tkz, the alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow size) will work as an organic fertilizer for your lawn and garden. Whether it clears up the yellow tips - who know until you try it. You can get alfalfa pellets in 50-pound bags at your local feed store. For a palm I would apply about a cup for every inch in diameter. Scatter it around the base of the tree about the diameter of the tree out. Moisten the pellets after applying. The day after you moisten them you will notice they have turned into little worms. Just step on them to mash the flakes onto the soil for good contact. It takes a full three weeks for the alfalfa pellets to convert into plant food, so be a little patient.

Meal from my feed store is straight alfalfa, no additives. If you don't see what you want, just ask at the counter. Most feed stores are happy to order for you at no charge with their next order from their distributor - that's what mine does and they were even familiar with it's use on roses. Next time, I think I will get the pellets though. The meal is so fine, it tends to fly around when scooping and distributing.

After researching, I find that alfalfa meal decomposes fast and gives off quick heat, more so than alfalfa pellets. I cooked a geranium to death by planting in a clay mixed with alfalfa meal. I did the same with 2 rhododendrons in hot and dry summer. Years ago we detached our lawn in late fall and stored bags of grass clippings in the garage .. the entire garage was heat up, despite 40 degrees outside. NPK of alfalfa pellets is 2-1-2 ($17.99 for 50 lbs. bag), NPK of soy bean meal is 7-2-1 ($20 for 50 lbs. bag), and NPK of crack corn is 1.65 / 0.65 / 0.4 ($2.69 for 10 lbs. bag) at feed store. NPK of alfalfa hay is 2.45 - 0.5 - 2.1, sold for $8 per bale at the feed store. Corn is alkaline, has anti-fungal property. Soybean meal is also alkaline. Alfalfa meal is slightly acidic and naturally high in sugar, great for fungal germination. See below discussion "Afalfa Meal Heating Up Soil" in Organic Gardening Forum: â¢Posted by mprevost 7 (My Page) on Sun, Jan 13, 08 Throughout that time I've used only bagged composted chicken manure, alfalfa meal, soybean meal, and various mulches (leaves, grass clippings) to fertilize my soil. I have not seen this heating up occur without significant concentrations of alfalfa meal. Without a lot of alfalfa meal, it does not heat up. But if you put a lot of alfalfa meal under mulch or in a hole, it gets REAL hot in a couple of days. Like as hot as a very hot compost pile. 150 deg F or so. " **** From Straw: I haven't tested soy bean meal, so I won't recommend that. I tested cracked corn (grinded smaller with NutriMill flour grinder) ... awesome result, shiny leaves & many buds. Birds like to eat that stuff. The growth can't compare to alfalfa meal, but I'm aiming for buds and health in hot summer, and not top growth. Alfalfa hay is $8 per bale, best to mix that in with dirt, since the hay is hard to decompose, plus matting-up, blocking water. Some info. from the lawn forum: â¢Posted by lee_in_iowa 4 to 5 on the lin (My Page) on Thu, Apr 14, 11 at 11:35 Boy, I can't recommend the soybean meal. Never again! I tilled it into the top 4-6 inches of my raised beds one year and it grew me a bumper crop of cutworms and armyworms. It attracted pests I had never had before. For myself, I like to ask for bales of alfalfa hay." Here is a link that might be useful: Reference link on Organic Fertilizers This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Mon, Sep 2, 13 at 10:02

No, baking soda would not harm at all provided the final pH of the solution is reasonable. And you are not using so much of it as to cause salt burn. Just measure the pH of the aa tea and add baking soda to till you just get your pH. sodium bicarbonate appears in water from many sources. Its a matter of pH and concentration. Do on a small volume first, keeping track of how much you are adding of what and then you can scale up as needed. Be aware that sometimes solutions that contain a lot of amino acids and proteins (such as aa tea) may suck up a lot of salts without changing pH, ie they can be strong buffers. In this case you cannot use baking soda but need something more caustic such as sodium hydroxide (lye)...just a little bit of lye can make the pH alkaline quickly. the experiment is worth doing, adjusting pH of aa tea to an alkaline range. It may happen that you have to add alkaline water in a different way. But it may work the way you want it to.