Sunlight, water, nutrients—these are the basic requirements for plants to thrive. But did you know that your garden soil has another crucial requirement that can determine whether your plants thrive or struggle to grow? It’s a soil property called pH, and an ideal range of soil PH is indispensable for proper nutrient absorption by the roots. Most plants need a PH between 6 to 6.5 for best growth, though some acid loving plants need a lower PH.
Now, Let me demonstrate 3 easy ways to test your soil PH at home.
The First Method is using Litmus Paper. This is simple school chemistry. Also this is not expensive. You can buy this simple litmus paper kit at any stationary store or even online. This is just litmus paper with color chart showing a PH value for each color that matches with your test result. PH of 7 is Neutral, PH below 7 is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. The most important thing is to use distilled water for all these tests you conduct, because the PH of distilled water is neutral.
So, How to Test Soil Using Litmus Paper Method
- Collect one tablespoon of soil from your garden either from container or from ground. You can take the soil from a little deeper like 2 inches below the soil.
- Add equal amount of distilled water – that’s 1:1 ratio. We are taking distilled water because it has neutral PH of 7. You can also take water from your water purifier, test it with litmus paper first. If it’s neutral, you can use it but only if distilled water is not available. Distilled water is easily available in big cans and also in medical stores in small 5 or 10 ml packs that are used for medicine reconstitution. So, for 1 table spoon of soil you would add 1 tablespoon of water.
- Now nicely mix this by Stirring for few seconds.
- Let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Start stirring the sample again and now dip the litmus paper to take your measurement. Wait for few minutes for color change and then match it with the color coding chart that came along with your litmus paper kit.
Pros of this method: It’s Easy to use and inexpensive
Cons of this method: It’s sometimes difficult to read or match colors, so, loss of precision.
The Second Method is a rough and easy DIY method you can try at home to know whether your soil is acidic or alkaline.
- Take a small amount of soil from your garden or container in a small glass.
- Now Pour some vinegar to this soil sample. If it fizzes and bubbles you have an alkaline soil because the alkaline content in soil reacts with acid like vinegar which is chemically acetic acid.
- Take another soil sample from your garden. Here for demonstration purpose, I know that this is an acidic soil. Now Add baking soda one or two teaspoons and mix it with soil.
- Then wet the soil baking soda mix with distilled water. If it fizzes and bubbles your soil is acidic, because the acidic content in soil reacts with a base or alkaline stuff like baking soda. That’s it!
The Third Method is using Soil PH Testers – Which one to Choose, these manual types or digital soil PH testers. These are easy to use portable gadgets with probes to insert into the soil. These give instant readings. But these manual type of probe testers are not so reliable but they are inexpensive and handy. The digital testers are more accurate but expensive.
This soil testing is fun and you can share this with your kids to teach them simple science or chemistry.
The pesticides approved in organic farming are largely the natural ones, though a limited amount of synthetic substances are permitted.
Let’s list these synthetic and natural pesticides used in organic farming and learn how to use them one by one.
1. BORIC ACID AND BORAX: This powder is commonly used to play carom has many uses in gardening. It’s mainly used to treat soil pests and insects like millipedes and also for ant control. Just sprinkle the boric acid over the areas of infestation and do not water for at least 24 hours. It acts as a contact poison and also as a stomach poison when the pests ingest this powder.
2. COPPER SULPHATE: This is used both as a fertilizer as well as a fungicide. As an anti-fungal, it can be used in the prevention and treatment of fungal diseases like the Powdery mildew, Leaf rust, black spot rose disease and any other serious fungal disease. This is the most effective anti-fungal in organic gardening.
How to Use it? Mix 20 grams of copper sulfate into 1 litre of water in a spray bottle and spray it on the affected plant. You can repeat this process after 1 week. Prepare only the required solution for the day and do not store it for next use.
3. TRICHODERMA VIRIDE: This is a certified bio-fungicide and is normally present in soil which controls other pathogenic fungi and prevents root rot and other harmful soil fungi. So, this can be used in the treatment of soil fungi, root rot, damping off in seedlings and also to treat fungus affected seeds or to prevent fungal infestation of seeds.
How to use it? For Preventing Canker and stem rot after pruning, make a solution by adding 10 gms in 100 ml water and apply this on the injured stem after pruning to prevent fungal disease.
To Prevent Seed Fungus, add 10 gms powder to 1 kilogram of seeds and mix well.
For plants that are wilting and you suspect a fungal disease in soil and root rot, mix 10 gms per litre of water and drench the plant and soil. Repeat after a week if necessary.
