Organic Guide

For a safer, healthier world use Organics!

The Guide to Organic Gardening

Chapter 5

Weed Control

Recipies for Organic Fungicides and Herbicides

All-Season "Clean-up" Tonic

To discourage insects and prevent disease (what I call hanky panky in the garden), bathe all yard areas every 2 weeks, right after you mow, with my All Season "Clean-Up" Tonic:

1 cup shampoo
1 cup chewing tobacco juice
1 cup antiseptic mouthwash

Mix in your 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, filling the balance of the sprayer jar with warm water. Chewing tobacco juice is made by placing 3 fingers of chewing tobacco into the toe of an old nylon stocking, and soaking it in a gallon of hot water until the mixture is dark brown.

Baking Soda Fungicide

Mix 4 teaspoons (about 1 rounded tablespoon) of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of horticultural oil into one gallon of water. Spray lightly on foliage of plants afflicted with black spot, powdery mildew, brown patch and other fungal diseases. Avoid over-using or pouring on the soil. Potassium bicarbonate is a good substitute for baking soda. Citrus oil and molasses can be used instead of horticultural oil.

Vinegar Fungicide

Mix 3 tablespoons of natural apple cider vinegar in one gallon of water. Spray during the cool part of the day for black spot on roses and other fungal diseases. Adding molasses at 1 tablespoon per gallon will again help.

Organic Herbicide

Mix the following ingredients together:

1 gal full strength vinegar
1 cup orange oil
1 tsp Basic H or other mild soap

If you want, you can also add 1 cup molasses. Note that vinegar strengths vary: 5% is regular vinegar, 10% is pickling vinegar, and 20% is the strongest you should ever use and is dangerous and needs to be handled carefully. Avoid contact with skin and breathing the fumes. Be sure to keep the mix well-shaken while spraying.

Compost Tea

Manure compost tea is effective on many pests because of certain microorganisms that exist in it naturally. Here's how to make compost tea at home. Use any 5 to 15 gallon container except for a plastic bucket. Fill the container half full of compost and finish filling with water. Let the mix sit for 10 to 14 days, and then dilute with water. How to dilute the dark compost tea before using depends on the compost used. A rule of thumb is to dilute the leachate down to one part compost liquid to between four and ten parts water. The final product should look like iced tea. Be sure to strain the solids out with old pantyhose, cheesecloth, or row cover material. Spray on the foliage of any and all plants, including fruit trees, perennials, annuals, vegetables and roses, and especially those that are regularly attacked by insects or fungal pests. It's very effective, for example, on black spots on roses and on early blight on tomatoes. Add two tablespoons of molasses to each gallon of spray for more power. Add citrus oil for even greater pest killing power.

Tree Trunk Goop

Mix equal parts diatomaceous earth, soft rock phosphate, and manure compost in water and paint on trunks. Paint onto cuts, borer holes or other injuries on trunks or limbs. Reapply if washed off by rain or irrigation.

Garlic Sprays

To make garlic/pepper tea, liquefy 2 bulbs of garlic and 2 hot peppers in a blender 1/2 to 2/3 full of water. Strain the solids and add enough water to the garlic/pepper juice to make 1 gallon of concentrate. Use 1/4 cup of concentrate per gallon of spray. To make garlic tea, simply omit the pepper and add another bulb of garlic. Add two tablespoons of blackstrap molasses for more control.

The Dirt Doctor's Organic Recipes

The following tried-and-true organic recipes have been formulated by Howard Garrett. Many of his ideas were formulated through his relationship with organic guru Malcom Becks.

GARRETT JUICE Recommended basic organic foliar spray, which is also available commercially.

GARRETT JUICE (READY TO SPRAY)

Mix the following ingredients in a gallon of water:

1 cup manure-based compost tea
1 oz molasses
1 oz natural apple cider vinegar
1 oz liquid seaweed

For disease and insect control add one of the following:

1/4 cup garlic tea
1/4 cup garlic/pepper tea
1 oz of orange oil

For homemade fire ant killer add: 2 ounces of citrus oil per gallon of Garrett Juice Note: the ready-to-use solution should not have more than 2 ounces of orange oil per gallon.

GARRETT JUICE HOMEMADE CONCENTRATE

Mix the following ingredients together:

1 gal compost tea
1 pint cider vinegar
1 pint liquefied seaweed
1 pint Blackstrap molasses

For spraying, use 1 1/2 cups of concentrate per 1 gallon of water.

Note: 1 pint = 2 cups = 16 ounces