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Milk is one of those products that is not missing in any refrigerator or pantry. Almost everyone likes it with cocoa, coffee, tea or even alone, but milk has a lot to offer even beyond the animal kingdom, as it is an excellent ally in the care of your plants. If you want to know what its benefits are and how to use milk for plants of your garden, orchard or house, join us in this Green Ecologist article.
How to use milk for plants
Milk has a myriad of uses for growing plants, from the use of fungicide with milk, to its usefulness as natural fertilizer, through the treatment of other types of diseases and pests.
However, we know that milk is a valuable product, so don't worry: it is not necessarily that you buy milk expressly for use in your plants, because the good news is that expired milk, which is no longer suitable for consumption, is still equally useful for plants. In this way, you will be able to take advantage of that carton or bottle of milk whose expiration date has passed you and you will not have to waste it by throwing it away: an ecological alternative to put that valuable milk to use and, at the same time, bring health to your beloved vegetable companions. . In all these cases it is recommended keep milk cold, and for these uses it does not matter if it is whole or skimmed milk, as well as if it has lactose or not: they all work the same.
The most important thing is that you do not exceed the amounts of milk to use in any of the cases since in gardening, more is not always better. If you use too much milk, you could cause blockages or plugs in the systems of the plant, as well as a bad smell from an excess of degraded lactose. Ultimately, a very marked excess would reverse the benefits of the substance, being detrimental to the plant.
Milk as a fungicide
Milk is an excellent natural fungicide, thus being one of the best ecological remedies to treat a great diversity of fungi in your plants, keeping the cultivation strictly ecological and without the need to resort to artificial chemicals of any kind.
It is particularly effective against powdery mildew, one of the most common and harmful fungal diseases. Its spores are naturally almost everywhere, scattered by rain, wind and animals. Luckily, milk has been shown to be as effective a fungicide against it as synthetic chemicals and sulfur, so you can treat powdery mildew on your plants for very little money and naturally using milk.
To craft a homemade fungicide with milk follow these steps:
- Pour 10 parts of water to 1 part of milk into a sprayer.
- Spray your plants about every 2 weeks, paying attention to both the back and underside of the leaves, as well as the stems and fruit.
- At this concentration, milk fungicide is a good preventative method, whereas if your plants have already been infected, we recommend using a higher concentration of milk and spraying the plants daily for three days in a row.
It is also an excellent treatment against the fungus called Diplocarpon rosae, known for causing characteristic black spots on plants of the rose family. The lactoferrin contained in milk is a bactericide and fungicide of the first order in these cases, and a weekly spray of milk dissolved in a proportion of 1 part of milk for every 2 parts of water will be sufficient.
If your plants have problems with fungi, apart from using milk there are more options. Here we show you several homemade fungicides for plants.
Milk as a disinfectant for garden tools
Although the best option for disinfect pruning tools It is always alcohol or an equivalent preparation, you can find yourself in the situation of not having a disinfectant for your tools in a timely manner when you need it.
Pruning without disinfecting is very dangerous for your plants and can result in real disasters, so an alternative solution is to clean the tools you want to disinfect with milk. This has the ability to act as a disinfectant and, as we have already said, as a fungicide, so it will help you prevent the inadvertent spread of diseases when pruning or treating your plants.
Milk to clean plant leaves
If plants accumulate too much dust and dirt on the surface of their leaves, they will have a harder time absorbing solar energy and exchanging gases. To avoid this and restore the shine to the leaves, there are many homemade tricks at your disposal, milk being one of the most used.
Dampen a cotton cloth in milk and gently wipe the surface of the leaves of your plants. You will see how it leaves clean and shiny plant leaves and, in addition, it will also help to eliminate any harmful bacteria or fungus that they may have.
Learn more about How to clean plant leaves by reading this other post.
Milk as a fertilizer
One of the best uses for stale or expired milk is as soil fertilizer. You can use up to 1/2 liter of diluted milk for every square meter of garden so that the population of beneficial microorganisms increases in the soil, resulting in about healthier plants. Follow these steps:
- Use a solution of 1 part of milk for every 4 or 5 of water so that it penetrates well.
- Pour it like irrigation water.
- Repeat the process every 10 weeks in the warm season.
You can discover more about How to make homemade organic fertilizers by entering here.
If you want to read more articles similar to Milk for plants: benefits and how to use it, we recommend that you enter our category of Cultivation and care of plants.
