The Truth About Garden Remedies

Can beer make plants grow? How about buttermilk? Or music classical or rock? Is it true about planting trees in deep holes? And how about chasing insects with hot sauce and stopping slugs with eggshells? Remedies for all garden woes are there for the taking: the challenge is to know what will work and what won't. Fearlessly conducting original experiments and harvesting wisdom from the scientific literature, horticulturist Jeff Gillman assesses new and historic advice and reveals the how and why and sometimes the why not for more than 100 common and uncommon gardening practices. The results will surprise even experienced gardeners.

Jeff Gillman Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota

Preface

9

(6)

The garden gurus and me

A little bit about format

Product groupings

Acknowledgments

Basics

15

(8)

Elements that affect plant growth and development

Fertilizers and Other Soil and Media Amendments

23

(46)

Ammonia, a quick and easy way to misapply fertilizer

Analyzing the ever-changing fertilizer analysis

Beer as a fertilizer

Buttermilk and other high-protein people foods

Chelates

Coffee grounds

Compost

Eggshells

Epsom salts

Gypsum

Lime

Liquid, granular, and slow-release fertilizers

Micronutrient mixes

Organic fertilizers

Shampoo and liquid soaps

Soda, syrup, and other sugary snacks

Sulfur, iron sulfate, aluminum sulfate, and other soil acidifiers

Vinegar

Putting it all together

Water

69

(14)

Antitranspirants

Gravel for drainage

Hydrogels

Planting deeply

Sponges for water retention

Putting it all together

Biostimulants

83

(18)

Humic acids

Indole-3-butyric acid and naphthalene-3-acetic acid

Mycorrhizal myths

Seaweed extracts

Sound for plants

Vitamin B-1

Willow diffusate

Putting it all together

Insecticides

101

(24)

Citrus peel

Dish soap

Forsyth's composition

Garlic

Hellebore

Hot peppers for unwanted guests

Nematodes

Predators and parasites

Tobacco

Putting it all together

Fungicides and Other Disease-Control Agents

125

(14)

Baking soda

Compost tea

Hydrogen peroxide

Mouthwash

Silicon and horsetail soup

Vinegar as a fungicide

Putting it all together

Herbicides

139

(12)

Brussels sprouts for bad plants

Corn gluten meal

Mulch the magnificent

Salt

Vinegar as an herbicide

Putting it all together

Other Pesticides and Protectants

151

(18)

Bagging fruit

Beer as a slug killer

Deer and rodent repellents from your blender

Deer and rodent repellents from the store

Eggshells for slug fencing

Pruning tar and other wound coatings

Tree wrap

Water mist for frost protection

Putting it all together

Commercial Pesticides

169

(10)

How pesticides work

Choosing a pesticide

Concoctions to be Avoided

179

(6)

A crazy old remedy

A confusion of pH

Burn, baby, burn

Hitchhikers in the tobacco

This will do the job (and more)

Take Home Message

185

(2)

Appendix 1. Preferred pH of Some Common Landscape Plants

187

(4)

Appendix 2. Conversion Tables

191

(1)

Bibliography

192

(16)

Index

208

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