Use once a month.
1 gallon tepid water
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon household ammonia
1 teaspoon Epsom salt
1 teaspoon saltpeter
Your plants will love you for using this. Use this in addition to your regular fertilizing routine.
Larry
Not So Secret Plant Food Formula for Fantastic Results
Well I do not know Larry, I am trying to get mine to pod!
I have all the ingredients, except the saltpeter, have no idea where to get it. Ok, to leave that out? What would saltpeter do anyway? Is it a hormone? Thanks for info Larry.
ROTF* cough ahem* must try this, but not sure where to find the salt peter?----thinkin it would be hard to find. Hibiscus once upon a time, saltpeter was used on soliders and some livestock for the opposite effect of viagra?--(hope that wasnt too crude:S) I bought some fish emulsions yesterday, and I wonder if anyone has had any experience with it?---now I must go hunt down the salt peter---in the rural south, that still might make men at the agri store uneasy?---lol cheryl
Any pharmacy should have saltpeter as an over the counter.
The combination of these will enhance and supplement other fertilizers. If you really want a kick to your plants, add
doo, thats right - doo doo rabbit, cow or horse dried, not green as green will burn the roots. This will provide all the major & minor minerals lacking in most soil. Try and watch your plants grow and bloom.
I too had heard that Cheryl....prisoners also are given it.
Larry, I just got two buckets of "Belgium horses'" manure, you know they are are the Busch wagon pulling horses. BIG stuff, plants have gotta' grow to get away from it!
Glory, salpeter (in german) is the purest form of nitrate.
Here is a link talking about saltpeter:http://www.salt.org.il/saltpet.html
Kell, this is for blooming, not podding. Need viagra or some other such for podding. Try tomatoe blossom set after
pollinating.
Some historical info on ammonia:
The Haber-Bosch process is also an example of the complex impact of chemistry upon life. At the start of World War I, Germany was dependent upon the natural nitrate deposits of Chile for the nitrogen compounds required to manufacture explosives. The Allied blockade of South American ports soon cut off this supply. Had it not been for the alternative source of nitrogen compounds provided by the direct synthesis of ammonia, Germany most likely would have been forced to surrender several years before 1918. By prolonging the war, the Haber-Bosch process indirectly cost thousands of lives. However, over the years, the fertilizer produced by the same process has increased crop yields around the globe and spared millions from starvation. For every bad, there is good. You have to just look or work harder for it.
Epson salt contains Magnesium and Sulfur and are important for healthy plants:
MAGNESIUM
• Is the central atom of chlorophyll (green pigment) which enables plants to trap light energy from the sun for photosynthesis.
• Is critical for seed germination and cell wall formation.
• Is one of the first nutrients to drain from the soil after heavy rainfall.
• Deficiency causes reduced growth and inhibition of nutrient uptake (N,P,K and S) due to impaired energy supply to the roots. This leads to brown/discolored leaves and poor overall plant health.
SULFUR
• Helps increase the uptake and efficiency of nitrogen fertilizers.
• Is involved in the formation of critical plant vitamins and enzymes.
• Deficiency causes reduced growth, size and quality of all plants.
Monika, Germans have realized the importance of the minerals provided by these incredients for years in
their gardening.
Smile, Larry
Thank you Larry for all the interesting information and the history.
I was told not to use this after July 1st on tomatoes.
Was NOT told why, tho....(guess I couldn't be trusted with that secret..LOL)
But Larry I need them to be in the mood for love............
http://12.98.152.24/SL8216.htm has info about blossom set for tomatoes. Cytokinin is a naturally occuring plant hormone. I wonder if the reason they said not to spray it after July 1st was because with tomatoes if the daytime temps are over 90F or the night temps are over 70F the plants won't set fruit no matter what you spray on them?
Germans have known and used these ingredients in thei gardening for years.
