Plants that help our plants

[jaykush]

i just want to say be very careful when looking for yarrow (or any wild plants for that matter). once you know what it looks like for sure its easy to find, but i know a few people who when searching for it have mistaken poison hemlock for yarrow. that could have been really bad somehow or another if they did not do further research or ask me or someone who knows.

lavender is good every once in a while as a foliar spray from my experience. dilute it a lot as very little is needed. so try not to brew giant batches.

nasturtiums are easy to grow yourself and are eatable. i grow my own and eat it rather than use it as a fertilizer.

 

[neongreen]

I didn't know the names, but after a search, I recognize the hemlock. Very different plants! Thanks for the warning. I'm usually very careful when it comes to identifcation of plants, but its a good idea to point it out in a thread like this.

We used to have nasturtiums growing in the garden, but not any more, and I'm sure I've seen places where it grows around here... now if I can only remember where!

Thanks for the tip on the lavender. It's a good job only a little is needed as I only have a small amount growing here!

 

[geopolitical]

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare). Perennial plant (invasive in sandy soils).
Active ingredients. Not studied.
Action. Insectifuge, insecticide, fungicide against rust and mildew.
Preparation. In fermented extract, 2 lbs. of fresh plant material in 2.5 gal. of water. Use nondiluted against cabbage fly. In infusion, 1 oz. of flowers in 1 qt. of boiling water. Filter when cool and spray undiluted against aphids, mildew, and rust. Caution: don't throw residues on compost as tansy inhibits its breakdown.

I've grown Tansy for years, it's toxic as all get out, to people and critters, not just bugs. One of the major actives in it is thujone, and I've known of people who have read up on it as an old lent "bitter herb" and gotten deathly ill on it.

I would really recommend anyone making a concoction with this herb to wear a face shield, gloves and treat it like the nasty bugger it is. Personally I use it to kill off ant nests and I pack it around books and other long term storables as help against carpetbeetles & silverfish. In whole plant form it can be an irritatant, in any sort of concentrate it could easily be lethal.

Natural doesn't = safe. Remember this.

 

[jaykush]

Natural doesn't = safe. Remember this.

great words goepolitical, i would just reccomend people stay away from those type of plants completely and stick to what some of use call "beneficial" plants.

thanks for the words on tansy.

 

[neongreen]

Today's foraging...

Now I need to find some horsetail!

 

[jaykush]

sweet find, thats enough for a while, set some to dry for sure. chop a couple( 3 or 4 ) of them up and throw them in a gallon of water. the yarrow doesn't need to be as strong as nettle tea.

horsetail here grows in REALLY wet areas, mostly ive found it along side small lakes and bigger ponds. good thing is once you find it, there is usually a lot of it.

 

[neongreen]

Good point. I remember seeing it growing close to water somewhere... now if I could just remember where!

Should get the yarrow brew going tomorrow. Ta for the tips.

I got some yucca extract, the good stuff (thanks coot), the other day, so that now goes into everything I intend to spray. I wonder how much difference it will make.

Anybody know how long it's good for if stored in the fridge?

 

[foggy]

Neon, Jay, i made some new plant extract last week, Netlle, yarrow, dandelion and horsetail.
How long will it take to have it ready for use?

@jay, In belgium we call sparrow, thousandleave, it is easy reconized when you look at the leaves, no mistake can be made when you look at that.
yarrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mp-Achillea_millefolium.jpg
Hemlock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Conium.jpg

a few more pics from herbs around.
Horsetail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Equisetopsida.jpg
Lemonbalm: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Melissa_officinalis3.JPG
Lupin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mainelupin.jpg
Comfrey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_comfrey_800.jpg
Dandelion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DandelionComparison.png
Thistle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thistle4.jpg

These are the most common herbs you can find at any place, they can all be used to make plantextract for watering your babies.

An other interesting thing could be this.
http://www.thewormworks.com/product_catalogue.php?cat=2
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Worm-Compost-System
http://www.abundantearth.com/store/canoworms.html
doing it myself now and wil be using it next year for my soil and teas.

 

[spiral]

So how you guys using that yarrow foliar or soil drench? Just went and found a bunch, I like the smell. Brewin some up now.

 

[jaykush]

Neon, Jay, i made some new plant extract last week, Netlle, yarrow, dandelion and horsetail.
How long will it take to have it ready for use?

are you doing them seperatly? they can be used within a few days, and dont really need to be diluted, but a few weeks in when the fermentation has come and gone is when the best results happen imo. you can make quick nettle tea by simmering some on the stove like you would a morning cup of tea. thats if you NEED a quick nitrogen fix.

@jay, In belgium we call sparrow, thousandleave, it is easy reconized when you look at the leaves, no mistake can be made when you look at that.
yarrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mp...illefolium.jpg
Hemlock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Conium.jpg

tell that to the people who have actually brought me a poison hemlock plant asking if it is yarrow. most people dont know plants, to them they see white flowers that look similar, and to most its good enough, but to us ITS NOT!

milk thistle is GREAT for compost, man o man does it break down hella fast.

So how you guys using that yarrow foliar or soil drench? Just went and found a bunch, I like the smell. Brewin some up now.

i use the yarrow as a foliar spray mostly. it does good when used lightly as a soil drench. but i foliar it right into early flower with great results

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Jaykush

I know that you don't mess with the EM products but I'd appreciate your opinion regardless.

When making the Activated EM (AEM) from the mother culture, you allow the batch to drop below PH 3.8 which is easy enough. The usage rate of the AEM is 1:1000

So if I'm using the EM original product and I stuff the jar or bottle with lemon balm (for example) and fill and cover with the newly mixed AEM and allow it to ferment over the next several days, would the same usage rate be a good starting point?

