Go to the drugstore and get a bottle of Castor oil. House plants love it.
They'll be greener with a few drops added to the SOIL every six weeks.

Keep the water you boil eggs in, letting it cool and water your African
violets with it once cooled. They'll thrive on the extra calcium.

Are your ferns anemic? (I know mine are! so this works!) Give them a tonic.
Water them with weak tea once a week. And if you want to keep your ferns a
bright, healthy green, give them a dose of Ammonia--one teaspoon to one
quart of water whenever you water them.

madgardener

"madgardener" wrote in message
...
Go to the drugstore and get a bottle of Castor oil. House plants love it.
They'll be greener with a few drops added to the SOIL every six weeks.

Keep the water you boil eggs in, letting it cool and water your African
violets with it once cooled. They'll thrive on the extra calcium.

Are your ferns anemic? (I know mine are! so this works!) Give them a
tonic.
Water them with weak tea once a week. And if you want to keep your ferns
a
bright, healthy green, give them a dose of Ammonia--one teaspoon to one
quart of water whenever you water them.

madgardener

So, Marilyn, just curious...... what in the world ever made you try these
to begin with? And, how did you get *brave* enough to try these???

Cheryl

"clc" wrote in message
...

So, Marilyn, just curious...... what in the world ever made you try these to
begin with? And, how did you get *brave* enough to try these???

I can't lie about these things Cheryl..............I came across this really
old book. It was actually moldy and in the shed behind my house in a box of
Joyces stuff. It was household tips and such. I started peeling the pages
apart and was reading some of the things written in it, and there were these
neat tips on assorted things. The parts concerning gardening were intriquing
to me, so I easily ripped out the pages that were already coming out of the
book (it was a really old book, over 70/80 years old, but totally shot due
to the molds working on the stitching, the inks and such. There were whole
sections on sewing tips that were glued together. But gardening tips were
too tempting. So I decided to try them.
Apparently these are tried and true household tips that women had used in
times of desperation when there was no such thing as a garden center, Lowes,
Home Depot or whatever. There were dime stores and general stores, but from
the sounds of the tips, these were things that women tried because things
were too dear to just let die or throw away.
These were the times when a woman darned a sock because there was a hole,
not go to the store and buy another pair.
I was curious about the castor oil. So I went to my old fashioned drug
store in town where I knew there would still be castor oil and got a bottle.
I remember that crap. My grandmammy always gave all of us grandkids a huge
spoon of it followed by half an orange to "make us regular" even if that
wasn't the case. The smell was like a memory slap in the face.
But the hint said a few drops added to the soil, and I thought, what the
heck. I'd love to know what the chemical (that is harsh and expurgative to
us) is that gives nutrients to the plants.
My mom always saved the boiled egg water and used it for her georgous
African violets. That was on one of the pages and it was funny since I KNEW
that one worked.

The tea for a weekly tonic for anemic ferns was easier. I drink about a half
gallon of tea or more a day. So I had a gallon that was left too long
brewing on the kitchen counter and rather than waste it and pour it out or
drink it and get sick (it didn't smell bad but I wasn't taking chances) I
kept it in a container on the porch. I knew about using tea to wipe
furniture down (unsweetened of course) and thought I'd give the ferns a
shot. They seem to be happier about it. Wheather it's the tea or just the
extra watering is still debatable. The ammonia is yet to be done, but after
sharing that tip with another garden friend, she tried it and said it was
incredible. So Dollar store here I come to get a bottle of ammonia to use
just for the plants.

How about this one? A teaspoon of household detergent to one quart of water
will revive wilting cut flowers. It's either the potassium in the
detergents or that the weakened solution of soap that removes the scum on
the bottoms of the stems.

Short stemmed flowers stay fresher longer if placed in a bowl of well
watered sand.

