Garden Concoctions

Hummer_nuts post for a homemade fertilizer http://davesgarden.com/t/393003/ has sent me on search for different gardening formulas. I'd like to understand more about what the different ingredients do for plants. Some ingrediants that pop up in several recipes are

Ammonia
Beer
Soaps
Vinegar (intersting this also comes up often as a weed killer?)
Molasses
Beer

Of course there are also many plant based teas that are reported to have beneficial effects on plants too. Comfrey, nettles, horsetail, and rhubarb leaves are a few.

Does anyone have any interesting recipes to share with us? I'd also love to hear your experiences with different formulas...

Alfalfa is one of my favorites. I found out that using it makes my roses bloom best of all. I stumbled on this by accident:

Half-fill a bucket with alfalfa meal. Add water and let it steep for 3-5 days. Pour on ground around roses while holding your nose. Stand back for the growth and blooms!

Seems the alcohol that is derived from the decomposing alfalfa is the key. Steeping it in water makes it start working even faster than using it any other way.

If you have enough alfalfa you can use it on any other shrub or tree, but I don't have enough to spare.

(I wasn't kidding about the smell. Wwwhhheeewww!!!!!)

oooohhhhh ,wonder how that would work on brugs???

and where would I get alfalfa meal?

Crestedchik, I don't know about brugs, but probably it would do wonders for them. Do you have a Farmer's Exchange? That is where I used to get mine. Now I grow my own alfalfa. Do you have space to grow it?

Sue,

I have recently been making Compost Tea and one of the main ingredients is Molasses. It feeds the microherd in the tea and it is also supposed to very good for the soil/plants. The ammonia is supposed to supply nitrogen to the plants from what I have read somewhere. I use a diluted ammonia solution when I go snail and slug hunting at night. Just squirt those suckers on the plants and the ammonia doesn't hurt the plant either, but you should see what it does to those nasty slugs...hehehehe

Kathy, I also have been putting some alfalfa in the compost tea...yeah, it does have it's own aroma. pee yew!! I bought the alfalfa at the local Petsmart, but next time will find a grain store.

Donna

I buy alfalfa pellet at farm store by the sack. Spread around the daylily plants, etc. I tried the alfalfa meal but made me sneeze so badly I gave up using it. Donna

I have read in several places just lately that vinegar is a good week/grass killer. The sources said to use industrial strength vinegar.

i had not been able to discover what that is, or where to obtain it.

Then I read, the vinegar must be at least 10 percent strength.

So when I was at the grocery store, I read the labels, and the white vinegr suitable for consumption or ppickling is just 5 percent.

So now I am searching for the more potent stuff. Any ideas?

the beer helps to make the bugs drunk, and its aroma also attracts them.

The soap is used to help the bew stick while not harming the plants.

Molasses attracts by scent, makes the brew stick, and I would thing would entrap the bugs, sorta like tanglefoot does.

Ammonia is a poison to them which would not harm the plants.

I bought a small bag of alfalfa hay. I'll try making some tea. The hay itself does have a stong smell. I can imagine the tea is nasty!

The things we do for our plants!

Beer is great for compost, because the yeast feeds the beneficial bacteria and fungus in the pile. I presume it does the same in the garden. This in addition to attracting and killing slugs. Gotta love beer.

Soap breaks down the outer 'skin' of certain types of bugs. This way they either die of exposure, or whatever you have mixed with the soap can kill them.

Cheri'

Alfalfa pellets would be cheaper to buy than meal I think. I get 50 pounds for about $8 at my local feed store where. It breaks down to a mush in a few hours in a bucket of water, doubles in volume, and then is easy to spread. No dust this way and it stays where you put it.

Poppysue, where were you able to buy alfalfa hay???? I have never found a local source for it! That is why I started to grow my own.