Also, is there any advantage in running the plant material through a food processor and puree it before adding it to the process?

Thanks!

CC

 

[Owl Mirror]

I am curious if these plants would work their magic by simply being planted alongside your plants if growing outdoors? I have heard that by growing a carpet of clover around the base of your plant, that provides water retention.
Any thoughts on growing beneficial plants alongside your outdoor gardens?

 

[jaykush]

well coot, like you said i dont have experience with EM.

are you saying the original bottle is full or empty before stuffing it with lemon balm? i cant say the application rates would be the same. to be honest im not exactly sure. i would think 1:1000 is diluted enough to not hurt your plants tough that's for sure. thats less than a teaspoon per gallon. usually when you dilute things that much your going for microbes not nutrients. do you want to use it as a foliar or a soil drench?

about the blender, YES if i can i run all my plant matter through a blender before making the plant extracts. specially when making batches that dont need to be too big like yarrow and chamomile. or things that are a bit too tough like horsetail. its almost the same as chopping food scraps up to feed to your worms, will they eat it whole yes.....will they eat it faster when chopped up....YES!

 

[jaykush]

I am curious if these plants would work their magic by simply being planted alongside your plants if growing outdoors? I have heard that by growing a carpet of clover around the base of your plant, that provides water retention.
Any thoughts on growing beneficial plants alongside your outdoor gardens?

it does work to a certain extent. nettles are known to improve the quality of neighboring plants, ive seen this in my own garden and in nature. yarrow is said to have the same qualitys. the only problem with that way is most of the nutrients and plant chemicals that benefit our plants need to be broken down first before they can be used. that is not ALWAYS the case so dont be scared off the idea. most people dont have room to do this as well. who wants to walk through a nettle patch to get to their plants lol.

clover will help keep the soil moist to a certain extent, it will act as a living mulch, but it still takes water from the soil to grow. so it might be saving a little water from evaporating but its still drinking some to grow, so it might be making water last longer but youll need a little more. one benefit of clover is the rhizobium bacteria that fix nitrogen gas from the air into a plant usable form of N.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Yes - let's say that I want to mix up a batch of AEM and allow it to ferment rather than use the straight product in order to save money. And I want to include a plant of some kind and create a different version of AEM and perhaps this would qualify for the term Fermented Plant Extract.

So I should take the dandelions and puree them, pour that into the fermenting vessel, fill with the unfermented AEM mixture, close it up and begin the normal AEM fermentation process.

That's what I will do today. One with dandelions and one with habanero chiles. And I'll add some kelp meal to both and probably some sea salt for the mineral content.

Thanks!

CC

 

[jaykush]

ok i gotcha now, still kind of lost on WHY you want to though but it doesn't matter. sea salt? if your going to use salts for minerals may i suggest Himalayan pink crystal salt. 84 minerals and much better results from my experience.

habanero AEM lol. i bet the pests will love you for that.

 

[Owl Mirror]

it does work to a certain extent. nettles are known to improve the quality of neighboring plants, ive seen this in my own garden and in nature. yarrow is said to have the same qualitys. the only problem with that way is most of the nutrients and plant chemicals that benefit our plants need to be broken down first before they can be used. that is not ALWAYS the case so dont be scared off the idea. most people dont have room to do this as well. who wants to walk through a nettle patch to get to their plants lol.

clover will help keep the soil moist to a certain extent, it will act as a living mulch, but it still takes water from the soil to grow. so it might be saving a little water from evaporating but its still drinking some to grow, so it might be making water last longer but youll need a little more. one benefit of clover is the rhizobium bacteria that fix nitrogen gas from the air into a plant usable form of N.

Thanks Jay, here is a pic of my veggie garden where I applied the use of clover.
It is planted along the outer edge, in a ditch.

I will be mulching it under at the end of the season.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

Yeah - I only buy and use the high-end salts which includes the Himalayan pink salt. The grey varieties from France and Portugal are also very nice.

Habanero AEM - it's mainly going to be applied to the outside of my SmartPots in an attempt to keep my wife's *&%#^@* cats out of the garden room. I was using an airhorn but then that got my 3 dogs all excited knowing that the cat would be running out of the room giving them another opportunity to chase the cats around the barn and generally pissing my wife off. We'll see if it works. A friend tried the habanero deal and he claims it worked and that after a couple of weeks he didn't have to apply it any longer as the cats are now trained to not go near the grow room. To the extent that you can train a cat that is.

CC

 

[foggy]

are you doing them seperatly? they can be used within a few days, and dont really need to be diluted, but a few weeks in when the fermentation has come and gone is when the best results happen imo. you can make quick nettle tea by simmering some on the stove like you would a morning cup of tea. thats if you NEED a quick nitrogen fix.

I use them all together, because a friend of mine said it would be the best because of diversity of the herbs i will get a good tea to water my plants.

So i see you use them seperatly?

 

[jaykush]

foggy, when i used to mix plants in brews i would get funky smells(wait funkier? they already smell funky lol) and odd things happen. i once had this bacteria or something grow on the top as a film on top the water, it was like rubber in a way. you would smush it and it would go right back to its original shape. that was i think alfalfa, nettles and dandelions. with no lacto b. it was amazing but kind of freaked me out. im still very cautious of using anaerobic things, like everyone still should. ive never had problems when taking my time to do it right, its when i wanted fast results things went a bit wacky.

from my personal experience making them separate and using separate has given me better results. mainly because they almost all have different application rates, how often they should be used and even how they should be used. making them separate just gives you more control. if you have to, think of it like bottles you would get at the hydro store, you could mix them all together and hope for the best, or you can use them when there supposed to be used and get high quality results.

that being said im not saying mixing them together wont work, i just prefer to use a diversity of herbs over a length of time rather than all at once.