stupid spraying question

Look I know I am supposed to know this but I don't - ok there.

There seems to be a lot of different substances one is supposed to spray the garden with every 7-14 days. Lets see.......foliar kelp, growth enhancers, compost tea, sulphur, neem, soap etc etc etc

Well I work full time and need to make this doable. Can I mix them? Won't they interfere with each other? for instance won't the soap wash the other stuff off?

Thanks for any advice

I do a mixture of kelp and fish emulsion if I have time--they never hurt anything but I never spray anything else (insecticides) unless I need it. And I never need anything but occasionally some soap spray on the aphids on my dalillies in the spring. Occasionally I use Bt on the cabbage loppers in the fall but haven't needed it for a couple of years. I have a real "mixed" landscape (perennials, annuals, shrubs, trees, and vegetables growing all mixed in together), deep mulch, and really good dirt from sheet composting mulch for years. The point of organically growing stuff, in my opinion, is to use insecticides only when you notice a problem.

I work 50-60 hours a week too. 99% of my time is spent mulching and weeding by hand. A deep mixed mulching material helps alot with that.

I also do only kelp/fish emulsion, and I get to it about every 3 weeks. Basically I rely on the compost and organic "lightening" material (chopped leaves & straw) I add in the fall, as well as a bucket of greensand and trace minerals I sort of scatter here and there. I only use insecticide (neem, hot pepper, dusting diatomaceous earth,

Having said that, I had a horrible time with cucumber beetles (and the bacterial wilt they brought) I didn't manage, squash vine borer, and mid to late-season Septoria Leaf Spot on my tomatoes. Still working on how I'm going to combat those organically.

So I guess I'm not a good model. :)

I think the bizarre weather this year has the bugs acting bizarre too Zeppy. We've had no winter here and I noticed today that my shrub which is always last to bud out and has always froze back is budded out. I'm sure you are going to hear from me that I've had to resort to insect killers this year. I always have to use diatomaceous Earth on the fireants down here but I do it so frequently I forget I'm doing it. I swear fireants are the very spawn of the devil and I feel very few things are inheretly evil. lol

Thanks for your comments - I was just reading gardens alive and they have a bioinsecticide (fermented bacteria - yum) that claims it takes care of the hated vine root borer but Of Course you have to spray it weekly - would you combine that with the kelp? Or would you spray twice a week with different stuff. Would not the kelp/emulsion mixture was off the biological control?

aw come on - somebody has got to have a spraying schedule!

Roxroe, hey. I'd ask Gardens Alive about combining the borer control and the fertilizer (in fact, I think I'll ask them myself. ANYTHING to help with that borer).

I remember something about a spraying schedule buried deep in another thread and for the life of me can't remember. But I think every three weeks for the fertilizer is okay, and I only do the neem/soap as needed.

well I did and the answer was again vague. So I emailed Mike McGrath (former editor of organic gardening magazine and radio talk show host). He said I was thinking too much. Here is what to do. Once a week get up at dawn and spray the compost tea/kelp etc. Wait two days. In that time one of two things will happen - the mixture will be absorbed and dry off or it will rain. Then I can apply any pest control substances I need to - same time - dawn.

I appreciated his time and advice. Now off to order this stuff

Thanks for sharing it!

Now to rig up a compost tea maker...

good idea from Mike!

i just go by my calendar, the Gardening by the Moon calendar. If it says to fertilize or prune, or whatever, that is what i *plan* to do. But i may not get it done LOL