Putting baking soda in your compost pile is never a good idea. Because it kills fungus, it will end up killing the beneficial fungicides in your compost pile, thus destroying the entire pile. What's more, it is also known for killing out earthworms.
Sprinkle baking soda on your soil with a flour sifter to keep ants, roaches and slugs away from your garden. (Be sure to avoid your plants!) It's a safe way to keep beneficial insects around and say sayonara to the ones you're tired of seeing.
Does Baking Soda Make Good Fertilizer? Nope, that's a myth. While sodium is a micronutrient needed by many plants, they only require small amounts. Therefore, adding baking soda to the soil will likely cause an excess of sodium and do more harm than good.
As a soil dust and repellant, baking soda is effective against ants, roaches, silverfish, slugs, and snails. Because it is applied only to the ground, when used this way, baking soda should not pose a threat to flying pollinators or other plant-dwelling beneficial insects, such as ladybugs.
Baking soda contains sodium and sodium is toxic to plants. So yes, if you dump enough sodium onto a plant, it will die. However, sodium is very soluble in water. So when it rains, the sodium is washed into the rest of the soil, where it might kill plants that are not weeds.
Simple organic activators you may have on hand are lime (limestone), blood meal (yes, it's dried blood), fish meal, and poultry, rabbit, and horse manure. Rabbit food (pellets) and dry dog food are also organic activators that are often have on-hand.
You can put your compost pile in the sun or in the shade, but putting it in the sun will hasten the composting process. Sun helps increase the temperature, so the bacteria and fungi work faster. This also means that your pile will dry out faster, especially in warm southern climates.
Citrus fruit, tomato products and pickled food products can do harm to your compost. High acidity can actually kill the good bacteria that helps break down the material in your compost pile.
Banana peels are a great ingredient for your compost or worm farm, adding lots of nutrients to the organic recycling process.
Baking soda makes an incredible weed killer especially when it is mixed with other kitchen staples, like vinegar or lemon juice. Just dissolve 1 ½ cup of baking soda and a tablespoon or two of vinegar in a gallon of water.
Baking soda also does not last as long as lime (similar to the ashes) but can produce results in just a few days. Baking soda is fairly gentle on both the soil and the plants, so you won't have to worry about harming your plants.
For the best result, you should mix a tablespoon of baking soda with a gallon of water. Use this ratio to determine what you will need to use for extensive gardens but always make sure that you mix everything thoroughly. You should then apply the mixture to your soil and till it in so that it mixes in well.
Temperatures rising in a hot-compost pile come from the activity of numerous organisms breaking down organic matter. To keep a pile running hot, pay attention to four elements: carbon, nitrogen, water, and air. A hot pile requires enough high-nitrogen materials to get the pile to heat up.
You may be surprised to learn that your compost pile needs just as much water as your live plants. Dry compost doesn't work. There are several ways to ensure your compost is getting the adequate amount of water needed to do its job.
Vinegar is a natural weed controller because of its acidic nature. It also deters pests and can work wonders in your garden. Apple cider vinegar also contains many valuable nutrients that can benefit the compost pile. Pickles can also generate vinegar, which is also compostable.
Many gardening and composting sites recommend adding urine onto compost heap to help speed things up. With cold composting this provides the bacteria with a source of food which can be digested quickly producing heat rapidly.
Baking soda diminishes the effects of fungal diseases on common ornamental and vegetable plants. Use the mixture on roses (for black spot fungus) and also on grapes and vines when the fruit first begins to appear.
Aside from the anecdotal evidence about human benefits, Epsom salt does seem to help plants. Generations of gardeners have said it helps their plants grow bushier, produce more flowers and have better color. It's also said to help seeds germinate and repel slugs and other garden pests.
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, a fine white powder that has many uses. You may wonder about bicarbonate of soda vs. baking soda, but they are simply alternate terms for the same ingredient. If your recipe calls for bicarbonate of soda, it is simply referring to baking soda.