite tall, at least 4-5 feet tall on average.