Jerry Bakers book, is this guy for real?

Hi I just got this book from the Library "Terrific Tomatoes, Sansational Spuds, and Mouth-watering Melons" from author Jerry Baker. He's got all kinds of tonic and recipes that supposedly help your plants grow healthier but the ingredients in some are kind of weird and I was wondering if any of you have tried any of his recipes and if they actually work or not.
For example here is one recipe:
Spring soil energizer tonic.
1 can of beer
1 cup liquid soap
1 cup antiseptic mouthwash
1 cup of regula cola
1 ts of instant tea granules

Mix all ingr in a bucket or other container, fill a 20 gallon hose end sprayer, and apply to the soil to the point of run-off. Then let he area sit for 2 weeks before you start planting.

I was also wondering if he is an organic gardener or not, I am trying to be as organic as possible so I would not want to use any chemicals until it was my last resort.

I've never heard about him until now but his book seems interesting expecially if it works. There was a couple of reviews in here Daves for other books and they were good but I would love to know if this sounds weird to you or not.

Baker's recipes are geared towards ingredients that are easily found at the local grocery store, and even though they're based on NPK chemical truths, they are kinda Pop Quick Fixes, if ya know what I mean.

I'm sure that they "work" to some degree, but in some respects they're not unlike blasting homemade Miracle Gro all over. Nice instant results, but not much long term soil improvement. Rather than fooling around with granulated iced tea mixes & such, (questionably "organic" since that's probably made with GMO HFCS) get a soil test done and look into tried & true soil amendments like greensand, soybean meal, bone & blood meal, compost, etc. to provide what missing elements or minerals you actually need. Much more cost effective, better for your garden, and less hassle in the long run.

Get a copy of Steve Solomon's "Gardening When It Counts". Or just about any book by Eliot Coleman. I'm sure there are Baker fans out there, but there's better & more effective information to be had elsewhere IMO.

How do you know the soybean meal is not GMO?
How about the bone & blood meal ? It probably came from cows eating chemically produced feed. Maybe the cows had growth enhancement shots.

I'm not the least bit against organic, just have a few questions.
Bernie

Howard Garrett aka "the dirt doctor" might also be a resource of interest. He's strickly organic, too.

Baker has been around for years. Like Rodale you have to temper recommendations with your own experience. It seems most people want to have instant results without shedding a lot of sweat. In my book, sweat and patience are big factors in successfully growing things. Baker, who for years has been promoted as America's Master gardener, has never been accepted by the organic movement. Even so, many of the recommendations have been the same over the years, except for the kitchen fertilizers. Those are a bit off the wall, they work if the ingredients are right, but household products keep changing. Even so there much less expensive sources of the same ingredients. When he started, detergents were heavy in phosphate which plants need. EPA has pushed until all detergents are pretty much phosphate free. Read books for ideas, but get out and experiment to find what works for you. If you continue sitting in front of the fireplace with a book, you may have a rewarding experience but not much of a garden.

Amen.

Nothing like good old experience.

Thank you so much everyone, actually I do agree, I guess if something sounds too good to be true it usually is not, otherwise more people would be gardening. Actually I have not read a gardening book for weeks since I've been busy in the garden with not much time for reading but I did pick up this book at the library trying to learn more and everyone's in a while I do like to sit down and read good books that might be able to teach me something new. I am taking a few of his ideas like making a compost smothie to attract more wormies etc... for some reason I don't have many in my beds just yet. I really wanted to make sure whether or not this guy was organic or not, I know there are many organic recipes out there you can use to combat pests etc... but like farmerdill says his methods have not been accepted into the organic movement.

nedweenie thank you so much for the recomendations on those books, I like to read when it is raining and I can't go play in the veggie patch, or when my kids can let me read for a little bit.

nedweemie, I just place on hold a book by Eliot Coleman at my local library, I can't wait to go get it and read it, amazon has really good reviews on this book in particular, thank you.

Just made some compost smothie with coffee grounds and different veggie peels and buried it in my new raise bed, I'll be doing this for my other beds as well, hopefully my worm population will increase. I have alerady tried to place some of my compost red wigglers in my raise beds but I just don't think they survive the cold temps.

My 2 cents. Baker's ideas aren't very sound. They sound folksy but you'd be better off with real tried and true soil improvement methods, such as cover crops, animal manures etc.
Eliot Colman has some wonderful ideas, all of which require some degree of hard work.
Farmer Dill is right. Growing food is wonderful but takes hard work and plenty of sweat. But it is worth it. It's priceless to have your own home grown food, imo.
Happy New Year everyone. Let's get those seed catalogs going!