Or rose bushes will reward you with good, clear blooms if you dose each bush
periodically with one ounce of Epsom salts before watering.
Or relocating wasps if you place a few moth balls in an open container near
their nests. And stamp a few moth balls into the ground around flower beds
and vegetable beds and dogs will give them a wide berth.............and moth
balls sprinkled near tomato plants and other fruits will keep the squirrels
and rabbits away..

placing coffee grounds in the runs of moles to eleviate them from the area.
Green sage or black pepper placed in the haunts of ants and that will drive
them away (I tried this on the **** ants and damn if it didn't work)

A teaspoon of sugar, yes, SUGAR added to soapy lather will remove gardening
stains from your hands.

and the best one yet........an extendable curtain rod being a perfect
support for all plants. As the plant grows, lengthen the rod.g while this
sounds like it might not be too good for the thiner rods, I was thinking
though......there are extendable rods for shower curtains and livingroom
curtains that are larger, and dang, that might just work!

I love gardening tips. That's just one of the reasons I enjoy Horticulture
magazine and Fine Gardening. Their 100th issue had the best tips of the
last 100 issues and it was awesome.

madgardener





Cheryl

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:16:45 -0500, "madgardener"
wrote:

Go to the drugstore and get a bottle of Castor oil. House plants love it.
They'll be greener with a few drops added to the SOIL every six weeks.

Keep the water you boil eggs in, letting it cool and water your African
violets with it once cooled. They'll thrive on the extra calcium.

Are your ferns anemic? (I know mine are! so this works!) Give them a tonic.
Water them with weak tea once a week. And if you want to keep your ferns a
bright, healthy green, give them a dose of Ammonia--one teaspoon to one
quart of water whenever you water them.

madgardener


Here's a home-brew for African Violets that I've used for many years.
I found a dramatic difference between AFs fed this solution and the
control group, both flowering and overall size.

AFRICAN VIOLET FOOD

1 t. baking powder
1 t. epsom salts
1 t. saltpeter (potassium nitrate)
1 t. clear (soapless!) household ammonia
1 gallon water

Recently, due to the demand for meth-lab supplies, it can be difficult
to buy clear (soapless) household ammonia. Do not use ammonia with
the soap in it. You can substitute 34-0-0 fertilizer for the
saltpeter. Epsom salts provides the magnesium and is good for
evergreens and lawns too.

In article , says...
The tea for a weekly tonic for anemic ferns ...

We've usually got tea left over as well. But no ferns in the house.
Have you. or anyone who reads this, tried it on other plants?

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

In article , Larry Blanchard
wrote:

In article , says...
The tea for a weekly tonic for anemic ferns ...

We've usually got tea left over as well. But no ferns in the house.
Have you. or anyone who reads this, tried it on other plants?

I occasionally give tea to the several orchid cacti but since those thrive
no matter what I do to them it's hard to know if the tea means diddly. I
can't grow ferns in the house because even if I remembered to water often
enough the humidity in our place is too low.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com


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I know much about nothing.

So with that caveat, the ammonia comments made me wonder.

From, Secrets of Companion Planting (1975):
"The steps in the nitrogen cycle can be traced in the growth and
use of clover:
(1) Atmospheric nitrogen is changed into proteins by the action
of nitrogen fixing bacteria growing in nodules on the clover
roots.
(2) After plowing under, the clover proteins become changed
into ammonia by ammoninfying bacteria.
(3) Ammonia is then changed into nitrates by nitrifying bacteria.
(4) Both ammonia and nitrates are used by other plants to form
plant proteins."

There is another page in the book that indicates that stinging
nettle is good and helps other plants and that the stems of
stinging nettle contain ammonia and carbon which is useful.
Specifically it mentions stinging nettle is great for tomatoes
and mint. And more specifically it's good to use against slugs,
snails and lice during wet seasons. I was reading another
thread indicating that someone had some problems with a
wet season, I'll have to go and find the thread.

"Nettle ... slows fermentation, keeps fruit mold free and thus
enables it to keep better. Fruit packed in nettle hay ripen
more quickly. Stinging nettle is helpful to stimulate fermenta-
tion in compost or manure piles, according to British author
M.E. Bruce, who advises making a curshed nettle solution."

It also mentions nettle plants well with spinach, lettuce and
horseradish. It improves the health or horses and cattle.
Powdered nettle helps hens lay more eggs.

It mentions a caveat about having to wear gloves because
the fine hair on the nettle leaves and stems contain formic
acid. The juice of the plant is used to releave nettle rash.

