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Jerry Baker
Just got a flyer via sail mail about a new book Jerry Baker is hawking,
"Terrific Garden Tonics". I'm sure many of these potions are in his "Impatient Gardener" text, but I never tried any of them. I was thinking about his lawn potion, 1 cup dish soap, 1 can of beer and fill the remainder of the quart hose end sprayer with ammonia. Can anybody see any harm this could possible do to a lawn? I'm willing to give it a go, (to supplement my 1/2 rate fertilizer program), but not at the expense of damaging my lawn. In general what is the opinion of this guy? Is he well respected or what ? thxs |
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Jerry Baker is the spawn of Satan.
He is a fraud, a charlatan, a snake oil salesman. Don't do it. His so-called tonics are not only goofy, they can be toxic to your plants or you. "Sir Topham Hat" wrote in message ... Just got a flyer via sail mail about a new book Jerry Baker is hawking, "Terrific Garden Tonics". I'm sure many of these potions are in his "Impatient Gardener" text, but I never tried any of them. I was thinking about his lawn potion, 1 cup dish soap, 1 can of beer and fill the remainder of the quart hose end sprayer with ammonia. Can anybody see any harm this could possible do to a lawn? I'm willing to give it a go, (to supplement my 1/2 rate fertilizer program), but not at the expense of damaging my lawn. In general what is the opinion of this guy? Is he well respected or what ? thxs |
Cereus-validus..... wrote:
Jerry Baker is the spawn of Satan. He is a fraud, a charlatan, a snake oil salesman. Don't do it. His so-called tonics are not only goofy, they can be toxic to your plants or you. But mostly, they are goofy. Best regards, Bob |
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escape wrote:
On Tue, 10 May 2005 21:43:56 -0400, Sir Topham Hat opined: Just got a flyer via sail mail about a new book Jerry Baker is hawking, "Terrific Garden Tonics". I'm sure many of these potions are in his "Impatient Gardener" text, but I never tried any of them. I was thinking about his lawn potion, 1 cup dish soap, 1 can of beer and fill the remainder of the quart hose end sprayer with ammonia. Can anybody see any harm this could possible do to a lawn? I'm willing to give it a go, (to supplement my 1/2 rate fertilizer program), but not at the expense of damaging my lawn. In general what is the opinion of this guy? Is he well respected or what ? thxs Using ammonia on turf is ridiculous and is toxic to soil organisms which are the true purveyors of turf health. I would steer clear of any of his toxic concoctions. Not to get into an organic vs. chemical debate but household liquid ammonia is ammonia gas dissolved in water. Farmers have been doing this to add nitrogen to the soil for over fifty years that I'm aware of. Dave |
Jerry Baker is a fraud
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Sir Topham Hat wrote in
: Just got a flyer via sail mail about a new book Jerry Baker is hawking, "Terrific Garden Tonics". I'm sure many of these potions are in his "Impatient Gardener" text, but I never tried any of them. I was thinking about his lawn potion, 1 cup dish soap, 1 can of beer and fill the remainder of the quart hose end sprayer with ammonia. Can anybody see any harm this could possible do to a lawn? I'm willing to give it a go, (to supplement my 1/2 rate fertilizer program), but not at the expense of damaging my lawn. In general what is the opinion of this guy? Is he well respected or what ? thxs Haven't seen anything convincing either way. I looked at the dethatching tonic a while ago, and in "theory" it looked okay (however I neglected to consider the effect of chlorine/chloramines that are invaribly in municipal water supplies). What's the lawn potion supposed to do? Seems to be the same minus the cola. 1 cup of dish soap seems a bit much even if it's going 8(?) oz to 20 gal water. Plus you never know what kind of crap is going into dish soap these days. If you can't convince yourself, you probably shouldn't do it. Even if it doesn't have an immediate deleterious effect, make sure it doesn't come back to bite you or someone else down the line. |
"Sir Topham Hat" wrote In general what is the opinion of this guy? I don't know enough chemistry to comment on his concoctions, but when I saw him hitting his trees, I changed channels. I also notice that none of the presenters on shows like This Old House and Victory Garden pour beer on their lawns. |
I also notice that none of the presenters on shows like This Old House and
Victory Garden pour beer on their lawns. Wasting good beer is a sin. They probably do water the lawns with it indirectly, of course. That is, after ingesting it and when nature calls. If you know what I mean. They aren't going to show that on public TV. "Dave Gower" wrote in message ... "Sir Topham Hat" wrote In general what is the opinion of this guy? I don't know enough chemistry to comment on his concoctions, but when I saw him hitting his trees, I changed channels. I also notice that none of the presenters on shows like This Old House and Victory Garden pour beer on their lawns. |
escape wrote:
On Wed, 11 May 2005 05:46:28 -0700, Dave Morrison opined: Not to get into an organic vs. chemical debate but household liquid ammonia is ammonia gas dissolved in water. Farmers have been doing this to add nitrogen to the soil for over fifty years that I'm aware of. Dave Right, and they make the soil ammonia gas junkies. The soil is virtually dead and without adding that synthetic nitrogen, they can barely get anything to grow. This is not about organic vs. conventional, rather it's about soil health vs. soil death. And organic? If you grow crops you use up soil nutrients. Soil maintenance is a part of farming or gardening. Whether you do it with chemicals or compost you are going to have to amend the soil. If you don't get nitrogen into the soil someway sooner or later you are barely going to get anything to grow. I guess this makes your soil "compost junkies" :-) Dave |
Amazing how a thread about that garden quack Jerry Baker has turned into a
