Vegetable Gardening Guru

[Ninny]

So cool Roy I second Kat, tell us a lot!! I'm going this next weekend to get started on what I want to plant I'll come back with questions, too! Oh and yes I'm going to do the soapy water thing too!
Kathy

[Roy Martin]

Molasses


Sweet syrup that is a carbohydrate used as a soil amendment to feed and stimulate microorganisms. Contains sulfur, potash, and many trace minerals. Approximate analysis is 1-0-5. Molasses provides food for microorganisms and is a source of carbon, sulfur, and potash. It is a good, quick source of energy for the soil life and microbes in a compost pile, and will chase fire ants away. It is a carbon source and feeds beneficial microbes creating greater nature fertility. Liquid molasses is used in sprays and dry molasses is used as an ingredient in organic fertilizers. It contains sulfur, potash, and other trace minerals. Excellent foliar feeding material and can be mixed with other organic liquids. Use at 2-4 quarts/acre for soil application. For foliar application on broadleaf plants use 1 pint per acre. For grasses and grains still use 1 quart per acre. Blackstrap molasses is the best choice because it contains the sulfur and iron of the original material.

Dry molasses isn't really straight dried molasses. It's molasses sprayed on a grain residue carrier. It's an excellent carbon source that stimulates beneficial microorganisms. And, it repels fire ants.

Molasses is the best sugar for horticultural use because of its trace minerals. Blackstrap is hard to find but is the best molasses because of  the sulfur and iron, but any kind will work. Molasses is a carbon source and feeds the beneficial microbes creating greater natural plant fertility. Molasses also has a nice side benefit. When used with compost tea and orange oil,  it kills fire ants and other insect pests. By itself, molasses repels fire ants effectively.

[Ninny]

Who would have known that Molasses would repel FIRE ANTS!! Where do you get the molasses? Is it at the farm store? Can you get it in any garden center? wow!
Bummer I didn't get to go out and get stuff to plant this weekend! I've been so busy! definitely planning it by next weekend!
Kathy

[Roy Martin]

 I get it at the nursery & garden center. Feed stores might have it, but I think you'll find it at any garden center. It has ran all the fire ants from my yard. I apply it everywhere and it works. It takes a couple of weeks to see the fire ants start thinning out. Its a competition thing. Fire ants hate it.

Roy





















7

[Ninny]

Roy, I am baffled by this, sorry! It is funny I have been a country girl all my life how did I miss such a simple thing as this I can't wait to get started getting rid of the fire ants AND Terminix who sprays my yard every 3 months I hate having those chemicals all over my yard! So do you dilute it in a sprayer? How do you apply it? I mean on the ant beds or around them? Does it keep the bees away? I have some clover in and around my yard and I don't want to do anything to discourage the bees especially the honey bees. I don't like wasps but I don't mind other bees as long as they mind their manners!
Kathy

[Ninny]

Oh, sorry Roy I just reread your post where you said how to apply it!
Kathy

[EKnight]

Roy Martin,

I need you....First of all, we want to have a vegetable garden and my husband has tried every year to no avail.  We get these thorny weeds that grow waist high!!!  He keeps trying to plant in this one area that he has always thrown the grass clippings.  The problem is, we live on an acre of land and the "grass" is green but it's mostly weeds (those dandelion ones) and it's to much land to maintain a nice lawn.  He just mows and then throws the clippings in this one area and I keep telling him year after year that these clippings are probably loaded with weed seeds and he will never have a weedless garden this way.  He has tried tilling but I think he is just churning the weeds and their seeds.  Any suggestions?

Secondly, a couple of years ago we had our pool are landscaped.  Again, we always have weeds so we had them put down sod in a couple of small areas but most of the area surrounding the pool is big rocks atop a weed barrier.  However, the weeds are poking through and pulling them is tedious and overwhelming because they seem to pop up as soon as you pick them.  Who has time to constantly pull weeds from rocks?  Any advise you can give me would be much appreciated.

Eileen

[Roy Martin]

Eileen,


Corn gluten meal is a natural weed and feed fertilizer. It should be broadcast in the spring around February 15-March 15 to prevent grassburs, crabgrass, and other annual weeds that germinate from seed. These dates are for the North Texas areas. Your dates will depend on location. The key is to broadcast the material before the the weed seed germinate.

