Want Your Grass To Green Up Nice?

[PineRidge]

I saw a very interesting piece on WKYC TV Saturday morning. It went on to give a formula for fertilizer that would really green up your grass in no time flat. They also interviewed a couple of folks that had been using this technique of several years with good success, who also swear by the mix. The formula calls for:

A pop, a beer, a little liquid dish-washing soap, some mouthwash, and some household ammonia, all mixed into a 10-gallon hose end sprayer and applied to the grass.

The pop and the beer are essentially food for your lawn, and, the combination of the two will allow the grass, the dead grass in your lawn, help to begin to break down and to compost much quicker.

The liquid soap is a wetting agent, helping the formula to penetrate to the roots. The ammonia promotes growth and turns your lawn green and the mouthwash does something you would never suspect mouthwash would do; it kills the bugs and grubs.

It essentially messes up their reproductive cycle and keeps them out of your lawn and makes it look a lot better and leaves it minty fresh. And because it’s applied with the hose sprayer, it’s a direct shot to your sod.

When you don’t have a lot of water and you may be on watering restrictions, this is another way to get the nutrients to your lawn and keep it growing.

It’s a half-a-cup of all the ingredients, with the exception of the pop and the beer. You pour all of those in, and then, you too are on your way to the best looking lawn in your neighborhood.


Lawn Tonic Formula

One can - pop (no diet)

One can - beer (no light)

½ cup - liquid dish-washing soap

½ cup - mouthwash

½ cup - household ammonia

Mix - 10 gallon hose sprayer


Other Info:

Mow lawn late in evening

Apply every 3 weeks

Guys I have no personal experience with this concoction but I do plan on giving it a try myself. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Let me know how you like it if you decide to try it for yourself.

 

[Egon]

Can you use recycled beer??

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[froggy]

Here are various organic recipes from DirtDoctor.com:

"Potassium bicarbonate Fungicide
Mix 4 teaspoons (about 1 rounded tablespoon) of potassium bicarbonate into one gallon of water. Spray lightly on foliage of plants afflicted with black spot, powdery mildew, brown patch and other fungal diseases. Potassium bicarbonate is a good substitute for baking soda. There are commercial EPA registered as well as generic products available.

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.

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 container but a plastic bucket is easy for the homeowner. Fill the 5-15 gallon bucket half full of compost and finish filling with water. Let the mix sit for 10-14 days and then dilute and spray on the foliage of any and all plants including fruit trees, perennials, annuals, vegetables and roses, and other plants, especially those that are regularly attacked by insects or fungal pests. It's very effective for example on black spot on roses and early blight on tomatoes. 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 four to ten parts water. It should look like iced tea. Be sure to strain the solids out with old pantyhose, cheese cloth, or row cover material. Add two tablespoons of molasses to each gallon of spray for more power. Add citrus oil for even greater pest killing power.

Cornmeal Juice
Cornmeal Juice is a natural fungal control for use in any kind of sprayer. Make by soaking horticultural cornmeal in water at one cup per gallon of water. Put the cornmeal a nylon stocking bag to hold in the larger particles. The milky juice of the cornmeal will permeate the water and this mix should be sprayed without further diluting. Cornmeal Juice can be mixed with compost tea, Garrett Juice or any other natural foliar feeding spray.

Garlic Pepper Tea
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.

Garrett Juice (ready to spray)
My recommended basic organic foliar spray is available commercially. Or you can make your own. Mix the following ingredients in a gallon of water.

1 cup manure based compost tea
1 ounce molasses
1 ounce natural apple cider vinegar
1 ounce liquid seaweed
For disease and insect control add:
¼ cup garlic tea or
¼ cup garlic/pepper tea
or 1 ounce of orange oil

For homemade fire ant killer add:

2 ounces of citrus oil per gallon of Garrett Juice

Garrett Juice Concentrate
The ready-to-use solution should not have more than 2 ounces of orange oil per gallon.

1 gallon Compost Tea
1 pint Cider Vinegar
1 pint Liquefied Seaweed
1 pint Blackstrap Molasses

Mix all ingredients together. For spraying, use 1 ½ cups of concentrate per 1 gallon of water.
*1 pint = 2 cups = 16 ounces "

 

[shoppintractors]

Jerry Baker, America's Master Gardener has similar tips and tonics. You'll have the best looking grass in the neighborhood.

www.jerrybaker.com

Don

 

[froggy]

I was wondering if the recipe might not be from Jerry Baker because I know he favors beer in his organic tonics.

 

[Henro]

<font color="blue">Can you use recycled beer?? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif </font>

Egon,

I've tried that more times than I can count and I can assure you that doing so makes no improvement to the lawn whatsoever... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

In case you want to test it on the grass up your way, I've been told by the locals it is best to face away from the house and/or road when appying the recycled beer to the lawn... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Junkman]

Problem is that 10 gallons won't even wet my front lawn!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif At the local farm, they have a formula that seems to work. They comb the fields for the cow patties, mix with water and then spray on the fields. I was wondering if I could do the same with the dog doo? Wife says, "don't even think of trying it".. some people just don't have any sense of humor when it comes to the ecological use of dung...... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RobertN]

Budwieser is good slug and snail bait. They love it, but it does a job on them. Put it in a shallow bowl or pan in a few places around your plants. No more slugs!

Other beers will work too, but we save the Bud for the slugs, and good ber for drinking /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[BrettW]

how about pumping out your septic tank right onto the yard. that ought to green up something. bw

 

[Taylortractornut]

I have a friend in the tank pumping business that had a problem with work. He had 20 000 gallons of backed up sewer juice in a collection area of the city's sewer system that he got the cantract to pump till they fixed the line. The only problem he had to take it 10 miles to the next towns sewage lagoon to dump it and it made for some long days. He dumped a few loads on his barren sand and clay yarda and disced it in and seeded it. Hen he contacted his brother that had several acres of pine trees that were planted on elevated mounds. He would drive down the rows dumping the sludge between the rows and disc it in after work. It was also 1/2 mile from his pickup point. You can tell the trees that were treated they are about 3 inches thicker and 5 to 8 feet taller than trees at the same time in the same soil. When I have to dig a septic tank out to replace a metal tank or repair a lid the home owners want the stuf done away wit but i convince them alot of times to pupr it in the low spots on the lawn to make better grass.