This is a link for Cala, too technical for me about Cytokinin: http://weeds.mgh.harvard.edu/sheenweb/cytokinin_signaling.html
It really is a myth that it was used on troops as an anaphrodisiac, more info here
http://www.snopes.com/military/saltpetr.htm
I think it might be available at most feed & seed stores
Hi Larry, Thanks for the good info; will definitely try it. Now can you give me a simple formula to make my hummers come back. I only have three, yes three. And they don't look too happy with the accomadations.
I am so sorry Roz, you should have painted your roof RED!!!!
I do not have very many either, probably 25 - 30. I am waiting until the 16th of August then if they do not show up in force I'm going to send the hummer patrol out looking.
Hope you get more soon.
Larry
Larry, we were out of town for the last week or so, and I do not know if I had any while I was gone, but I did leave fresh food and seems lots of it is gone. I refilled all the feeders, so maybe they will come back. Do you think all the rain we have had, like 60 consecutive days of rain, has anything to do with the hummers not coming here? Gloria and Marie only has a few as well.
Roz, up here we started out the season with quite a few hummers, but now we only have four or five. Very disappointing. We have had NO rain and lots of heat, tho it has cooled down a lot lately. Only getting into the eighties. This year seems to be very strange in more than one way. Mother Nature must be mad about something. LOL!!
Must be Mother Nature; we have had unusual stuff here too. I have never ever seen so much rain - daily for two months, and not just a sprinkle, a downpour. It does help to keep it cool though.
And makes the mosquitoes grow as big as dragonflies!
Wish we had dragonflies....they would help get rid of the mosquites. I haven't even seen bats here this year.
We have plenty of birds, crickets, etc. Nobody is eating the mosquitoes! They are eating us, that's my blood they are getting!
Hibiscus, guess I can't complain, we haven't had too many mosquitoes but the ones we have are mean! They even bite in the daytime. Lots of dragonflies and the bats come out every evening. Frogs are getting fat too!
The best bug catcher I think I have is a big hornet's nest. They have really cleaned up the bugs, even seen them grabbing worms off the brugs. They can eat all they want and I'll leave them alone.
Our mosquitoes are out all day long! If I start seeing bats, I'll KNOW we've got a problem!
We have Purple Martins that help with the bug population, but not nearly enough. Now with the West Nile thing out there, I spray regularly before I go out every morning. Now , watch me get sick from the Deet!
roz, i have to spray each time i go out too. they are ravenous this year. all over the yard, when normally just down by the woods during the daylight hours. and moths, they are all over my flowers now, more moths than bees.
this is my 4th season of gardening and it seems like the more my plants flourish the more my bug population grows and so many new ones show up to live here. i wonder where they come from, when they were not here before? is there a little road signs saying "this way to debi'z garden". ;)
Now that you mentioned it, I am seeing lots of moths too. Not the propagating kind but the common kind. Saw three on my seedlings this am. They do not harm the plant, right?
hibiscus---umm sorry to hijack thsi thread but how do i sprout the seeds i stole? have lovely peach seeds but do they need nicked or what?--if your reading this and you arent hibisus--well--ok tell me anyway?
Could these extra additives be mixed at the same time with the fertilizer?? We have had so much rain its been hard to fertilize them. Roz it is still a little to early to have many hummers and probably what you have are immature ones. I was in Arkansas until monday and there were about 20 immatures coming to the feeding station with only 1 adult male.
Awesome picture Donna!
Apply this special mix no more than twice a month. Yes, it can be used with your regular fertilizer feedings.
Larry
Thank you hummer_nut I just came in from checking the brugs
and saw this on the screen! Printing was started immediately ;-)! My summer is almost over and so far
only Frosty and Jamaica Yellow have buds and blooms Shredded White, Butterfly, Charles, Kurkpark, unnamed
white have all y'd but no buds so far :-(!
I will have to use your recipe religiously next year!!
I've been M.G. every 3 days and have used the epsom salts
and seen a vast improvement-now I am looking forward
to trying this!!