Question
Hi,
I loved your article you wrote!
I want to try the baking soda on my lawn how much should I mix in to spay on my lawn?
also If my problem is army worms how should I get rid of them ?
any orther home remedys for lawn care ?

I think your info will truly help my lawn

Thanks ,

Alfred Helms

Answer
Hi Alfred;
I have never been able to pin anyone down as to exactly how much baking soda to use, so I tried different amounts, and 1/4th cup per gallon of water has worked for me.
Since I have been on the organic program, the only fungus I have had show up is blackspot on rose bushes.I spray my roses and crepe myrtles at the first sign of new growth in the spring. after the wather heats up, black spot doesn't normally flare up again, after the first spraying. Before I went to orhanics, I had to spray once a month almost all summer.
If this is black spot mold on your ground, I would use clorox, diluted with water, but about 1 cup clorox per gallon of water.
clorox kills the black mold that forms in houses, and I have gotten questions this summer about a black, oily fungus on grass. I think I would risk the clorox damaging the grass to get rid of that stuff.
I don't know that clorox will damage grass.
To kill grass that sprouts up in cracks in driveways, sidewalks etc. I pout white vinerag on the grass in the cracks, on the hottest day possible. I saturate the ground to get it down to the roots, and in a couple of days, it is dead and can easily be pulled out.
just a tad of cider vinegar in your water ( about 1 tsp per gallon of water) is good for house plants, and helps boost growth.
another thing that will kill bacteria and stop water in vases of flowers from souring and smelly bad, and making a slime on the stems in the water is hydrogen peroxide.
I put about 1/2 tsp of it to a vase of water. You don't have to change the water every day, just add a little to keep the water level up, in the vase.
Cedar bark mulch thrown all over the yard will repel fleas and ticks, and a lot od other unsects.
If you think you have army worms, look for them. If they are there, you will see then.
On an organic program, you have a healthy enviornment for toads, lizards and grass snakes, and natural opredators like that, and they will eat all the harmful insects that are attracted to your yard.
If there are no chemicals on your yard to poison them, and you don't have any lizards, you can get a couple at the pet store, and release them on the worms, and let them have a banquet.
Lava sand is full of nutrients. I have gotten it at Walmart, as well as the nurseries. I just got a few bags of it and threw it all over the yard. I have never liked to use spreadrs, so I don't know about the settings on them, but if you use one, you could probably tell if lava sand could be applied with a spreader, and what settings to put it on.
Alfalfa meal is good. You will have to get it at a feed store.
There are products with alfalfa meal in them available from nurseries that sell organics, but they ( at least the ones here) don't sarry just alfalfa meal.
It is green still and smells like fresh alfalfa.
It is just finely chopped alfalfa, and you can put it directly on the soil, dig it in, or make a tea to water with.
It boosts growth and bloom.
To make a tea, mix 1 cup alfalfa meal to 5 gallons of water, and let it set overnight.
Stir it well, and strain it well to put in a sprayer and foliar feed, or just water with the tea.
It is really good for houseplants.
Water deeply to encourage a deep root system and help protect against heat, cold and drought damage, and prevent thatch.
I always water to a depth of at least 6 inches.
When the weather is hot, or you haven't had time to water for a few days more that you regularly water, there is still moisture down where the roots are.
That's about all that comes to mind right now.
If you can think of something . just write me and i will do my best to answer it.
OOPS, almost forgot. A really good weed and feed and a fungicide as well is corn gluten.
That is what is left when they make corn syrup, and it is chocked ful of of nutrients, and i am told it is a great fungicide.
Charlotte