Why would I spray pharmaceuticals I wouldn't use in my body and detergent that I wouldn't use on my dishes on plants I will eventually eat?

What diseases are you hoping to prevent?

Improve your soil by using real organic methods described in the FAQs of this forum and diseases will be minimal and yields increased and more healthful.

Cheers,
Kyle

Steep willow bark in hot water and use natural soap as the surfactant. Same experiment essentially. Probably needs the inner bark.

I am laughing. Do some OG's still use oxen and look down on those with a gas tiller?

Were the failures because those people used the more common synthetic Aspirin? Did eveyone trying this use the same product? Are the people that may be trying this going to use the same product this time? Are the people trying this going to use real Aspirin instead of the synthetic Aspirin.

real aspirin is synthetic. willow bark is a different compound, aspirin is a synthetic derivative of willow bark which causes less stomach upset and is more uniform for dosage than a bark tea. If I remember right aspirin was supposed to help make plants less succeptable to disease. I don't remember what the final results were but it was definately being tried by organic gardeners.

Nandina,

Have you changed the aspirin/water ratio? Didn't it use to be one 81 mg tablet per gallon? I've been using that amount, without much to show for it yet.

Ellen

Ellen, yes, I have changed the ratio, am now using what I wrote above...one chewable baby aspirin to a quart of water. Before giving up on the original aspirin idea of several years ago, which I found not effective, I decided to experiment with a stronger formula. My test plants are thriving! Very strong, no disease problems and setting record crops. This is the first year I have grown basil which has not turn black here in the southern heat. I really want people to try this method as I am anxious to know how it works for others. Of course, it is best started when plants are young and repeated weekly. From the results that I am seeing I can overlook the fact that this is not 100% organic but feel it is very safe compared to many other organic practices that I consider dangerous either physically or environmentally.

Nandina,

Do you really think it is necessary to respray after rain (more than weekly)? With Messenger, which I've been using for the last year and a half, the manufacturer advises that as long as the spray has made contact with foliage for at least 20 minutes, it starts the plants' immune response, and it doesn't even matter if it gets completely washed off by rain. Also, it's only necessary to spray every two to three weeks. Have you ever tried spraying less frequently, and have you seen better results on a more frequent spraying schedule?

thanks,
Ellen

Ellen, you are the first to report any success using Messenger as a method to stimulate the immune systems of plants to ward off diseases. I comb forums looking for reports on this subject and the general consensus is that it does not work. If anyone is having success using it, please let us know with details.

Now, to your question. My goal this year was to increase the ratio of chewable baby aspirin to water, treat weekly and record observations. At this point I am confident that this new formula used weekly is safe for plants and stimulating good, disease resistant growth plus excellent fruit set.

Now I can move on to the next part of my experiment, using the same formula on fall tomatoes, fall and winter veggies, spraying every other week. I experiment in 'baby steps', taking my time, so cannot answer your direct question yet. A number of southern gardeners follow this Forum and I am hopeful some will try this idea on a few plants as they grow their fall/winter tomato crop.

Just a reminder that dissolving the aspirin in very hot water and buzzing mixture with a hand blender is an important part of this formula.