There are so many myths and old wives’ tales surrounding the garden industry, and we thought it might be interesting to dig a little deeper into some of them, and see what we can come up with.
Add Gin to Paperwhites to keep them short
The one that actually got us thinking about this article was to do with Paperwhite Narcissus. As anybody who has tried to grow these knows, they can get extremely tall if left to their own devices, and can in fact end up flopping over, making them pretty much useless.
It has been said, however, that giving them a shot of gin will stunt their growth, allowing for a more compact plant. Could this possibly be true?
The answer, it turns out, is a resounding yes! In fact, Cornell University did a research study on it to find out a definitive answer, and discovered that alcohol can reduce growth by about 1/3 to 1/2, and is most effective when used as a 4-6% solution.
The whole report can be found Here
You will need Adobe reader to view it.
Blood Meal repels critters
Next on the list is blood meal and critters! Huh? Ok, it’s been said spreading blood meal around your plants, while being a great fertilizer, will also deter animals such as rabbits, deer, and squirrels (we even talk about it in some of our articles, I should add).
So, is there any truth to this? Yes, it does work for the most part, though a determined animal is still, unfortunately going to be a determined animal! Here’s what’s been said about it though:
The easiest way to keep deer away is blood meal. A little pouch tied around plants that deer bother lasts all summer and more. My father always used this method.
Tear 5″ x 5″ pieces of old cotton fabric, place a heaping teaspoon of blood meal in the center of each square, gather the edges up and tie with an 8″ string. Hang them about 10′ apart around the garden.
The deer were stripping my roses, green beans, and crabapple. When I did this they stopped immediately
gardenweb forums
A commercially available product such as Plant Skidd, which contains blood meal, can be spread around the base of vegetable plants. It does not have an unpleasant smell to humans, but animals will steer clear of the scent of blood.
suite 101 – rabbit proofing a garden
Blood type ingredients repel by odor and taste. They are a good deer repellent for winter and spring months and tend to adhere to plants longer than other active ingredients. Blood Meal Deer Repellents can come in the form of powders or liquids. We have found blood meal based products to be as effective as egg based and better in winter months than many other active ingredients.
deerrepellants.com
Some things worth noting about this one though:
- As with any other fertilizer type product, blood meal should be used in moderation, as it can burn foliage if over-used.
- Though it will deter animals such as rabbits, deer, squirrels, etc. it is possible that cats and dogs may actually be attracted to the smell, and this should be kept in consideration.
- Heavy rains may wash out the product, making re-application necessary, keep an eye out for fresh animal activity, and re-apply if necessary
Use red plastic for better tomato production
Here’s another good one: red plastic helps tomatoes grow/yield better crops.
Well, again there is evidence that supports this theory. The reasoning behind this is that plants (especially blooming plants) respond to far-red light waves, and grow more when exposed to an increase in these. Detailed analysis can be found:
here and
here
Interestingly, one of the above studies actually favored blue plastic over red. So, we’ll let you decide for yourself on that one.
Hit your plant’s to make them bloom
How about beating up your plants, have you heard about this one? It’s been said that if a plant is refusing to bloom for you, and all other methods have been tried, giving it a light beating will “encourage” it to bloom.
Well, it’s pretty much out of the question to find scientific evidence that actually supports this tale, so if you are apt to only try what can be scientifically proven then the answer is that this is one of those myths that simply isn’t true………….
Not quite that cynical? Ok, read on…… While there is no scientific evidence, there is circumstantial evidence that this method really does make a difference, but we should point out that we would only advise trying this method as an absolute last resort, and would like it so very much if you don’t blame us if it doesn’t work!.
At the home of southwest Houston gardener (and hibiscus expert) Pat Merritt, Hurricane Ike whipped a 15-foot-high shrub bougainvillea viciously, so it was cut it back to about a foot from the ground. It’s now covered with new foliage and showing color.
Could it be, Merritt muses, proof of the old wives tale about beating nonblooming plants to make them flower and/or produce fruit? In reality, it works by forcing sap movement.
The Lazy Gardener
you must swear at the wisteria and beat it with newspapers. David claimed it worked for one year on his non-blooming wisteria
David Hobson – Garden Author
So there you have it, some not-so-hard evidence that the beatings will work. For this author, while I think it may well give the plants a little wake up call I certainly wouldn’t be recommending it as an every day practice, but only as an “emergency” method.
Singing to plants helps them grow
Let’s just start this one by saying, if you enjoy singing while tending to your plants, carry on regardless! No evidence one way or the other should stop the joy of music!. Now, let’s move on.
There was a book written on this subject in the mid 70′s called “The sound of music and plants” which seemed to support the theory, with one caveat – the music had to be easy-listening, anything much heavier than that actually stunted the plants’ growth!
Mythbusters, the popular TV show on Discovery channel, however, found the exact opposite to be true. They found that heavy metal played constantly produced the best growth rate!
The greenhouses with the recordings of speech grew better than the control, regardless of whether such talk was kind or angry. The plants in the greenhouse with the recording of classical music grew better, while the plants in the greenhouse with the recording of intense death metal grew best of all
Mythbusters results
The scientific reasoning behind all of this is that as we sing to our plants we release CO2, thus encouraging them to convert it to O2, which in turn produceas more growth. Great, but it doesn’t explain how the Mythbusters got them to grow using stereos!
So there you have it, some of our favorites. Look for more in a future article. Do you, dear reader, have a favorite garden myth? Let us know! Maybe we’ll include it next time around.