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Making the best plant food in the world!

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There are all kinds of chemical plant foods on the market that artificially attempt to duplicate what mother nature does. Miracle Grow, Osmacote, you know the ones. These are all a salt based plant food and do nothing to enhance the biological activity in the soil. They only give the plant a short-lived “kick” that wears off quickly..

Here’s the recipe to make your own organic plant food that not only treats the plant, but brings the soil into a biological balance that makes ANY plant thrive under any condition, any growing zone, and works wonders on container plants: View the video about how to make your own plant food. I use this everywhere on my property and it is looking pretty good after only one year of treatment:

This is my “bird-bath” flower-bed and the grass surrounding it is NOT St. Augustine! That lush grass is organically grown Bermuda. The turf seed was sowed after I prepped the yard with a 1/2 in. layer of fine texture compost and watered the seed in with the above plant food formula at a rate of 2 OZ, per gallon of water.
A picture is worth a thousand words.. :-)

Potted plants like the juice at about 1 oz per gallon for normal watering and all plants can be sprayed with it at 1 oz per gallon as a foliage treatment.

Indoor plants like the 1oz per gallon mix about once every two weeks and roses growing outdoors in the native soil respond like crazy after about 3 months of once a week treatments @ 2oz per gallon.

(Q?) What about St Augustine grass that most of us have? Will it work?
(A) Yep! Here’s my front yard 2 years ago when we first sodded the front yard. We checker boarded the St Augustine flats to save money, hoping that it would grow solid:

Here is what it looks like today after only 2 1/2 years of organic care:

This organic approach to landscaping amazes me every day!
N2 ;-)

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Comments

 

Intersting. Viewed the video and will certainly give it a go !

9 Nov, 2009

 

Thats an amazing lawn did'nt think it would fill in that well.

9 Nov, 2009

 

Drc, when you give ANY plant a biologically balanced soil, the soil itself will fertilize the plant, fend off parasites, and the plant will thrive! The most common cause of a plant being in a state of stress is a soil imbalance and that is where mother nature steps in. The best example is in trees. When a tree is in stress, it will produce sugars way beyond the normal levels and natural predators, such as wood-peckers, boring beetles, and other critters will sense that enriched level of sugars in the plant and go after it. Plants that grow in a good biologically balanced soil rarely attract common pests, because their sugar balance is pretty neutral. Hope this helps!
GO PLANTS!

10 Nov, 2009

 

What is compost tea? Never heard of this over here.

10 Nov, 2009

 

Thats what I wanted to know,& can we get it here??

10 Nov, 2009

 

Here's the science behind "Compost tea": http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/152/

You can make it yourself and it's rather easy.. :-)

11 Nov, 2009

 

Thanks N2!! :~))))))

12 Nov, 2009

 

One little "tid-bit" that I forgot is the fact that weeds HATE a balanced optimum soil condition as do fire-ants! In the above photos, you see no weeds or ant mounds because weeds and ants are nature's "scavengers" that take advantage of plants in distress and unbalanced soil conditions...

A few months ago, I did an interesting experiment on a lovely looking weed that was growing in the field next to my home. I dug it out of the ground, being very careful to dig up the entire root system and planted it into a pot that contained the best organically balanced potting soil that I had and it died in two days! Any other plant would have taken off and thrived in that pot! I now have a young "foxtail fern" growing in the same experimental pot and the little fern has doubled in size after only 2 months! After the weed died, I pulled it out, dusted the dirt off of the roots, tossed it on the compost pile, and planted the fern into the same organic soil that killed the weed. Pretty amazing how mother nature works... :-)

13 Nov, 2009

 

That IS amazing!! I have a problem with ants (& weeds too, really!) so that sounds great! Thanks again!

13 Nov, 2009

 

Madperth, the best thing that you can do, is to start out with spreading out "dry molasses" at 20 lbs per 1000 sq, feet. That stimulates the natural biological activity in the soil and will often drive off the ants.
As far as weeds go, I have found that weeds are an opportunistic predator and will only thrive where there is a severe soil imbalance. I have transplanted some weeds into my gardens to see how they would do and the rich organic soil killed every one of them within a few days. Interesting!
Plants are SO cool to play with! ;-)

15 Nov, 2009

 

I'll see if I can find some 'dry' molasses! Isnt that sugar of some kind? So I wont need much then! My garden is only 8m square!
Thats good news for the weeds you dont want, but some of them I grow deliberately! LOL!