For the cool season or winter weeds, broadcast sometime between September 15 and October 15 at 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet for the control of henbit, dandelions, annual bluegrass and other winter weeds. It also serves as a powerful organic fertilizer having about 9-10 percent nitrogen.

Corn gluten meal can be used when overseeding ryegrass or other cool season crops but only with care. You must wait until the grass, vetch or clover has germinated and started to grow before putting the corn gluten meal down or the seed germination will be hurt. Do not use prior to planting anything from seed.

Corn gluten meal replaces the need for other fertilization for that period.

In the early 1990s Dr. Nick Christians and his research students at Iowa State discovered that corn gluten meal, a product of the wet milling process, works as a pre-emergent weed and feed. It inhibits weed root formation during germination. With a nitrogen content of about 10 percent, it is also a powerful fertilizer. It is available in the natural powdered form or in a granulated form. Powdered products are more effective and cheaper but the granulated products are much less dusty and messy.

Apply about 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet just like a fertilizer application. In North Texas, do it about March 1 and again about June 1 for even greater control. Unlike chemical herbicides, corn gluten meal replaces the need to buy additional fertilizer. Warning: Do not allow a bag of corn gluten meal to get wet. The resultant odor can be overwhelming.

P.S. Cornmeal only works in an organic program. When toxic chemical products are used, the effect of the cornmeal will be lost.

What type of soil is in the garden area? Have you done a soil test? In most states you can have your soil tested at the county extension for free. This will let you know everything that your soil needs.
I'm very familiar with the conditions of your garden area. There might be hope. Apply blood and bone meal and dried molasses to the garden and till it in. Get a soil test. Its my guess that PH is off and M/Org. inactive. We can fix this I think. Adjusting PH is easy but we have to know what it is.
  If the hay isn't avail. can you find shredded peanut hulls?





Vinegar Herbicide Formula:

1 gallon of 10% vinegar
Add 1 ounce orange oil or d-limonene
1 teaspoon liquid soap or other surfactant (Plant Wash)
Add molasses at 1 tablespoon per gallon to the vinegar formula
Do not add water
Apply on a hot sunny day.

Molasses is harmless to everything. It doesn't kill the ants, it re-establishes mic/orgs. so abundantly that it creates competition for the ants, and fire ants hate competition. They just move out of the area.

Get back to me

Roy

[EKnight]

Thank you Roy.  I hope I can find these things (the ingredients for the vinegar formula).


I ordered the corn gluten meal online because I doubt I would be able to find it near me.

Look out weeds, I am armed and dangerous!!

Eileen

[Roy Martin]

The vinegar is for small applications. Some times it works and sometimes not. One of those home remedy things.
Have a great day.

Roy

[EKnight]

Hi Roy M

I hate to bother you again, my corn gluten meal should be here Monday.  However, I am already picking weeds.  Does this mean it's too late or is it possible to still prevent more weeds from sprouting?  I live in the northeast and the weather has been mostly in the forties with a few warmer days.  It's supposed to be in the fifties (during the day) this week. 

One other thing, is it safe to eat onion grass?  I saw this tall grass in a corner of the yard and I pulled it up and it had tiny little bulbs on the end and smelled like onion.

Eileen

[Roy Martin]

Eileen, please don't ever think you are bothering me. The pleasure is mine to be of some help.
   No, its not too late as there are many weed seed waiting to sprout as it gets warmer. Unfortunately, you will probably still have to do some weed pulling. Getting rid of weeds and unwanted grasses usually takes a season, but come next spring you will see the difference. When Silvia and I got married 3 years ago, the yard was full of weeds, but healthy grass. I sowed rye grass very heavy in the fall. When spring came, the yard had just a few dandelions. I did the same thing the following year, but now the yard is beautiful and green and weed free.
If you still have problems after applying the C/g/m, let me know.

What you have found is most likely wild onion or garlic. Yes you can eat it, but might be a little strong. Break the flower off if you want it to mature. Once flowering starts, production to the root zone slows down to focus on the flower,or just pull the whole thing out of the ground. I think you will see its onion. There are several plants that smell like onion and are onion or garlic related, just not that desirable to eat.

Feel free to ask me any more questions. I hope I have been helpful. Remember, weeds don't just disappear over night. Time and patience and a little work.

