Yeah, I was a bit concerned with the (pretty much), finished mix in the wheelbarrow and too much N. But, thinking about it, adding the one cup of blend/cf isn't going to add that much of anything N'wise. So, no worries. Wet
I mix all the amendment at 3 cups per cf so neem meal is 1/3 of that mix. All other amounts are divided between the 2/3 remaining. I've never used karanja so IDK. HTH
Wet, I say just use your best judgement as an experienced gardener. I have a hard time answering "cups per S/F" questions because I really don't measure anything - but I do use a mess of neem cake from Ahimsa in my mixes. Last year? I split a #44 pound sack of neem cake with another GC blade so have just had plenty to toss around freely in my garden. I've never seen anything negative come from using a little extra - only positive results. IMO we can never really use "too much" of any organic amendment - provided that there is plenty of viable soil life and cycling time. Like anything else it all just breaks down and cannot "burn". I'm sure you'll enjoy having neem in your garden. J
Well, my 5cup (2.5#), bag of the 50/50 blend arrived. 2 cups are going in the 2cf of mix in the wheelbarrow. 2 cups are for the next batch, and 1 cup is getting mixed with some just harvested vermicompost and getting used as a top dressing for a bunch of stuff. Plan on mixing it with 5 gal of the vermi, but that might get bumped up to 7.5 gal. I'll see when everything gets measured out ve stuff to get top dressed. Gotta go do that now. UUUGGGGGGGG ........ 90* out, no breeze and no clouds, just nasty hot. Wet
wetdog I thought it better to answer your question at this venue. There are some very minute differences between the neem and karanja tree. It comes down to a difference in that the karanja tree produces d-nimbin and neem trees produce a-nimbin. Nimbin is at the center of the biological activities in both trees and in particular its function as a biofungicide. Not that it matters much but both nimbin & salinin are triterpenoids. There are a couple of differences in a dozen or so esters (primarily Azadirachtin &n Salanin) but none of these differences in the 23 or so compounds (Secondary Metabolites) are either a deal-maker or a deal-beaker from my experience and understanding but the ol' YMMV applies. here. HTH CC Sources: Neem: Today and in the New Millennium - Opender Koul NEEM : A Treatise - K.K. Singh, Suman Phogat, <span>R.S. Dhillon, Alka Tomar</span> Neem Oil From Neem Seeds and Application: Reduction Hazards of Conventional Pesticides & Improvement of Pesticide Quality with Neem Oil for Green Cultivation - <span> <span>Shujit Chandra Paul<span>, </span><span>Muhammed Yusuf Miah, </span><span>Shovon Bhattacharjee</span></span></span>
Coot, I'm recalling something about the two materials being more effective when utilized together than as stand alone amendments. Any idea where this is stemming from?
GIMK When I looked for an answer to this question I wasn't very successful other than finding studies & such about combining the two to create biodiesel. Not exactly what we're looking for but I will continue to look at information out of India and China to see if I can't come up with something concrete. HTH CC
The wilt those bassards brought did in the packaged seeds. The semi good news is, the plants from the seeds I saved from last year from the same packaged seeds are holding out much better and the fruit is fine. The cuke is *Bush Pickle* and some call it a hybrid and some call it open pollinated, so ?????? That's why I waited on some fruit before going any farther with them. They will be upcanned into the neem/karanja mix and have already been top dressed with the N/K amended vermicompost. The fruit seems a bit smaller than the parent, but for pickles, who cares? Wet
Cool ! Thanks for the links, more reading I can do. The a & d you mentioned pretty much tilted me more towards the neem/karanja blend, that I was already tilted towards. GiMiK Reading around on a Google search, I saw something about the 2 oils being more effective combined than either by itself, but couldn't find any information if the same held true combining the meals. Common sense says it should, but I sure would like to see a cite. Wet
glad the second round is working out man.. best of luck with it. You seem to have a good plan in place. Next year I'll prepare a little better before giving up on cukes completely lol.. (1st year running cukes and 1st year bugs completely destroyed whole plants) just pulled another wilted one out of the ground today.. it was about 5'+tall and 5"+ wide along the fence.. tons of flower and fruit. Now it's been tossed into the woods sucks because i've only been seeing 1 or 2 out there at a time... t i guess all it takes is one to mess up a plant.