To Mix it in your potting mix, add about 10 gms to a potting mix volume of a 12 inch container and then repot your plant. This is particularly beneficial when you transplant your seedlings into fresh potting mix.
4. BAKING SODA: This is pure sodium bicarbonate which is mainly for cooking purpose and readily available in your kitchen. To use it as a fungicide, you can mix 2 to 3 teaspoons of baking soda in 1 litre of water and mix well and spray on the affected parts. If you want to make it more effective and a universal pesticide, you can add 1 teaspoon of oil like neem oil to this solution plus some 10 drops of liquid soap and spray on the plant. You can also use any vegetable oil, but best is neem oil and also clove oil or eucalyptus oil. Repeat this spray every week till your problem is solved. Apart from this there are about 10 uses of baking soda in gardening. You can check a detailed post on baking soda in garden.
5. DIATOMACEOUS EARTH: This magical organic powder has many uses in gardening like ant control, slug and snail control, preventing animals and rodents in your garden and mainly as an organic pesticide effective against all types of pests like aphids, mites, thrips, mealy bugs, caterpillars and even soil pests and insects. The mechanism of action is it’s a contact poison which kills pests by extreme dehydration. You can check a detailed post on DE powder.
How to use Diatomaceous earth on plants?
First of all Water your plants for the day. Then dust the plants with an applicator or just sprinkle the powder on your plants. To avoid killing beneficial pollinators like bees and butterflies, do not sprinkle on flowers.
6. HYDROGEN PEROXIDE: Though it a chemical with formula H2O2, which is similar to that of water, but with an extra oxygen atom. This concept is the key for using hydrogen peroxide in gardening. Well, to use it as an effective pesticide and antifungal, add 1 cup that’s about 250 ml of 6% hydrogen peroxide per litre of water or 2 cups of 3% h2o2 per litre of water. Load it in a spray bottle and spray on the plants. To control Fungus gnats and soil pests, you can water the plant with the same solution. Apart from this, hydrogen peroxide has many other miraculous uses like to save a dying plant, as a fertilizer and many other beneficial uses. You can check a detailed post on hydrogen peroxide in gardening.
7. VINEGAR: this is chemically called Acetic Acid. It’s an inexpensive product and found in most kitchens. In gardening we use 5% white vinegar or the distilled white vinegar. For the treatment of powdery mildew or spot fungus, add One cup of White Vinegar to 1 litre of water and shake well and spray it on the affected leaves. To use it as a pesticide, Add one cup white vinegar to 1 litre of water and then add some 10 drops of liquid soap and spray on the affected plants. You can check a detailed post on uses of vinegar in garden.
8. NEEM OIL: Neem oil is by far the best Organic Pesticide available worldwide. Azadirachtin and Nimbin found in neem oil are the two major compounds responsible for its antibacterial and antifungal actions. It is in fact a broad spectrum pesticide and the safest and most effective of all organic or natural pesticides. To learn about how to use it, the dosage and the patch test, You can check a detailed post on neem oil for plants.
Vinegar is chemically called Acetic Acid. It’s an inexpensive product easily available worldwide. It’s used in kitchens generally in a concentration of about 5 percent. By saying Vinegar, we refer to the 5% white vinegar or the distilled white vinegar.
Can it be used as a Fertilizer for Plants? The Answer is Both Yes and No! Let me explain:
NO: Not directly because it’s chemically made up of Carbon Hydrogen and Oxygen – CH3COOH and the plants can easily get these elements from the air.
YES! It can be used Indirectly using a simple trick to help your plant growth and treat acute deficiencies. We will discuss and demonstrate this in this episode. Please watch it till the end.
Now let’s look into 10 powerful uses of Vinegar for your plants and garden.
- Soil PH amendment: Acid loving plants like hydrangeas, gardenias, Rose, Hibiscus and many others need an acidic soil PH of around 6 or even less. First test your soil PH. This simple PH testing gadget is really handy and inexpensive device to test your soil PH. If your soil tests neutral or alkaline, then you need to amend your soil PH. To do this, Mix one table spoon of white vinegar to one litre of water and water you acid loving plants with this solution once every 15 days to reduce the soil PH.
- As a Pesticide or Insect Spray: Vinegar is an effective solution for eliminating unwanted garden insects and pests. To make this vinegar spray, Add one cup white vinegar to 1 litre of water and load it in a spray bottle and now add some 10 drops of dishwashing or handwash liquid soap. Shake the spray bottle well to mix the contents thoroughly before spraying on the plants. This is a reasonable remedy to control pests like white files and mealy bugs, especially for those who do not have neem oil.
- Treatment of Powdery Mildew Fungus: To make this spray add One cup of White Vinegar to 1 litre of water and shake well and spray it on the affected leaves to treat the fungus.