Peace
Roy

[Roy Martin]

Ive added pictures of my new garden spot. I ran out of leaf mulch. This soil is a gardeners dream. Everything is planted.  Blood meal, bone meal, molasses,3 inches decomposed leaf mulch. Ill do more mulching as seeds sprout and grow a little. Ill never have to pull one weed from it. Its not too pretty right now, but its the first time in this area of the yard. A month from now, well you will see.
Ive planted potatoes, onions, squashes, every color of bell pepper, several variety of tomatoes, purple hull peas, green beans, sugar snap peas, okra, lots of hot peppers, and corn, Chinese cabbage.
  The corn and okra is in another spot.
I'm excited and happy. My work is done.. Good and healthy food on the way.
The green stuff in the right bottom is  grass where I just mowed and it blew into the garden where I ran out of mulch.




Happy Gardening
Roy 

[Kat]

Hi Roy,

I can see you've got it together on this gardening thing.  I've been listening to all your advice and applying what I can.  The gardening is on hold right now, as we got a lot of rain over the weekend and now we are getting more today.

I just ordered some beneficial insects, a Praying Mantis egg case, Lacewing eggs on a card, beneficial nematodes, and Mealy Bug Destroyer (I have a orange tree that keep getting these mealy bugs).  I like to watch those praying mantis seek their prey. 

I sprinkled corn meal around the gardens, because I read that it was a good fungus inhibitor or did you already mention that 

mercy, peace and love
Kat

[Roy Martin]

Kat, it sounds like you got it going on too. Bug against bug. Let the best bug finish last.
Mealy bugs are tough because they have a waxy type of coating that protects them from most sprays.
I use to spray them with a mixture of soap and alcohol. The alcohol breaks down their coating, but it sounds like you have it under control. Another good all purpose home remedy is;
1 cup chamomile tea
1 tsp. soap
half tsp. veg. oil
half tsp. peppermint oil
 
C/g/m is also good for keeping algae from developing in water ponds.

Roy

[indianabob]

Roy and Ninny (Kathy),

Interesting that you should mention the benefits of Molasses to natural growth.

Did you know that molasses will also aid in the break down and conversion of TNT to its natural components when applied to contaminated soil?  It is a natural process that has been substituted for expensive soil removal and or incineration of the contaminated soil to prevent contamination of the water supply in areas that have been turned back over to private use by the U. S. government.

When I worked on this project from 1990 until 1998 I used to pick up 55 gallon drums of molasses at a depot in LaSalle, Illinois to transport them to the work site near Burlington, Iowa.  Those drums were HEAVY.

Indiana Bob

Molasses


Sweet syrup that is a carbohydrate used as a soil amendment to feed and stimulate microorganisms. Contains sulfur, potash, and many trace minerals. Approximate analysis is 1-0-5. Molasses provides food for microorganisms and is a source of carbon, sulfur, and potash. It is a good, quick source of energy for the soil life and microbes in a compost pile, and will chase fire ants away. It is a carbon source and feeds beneficial microbes creating greater nature fertility. Liquid molasses is used in sprays and dry molasses is used as an ingredient in organic fertilizers. It contains sulfur, potash, and other trace minerals. Excellent foliar feeding material and can be mixed with other organic liquids. Use at 2-4 quarts/acre for soil application. For foliar application on broadleaf plants use 1 pint per acre. For grasses and grains still use 1 quart per acre. Blackstrap molasses is the best choice because it contains the sulfur and iron of the original material.

Dry molasses isn't really straight dried molasses. It's molasses sprayed on a grain residue carrier. It's an excellent carbon source that stimulates beneficial microorganisms. And, it repels fire ants.

Molasses is the best sugar for horticultural use because of its trace minerals. Blackstrap is hard to find but is the best molasses because of  the sulfur and iron, but any kind will work. Molasses is a carbon source and feeds the beneficial microbes creating greater natural plant fertility. Molasses also has a nice side benefit. When used with compost tea and orange oil,  it kills fire ants and other insect pests. By itself, molasses repels fire ants effectively.

[Ninny]

Wow! who knew! I guess SOMEONE did, huh? heehee! You never get too old to learn something NEW! Ha! It isn't even new, just new to ME!!!
Interesting!
Kathy