Using milk as a fertilizer

I saw a money saving show on Monday night, and at the end a gardener said he uses watered-down milk to feed his house plants.. anyone else used this method before? Does it really work? Seems a bit strange to me.

Quick Google came up with this;
Empty milk jugs should be rinsed with tap water before recycling. Rather than pouring the rinse water down the drain, I use it as plant fertilizer on houseplants. The small amount of milk in the water has useful amounts of three main plant nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K).

:grouphug:

 

Why not?? Half the guys here go out and pee on everything! at least using milk won't get you arrested.........

 

kyleleonard, I'm not sure of milk's nutritional qualities, but since last year, I buy some unprocessed raw milk every week and I make cheese at home. I wondered what to do with the whey and reading here and there, found positive statements that dairy byproducts have been attested as reliable fungicides.

I used the rinse water from the bottles to pour on the roots and handspray on one of my lagerstroemia indica shrubs, which came with powdery mildew from the nursery and suffered minor relapses throughout the season. I used a chemical fungicide twice, so I cannot advertise the result 100%.

However, I used rinse water and almost all the whey for my rose cuttings, as some shadier parts of the garden were attacked by blackspot. I cleaned the bigger plants by hand, but for the cuttings, any fungal disease would have been fatal. I must admit that none of them was infected.

I don't spray the whey because I fear some smaller curds might block the nozzle of the sprayer.

Here is the first reference I found on Google:
http://www.appsnet.org/Publications/Darwin_Presentations/Thursday Presentations_Aud/Dale Godfrey.pdf

I'm not sure I can understand all the graphs without a key or an explanation, but I have at least found a positive statement of both the preventive and curative effect of milk products.

I intend to continue using it this season, but I'll start early, and if the results are not that promising, there's always a range of chemicals to resort to (which I prefer to avoid).

Anyway, if you haven't tried it, have a go and share your experience. I'll be interested.

 

I rinse out the bottles and use for watering - I think the mixture's far too weak to get smelly.

I've also heard about the mildew cure. I think the bad milk creates a slightly acid environment and mildew likes an alkaline environment, so that's how it works. Or is it the other way around? Could you use any acid, by that token, lemon juice, vinegar?

Anyway, was there any sign of it working, Angelina. It would be a lot cheaper than going to Homebase!

 

I have watered down whole milk which is on the turn and give it to my roses then water thoroughly with no side effects. I understand it is good as a fungicide also so it's good in my garden as I won't use chemicals.

 

Well, check out the pdf presentation I quoted. It's about viniculture and some vegetables.
As I also want to optimise my costs, I'll keep trying it (as I said). I will try to treat some plants exclusvely with the milk/water solution and see if it works. I'm ignorant of the chemical aspect of the process.

JWK, I don't grow plants indoors, but I would not treat a pot with it either.

 

I to also saw the programe upcycle

I will give it a try.

I remember my Granddad and my Mum also used cold tea on the roses and had fantastic roses in Aberdeen

 

Well, I've heard of using buttermilk to encourage moss growing "outside".

Never heard of using milk on inside plants. But, mine don't stay inside only the winter then out by Memorial Day. Would worry about the smell and drawing bugs.

 

I'm about as certain as you are that its the other way round. Milk is alkaline. I think its the calcium that does it.

I think its the same reason sodium bicarbonate is effective at removing mouldy stains from hard surfaces. Being alkaline (I believe) it reacts with anything acidic (such as the secretions from the fungi) and fizzes up, neutralising acid and blasting everything with gas (CO2 I think) effectively blasting it loose.

But I could be wrong.

Back to the original point though, I have heard from other sources that watered down milk is an effective fungicide for plants. However I'm a bit sceptical. If it was that effective, surely the old hands would all be using it.

 

I have also used cold tea (I don't use milk with tea but it really wouldn't matter and I don't use sugar) for years on my patio plants almost every morning. Cold coffee works wonders as well.

 

We have a plant in a pot in our office at work. Its been there since I put it there nearly a year ago, and so far, while we've all remembered to keep it watered, none of us has thus far remembered to feed it.

Also in our office we have a coffee machine, which usually ends up with some dregs in it that just get washed away at home time.

Maybe I should introduce the two.

 

I'd have thought that it would just go 'off' at some point?