- Animal and Rodent Repeller: Yes the pungent smell of vinegar can drive away some animals like Cats, dogs, deer, squirrels, rodents and many other animals. How to use vinegar for this purpose? Well, the simplest method is to soak a cloth in vinegar and place it in those potential spots or entrances of these animals into your garden. But the problem with this is the pungent smell fades away within a few hours and you might have to do this daily to prevent the animals. Another method to do this is using Food grade Diatomaceous Earth powder, DE powder in short. Mix some pepper mint or lemon oil along with some vinegar in DE powder and keep it in small containers or caps in your garden. This DE powder has the ability to retain this odour for a longer time. You can watch a detailed video on DE powder from a link in description below.
- To Control Slugs and Snails who eat away a lot of your garden. To kill slugs and snails, spray the vinegar directly on the snails and wait. The vinegar will dissolve the snails. Though this looks a bit cruel, but If you want to save your food grown out of your hard work, you need to control these creatures.
- Ant Control: Vinegar can be used to drive away ants from your garden. Just pour undiluted solution around the ant hills or around the plants – I mean around your potted plants and not into the soil or near the roots.
- Weed Killer: Just spray undiluted white vinegar on the unwanted weeds or unwanted grass in your garden. This works very well in cracks and crevices. But you have to be very careful when applying close to your favourite plants. The mechanism of action involved is, it dissolves the cell membranes resulting in desiccation of tissues and death of the plant.
- Drive away fruit flies from your plants. You need to make a Vinegar bait with a cup of water and half a cup of vinegar, ¼ cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of Honey. Mix it all together and put that solution in an empty container or tin can and hang it on affected fruit tree you’ll see how it will attract and trap the fruit flies. This solution can be used for housefly control in your home or garden.
- Cleaning Your Garden Stuff: It can be used to clean rusty and dirty garden tools. Pour or dip the tool in vinegar for about 20 minutes and then rinse. You can also clean your pots and containers. Just immerse the pots in a vinegar solution like 1: 2 or 1: 3 dilution in water and clean after 20 to 30 minutes.
- To Provide Free or Soluble Calcium to your Plants, particularly in acute deficiency of calcium which causes Blossom End Rot (BER) disease in tomato and pepper plants. Adding egg shells, lime, gypsum or calcium tablets to treat acute deficiency of calcium will not help. You need to provide free soluble calcium that can be easily absorbed by the roots. To make this, you can take a source of calcium like lime or even powdered egg shells and add white vinegar to this and shake well for an hour and then add more water to this. Water this solution to your plants and give them instant source of free calcium for absorption.
In horticulture, Cloning means making duplicate plants out of branch or stem cuttings from a mother plant. It is a great way to multiply a plant, specially if it’s a rare variety or very precious to you or if you wanna gift some plants to your friends and neighbours.
The simplest way of cloning a plant is just pinching a small branch or stem cutting and inserting it into the soil. But, the success rate of this cutting is generally low. If you want to increase the success rate, then you need to follow certain simple rules to accelerate the root formation and increase the success rate of cloning.
Most plant cuttings will naturally produce their own rooting hormones after a short period of time. Actually, many plants can be easily cloned by simply placing the cutting in some clean water and following some simple rules. You can check a detailed article on the 10 Golden rules of cloning.
Rooting hormones can be natural or synthetic chemicals and contain Indole butyric acid (IBA) and naphthalene acetic acid (IBA). IBA is the natural plant auxin or hormone responsible for the stimulation or the formation of roots. If you are purchasing these commercial rooting hormone powders, make sure you check composition on the label to contain atleast one of these compounds.
Now lets list out the best 8 natural rooting hormones or agents that can be used to accelerate rooting in cuttings and increase the success rate of cloning.
8. Your Own Saliva: Not joking! Nothing advanced about this. Human or animal saliva is definitely an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal for plants. The main idea is to prevent the cutting from rot and stimulate the root formation. This very first step to prevent rot can be achieved by just dipping your cutting insertion end into saliva and then insert into the potting soil. This is definitely like Something is better than Nothing!
7. Apple Cider
Vinegar: This is another proven natural rooting hormone stimulant. Add 5
drops in half a cup of water and mix well. Do not use more than this quantity,
because it can have an opposite effect and may prevent rooting and also vinegar
is a natural weed killer in strong concentrations.
Just dip the cutting insertion end into this cup and then insert into soil.
6. Cinnamon Powder: Cinnamon is an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agent that will definitely double your cloning success rate. Make sure the cinnamon bark is finely powdered and just dip the cutting into this powder for about an inch and then insert into soil.
