Most households have baking soda in the kitchen as an essential item for various uses. What you probably dint know is the fact how beneficia it is for the garden and plants. Here are a few powerful tricks, hacks and benefits of baking soda in your garden.
Baking Soda is pure sodium bicarbonate used mainly for cooking purpose. It should not be confused with either Baking powder or Washing soda.
Now let’s list out the baking soda hacks and benefits:
Encourage Flower Blooming:
To encourage flower blooming, prepare a solution by adding 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 litre of water. Mix it well and now spray this on your plants with buds or unopened flowers. This will not only encourage blooming but also takes care of any fungal spores on the plant.
Baking Soda Pesticide & Fungicide:
Pests and fungi often attack our plants and often destroy them completely. The solution (below) is good for all types of pests in your garden like the aphids, mealybugs, thrips, mites, whiteflies, worms, caterpillars, soil fungus, plant fungi like powdery mildew, black spot rose disease, leaf rust, leaf miners and many more.
Prepare the following solution:
Take 1 liter of water in a container or in a spray bottle. Add 2 teaspoons of baking soda into this.You can add 3 teaspoons if you feel the pest attack is too severe. Add 1 teaspoon of Neem oil to this. If you do not have neem oil, you can add any vegetable oil. But Neem Oil is the best to make it a universal pesticide. Now add some 10 drops of liquid soap into this. You can use dish washing liquid soap or even hand wash liquid or any organic liquid soap if you are 100% organic gardener. Mix it thoroughly and also always give it a good shake before spraying. Spray thoroughly over the infected areas.
Before you spray on your entire plant, please perform a patch test on a leaf and leave it for 1 – 2 hours to see the potency. If the leaf wilts, you will need to dilute it further.
Cleaning Plant Foliage:
Removing the dust and dirt on the leaves encourages better photosynthesis and helps in better growth and health of your plants. To prepare this solution, add half a teaspoon of baking soda in 1 litre of water in a spray bottle and mix it well. Spray on the leaves and use a soft cloth to mop the leaves.
To Kill Cabbage Worms:
Take Baking soda + Any flour like wheat flour in 1:1 ratio and mix it well. Sprinkle this powder on the cabbage or broccoli leaves. The worms munch on this and die within 1 or 2 days.
To Eliminate Slugs and Snails:
There are two ways to use baking soda for this purpose. Firstly Sprinkle baking soda directly on slugs and snails to kill them; this might look cruel for some people though. The second method is to draw a boundary around the plant container to prevent slugs or snails from crawling over your plant.
Cleaning Your Garden Stuff:
Prepare a solution by mixing 2 teaspoons of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of liquid soap per liter of water to clean your garden tools, dirty pots and even garden furniture with this solution.
Keep Cut Flowers Fresh for a Longer Time:
Just add half a teaspoon of baking soda into the vase water. If your vase is larger, you can add 1 teaspoon.
Happy Gardening!
