----- Original Message -----
From: Virginia Salares
> I am starting to apply lime and fructose to improve the fertility of the
> soil which will eventually (I hope) make it unfavorable for the thistle to
> grow. (There is an old posting on lime and molasses for weed control in
> this forum)
Hi Virginia
That old post could have been mine - we have had good
success with liquid calcium and molasses sprayed post seeding pre emergence
as a weed deterrent - early control of the easier broadleaf weeds as good as
most herbicide jobs and costs about two (Aussie) dollars an acre.
However the liquid calcium was calcium nitrate fertiliser - not allowed in
certified organic - I would suggest calcium lignosulphonate as a next best
replacement - we use 2 litre /ha cal nitrate with 4litre /ha molasses in 50
litre/ha water - I doubt whether liquid lime would be active enough at these
rates but would enjoy being proved wrong - has anybody tried this??
This has proved a very worthwhile tactic for us so far, the
only condition is it needs to be done within 24 hours of seeding (soil
disturbance) to be effective. We have done our whole crop area this year.
Cheers all
Lloyd Charles
ps I owe this to Phil Wheeler's book "Non Toxic Farming"
