Garden Tonics and Repellents from Jerry Baker Master Gardener

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Garden Tonics and Repellents from Jerry Baker Master Gardener

 

Back-to-basics know-how, natural remedies

and environmentally friendly products for your health

They are pretty cheap too!  

 

Garden Starter Tonic

1 C "Barnyard Tea" to 2 Gal Water

Barnyard Tea:

 

Put 5 regular tea bags in 1 qt hot water - use 1/4 cup of the resulting tea

 

Put 1 cup of dried manure in 1 C warm water - use 1/2 cup of the resulting liquid

 

1/4 cup soapy water

 

Use at rate of 1 cup to 5 gal sprayer.

 

 

After garden starts growing, use same mixture but add:

1 tsp water-soluable plant food (any kind)

 

1 tsp Epson salt

 

 

 

Use at rate of 1 cup to 5 gal sprayer, every two weeks.

 

 

Fruit Tree Spray for Japanese Beetles (to use in garden to discourage Japanese beetles)

1 oz bleach to 1 gallon of water

 

Use 3 weeks before spading soil

 

 

 

Perennial Plant Feeding

1/2 C beer

 

2 Gal water

 

1/4 C ammonia

 

2 Tbs hydrogen peroxide

 

1 Tbs lemon dish soap

 

 

 

Put 1/4 cup of this in a mustard squeeze bottle or something like that,

squeeze some of this in every planting hole.

Then use it as a spray later (spraying soil with it.)

 

 

Bug Repellent for Plants

1 Qt warm water

 

1/2 small onion

 

1 Tbs lemon dish soap

 

1 Tbs very hot hot sauce

 

1 tsp garlic oil or garlic juice or 6 garlic cloves smashed

 

 

 

Put the lid on and leave in a very warm place for several days.

Strain it and use it as a bug spray.

 

 

Weed barrier in garden "paths"

Put 1 sheet newspaper down and cover with grass clippings

 

 

 

Clay Soil suggestion

Add Gypsum

 

 

 

Planting Trees or Shrubs

Add a handful of oatmeal and a handful of human hair to hole before planting

 

 

 

Breakfast for Bulbs (when you start bulbs)

3 parts dried manure

 

2 parts bone meal

 

2 parts blood meal

 

1 part Epson salt

 

Put 2 Tbs of this mixture in each bulb hole

 

 

Roses:

Spray for Roses (roses should be sprayed every week,

never closer than 18-inches away and underneath leaves)

Mixture of lemon dish soap and water

 

When cutting roses, (always cut flowers off to enjoy inside) - cut above a 5-leaf cluster -

this is where a new flower will grow

Food for Roses

Equal parts water and any citrus soda (NOT diet soda)

 

Bug-killing and leaf spot spray for roses

 

1/3 Cup baby shampoo

 

1/3 Cup lemon dish soap

 

1/3 Cup Murphy's Oil Soap

 

1 Cup water

- OR -

 

1 Cup listerine (or generic) mouthwash

 

5 chamomile tea bags in 1 Cup water

 

Use 1 tsp of this mixture per quart of water

 

 

 

Wild Weed Killer

1 Tbs lemon dish soap

 

1 Qt water (lightly salted)

 

1 Tbs vinegar (any kind)

 

1 Tbs Gin (made from juniper - that's why it works)

 

Use at rate of 1 oz to 1 Qt of water in sprayer bottle.

Protect plants that you don't want to kill when spraying

by taking out a piece of cardboard or a newspaper

to hold behind plants you're killing.

 

 

Wake-up Tonic for lawn (prep tonic)

50 lb lime

 

50 lb. gypsum

 

50 lb. bonemeal

 

2 lb Epson salt

 

Mix and put in spreader

 

Turf-Builder

1 Cup baby shampoo

 

1 Cup ammonia

 

1 Cup cola (regular, not diet)

4 Tbs Instant Tea

 

Put in 20 gal sprayer, and spray every 3 weeks. Covers 2500 square feet.

 

To make it even better, add one cup beer

 

Spring and Fall Lawn Food

1 lb sugar

 

1 lb Epson salt

 

Add to any lawn food and apply entire mixture at half the recommended rate.

