Garden Remedies Scientifically Tested

[NJCher]

I was just catching the news before I headed out to the garden with a bag of eggshells, which I figured I'd put around my pole beans. Slugs do love those pole bean leaves. Last night I had thrown iron phosphate around them but I wanted to deliver a "double whammy."

So I turned up this article where common garden remedies were scientifically tested. Suffice to say, this will change a lot of my gardening practices. For example, no longer will I need to keep pottery shards around, nor will I be using those eggshells around plants (I'll still put them in my blender, however, and add to the soil).

There's a lot in this article and all of it very, very interesting:

Article published Jun 3, 2006
Researcher studies gardening fact, fiction

CANDACE RENALLS
Knight Ridder Newspapers

While testing homespun garden remedies, Jeff Gillman admits he was most disappointed by discovering eggshells don't deter slugs.

"I really expected eggshells to be the best thing ever," said the associate professor of horticultural science at the University of Minnesota.

In his book "The Truth About Garden Remedies: What Works, What Doesn't and Why," Gillman shares his own experiments and other research.

Dish soap solutions

Common remedy: Spray a solution of dish soap and water on plants to kill bugs.

The real story: Such homemade solutions, usually 1 to 4 tablespoons of dish soap per gallon of water, do kill aphids and other soft-bodied insects. The wax cuticle on the insect's body is washed off, so it dries up and dies. However, the soap solution also hurts the plant by removing the protective wax coating on its surfaces. Most harmful are antibacterial soaps.What works: Commercial insecticidal soaps are safer.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060603&Category=Lives03&ArtNo=606030525&SectionCat=LIVES&Template=printart




Cher

[NMDemDist2]

1. hope you added this one to your journal so I can find it again, that

was very interesting and will come in handy in a couple months I think

I was confused about gypsum though, did the article say it works or not?

Gypsum

Common remedy: Gypsum will loosen heavy clay soil.

The real story: Gypsum, which is calcium sulfate, breaks up clay soil that has a high sodium level. That soil exists in the West and in coastal areas.

What works: Amend heavy clay soil with compost.

[Dora]

2. The article is somewhat dismissive about corn gluten meal...

I want to add that I've had very good success with it. The article states that it takes 2-3 years to be effective, but I think that's if you never pull any weeds by hand. CGM isn't a natural herbicide; it prevents the germination of seeds, and it won't have any effect on weeds that have already germinated and begun to grow. That's why it's a method best paired with manual weeding. Another plus to CGM is that it also gives your lawn a gentle nitrogen boost.

When we moved into our house, the backyard was chock full of dandelions and thistles. That Spring I weeded it, from edge to edge, and since then we've been spreading corn gluten meal annually at the beginning of Spring. We now have very few weeds to deal with.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. As far as the slugs are concerned, a friend told me her remedy

was to put a ring of sand around the plants you need to protect and they won't crawl over it. I haven't tried this myself because I don't have a problem with slugs, but she swears that it works. The diatomaceous earth mentioned in the article will probably work also.