Molasses Part 2
By Bruce Lee Deuley - 12/30/02

One of the most useful all-around products, most of us have, in our kitchen cupboards is Molasses.

Molasses serves as a great source of energy for your soil microbes, which in turn makes a healthy living Eco-system for everything we grow.

In addition to the energy provided by Molasses it also has a wide-range of trace minerals in every tablespoon full. These minerals are essential for proper growth of most plants and have been depleted in our soils be the use of synthetic fertilizers and because most of us fail to add organic matter back into our soil on a regular basis.

To correct this problem in your garden mix several inches of any good organic compost (homemade or store bought) into your garden soil and water it in thoroughly with a mix of 2 ounces of Molasses to a gallon of water.

After this began a good organic fertilizer program and the difference in your vegetables as well as any flowers and other plants will soon be apparent.

On your lawn, spread about a 1/2-inch of organic compost and water it in with the Molasses mix. Don't use too much compost at one time if your lawn is St Ausgustine because it does not like to be covered up and will yellow if sunlight can't get to the grass leaves. It is better to do several small applications of compost and Molasses than to try to overdo it on your lawn.

Horticultural Molasses are available from many good nurseries. Here in Kerrville it can be purchased at The Plant House on Jefferson street or at Lowe'. If large quantities are needed, horticultural Molasses are much more economical than using grocery store Molasses.

One other use of Molasses is to activate and speed up your compost pile. Here you can be a little more liberal and up to a cup of Molasses to a gallon of water will really kick your compost into high gear.

Molasses are also used in a number of other horticultural mixes for fire ant control as well as the control of many other gardening pests. These formulas are available @ www.htv10.com/nature or you can write me at bdeuley@yahoo.com for specific problems.

Next week: The New Year garden soil fix-up formulas