****ing contest about nitrogen. While it is true that chemically ammonia is a pure source of nitrogen, the use of concentrated pure ammonia or ammonium hydroxide can be toxic to plants. Better sources of nitrogen are those where it is chemically bonded to organic molecules such as urea that is found in urine and nitrate compounds produced by nitrogen fixing bacteria in much lower concentrations than pure ammonium hydroxide. The rest of you boys can just keep on ****ing away for your source of organic nitrogen. "escape" wrote in message ... On Thu, 12 May 2005 06:47:23 -0700, Dave Morrison opined: escape wrote: On Wed, 11 May 2005 05:46:28 -0700, Dave Morrison opined: Not to get into an organic vs. chemical debate but household liquid ammonia is ammonia gas dissolved in water. Farmers have been doing this to add nitrogen to the soil for over fifty years that I'm aware of. Dave Right, and they make the soil ammonia gas junkies. The soil is virtually dead and without adding that synthetic nitrogen, they can barely get anything to grow. This is not about organic vs. conventional, rather it's about soil health vs. soil death. And organic? If you grow crops you use up soil nutrients. Soil maintenance is a part of farming or gardening. Whether you do it with chemicals or compost you are going to have to amend the soil. If you don't get nitrogen into the soil someway sooner or later you are barely going to get anything to grow. I guess this makes your soil "compost junkies" :-) Dave Um, no. That would not be correct. Farmers, before Leibig came on the scene and took the staunch position that NPK are all plants need to survive, then invented synthetic nitrogen, there was manure and vegetative matter enriching soils. That is soil management. Soil management is not using synthetic nitrogen rendering the soil dead. Soils rich in micro and macro organisms supports itself in a far superior way than do soils doused with synthetic N. These biota create waste of their own, thus, add N to the soil by their mere existence. Hardly a junkie for this. Rather, it's quite natural. Forests are not fed. |
On Thu, 12 May 2005 09:56:26 GMT, "Cereus-validus....."
wrote: They probably do water the lawns with it indirectly, of course. That is, after ingesting it and when nature calls. Works great! Although the wife complains about the darker green spots! |
What you said was factual but not correct.
You should have said that household ammonia IS toxic to plants. "escape" wrote in message ... I never said ammonia was toxic to plants, I said it was toxic to soil biota. You can **** if you want to, what I said is factual, not contest. Actually, NO contest about it. Feh. On Thu, 12 May 2005 18:04:25 GMT, "Cereus-validus....." opined: Amazing how a thread about that garden quack Jerry Baker has turned into a ****ing contest about nitrogen. While it is true that chemically ammonia is a pure source of nitrogen, the use of concentrated pure ammonia or ammonium hydroxide can be toxic to plants. Better sources of nitrogen are those where it is chemically bonded to organic molecules such as urea that is found in urine and nitrate compounds produced by nitrogen fixing bacteria in much lower concentrations than pure ammonium hydroxide. The rest of you boys can just keep on ****ing away for your source of organic nitrogen. "escape" wrote in message . .. On Thu, 12 May 2005 06:47:23 -0700, Dave Morrison opined: escape wrote: On Wed, 11 May 2005 05:46:28 -0700, Dave Morrison opined: Not to get into an organic vs. chemical debate but household liquid ammonia is ammonia gas dissolved in water. Farmers have been doing this to add nitrogen to the soil for over fifty years that I'm aware of. Dave Right, and they make the soil ammonia gas junkies. The soil is virtually dead and without adding that synthetic nitrogen, they can barely get anything to grow. This is not about organic vs. conventional, rather it's about soil health vs. soil death. And organic? If you grow crops you use up soil nutrients. Soil maintenance is a part of farming or gardening. Whether you do it with chemicals or compost you are going to have to amend the soil. If you don't get nitrogen into the soil someway sooner or later you are barely going to get anything to grow. I guess this makes your soil "compost junkies" :-) Dave Um, no. That would not be correct. Farmers, before Leibig came on the scene and took the staunch position that NPK are all plants need to survive, then invented synthetic nitrogen, there was manure and vegetative matter enriching soils. That is soil management. Soil management is not using synthetic nitrogen rendering the soil dead. Soils rich in micro and macro organisms supports itself in a far superior way than do soils doused with synthetic N. These biota create waste of their own, thus, add N to the soil by their mere existence. Hardly a junkie for this. Rather, it's quite natural. Forests are not fed. |
The kindest thing I can say about Jerry Baker is that he's a crackpot -- and
awfully good at self-promotion. There is absolutely no proof that any of his concoctions work, which he will be the first to admit. Some years ago when he was in town for the annual home & garden show, some Extension Service Master Gardeners I know had an interesting conversation with him. It seems he stopped at their booth and asked what they thought about "this Jerry Baker guy," as if they didn't know who he was. They played along and said that he might claim to be America's master gardener, but they had solid info and he didn't. His reply was to the effect that "he sure is a good businessman, tho, isn't he?" True story, cross my heart and hope to die. In any event, isn't it interesting that while he hypes all the homemade remedies, the products sold under the Jerry Baker label are the same chemicals the rest of the industry sells??? Hmmm. Suzy O, Wis., Zone 5 "Sir Topham Hat" wrote in message ... Just got a flyer via sail mail about a new book Jerry Baker is hawking, "Terrific Garden Tonics". I'm sure many of these potions are in his "Impatient Gardener" text, but I never tried any of them. I was thinking about his lawn potion, 1 cup dish soap, 1 can of beer and fill the remainder of the quart hose end sprayer with ammonia. Can anybody see any harm this could possible do to a lawn? I'm willing to give it a go, (to supplement my 1/2 rate fertilizer program), but not at the expense of damaging my lawn. In general what is the opinion of this guy? Is he well respected or what ? thxs |
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