Idea for homemade herbicide: think it'll work?
irjowo99
9 years ago
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tigger033
9 years agoirjowo99
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Homemade Potting Soil ideas
Comments (1)Hi, Dean! I'm going to link you to one of the many threads about potting mixes in this very forum. (As you can imagine, the topic as come up before, lol.) You can read what other forum folks think about the ingredients you've mentioned, and why. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here!...See MoreAny success stories of using ZERO pesticides or herbicides?
Comments (41)No chemicals or pesticides for years and as of the last two years, no tilling... and my garden gets better every year. The only things I use sparingly (so sparingly that I haven't used any so far this year) is an organic fungicide and some BT for controlling caterpillars (also have not used this so far). The only scary thing about using no pesticides and no herbicides is that things will always get worse before they get better. Basically, detrimental insects are the first to show up, they are opportunistic feeders and when presented with tender and delicious garden crops they will begin feasting. Their numbers will likely grow large assuming they have enough to eat and ideal conditions in other respects. Only once their numbers are fairly significant will the beneficial predatory insects begin to show up because their food (other insects) is now readily available. For my garden, the first on the scene are aphids, then come the flea beetles... Their numbers grow large, my plants leaves begin to look like they're part of a shooting range with holes all over the place. Then the ladybugs show up, then the hoverflies, then green lacewings and I get treated to the site of a praying mantis every now and then. The aphids nearly disappear, the flea beetles reduce in number so as to become non-issue and sometimes they disappear completely. Organic gardening without pesticides and herbicides is easy, once you figure out what works in your area - that's where the research and trial and error begin. The biggest thing I learned is that gardening without pesticides and herbicides means you need to plan things out and do things differently, generally at different times of year. I was always taught (non-organic) to till and add fertilizer in the spring, give your plants some "blue water" once they’re a certain size, and some more at regular intervals for the rest of the season; When the bugs show-up, spray them. For weeds, I was always told to use block material or landscape fabric, it’ll keep weeds from coming through. What I do now is no-till with mulching about 3-4 times a year using locally grown hay (preferably alfalfa hay - though it's more expensive and I generally go with a mix) maintaining a 4-6" deep layer for most of the year. The hay mulch smothers just about every weed, retains soil moisture, protects the soil life, and feeds the soil as it breaks down; It's great stuff. In the fall I top-dress my amendments: Compost made from kitchen scraps, some manure (free) from a local horse farm, chopped leaves and grass, and then hay over the top - It rots over the fall, winter, and early spring. Then (early spring) I add more hay and then I plant directly into it. By the time plants go into the soil, they have everything they need for pretty much the whole season. Mid-to-late season I'll pile on some more mulch to maintain about 4-6 inches in mulch thickness and keep the flow of food into the soil. No spraying for bugs involved in any of that. It actually works out to also be a lot cheaper since I have no real need to buy any fertilizers and to mulch 400 sq ft. of garden costs 16 dollars....See MoreThink this will work? (1 Picture)
Comments (27)While I was in our local bird supply store yesterday, I saw a product that I had not seen before. It is called Cole's Hot Meats. It is a bird seed that has been treated with liquid habanera pepper. Since we live in the country and are plagued by a gazillion squirrels on our feeders, I bought a bag. You can use it by itself or mix it with your favorite seed. I mixed mine. I don't know yet if it is going to work because the first squirrel up a pole saw me and hightailed it. I've got my fingers crossed though. Here is a link that might be useful: Cole's Hot Meats...See MoreHomemade detergent?? Whatcha think?
Comments (26)What I meant was... you could replace the Sodium Carbonate in the formula with OxyClean. And yes.. certain formulations of OxyClean Powder do contain TAED. I can't give you the skus & names on the top of my head.. but I know they are out there. And of course.. you could omit the Sodium Chloride, but I'd prefer to leave it in.. just so it'd be easier to dose. I wouldn't want something super, super concentrated. I'm not too sure.. this is something I would pursue, but I have experimented with making homemade dishwasher detergent. I actually did have something quite *good* that functioned well in hard water, however.. it would cause sudsing in soft water. Then another formula of mine was Sodium Chloride, STPP, Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Metasilicate, Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione. It performed extremely well, but was very uneconomical and was missing a built in rinse agent I couldn't figure out how to properly add. ^If I could somehow obtain enough volume to order in Bulk, I'd definitely have something there......See MoreUser
8 years agoirjowo99
8 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years agoirjowo99
8 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years agoirjowo99
8 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years agoirjowo99
8 years agoTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
8 years ago
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