There has been a rise in the number of gardeners shifting to organic fertilizers to feed their plants.
Among these natural fertilizers, molasses is a great plant fertilizer that helps grow healthy plants.
Besides being rich in micronutrients for your plants, organic molasses is also a great way to keep pests away.
Produced during the manufacture of sugar, molasses is a by-product that is left after most of the sugar is extracted from sugar cane or sugar beets.
Although it is just a by-product of sugarcane, molasses is a sweet liquid that is used as a natural remedy for many ailments, added to animal feed, and used as a sweetener in baked goods.
Since molasses is full of minerals and vitamins, it is used as an effective liquid fertilizer.
Why Should You Use Molasses For Plant Growth?
This is an important question that might be in your mind.
In organic gardening, it is crucial to have microbes in your soil.
Feeding these beneficial microbes will make them healthier and make them grow faster.
The sugar content in dry molasses will increase microbial activity, which, in turn, increases the availability of micronutrients to the plants.
The use of molasses in organic gardening is a common practice.
Blackstrap molasses – which is created from the boiling of sugar in the refinement process – is high in iron, potassium, calcium, and magnesium and encourages the growth of beneficial microorganisms.
Molasses is easily added to scores of organic liquid fertilizers such as kelp, alfalfa meal tea, and compost tea to give plants the necessary carbohydrates.
Based on their extraction, the two types of molasses are as follows: first molasses, which is an intermediate by-product and results from first sugar crystal extraction.
The first molasses contains 80% to 85% DM.
It spontaneously crystallizes, so when it is stored, it is inverted to prevent crystallization.
The second molasses contains the same amount of DM but less sugar.
Unlike first molasses, second molasses doesn’t crystallize spontaneously.
Molasses Uses For Plants
There are many benefits of using molasses. Molasses is recommended for the speedy growth of a variety of plants, like tomato plants.
Make sure you are using Unsulfured blackstrap molasses with sulfur dioxide added.
Unsulfured blackstrap molasses is the grade of molasses typically used by gardeners and farmers.
The Unsulfured part is important because sulfur is generally used as a preservative that kills microbes.
It also provides the necessary trace minerals and carbohydrates for plants to be healthy.
And since in organic gardening, you encourage microbes. You should feed the plants blackstrap unsulfured molasses.
- During the growing season, mix molasses with milk, another component effective for protecting plants against diseases such as powdery mildew. Many include molasses in compost tea recipes.
- Use a hand sprayer to feed the plant milk and molasses mixture.
- Add molasses to your compost pile to help build up the mineral nutrients and future soil.
How To Fertilize the Plants Using Molasses
To yield the maximum benefits of molasses, you should learn some gardening tips to know how to use it more effectively.
- For every 1,000 square feet, use 1/2 cup liquid molasses.
- Dissolve the molasses in some warm water to ensure the molasses does not block the sprayer.
- When applying to individual plants, mix two tablespoons of molasses per gallon of water.
- Drip the mixture into the compost pile or your garden soil drench to ensure healthy plant growth in your garden.
Benefits of Molasses
There are plenty of benefits of molasses.
From ensuring the speedy growth of your healthier plants to keeping the pests away, molasses is used as both a nutrient and insecticide.
When using it as pest control, mix 1.3 ml of molasses in one liter of warm water and make an effective natural insecticide spray for plants. It’s also useful for foliar sprays.
Molasses plant fertilizer is a non-toxic and cost-effective fertilizer that can help reduce pests in your garden and keep your plants healthy.