It looks like one has to join the website before one can read the article. It the name "Busting Gardening Myths?"

Interesting article, thank you for posting.

I had no trouble accessing the article.

The author is in league with Dr Linda Chalker-Scott from Washington. She's made a name for herself by inventing myths and then debunking them based on science which she never really specifies. I have some pet myths that she has debunked which have worked as advertised for me over the past 18 years. Yet she calls them myths. Apparently she never tries these things out before debunking them.

The vinegar, salt, and soap one appeared recently on a YouTube site with tons of followers, so it has a lot of attention right now. The author says, "That concoction might temporarily burn the top growth of weeds, but it can kill earthworms, ruin soil structure, damage lawns and concrete, and burn eyes, all while not killing the weed roots anyway." What he did not mention was that the vinegar is not grocery store vinegar. The vinegar that really works best is 6x stronger acidity than household vinegar. Besides being dangerous to use, it is much more effective especially when used on clear sunny days. When used as a mist on plants, it kills the topgrowth almost instantly. Repeat applications can kill the roots. Really you don't need the salt in the mix.

As for buried wood chips, if you have a hole and fill it with wood chips, cover that with topsoil, then try to grow a lawn over it, you'll have a yellow spot for 10 years or more right over that hole. There is no amount of fertilizer that will give you even greening. That may be a myth to the mythbusters, but the experiential evidence of Internet lawn forum members seems point to it being a practical reality.

Coffee grounds are organic fertilizer. Don't waste them in compost. They are as good a straight corn meal for a fertilizer. They are less good than alfalfa meal/pellets or soybean meal, but they are still useful when used directly at a rate of 2 pounds per 100 square feet. Use a cup monthly under roses or other ornamentals. You can try to dry them to make them easier to use, but they always retain moisture from the air. Further they grow a (beneficial) fungus that causes them to be clumpy in storage. Don't mind that. Break the clumps up when applying. Use gloves to handle unless you like coffee stained hands.

Bleach will not do your tools any good, but is this really a myth? Who does that??? Best way to get rid of disease in tools is to stick them into a compost pile for a day and let Nature take Her course.

Baking soda cures disease? This is a thing??? It might be a misinterpretation of several online discussions. Baking soda is a universal fungicide, but it can make a mess of plants. I have used it successfully to kill crabgrass in St Augustine lawns, but I would not use it anywhere else.

Use liquid dish soaps to kill insects. Author says no because they contain degreasers. Degreasers is exactly what kills insects. The problem with that is the degreaser is so diluted by the time it gets into soap and further diluted after diluting with water to apply that there's nothing left to kill the insects. If you want a degreaser that will kill insects almost on contact, try Super Clean, the automotive degreaser in the purple bottle. Roaches last 30 seconds. Ants die in 5 seconds. Spiders seem to last the longest at about a minute. Any purple bottle cleaner will work as will 409 (diluted but still works).

How to get good information? If you are going to go to a university website for information, make sure it is a LOCAL university. Every one of them publishes local information only. If you live in Florida, don't go to a New York website for gardening information. Or use the GardenWeb Houzz forums to ask questions.

There is a pop-up that must be closed or declined, and after a number of views, it asked to be whitelisted, but there is't any registration requirement that I can see.

I've seen people recommend &/or report using those debunked methods on Gardenweb , and I've read them in magazine and online articles as well.

I thought what he suggested to do instead was pretty good, common sense advice - like look for disease resistant plants and space them for better air flow.

And he did say wood chips are only a problem when in the soil, not on it.

And this:

"...Barrett trained Extension Master Gardeners on the latest gardening myths and maybes at this summer’s International Master Gardener Conference in Valley Forge...."

FWIW, many people come to FL from other parts of the country, and do not always realize how different gardening here can be, and yes extension services do vary by state.

I do not understand someone being in league with anybody, or that the methods described were made up by the same person debunking them...?