Perk Up Your Plants!

With the cold, wet spring behind us, the cooler soil temperature has delayed nutrient movement from the roots to the leaves of plants in many of our home gardens. There are multiple ways to help perk up your plants. We were joined by Master Gardener Rudi Hempe in the URI Vegetable Garden to give us some helpful hints.

Foliar Spray

Foliar Sprays are often used in times of critical periods such as slow growth periods, flowering, heat stress, or injured root systems. When deficiencies show in your plant, you can use this spray for a "quick boost". Application is done through the use of a pump spray in which you thoroughly wet all leaf and green stem tissue. The best time to foliar feed your plants is early morning or dusk, once a week. Often, this foliar feed is made of seaweed or fish food extract. If your plants are lacking certain nutrients you can buy more nutrient specific sprays such as copper, calcium and iron sulfate foliar sprays.

Benefits:
  • Acts as a biological catalyst which results in vegetative growth and more successful harvests
  • Helps in developing resistance to pests and disease
  • Increases photosynthetic activity through increasing chlorophyll production making the leaves greener and healthier
  • Aids in root development and soil absorption

Compost Teas

Steeping compost in water, aerating, and straining creates compost tea. It can be applied as a mist using a pump spray, used through irrigation systems or drip irrigation. The goal in creating a compost tea is to brew a tea rich in microorganisms that will be beneficial to your plants health and growth.

Benefits:
  • A tea highly oxygenated and aerated dramatically eliminates plant-disease causing bacteria, plant-toxic products and suppresses foliar diseases
  • By using compost tea you distribute good bacteria into the soil and leaves to consume bad bacteria, and compete for food and space.
  • Reduce need for fertilizer
  • Undo previous harm humans have done to the soil with chemical based fertilizers and pesticides

If you would like to know more about garden techniques come join us!

"Back to Basics"
Third Annual Open House
At the URI Master Gardener Demonstration Vegetable Garden
Saturday, August 9 2003
9am-12pm

9:15 a.m.....................Raised beds and Putting the Garden to Bed
9:30 a.m.....................Cooking demo: vegetable griddle cakes
10 a.m.........................All about Tomatoes
10:30 a.m...................Cooking demo: stuffed vegetables
11 a.m........................Making Compost
11:30 a.m...................Growing Vegetables in Containers
Noon...........................Cooking demo with Normand Leclair: chilled strawberry soup.
12:30 p.m. ..................Irrigation in the home garden
1 p.m. .........................Non-toxic pest control methods
1:30 p.m......................Harvesting and storing vegetables.

This open house is free and open to the public. The many workshops include drip irrigation techniques, free pH testing for those visitors that bring a garden sample with them, raising beds and cooking demonstrations.


The garden is located next to the URI Cooperative Extension Education Center which is on East Alumni Avenue, just off Upper College Road. The site is across the street from the Fine Arts Center.

For more information please call the URI Master Gardener's at 1-800-448-1011.

Plant Pro Tips written by Rosie Lalli, URI Coastal Fellow