Why Baking Soda Is A Gardener’s Best Friend
Baking soda is such a versatile product and I guarantee that when you hear its name, you can think of at least three things that you can do with it. Have you ever been curious as to whether or not you can use baking soda in the garden? Well, I decided I’d let you in on a few secrets. Using baking soda for gardening can be used as a safer and cheaper alternative to the store bought chemicals!
Here are the more in-depth ways using baking soda in the garden can benefit your plant babies:
Insect Repellent
- Mix one tablespoon of olive oil, two tablespoons of baking soda, and a few drops of liquid soap with a gallon of water. This concoction will help to keep the critters in your garden away. Every three days, spray this mixture on your plant babies.
- Mix equal parts flour and baking soda and dust your produce that is currently growing with cabbage worms. This will destroy them.
- Mix equal parts of baking soda, powdered sugar, and a tablespoon of water together. Once mixed, pour the mixture into anthills. Add vinegar into the opening of the anthill and soon you’ll make an impact on the ant population that has been in or around your garden.
Compost and Soil
Some may be hesitant about using baking soda in their garden. They wonder “Is baking soda harmful for my plants?” “What will using baking soda do to my soil?” Like most things, baking soda is fine in moderation. As for your soil, using baking soda when gardening will reduce the acidity. This can be a great hack for your tomato plants. Keep reading to find out!
- If you are looking for a way to test the pH of your soil, take a half cup of baking soda and mix it with a half cup of vinegar. Gather two samples of soil and place them into their own containers. Pour the vinegar into one of the samples, if it bubbles that means that its pH is above seven or eight (alkaline). If it doesn’t fizz, then combine the soil into the other container with distilled water and one-half cup of baking soda. If there is fizzing at this point, your soil most likely has a pH of about five or six (acidic).
- When it comes to compost, sprinkle a little bit of baking soda on top of the pile in order to decrease it’s odor.
Taste and Appearance
Now that you know how you could use baking soda on your compost, or to check the pH of your soil, let’s discuss a little more about what baking soda does for plants.
- If you’re looking to make your lilies, iris’s, geraniums, and or daisies grow healthier and brighter, baking soda will come in handy. Before you water those plants, add baking soda to the water.
- To make the soil of your tomato plants less acidic, sprinkle a little bit of baking soda in the soil around them. This will help your tomatoes become sweeter.
- If you want your flowers such as begonias, hydrangeas, and geraniums to bloom, water them monthly with a homemade baking soda tonic. Mix two quarts of water and one tablespoon of baking soda.
Fungus, Mildew, and Weeds
- As far as fungus goes, mix 4 teaspoons of baking soda with one gallon of water. Shake or stir until the baking soda is dissolved and then apply the mixture to the problem areas.
- To help get rid of weeds, moisten the area where they are located and add a thick layer of baking soda, creating a paste. Generally, using baking soda for this purpose works best in the spring or fall. It will work in the summer, but just not as fast. One pro tip is that if you haven’t received rain after one week of applying the baking soda, water the weeds with ½ to 1 inch of water. It seems counterintuitive, but water helps to send the baking soda to the root zone in order to do its work.
- When it comes to mildew, you can protect your fruits and veggies by spraying them with a mixture of one tablespoon of baking soda, 2.5 tablespoons of horticultural oil, and one gallon of water.
More Questions About Baking Soda? Check These Out:
Is Borax the same as baking soda? Short answer, no. On a chemical level borax and baking soda are not the same. However, they both share the same uses for household cleaning and laundry.
Can I use Borax instead of baking soda? Yes, however in larger quantities Borax can be used as herbicide so when using it as fertilizer it’s best to use the right amount. What is recommended is about 1 tablespoon per 100 feet of soil. If you were to mix 1 tablespoon of Borax into a gallon of water, you could spring about an ounce of the solution around each plant.
Are you convinced to start using baking soda for gardening yet? I sure am!
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