Bacteria are nature's cooks. They take raw materials (minerals) and eat them, converting the minerals into compounds which are easily assimilated by the plants. The bacteria eat first! We are in essence feeding the soil! Try to use a garden filter to filter out the chlorine in the city water. Chlorine kills bacteria.

BRIX INFO

For Bacterial Sprays use any of the following:

A Bacteriological activator. Provides enzymes. Helps bring the soil back to life. Use 1 cup per plant per month. Ok to use along with organic fertilizer but will need to use ¬ cup fertilizer less, as the Nitron will make more of the fertilizer available.

Provides many natural bacteria needed by the soil. See foliar spray chapter for more info.

Seaweed is full of trace mineral and bacteria. For more information see chapter on making your own SuperSeaweed.

Provides trace minerals, bacteria. A natural Biodynamic spray. Use 10 drops per gallon. For best results add 10 drops per gallon of filtered water one day before use and allow to sit. Superseaweed can be added to Nitron for even better results. For more information see chapter on Making your own Superseaweed. Available at IG of A. Making Your Own Superseaweed

One of the best bacterial sprays is made from compost tea. Place 1 cup of compost into a panty hose and tie into a ball. Suspend in a glass gallon container filled with filtered water. Allow to sit in sun for 24 hours. Spray in evening. A good program is to add 1 cup Nitron, 1 cup Agri-Gro, 10 drops Superseaweed into gallon of compost tea. Allow to sit in sun for 24 hours, then spray on roses. See Compost Tea page for more info.

An excellent bacterial spray, milk is also a good source of calcium. Milk provides a natural bacteria that prevents and fights various diseases. Milk will kill off fungal diseases while allowing beneficial bacteria to grow. Fill a gallon sprayer to within 3 inches of the top with filtered water or solarized water. Solarized water can be made by filling a gallon glass container. (A good container is the water companies 5 gallon bottle.)1. Allow to sit in sun. Shake regularly to remove any chlorine, etc. One or two days will be long enough. Spray on leaves. You can add a liquid seaweed concentrate such as Superseaweed™ or Maxi Crop™ to increase effectiveness.

Fish emulsion makes a great bacterial spray. Try deodorized fish emulsion for less smell. Avoid fish emulsion which has urea in it.

The biodynamic farmers knew the benefits of spraying with Alfalfa tea in early spring. Alfalfa is very high in nitrogen(10%), very high in many trace minerals, high in iron and especially high in natural bacteria. To make Alfalfa tea add 5 cups Alfalfa meal into a 5 gallon container of filtered water. Allow to sit for one day. Then add « cup fish emulsion, 1 cup Nitron A35, 20 drops Superseaweed and 1 cup rock dust. Stir well and allow to sit in sun for another day. Should start to smell just right. Add 1 cup of this liquid to gallon of water. Can be poured around base of roses or sprayed on leaves. If spraying, filter before pouring into sprayer.

Animal Manures provide many different types of bacteria needed by the soil. Choose from different types of animal manures. Horse, cattle, sheep, llama, rabbit, are some to name a few. Do not use your dog or cat manure. Do not use any carnivorous animals as their manure could contain harmful parasites. Take a drive out into the country and discover for yourself what resources are available for you in that area. Chicken farms, (egg farms), rabbit farms, dairies, horse farms, etc. all make good sources of these materials. Talk with them and see what they want for it. Sometimes they'll give it to you free! Ask them if they spray any chemicals on the manure. Avoid using any manure that has been recently sprayed. Allow at least 6 months before using. Composting will remove most chemicals.

Other sources of essential bacteria: Blood meal, liquid Seaweed, Fish emulsion, (Nitron A35, AgriGro, Shure Crop, Superseaweed, Willard Water, to name a few commercially produced), milk, molasses, aged tree bark, Alfalfa meal, herbs. Learn The Bio-Dynamic system. This will help you to increase your basic understanding of how Mother Nature has put everything together and how it works and best of all, how to utilize it to your benefit.

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1    Please note: There are many different products on the markets which can be used in place of the above. We however can only recommend those products which we have used and tested in our organic testing gardens. If you have a product's that you think we should know about, please email me.

yours

Andy Lopez
The Invisible Gardener

This page was last update on: Sunday, March 10, 2013 copyright all rights reserved