When it comes to growing success, I strongly believe in using homemade compost, and if you mix it with composted chicken manure, then you've got the good stuff. We do use these organic fertilizers at times, but if at all possible, we prefer to use fruit peel fertilizers, other natural fertilizers, and compost.

Other than that, we feed our plants a lot of greens. Whenever I cut and prune if it's not turned into new plants, it is either fed directly to plants by simply placing it at the base of a plant, it is composted at the land in our big compost pile, or it is composted at home in our chicken compost pile. 

When it comes to fruit trees, I like to give them fruit peels as a natural fertilizer. A fruit peel fertilizer is an obvious way of giving back to a fruit tree the nutrients that we've removed. Apple trees get apple cores and peels, citrus trees get citrus peels, everything gets banana peels, and when it's bloom season I feed tomato plants and fruit trees with banana peel water. 

Yes, I use non-organic bananas when I don't have homegrown bananas available.

As a frugal gardener and sustainability proponent, nothing gets wasted. 

How to Use Fruit Peel Fertilizers

How To Make Banana Peel Water

1. Eat the banana.
2. Remove the sticker - Fruit stickers are not biodegradable, and they are often made of ingredients such as turpentine, petroleum, and urea-formaldehyde resins.
3. Rinse the peel.
4. Soak it in a closed-lid glass jar for 2 - 3 days to help fermentation.
5. Pour the water at the base of whatever fruit tree or tomato plant you want to start blooming. 
6. Discard the banana in the compost bin or at the base of your banana trees.

While I haven't done any long research projects, we've been using banana peel water for several years, and it seems to be working. It is especially notable on tomato plants that are struggling at the beginning of the season.

How To Make Fruit Peel Fertilizers

Our neighbors gifted us a big bag of lemons from their tree, and since these were pesticide-free, non-sprayed citrus, I decided to use them directly on the fruit trees without any prior composting.

1. Whenever possible use homegrown or organic fruit peels
2. Wash non-organic fruit peels well.
3. Eat or juice the fruit.
4. Remove flesh or seeds (unless you like surprise trees you can't identify)
5. Cut the peels into small pieces.
6. Throw at the base of the fruit trees.
7. Dig the fruit peels down a little or throw some wood chips on top for faster decomposition., 

What Fruit Peels to Use as Fruit Peel Fertilizer

• Banana peel water - anything you'd like to bloom - tomatoes, fruit trees, etc. 
• Banana peels are rich in potassium and magnesium, and they also add calcium and phosphorus to the soil.
• Orange peels are rich in iron, zinc, calcium, and citrate.
• Pomegranate peels contain potassium, iron, copper, calcium, phosphorous, and zinc. 
• Apple peels are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, iron, calcium, and phosphorous. 
• When I'm juicing elderberries, the chickens get the cooked berries, but the uncooked stems go straight under the elderberry trees as fertilizers.
• In addition to banana peels, orange peels, pomegranate peels, and apple peels, you can use any kind of fruit peel from papaya to mango and more, just make sure to use organic, homegrown, or wash the fruits extremely well first.

There's no need to dry or grind up any of these fruit peels for fertilizers unless you have extra time on hand and feel like doing so. If you're anything like me, just cut them up and dig the fruit peels down or throw wood chips on top, and they'll decompose faster providing nutrients directly into the soil by the roots of your fruit trees. 

So fertilize your fruit trees naturally whenever possible either through homemade compost, fruit peels, or with composted chicken manure mixed in and combine with rainwater and you're all set to get beautiful fruit trees in your garden. 

You can learn more about composting here.