Organic Gardening Deb Shubat, UMD Horticulture Instructor and Organic Grower

Organic plant Culture/ basics Select Hardy Varieties own root, if possible Select disease resistant varieties Proper light exposure for the plant Water at the roots ( keep leaves dry) Feed perennials in spring Be compulsive with soil preparation Sanitation, rouging, scouting

Amending Clay Soil Clay, Gaack –If you have clay, make raised beds –Roots of all terrestrial plants must have O 2 –Drainage essential, especially over winter –Organic matter, sand, perlite, gypsum

Organic Soil mixes for pots and seedlings Approved components –Peat –Vermiculite –Perlite ( krum) –Lime (mined) –Wood ash –Blood meal –Bone meal –Yucca juice

Organic Soil mixes For Tomatoes in pots –5 gal peat –5 gal loam –2.5 gal vermiculite –2 C “special recipe” fertilizer 3 C bone meal 2 C sifted wood ash 1 C blood meal 2 C dolomitic lime

Organic Soil mixes Seed Germination mix –4 gal peat –1 gal vermiculite –1 gal perlite –¼ C special recipe fertilizer –1/4C Yucca juice mixed in 2 C water Chamomile tea Fungicide –2 C boiling water over 4 tea bags – put in spray bottle or H 2 O can –Contains potassium, Calcium and Sulfur

Hints for growing seedlings Use low or no fertilizer in mix Don’t use “wild” soil, use pasteurized Transplant when there are 2 true leaves Don’t let them get pot bound Fertilize seedlings (¼ strength) Shake or move the seedlings ( causing thigmomorphogenesis) 4,4’flouescent bulbs 6”above seedlings

Nutrients Sustain Kelp and Fish emulsion Crimson clover as green manure Compost (fish enhanced) as mulch –I do Brew compost tea occasionally –I use alfalfa and chamomile tea on seedlings

Nutrients Most commercial fish emulsions = Most commercial liquid seaweed sprays = Combination is the best Compost Tea’s nutrient value depends on your recipe Warning: There is a fish recipe on the next slide

Fish fertilizer If you are using fresh fish, you need to compost it separately in a 5 gallon closeable bucket. Fill bucket 1/2 full with extra browns ( high Carbon) like sawdust, leaves, or straw. You can add molasses to the fishy mixture in order to build up microbes in order to speed up decomposition. The sugars will also help control odors too. Open the bucket and stir the fishy paste daily or every other day in order to get air in the mix for better decomposition and better aerobic microbial growth in the emulsion. Let this paste rot for at least 1-2 weeks. The browns help control offensive odors and absorb organic nitrogen from the fish so that it is not leached out or evaporated.

Fish fertilizer You can now safely take the decomposed fish paste from the 5 gallon bucket and add it to your regular hot composting piles or add it to your special compost tea recipes. The more vegetable or fruity organic matter that you add to fishy compost the better you remove the offensive smells and the more trace elements you add to your compost and teas. This of course is optional. Note: Your dog may volunteer to turn your compost!

Compost tea One version of vegetarian compost tea Place in a large 32-gal. trash can: 12 cups Alfalfa Pellets (make sure they don't contain salt), 6 cups Cottonseed Meal 2 cups Epsom Salts. Fill it up with water, Turn on a bubble stone Cover, and let it brew in the sun for about 4 days. It works for everything!

Lime-Sulfur Lime Sulfur should mainly be used as a DORMANT SPRAY TO CLEAN UP OVER-WINTERING INSECTS AND DISEASE INFECTIONS. MIX 2 parts LIME SULFUR AND 1 PART DORMANT OIL FOR COMBINATION SPRAY ( lime –Sulfur stains wood and stone)

Organic Pest Control/ Deer Shoot and eat Tie white plastic bags to the trees at browse height – replace every few months Fence Repel: rotten eggs and bitters –Two eggs, 2T bitters,1qt water and 4 drops soap in blender, put in sprayer and apply before the eggs rot.

Organic Pest Control/ Voles Shoot and eat Get Cats Trap Keep grass mowed Feed them bubble gum New formulation soon to be Organically approved!!! 1/06

Organic Pest Control/ Dormant Spray Timing for Dormant Spray: Apply in early spring when danger of frost is past, before leaf buds show green at tips. Wet all parts of woodies thoroughly but do not overspray. Spray on a mild morning to allow mixture to dry quickly do not spray during freezing or hot weather.

Organic Pest Control/ Dormant Spray Dormant oil –Covers insects that over winter on woody trunks and stems –Smothers them –2T oil, 3 drops soap, 1 qt water

Insect Pest Control Rose Slug

Pest Control/ insects Butterfly or moth Sawfly larva Bt kills these

Pest Control/ insects Insecticidal soap –Safers – 5T.gal –Murphys oil soap 2T/gal –Dr Bronners 5T/gal –Ivory liquid 5T/gal

Organic insect Pest Control hand picking paper wasps eat some larvae Sticky traps in confined situations Reflective mulch Steinernema Mint kills or repels wasps

Organic Pest Control/insects Biological Control –Lady beetles ( Use native ladybugs!) –Lacewings –Hoverflies ( syrphid flys) –Bt –Nematodes

Organic Disease Control/fungi Acetic Acid (vinegar) shown to control fungus –3 tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar to 5 liters of water. Powdery Mildew –1C whole milk to 7 C water + 2 T canola oil –4 tsp Hort oil, 1tsp baking soda, 3drops soap, 1QT water

Cleaning contaminated soil Mustard greens have a very active ability to capture lead in soil. Growing several throw away crops of mustard greens can rid the soil of lead and other heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium and nickel. –The Avant Gardener April 2008

Spice powders have antifungal properties –Cinnamon is able to inhibit growth of damping off fungi –Carnation ( Dianthus caryophyllus) –Garlic –Thyme –All were effective against damping off –Powders could be used as a seed treatment –Journal of Plant protection Vol 47, Issue3, Sept 07 Organic Disease Control/fungi

Stimulate Plant’s Resistance Aspirin is an activator of "systemic acquired resistance" (SAR). spray a few plants with a 1:10,000 solution, (3 aspirins dissolved in 4 gallons of water) on a few plants, leaving other plants of the same species unsprayed (as a control). The SAR activation lasts from weeks to months*. Also you can soak seed in the same solution to stimulate seed germination –*Avant Gardener 1/04

Stimulate Plant Growth Alfalfa contains Triacontanol a plant growth regulator Plants treated with Triacontinol show greater leaf number and fruit yields Seedling stimulator Plants mulched with alfalfa hay show increased growth

New Growth Stimulator Chitin, Chitosan, is made from the shells of crab and other crustaceans. It has proved to act like a natural fungicide. It mimics fungal diseases ( fungi have chitin) and its presence fools plants into activating their natural defenses such as Botrytis and powdery mildew. Chitosan has been also shown to stimulate the growth and yields of various crops, squash, potato, tomato and cabbage

Get out the Hookah! Smoke water made from bubbling smoke from burning grasses through water acts like a plant growth hormone Smoke water was diluted 1:500 Treatment :2X a week followed by a third with plain water Tomato plants produced 25% more fruit Active ingredient: butenolide

Reduce Vole Populations New Vole Bait Rodentrol Made from Corn cobs, corn syrup and molasses and more. Not toxic to pets or humans Will be submitted to the Organic Materials Review Institute