I didn't hear how much lawn food you should add the 2 lbs of mix to...

Reasonable to assume it would be 2 lbs

(that might explain the half recommended rate.)

 

 

 

Lawns

Water in morning

 

Mow after 6 p.m., mow east to west.

 

 

 

Shrub Elixer/Tonic

1 Cup lemon dish soap

 

1 Cup tobacco juice

(make your own using 1/4 cup tobacco in 1 cup hot water - soak overnight)

4 Tbs Instant tea in 1 pint hot water

 

2 Tbs whiskey

2 Tbs fish emulsion

 

Use once per month.

 

 

Virus prevention for tomatoes

If you have black spot or leaf virus on your tomatoes,

prepare to prevent it next year.

After removing plants at end of season,

mix 1 oz bleach per gallon of water. Spray soil - covers 150 square feet.

 

 

Compost Starter

1/4 cup ammonia

 

1/4 can beer

 

This mixture is for a hose-end sprayer -

use this amount for each gallon of mixed spray.

 

 

 

Varmint repellent

2 Cups water

 

2 eggs

 

2 cloves garlic, smashed

 

2 Tbs chili powder

 

2 Tbs ammonia

 

Put in jar, set in very warm place for several days.

Strain in an old stocking. Mix at rate of 1 tsp/quart

or 1 Tbs/Gal or 1 Cup/20 gallons.

Spray around area you want to keep animals out of.

 

 

 

Garden All-Purpose Wash (every 2 weeks)

1 Cup mouthwash (listerine-type)

1 Cup tobacco juice

 

1 Cup lemon dish soap

 

in Hose-end sprayer (20 gal)

 

 

 

Compost

Always use small pieces of kitchen scraps - not big - to discourage rodents

 

Always add things in thin layers

 

Always add a dirt layer

 

Spray well with 1 Can Coke (regular, not diet),

1 Can Beer and 1 Cup Ammonia mixed, every 3 weeks and turn.

 

 

 

Pruning Plants or trees

Mix 8 oz interior latex

 

2 Tbs listerine-type mouthwash

 

1 tsp sevin

 

Paint cut end with this mixture to seal and prevent bacteria/mold/insects

 

 

 

To grow great carrots or radishes

Get a bushel basket and cut the bottom out of it. Sink it a few inches in soil.

Fill it with 1/2 professional loam, 1/2 chopped leaves

and a little bit of soil on top. Plant carrots in that.

 

 

 

More Lawn food spray, every 3 weeks (food)

1 Can Coke (regular, not diet)

 

1 Can beer

 

1 Can apple juice

 

1 cup ammonia

1 cup any-type of lawn food

 

1 cup urine (any kind)

 

Then every 2 weeks (bug and or weed? repellent)

1 cup ammonia

 

1 cup listerine-type mouthwash

 

1 cup tobacco juice

 

1 cup chammomile tea

 

1 cup lemon dish soap

 

1 cup urine

 

Use both at rate of 1 tsp/qt or 1 Tbs/gal or 1 cup/20 gal hose-end sprayer

 

 

Repellent for flower beds

Moth crystals at edges of flower bed

 

and/or

 

5 oz castor oil

 

5 Tbs hot sauce

 

8 oz soap

 

Use at rate of 1 tsp/qt or 1 Tbs/gal or 1 cup/20 gal hose-end sprayer

 

 

 

Divide perennials in fall. When moving them to a new place or replanting,

add equal amounts hair and oatmeal in planting holes.

Cover with leaves and forget them.

 

 

To help prevent dried-up lawn.

Spray with baby shampoo

(it's an emulsifier) at rate of 1 tsp/qt or 1 Tbs/gal or 1 Cup/20 gal

hose-end sprayer once a week.

 

 

To kill dandelions in lawn

First, wet down lawn with prep tonic

(I think this is so that lawn doesn't "drink up" weed killer first)

 

Then, mix in big container -

 

1 cup ammonia

 

1 cup lemon dish soap

 

4 Tbs instant tea

 

Use at rate of 1 tsp/qt or 1 Tbs/gal or 1 cup/20 gal hose-end sprayer

[Guest snellma]

Thanks.