Making the best plant food in the world!

Intersting. Viewed the video and will certainly give it a go !

Thats an amazing lawn did'nt think it would fill in that well.

Drc, when you give ANY plant a biologically balanced soil, the soil itself will fertilize the plant, fend off parasites, and the plant will thrive! The most common cause of a plant being in a state of stress is a soil imbalance and that is where mother nature steps in. The best example is in trees. When a tree is in stress, it will produce sugars way beyond the normal levels and natural predators, such as wood-peckers, boring beetles, and other critters will sense that enriched level of sugars in the plant and go after it. Plants that grow in a good biologically balanced soil rarely attract common pests, because their sugar balance is pretty neutral. Hope this helps!
GO PLANTS!

What is compost tea? Never heard of this over here.

Thats what I wanted to know,& can we get it here??

Here's the science behind "Compost tea": http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/152/

You can make it yourself and it's rather easy.. :-)

Thanks N2!! :~))))))

One little "tid-bit" that I forgot is the fact that weeds HATE a balanced optimum soil condition as do fire-ants! In the above photos, you see no weeds or ant mounds because weeds and ants are nature's "scavengers" that take advantage of plants in distress and unbalanced soil conditions...

A few months ago, I did an interesting experiment on a lovely looking weed that was growing in the field next to my home. I dug it out of the ground, being very careful to dig up the entire root system and planted it into a pot that contained the best organically balanced potting soil that I had and it died in two days! Any other plant would have taken off and thrived in that pot! I now have a young "foxtail fern" growing in the same experimental pot and the little fern has doubled in size after only 2 months! After the weed died, I pulled it out, dusted the dirt off of the roots, tossed it on the compost pile, and planted the fern into the same organic soil that killed the weed. Pretty amazing how mother nature works... :-)

That IS amazing!! I have a problem with ants (& weeds too, really!) so that sounds great! Thanks again!

Madperth, the best thing that you can do, is to start out with spreading out "dry molasses" at 20 lbs per 1000 sq, feet. That stimulates the natural biological activity in the soil and will often drive off the ants.
As far as weeds go, I have found that weeds are an opportunistic predator and will only thrive where there is a severe soil imbalance. I have transplanted some weeds into my gardens to see how they would do and the rich organic soil killed every one of them within a few days. Interesting!
Plants are SO cool to play with! ;-)

I'll see if I can find some 'dry' molasses! Isnt that sugar of some kind? So I wont need much then! My garden is only 8m square!
Thats good news for the weeds you dont want, but some of them I grow deliberately! LOL!

Madperth, you can use ANY form of sugar to amend the soil.. ;-)
Even common white sugar from the grocery store will work in flowerbeds.
The sugar products feed the beneficial microbes in the soil and promote great "soil health" which then feeds the plants and promotes growth and a natural immunity to common plant diseases.

Thanks N2! :~))

Glad to help, Madperth!
I have to confess to intentionally growing native weeds also.. {chuckle}
Some of them have really stunning looking flowers. :-)
My wife just hates the weeds and I say, "but they're so cool looking!". {grin}

I just tell people that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place, if you want it there its not a weed!! :~))

THAT`S a great quote! I love to give any plant the optimum balanced soil conditions and watch what it can do. Often plants will teach you about their potential that is often suppressed due to poor soil conditions. ;-)
~N2~

My little garden is colonised by horsetail grass, but its so pretty I dont worry TOO much, just tame it every so often! I've also got wild feverfew, which I'm encouraging to stay, & greenthumb alerted me to the amazing taste of rosebay willowherb as a vegetable!

I found out a little tip about weeds the other day, while listening to my Sunday morning organic gardening radio show:
Let the weeds grow if they look beautiful and when it comes time to remove them, DON'T pull them out of the ground! Instead, dig down a tad and cut them off at the root crown! That leaves the root system in the soil to decompose and become natural compost that is high in carbon and many trace minerals which greatly enriches the native soil.
The native "composting critters" such as earthworms and beneficial microbes will move in on the decaying root system, feed on it, and turn that spot into a wonderfully balanced organically rich soil mix. The next growing season, plant something else in that spot where the roots have composted, decomposed, and watch it grow like crazy! ;-)
~N2~

Sounds good to me!! I just wish I could get time & the weather to coincide so I can get out there! I hate winter!!

Yes, Madperth, I hate the winter also because all of my annuals die off...
On the other hand, the cooler weather is a great time to plant pansies, kale, cabbage, and other cold loving "leafy" plants! :-)

If the rain stops long enough to plant anything!

Actually, planting in or after a good rainfall is the BEST time!
Planting water saturated root-balls into water saturated soil promotes a healthy early root growth transition that newly planted "critters" need!

The worst mistake is to plant a dry plant into the soil and think that "I can water the area a lot". NOT TRUE! If the newly planted plant's roots are dry when they are planted, all of the water in the world will not hydrate the roots properly in the soil because the water will never penetrate a "dry root ball" that is already in dry soil!

My wife just hates it when I plant new things because I create a total "mud-pit" with most of my "planting projects"! {chuckle}

So I'm not quite as mad as I thought! I do tend to plant in mud!!

Will this "tea" work for my Bermuda grass??? Thank You!

Annyshka, the best thing for Bermuda is to add a 1/4 inch layer of compost over the area, add some dry molasses at 10 lbs per 1000 sq. ft. and water it in thoroughly. The organic "tea mix" will help to rev up the biological activity, but is an option. The initial application of compost and sugars will rev up the microbes in the soil and that will make the Bermuda a "happy camper" in a few months. :-)

Thank You so much!!! :) I will do that.

Hi,
I tried compost with dried molasses and already starting to see some nice results! Just wanted to ask, how often I can apply dried molasses? And I am assuming, compost just in Spring? Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!!

Annyshka, you can apply dry molasses up to 4 times per year. It's one of those organic amendments that is hard to "overdo".
Compost, especially "earth-worm castings" can be applied at any time and works wonders in container plants. ;-)
One thing to remember also is that "spent coffee grounds" is a WONDERFUL organic fertilizer that Roses and Hydrangeas just love. Even old cold coffee from the coffee maker is a great "compost tea" that has lots of trace minerals for any kind of plant.
I pour some cold coffee in my indoor "Variegated English Ivy" once a month and the little guy has been doing great, draping all down the bar where it grows!
Hope this helps!
*N2O*

Thank You so much for such a great information!!!