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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 5:18 pm 
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Location: Argyle, Texas
Hello. I'm sure this topic has been covered before, but I'm not finding it. I listen to Dr. Garrett's radio show whenever I can and that's where I heard about applying dry molasses to get the biological life started again. We just bought 300 lbs for a little less than an acre. My question is can I just use the spreader to put it out? I'm sure it would be best to break the ground up first, but will just spreading it do alright (lazy me :D )? Should we water it in?
Thanks for your time.
Julie


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 12, 2004 9:30 pm 
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Location: Lavon,Texas
Julie,
I would say the answer is yes. I mix my dried molasses with humate and cornmeal then put it in the spreader and spread it across the yard which is about 1.25 acres. If it is clumped up I just break the clumps apart so it will go through the spreader. I normally don't water. I try to depend on the rain. By the way, I just have a little walk behind spreader. Yes it takes me over an hour to spread the entire yard. By hey, I am getting some much needed good exercise.

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 Post subject: molasses
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 6:49 am 
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Location: Argyle, Texas
Thanks Greg. The reason I say I'm lazy about breaking up the ground first, is because it's like concrete. When we moved in 6 years ago we put sod around the house and left the "extremities" pasture-like, although we do mow it. We get this ground cover weed out there in late summer that has little white flowers on it. When it dies out it's black and looks like there was a fire. Dry and crispy too. Anyway, I'm ready to tackle this area. I'm just working on this front section for now. I was going to spread the molasses today, but I think I'll get some humus and cornmeal first. We'll aerate it soon too.
Thanks for your help,
Julie


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 6:46 pm 
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Julie,
Don't try to spread cornmeal by itself. It is dust and just will not work with a spreader. That is why I mix it with the other amendents. Kathe Kitchens informed me to combine them together. This was before I had bought my first bag of cornmeal. She sure was right and I thnk her for the great information.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 12:01 am 
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Location: Garland, Texas
Julie,

As Gar noted the cornmeal will be really dusty. What he didn't mention was the dry humate is really dusty. :) If you haven't applied any fertilizer, mixing the humate/dried molasses/fertilizer would work well together. I didn't see (or missed) where you had also purchased corn meal, but if you are going to use it as your fertilizer, throw it in the spreader (broadcast) as well.

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 Post subject: molasses
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 7:26 am 
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Location: Argyle, Texas
I live near Denton (TX) and with the weather so nice today and the rain expected for the rest of the week, I think I'll go ahead and spread the molasses by itself for now. I don't have humus or cornmeal yet. There's really no grass out there to fertilize, just weeds. I'm thinking that the molasses will help the dirt and then maybe do the cornmeal with some seed in the spring (?) Let me know if I'm way off on this. This is about $100 worth of molasses and I'd hate to mess it up.
Thanks so much!
Julie


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 Post subject: Re: molasses
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 3:51 pm 
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Location: Garland, Texas
Julie wrote:
...I think I'll go ahead and spread the molasses by itself for now...

Go Julie!

Julie wrote:
... There's really no grass out there to fertilize, just weeds. I'm thinking that the molasses will help the dirt ...
Julie wrote:

Helping the dirt, now your on the path. :) We residents of the Dirt Doctor forum are of the mind that you "fix" the dirt and the dirt will take care of the plants growing int it.

Julie wrote:
... Let me know if I'm way off on this. This is about $100 worth of molasses and I'd hate to mess it up.


Now how could you go wrong? :D

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 4:38 pm 
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I spread the black rock stuff last year, was dusty but not a problem. I was wondering if there was something else that had high humate levels that also gave other needed minerals/fertilizer. I didn't have much luck with the sticker control last year I'm hoping some day I'll have enough humate in the soil to stop them. What's wierd is the grass grows right with the stickers and looks great. But it's just a velcro patch of stickers...

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2004 8:41 pm 
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NewBoy,

Was last year your first year of attempting organic control of your sticker problem? If it is, perhaps another round might be in order. I will say that my suggestion is not derived from personal experience as I have not had a grass burr/sticker problem to deal with. This is solely based on HG's recommendations, and he has said that adding humate will resolve that problem.

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 Post subject: Thanks!
PostPosted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 9:12 am 
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Location: Argyle, Texas
Thank you Greg and Mr. Clean for the info and especially the encouragement :D The molasses is down and the rain is on it's way. I have two of Howard Garrett's books and I know the info is in them, but it sure is nice to talk about it with you all.
Julie


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 Post subject: one more thing....
PostPosted: Thu Jan 15, 2004 9:15 am 
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Location: Argyle, Texas
I did see to NOT put the cornmeal down at the same time as the seed. Julie


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 16, 2004 10:39 am 
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I think you're right about cornmeal and seed. Any corn products at all should be avoided when seeding. I'd go with alfalfa meal, soy meal, linseed meal, or cottonseed meal. One or more of those should be available. Even coffee grounds would work.

The most consistent way to soften the ground is with deep watering. Water for an hour at a time but don't water any more often than once a week in the hottest part of the year. This will soften soil almost no matter what else happens. The easiest way to soften the ground is with compost. Apply 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet on top of existing turf that you want to keep. You can apply as much as you can afford to bare ground or weeds you want to try to smother out.

If you have any dry molasses left over, use it. The left over stuff will turn into a brick that you cannot use, so you may as well put it out. Next time I think the liquid molasses is a better deal. First of all, you can get liquid at a farmers co-op for about a dollar per gallon and a gallon covers an acre. $100 worth of liquid molasses would come in two 55-gallon drums from a co-op. There's no comparison with the dry product. Dry molasses is made by pouring about 15 pounds of liquid molasses (gallon and a half) onto a waste product like rice hulls or chipped corn cobs.

I spread my fertilizer by hand but if you have larger area, you need something else. Whirly spreaders usually work but drop spreaders have to be modified with larger holes to make them work.

For somone with stickers, go to a garage sale and get an old plush blanket. Drag the blanket on the ground and it will pick up the stickers. Every sticker off the ground will not sprout in the future. Then you can either throw the blanket away, burn it, or try to pick the stickers out and recycle the blanket through the sticker seeds again. Then, of course, stick with the organic program to fertilize and the stickers 'should' go away.

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