"Buzzed maters"...Use of beer in foliar sprays

[spudleafwillie]

I recently read several articles on the use of beer along with epsom salts , bone meal, and ammonia as a foilar spray for plants. It seems there are many micronutrients in the mixtures. Does anyone have any experience with solution recipes for doing this with tomatoes. Successes and failure info please
Thanks,
Spud

[moucheur]

I've heard of spraying beer on lawns because the yeast speeds the decomposition of thatch. I've heard of spraying it on compost to speed decomposition too. Haven't heard that it's an effective fertilizer, though.

[moucheur]

I re-read your question and see that you mentioned ammonia as well. I've heard that ammonia mixed with beer adds a shot of nitrogen. That may make sense for lawns, but with tomatoes, too much nitrogen boosts foliage and inhibits fruit setting. I've never tried it myself.

[SelfSufficient1]

I would like to know about the epsom salt and the bone meal.While I didn't try them in a foliar spray, year before last I added the bone meal to the soil. 13 heirloom varieties grew great but didn't produce many tomatoes. Last year I tried the epsom salt, total disaster nothing budded until late fall(we had a cooler year than usual too). I thinking this may have been other factors involved but this year, I'm not putting either one in my soil, lol.

[geol]

My chemistry is a little rusty, but epsom salt is magnesium sulphate (MgSO4), ammonia (NH4OH), bone meal, I beleive is high in calcium among other things, ...would probably give you sonething like a (10-0-0) fertilizer, high in some miconutrients. Like moucher said, sounds like a good lawn recipe.

[creister]

bone meal is a phosphourus source. don't waste good beer on the lawn. other fertilizers are available.

[geol]

I was wrong, looked on a bag of bone meal- 11% phosphate- my bad.

[Mischka]

beer = nectar for slugs

Slugs on tomatoes?



Some of these unorthodox "witches brew" concoctions can ruin your garden...at best, use one or two isolated plants as test subjects. :wink:

[paxpuella]

In my experience, beer = death for slugs, lol. When it rains a lot here, they seem to come out of nowhere and start climbing all over our house, **ick**. I've found if I keep a small bowl of beer out by the foundation, they will climb in that and drown. Cuts down slug activity for a while.

[Dunkel]

I drink the beer and use my Tomato Plant Fortifier on the maters. Hot day + Cold beer = Extra time in the garden! :wink:

[Risher]

I have heard of spraying a Shackley Product called "Basic H". Its said that it helps activate the fertlizer. Its used for household cleaning , soap , degreaser type stuff. But I never heard of spraying Beer.

[Mischka]

There are perilous risks involved with foliar spraying some of the concoctions floating about on the Internet.

With this in mind, there are also proven formulas that can benefit your tomato plants. I foliar feed religiously throughout the growing season.

What seems to be most overlooked are three basic things:

First, if you do not use a wetting agent, commonly referred to as a "sticker-spreader" in your home mixes, most of your spraying efforts will just run off the foliage and drip onto the ground, negating any benefit. You don't have to buy a commercial spreader-sticker; 1 teaspoon of any of the "natural" hand dishwashing liquids added to each gallon of spray mix works fine. DON'T use automatic dishwasher detergent or Murphy's Oil Soap...ever.

Second, you MUST spray the undersides of the leaves, where the stomata are. No ifs, ands or buts. Saturate them to the point of dripping. This isn't the time to be frugal with your spray mix.

Third, timing is key here. The stomata on the underside leaf epidermis are open between sunset and before sunrise to increase their rate of transpiration. Spraying during the day is a waste of time and will most certainly injure your plants, especially in direct sun. UV rays also penetrates cloud cover even if you can't "see" the sun.
Water droplets acting as tiny magnifying lenses to intensify the light = burned foliage.

The best time to spray? Dawn. Spraying in the dead of night means your plants will sit there soggy and take longer to dry....wet tomato plants give opportunity for disease to get a foothold.

If you can't get up early, dusk is second best. The time where there's still enough natural light to see your plants. They should have time to dry, long before the coolness of the night sets in, to avoid sitting there soggy all night. :wink:

[jenn_sc]

Mischka, what do you foliar feed with?

[Mischka]

I've used SeaCom PGR for the past several years. It was renamed SeaStart in 2002 but it's the same formula with vitamins added. ( I called the mfr.)

I've tried Neptunes' Harvest and other seaweed-based brands, but this one works best for me, by far.

Saltwater Farms link

I use a tablespoon per gallon ratio of Seventh Generation hand dishwashing liquid as my "sticker-spreader". I also spray my seedlings every week; beginning with their third week of growth.

Simple but effective results for me. I'll be sure to post pictures this season.