16 Nov, 2009

 

Madperth, you can use ANY form of sugar to amend the soil.. ;-)
Even common white sugar from the grocery store will work in flowerbeds.
The sugar products feed the beneficial microbes in the soil and promote great "soil health" which then feeds the plants and promotes growth and a natural immunity to common plant diseases.

16 Nov, 2009

 

Thanks N2! :~))

17 Nov, 2009

 

Glad to help, Madperth!
I have to confess to intentionally growing native weeds also.. {chuckle}
Some of them have really stunning looking flowers. :-)
My wife just hates the weeds and I say, "but they're so cool looking!". {grin}

17 Nov, 2009

 

I just tell people that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place, if you want it there its not a weed!! :~))

17 Nov, 2009

 

THAT`S a great quote! I love to give any plant the optimum balanced soil conditions and watch what it can do. Often plants will teach you about their potential that is often suppressed due to poor soil conditions. ;-)
~N2~

18 Nov, 2009

 

My little garden is colonised by horsetail grass, but its so pretty I dont worry TOO much, just tame it every so often! I've also got wild feverfew, which I'm encouraging to stay, & greenthumb alerted me to the amazing taste of rosebay willowherb as a vegetable!

18 Nov, 2009

 

I found out a little tip about weeds the other day, while listening to my Sunday morning organic gardening radio show:
Let the weeds grow if they look beautiful and when it comes time to remove them, DON'T pull them out of the ground! Instead, dig down a tad and cut them off at the root crown! That leaves the root system in the soil to decompose and become natural compost that is high in carbon and many trace minerals which greatly enriches the native soil.
The native "composting critters" such as earthworms and beneficial microbes will move in on the decaying root system, feed on it, and turn that spot into a wonderfully balanced organically rich soil mix. The next growing season, plant something else in that spot where the roots have composted, decomposed, and watch it grow like crazy! ;-)
~N2~

19 Nov, 2009

 

Sounds good to me!! I just wish I could get time & the weather to coincide so I can get out there! I hate winter!!

19 Nov, 2009

 

Yes, Madperth, I hate the winter also because all of my annuals die off...
On the other hand, the cooler weather is a great time to plant pansies, kale, cabbage, and other cold loving "leafy" plants! :-)

20 Nov, 2009

 

If the rain stops long enough to plant anything!

21 Nov, 2009

 

Actually, planting in or after a good rainfall is the BEST time!
Planting water saturated root-balls into water saturated soil promotes a healthy early root growth transition that newly planted "critters" need!

The worst mistake is to plant a dry plant into the soil and think that "I can water the area a lot". NOT TRUE! If the newly planted plant's roots are dry when they are planted, all of the water in the world will not hydrate the roots properly in the soil because the water will never penetrate a "dry root ball" that is already in dry soil!

My wife just hates it when I plant new things because I create a total "mud-pit" with most of my "planting projects"! {chuckle}

22 Nov, 2009

 

So I'm not quite as mad as I thought! I do tend to plant in mud!!

22 Nov, 2009

 

Will this "tea" work for my Bermuda grass??? Thank You!

13 Mar, 2011

 

Annyshka, the best thing for Bermuda is to add a 1/4 inch layer of compost over the area, add some dry molasses at 10 lbs per 1000 sq. ft. and water it in thoroughly. The organic "tea mix" will help to rev up the biological activity, but is an option. The initial application of compost and sugars will rev up the microbes in the soil and that will make the Bermuda a "happy camper" in a few months. :-)

15 Mar, 2011

 

Thank You so much!!! :) I will do that.

17 Mar, 2011

 

Hi,
I tried compost with dried molasses and already starting to see some nice results! Just wanted to ask, how often I can apply dried molasses? And I am assuming, compost just in Spring? Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!

12 Jun, 2011

 

Annyshka, you can apply dry molasses up to 4 times per year. It's one of those organic amendments that is hard to "overdo".
Compost, especially "earth-worm castings" can be applied at any time and works wonders in container plants. ;-)
One thing to remember also is that "spent coffee grounds" is a WONDERFUL organic fertilizer that Roses and Hydrangeas just love. Even old cold coffee from the coffee maker is a great "compost tea" that has lots of trace minerals for any kind of plant.
I pour some cold coffee in my indoor "Variegated English Ivy" once a month and the little guy has been doing great, draping all down the bar where it grows!
Hope this helps!
*N2O*

14 Jun, 2011

 

Thank You so much for such a great information!!!

14 Jun, 2011

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