Jerry baker gardening tips
If you haven’t seen Jerry Baker gardening tips or seen him on television or heard of him, he’s a master gardener that has a radio show which airs on 217 stations. He’s trademarked the phrase, “America’s Master Gardener” and is has been the spokesperson for Kmart for 27 years. Some of his formulas seem harmless enough but contain ingredients that are far more lethal than commercial pesticides. Most of the Jerry formulas are a combination of folk gardening with a mix of measurements in them. Jerry Baker gardening tips formulas require a lot of maintenance and constant spraying but some people swear by them. Others simply swear at him. If you’re a Jerry Baker fan, you know that there’s a lot of work to gardening with his methods. One of the base ingredients for many of his pesticides is a tobacco tea made by putting chewing tobacco in a nylon stocking. You put the nylon with the tobacco into a clean milk jug filled with almost boiling water and let it sit until the water turns brown. The problem with this concoction is that the nicotine extracted for use as a pesticide is almost as lethal as strychnine. If it’s used over an entire lawn, it kills insects indiscriminately. You have problems with it killing beneficial insects as well as putting toxins on the plants that children and pets may encounter. Local wildlife and pets also might consume the plants with the tobacco concoction. It simply doesn’t follow good organic practice. Many of the Jerry Baker formulas use the tobacco tea. Here are a few examples of those that do. Make a cutworm chaser. Use one cup of Murphy’s Soap, a cup of tobacco tea, 1 cup of Listerine or other antiseptic mouthwash and dilute it with warm water. A hopper repeller uses the tobacco tea and Murphy’s soap in equal amounts. Jerry Baker recommends you do a fall wash down on all your plants made with 1 cup of tobacco tea, ½ cup of baby shampoo, 6 teaspoons of fruit tree spray, 4 tablespoons of Listerine, and 2 teaspoons of witch hazel. This means that you flood your area with the toxic nicotine. The shrub pest preventer is also toxic. You spray the shrub with one cup of each, baby shampoo, antiseptic mouthwash, tobacco tea and chamomile tea. Sure, it kills pests but it also kills beneficial insects in the meantime. Jerry Baker’s stress reliever for lawns is by spreading toxins throughout the lawn, which may not be good for barefoot children and pets. He uses one cup of each, baby shampoo, antiseptic mouthwash and tobacco tea, then makes a weak tea with a used tea bag and dish soap and adds ¾ cup of this mixture as well as ¼ cup of ammonia. Many of the Jerry Baker formulas use table salt as one of the ingredients. While salt is a good herbicide, again it’s not selective. IT KILLS EVERYTHING and leaves the ground unusable for years to come. Be very cautious if you use this formulas. While he might be very popular because his folksy methods make you comfortable and relaxed, as if Grandpa’s giving the advice, they aren’t always scientific or safe. The true practitioner of the Jerry Baker gardening tips finds he’s always spraying and working in the garden. Far better practices are easier to use. Some of these are composting, the use of beneficial insects, good garden hygiene and companion planting. They don’t require a lifetime of dedication to carry out and they don’t cause harm to the environment or family. Return to Jerry gardening page from Jerry baker gardening tips |
