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Liquid compost as a foliant spray (innoculant)
I recently had an interesting experience with liquid compost and am
wondering if anyone has an explaination for it. On 2 occasions this autumn some roses in the garden were infested with aphids and thrips (and maybe mites) and what I think is black spot. On both occasions I sprayed the top and bottom of the leaves with a general liquid compost (a combination of organic material including seaweed but nothing made to a specific recipe). Within 1-2 weeks most of the aphids and thrips were dead or had migrated and the black spot seemed to be less prolific. I thus deduced either: a. there was some good biological activity being transferred to the roses which knocked out the pests b. I drowned the bugs with enough liquid and the black spot somehow solved itself or didn't in fact recede c. the smell of the compost (rank) was enough to drive off the pests Liquid composts are reputed to be beneficial to plants however I am not sure whether I am a beneficiary of this or some other plausible explaination. rob |
#2
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Perhaps it was a bit acidic and poisoned the pests, plus if it contained any sulphur this would help to clear the 'black spot' |
#3
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Liquid compost as a foliant spray (innoculant)
"George.com" wrote in message
... I recently had an interesting experience with liquid compost and am wondering if anyone has an explaination for it. On 2 occasions this autumn some roses in the garden were infested with aphids and thrips (and maybe mites) and what I think is black spot. On both occasions I sprayed the top and bottom of the leaves with a general liquid compost (a combination of organic material including seaweed but nothing made to a specific recipe). Within 1-2 weeks most of the aphids and thrips were dead or had migrated and the black spot seemed to be less prolific. I thus deduced either: a. there was some good biological activity being transferred to the roses which knocked out the pests b. I drowned the bugs with enough liquid and the black spot somehow solved itself or didn't in fact recede c. the smell of the compost (rank) was enough to drive off the pests Liquid composts are reputed to be beneficial to plants however I am not sure whether I am a beneficiary of this or some other plausible explaination. It's quite common to be alarmed by large populations of aphids in spring. At that point one of 2 things happen. (1) You wait a few days and natural predators take the aphids. (2) You spray and a few days later the aphids are gone or much reduced. You breath a sigh of relief and say "wow, that spray was good stuff". As for the 'black spot', some nutrient deficiencies on roses particularly Potassium can look a bit like black spot, so I'm guessing your brew at least partially corrected that. -- Rod My real address is rodtheweedygardeneratmyweedyisp Just remove the weedy bits and transplant the appropriate symbol at. |
#4
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Liquid compost as a foliant spray (innoculant)
In article , "Rod Craddock" writes: | | As for the 'black spot', some nutrient deficiencies on roses | particularly Potassium can look a bit like black spot, so I'm guessing | your brew at least partially corrected that. It could also work similarly to milk. My guess is that the nutrients in milk (and perhaps liquid compost) encourage bacteria or other fungi, which then consume the black spot. But that is a wild hypothesis :-) Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#5
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Liquid compost as a foliant spray (innoculant)
"Scotia" wrote in message ... George.com Wrote: a general liquid compost (a combination of organic material including seaweed but nothing made to a specific recipe). Liquid composts are reputed to be beneficial to plants however I am not sure whether I am a beneficiary of this or some other plausible explaination. rob Was it a home made brew? Perhaps it was a bit acidic and poisoned the pests, plus if it contained any sulphur this would help to clear the 'black spot' maybe, it is a backyard liquid compost with the organic matter perpetually rotting in the water rather than finished compost soaked in to some water for a period of time. I have not bothered checking the acidity or mineral content. It does have quite a bit of sea weed in it but that should be nutrient balanced and not too salty. rob |
#6
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Liquid compost as a foliant spray (innoculant)
"Rod Craddock" wrote in message ... "George.com" wrote in message ... I recently had an interesting experience with liquid compost and am wondering if anyone has an explaination for it. On 2 occasions this autumn some roses in the garden were infested with aphids and thrips (and maybe mites) and what I think is black spot. On both occasions I sprayed the top and bottom of the leaves with a general liquid compost (a combination of organic material including seaweed but nothing made to a specific recipe). Within 1-2 weeks most of the aphids and thrips were dead or had migrated and the black spot seemed to be less prolific. I thus deduced either: a. there was some good biological activity being transferred to the roses which knocked out the pests b. I drowned the bugs with enough liquid and the black spot somehow solved itself or didn't in fact recede c. the smell of the compost (rank) was enough to drive off the pests Liquid composts are reputed to be beneficial to plants however I am not sure whether I am a beneficiary of this or some other plausible explaination. It's quite common to be alarmed by large populations of aphids in spring. At that point one of 2 things happen. (1) You wait a few days and natural predators take the aphids. (2) You spray and a few days later the aphids are gone or much reduced. You breath a sigh of relief and say "wow, that spray was good stuff". As for the 'black spot', some nutrient deficiencies on roses particularly Potassium can look a bit like black spot, so I'm guessing your brew at least partially corrected that. I prefer to think the latter that it killed them Rod as I have not seen any sign of predators (it is autumn here). The smell was bad enough to kill the *******s anyhow. Yes, it may not have been black spot. It looked like black spot so it was black spot for me however I know nowt about roses so to an expert it may be lack of P. rob |
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