Thanks for the great stuff! All the stuff I've posted I have
no personal knowledge of and it is being relayed as related
by the book mentioned. I thought it worked well in with
the comments about ammonia. Remember to keep chlorine
and ammonia separate... DO NOT MIX those two things.
Very poisonous gas is created. I don't know the specifics.
So be careful with Clorox or any chlorinated product in
combination with ammonia.

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to newsgroup.

"madgardener" wrote:
: "clc" wrote:
: So, Marilyn, just curious... what in the world ever made you
: try these to begin with? And, how did you get *brave* enough
: to try these??? Cheryl

I can't lie about these things Cheryl.. I came across this really
old book. It was actually moldy and in the shed behind my house
in a box of Joyces stuff. It was household tips and such. I started
peeling the pages apart and was reading some of the things
written in it, and there were these neat tips on assorted things.
The parts concerning gardening were intriquing to me, so I easily
ripped out the pages that were already coming out of the book (it
was a really old book, over 70/80 years old, but totally shot due
to the molds working on the stitching, the inks and such. There
were whole sections on sewing tips that were glued together.
But gardening tips were too tempting. So I decided to try them.
Apparently these are tried and true household tips that women
had used in times of desperation when there was no such thing
as a garden center, Lowes, Home Depot or whatever. There
were dime stores and general stores, but from the sounds of the
tips, these were things that women tried because things were too
dear to just let die or throw away.

These were the times when a woman darned a sock because
there was a hole, not go to the store and buy another pair.

I was curious about the castor oil.
The smell was like a memory slap in the face. But the hint said
a few drops added to the soil, and I thought, what the heck.
I'd love to know what the chemical (that is harsh and expurgative
to us) is that gives nutrients to the plants.

My mom always saved the boiled egg water and used it for
her georgous African violets.

The tea for a weekly tonic for anemic ferns was easier. I drink
about a half gallon of tea or more a day. I knew about using
tea to wipe furniture down (unsweetened). They (the ferns)
seem to be happier about it. Whether it's the tea or just the
extra watering is still debatable.

The ammonia is yet to be done, but after sharing that tip with
another garden friend, she tried it and said it was incredible.
So Dollar store here I come to get a bottle of ammonia to use
just for the plants.

How about this one? A teaspoon of household detergent to
one quart of water will revive wilting cut flowers. It's either
the potassium in the detergents or that the weakened solution
of soap that removes the scum on the bottoms of the stems.

Short stemmed flowers stay fresher longer if placed in a bowl
of well watered sand.

Or rose bushes will reward you with good, clear blooms if you
dose each bush periodically with one ounce of Epsom salts
before watering.

Or relocating wasps if you place a few moth balls in an open
container near their nests. And stamp a few moth balls into the
ground around flower beds and vegetable beds and dogs will
give them a wide berth... and moth balls sprinkled near tomato
plants and other fruits will keep the squirrels and rabbits away.

Place coffee grounds in the runs of moles to eleviate them
from the area. Green sage or black pepper placed in the haunts
of ants and that will drive them away (I tried this on the ****
ants and damn if it didn't work)

A teaspoon of sugar, yes, SUGAR added to soapy lather will
remove gardening stains from your hands.

and the best one yet... an extendable curtain rod being a perfect
support for all plants. As the plant grows, lengthen the rod.g
while this sounds like it might not be too good for the thiner
rods, I was thinking though... there are extendable rods for
shower curtains and livingroom curtains that are larger, and
dang, that might just work!

I love gardening tips. That's just one of the reasons I enjoy
Horticulture magazine and Fine Gardening. Their 100th issue
had the best tips of the last 100 issues and it was awesome.

madgardener

"'"Remember to keep chlorine
and ammonia separate... DO NOT MIX those two things.
Very poisonous gas is created. I don't know the specifics.
So be careful with Clorox or any chlorinated product in
combination with ammonia'""

THE MIXTURE CAN CAUSE A POISONOUS GAS. An old friend of mine was found
early passed out crawling from her barhroom trying to get to a poe. She
was unhappy with the way her housekeeper had cleaned her bathroom and
decided to do it herself and thought if one cleaner would be good, two
would be twice as good. if her daughter hadn't found her, she would
probably have died unless she could get out of the bathroom to fresh
air.
leo/lee