Houseplant, Oh houseplant, I love you so,
You’re my faithful companion,
During the winter snow.
While your needs are few, and your joy is great,
I’ll shower you with fertilizer,
before it’s too late.
Ok, I’m not a poet and I know it! But it’s January and house plants are all we have to play with right now, since the snow conditions are not that great. So shower them with your love and attention, they will reward you by gloriously brightening up any room in your house. They clean pollutants from the stagnant household air, and they give you something to talk to and to fawn over in your spare time.
Which brings me to the topic of this month’s garden tip: Timely Tonics for your Houseplants. I came across these “old fashioned” organic plant “tonics” that use some of the most unusual ingredients I have ever heard of. Some are funny, some are strange, some are scary kitchen chemistry so don’t blow up the house.
According to Jerry Baker, “America’s Master Gardner” in his book Backyard Problem Solver, (2002) there are hundreds of organic tonics that you can make out of every-day house hold ingredients. These are easy and cheap to make, no harsh chemicals that you can’t pronounce, and cost practically nothing since you probably already had them in your kitchen cabinet.
Here is just a small selection of tonics that I selected that you might like to try out on your houseplants this winter. If you have trouble with your plant after trying one of these tonics, see me at the June Plant Sale and I’ll take care of you.
General Foliage Plant Food
½ tbsp Ammonia
¼ tsp Instant Tea Granules
½ tbsp Bourbon
1 vitamin tablet + Iron
½ tbsp Hydrogen Peroxide
1 gallon warm water
Add 1 cup of mixture to 1 gallon of the water you use to water your plants.
(For flowering houseplants use VODKA instead of BURBON)
All-Purpose Bug and Thug Spray
3 tbsp Baking Soda
2 tbsp Vinegar
2 tbsp Murphy’s Oil Soap
2 gallons warm water
2 tbsp Canola Oil
Mix all ingredients together in a hand held sprayer and mist-spray plants until dripping wet.
Whitefly Wipeout Tonic
1 cup sour milk (let regular milk stand out for 2 days)
2 tbsp flour
1 quart warm water
Mix all ingredients and spray over any plants troubled by whiteflies. Repeat application after 1 week if needed.
Squirrel Beater Tonic
2 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tbsp Murphy’s Oil Soap
2 tbsp Hot Sauce
1 quart warm water
2 tbsp Chili Powder
Mix ingredients together in a hand held sprayer and spray the outdoor plants that squirrels like, also your spring bulbs before your plant them and spray your birdseed feeders. Remember birds are not affected by spicey hot stuff, but squirrels are.
Reminder: wear gloves when handling Cayenne Pepper and Chili Powder.
Wash your hands promptly. Do not touch your eyes or breath in any dust or spray.
Note: This tonic is not for houseplants as much as it is for chasing away all those pesky squirrels that eat your spring bulbs and muscle in at your bird feeders. I have purchased the “Sizzling Seeds” at WalMart but I think this works just as well at keeping squirrels off my feeders and it’s a lot cheaper.
That’s it for now, got to run, my Philodendron is lonely and needs to talk and I need to find the Murphy’s Oil Soap and Bourbon.
(February 2021 Horticultural Newsletter)
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