5. Willow Bark: The bark of willow tree contains two important compounds – salicin and Indole butyric acid. Salicin is chemically similar to aspirin (which is acetylsalicylic acid). And Indolebutyric acid (IBA) is a plant hormone that stimulates root growth as already discussed.
If you are lucky and have a willow tree around you, you can
make a willow tea.
IBA hormone is present in high concentrations in the growing tips of willow
branches. So if you can take these cuttings and soak them in warm water, you
can get enough quantities of IBA hormone into this water what we call Willow
Tea.
4. Honey: Honey is another natural antiseptic and anti-fungal agent which helps these little cuttings to remain healthy and strong. Remember pure honey is said to have a more beneficial effect than the processed bottle honey. Do not directly dip your cuttings into honey because this can attract many insects and ants. So, the commonly used recipe for using honey as rooting agent is:
Add 1 teaspoon honey to 2 cups of boiling water or half teaspoon honey to 1 cup of boiling water. Do not boil after adding honey, just stir it well and allow it to cool down before dipping the cuttings.
3. Aloe Vera Gel: Fresh aloe vera gel contains salicylic acid along with other useful enzymes, amino acids and minerals. I have demonstrated this in one of my older posts. You can check that aloe vera experiment here.
Just take out the gel from a fresh aloe vera leaf and dip the cuttings into it and plant them in soil.
2. Aspirin: Though not natural, but an inexpensive way is to use aspirin 350 mg tablet, either as crushed powder or dropping a tablet in a glass of water and then dipping the cuttings into it.
Now! If you want to make a more powerful and potent rooting agent, you can mix one or more of these things and try experiment each formula on few cuttings and see which one works best for you.
For example: Willow tea + Honey or Cinnamon + Honey or Aloe vera Gel + Honey and so on..
Happy Gardening!
Vinegar – chemically called Acetic Acid with the Chemical formula – CH3COOH (that means the elements are Carbon, Oxygen and Hydrogen in it). This is an inexpensive product and easily available and used in kitchen worldwide in a concentration of 5 percent generally and here we refer to the white vinegar or distilled vinegar.
So, In Gardening, Can it be used as a Fertilizer? No! because its chemically made up of Carbon Hydrogen and Oxygen –CH3COOH and the plants can easily get these elements from the air. SO it’s a MYTH, not a fact.
So what are the actual proven uses of Vinegar or Acetic acid in Gardening. Lets list out one by one:
1. It Kills Weeds or unwanted grass when sprayed directly without diluting. This works very well in cracks and crevices. But you have to be careful when applying close to your favourite plants. The mechanism of action here is it dissolves the cell membranes resulting in desiccation of tissues and death of the plant.
2. To Drive away Ants around your plants. Just pour undiluted solution around the ant hills or around the plants / soil. If you have faced this problem practically and the difficulties when ants burrow around your favourite plant and you fear that your plant might be destroyed, you will realize the importance of this benefit.
3. To Drive away some animals like Cats and dogs who can damage your plants by digging the soil or breaking your soft plants and succulents. This is because of its pungent smell which animals hate. The hack here is to soak any cloth in vinegar and place in important areas in your garden.
4. It can be used to clean rust and dirt easily from your garden tools. Pour or dip the tool in vinegar for about 20 minutes.
5. TO preserve or Freshen up Cut Flowers or even liven drooping flowers – for this you make a solution of 2 tablespoons vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar in 1 litre of water. Pour this in your vase or container.
6. You can also used to to clean Clay pots – immerse the pots in a vinegar solution 1: 2 or 1: 3 in water and clean after 20 to 30 minutes.
7. Insect Spray: Vinegar is an effective solution for eliminating garden insects. To create a vinegar spray that works on garden insects, combine three parts water with one part vinegar in a spray bottle and add a teaspoon of dishwashing or handwash detergent. Shake the spray bottle to mix the contents thoroughly before spraying on the plants. This is a very effective remedy to control white files and I have successfully used this on my hibiscus to eliminate white flies. This is also effective for eliminating fungus from your plant.
8. Drive away fruit flies from your fruit plants. You need to make a Vinegar bait with a cup of water and half a cup of vinegar, ¼ cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of molasses. Mix it all together and put that solution in an empty container or tin can and hang it on affected fruit tree you’ll see how it will attract and trap them. The similar solution can be used for houseflies too.
9. Useful for Acidic PH loving plants like gardenias, hibiscus etc. Mix cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water and water you acid loving plants with this solution.
10. To Kill slugs and snails. spray the vinegar directly on the snails and wait. The vinegar will dissolve the snails. Also magnesium sulphate salt has similar effect on them.