I am planning on going to a local health food emporium today and had a few quick questions for you more advanced Organic gardeners. First they sell many different seaweed products that are usually dried and in gel capsules. One particular item I have been eye balling is called Herbal trace minerals and contains Kelp leaves and stems, Alfalfa aerial parts, and dandelion root. Would it be possible to use these for my garden? Or are they for human consumption only? They also sell a probiotic capsule that contains the following: Ingredients include deleted strains of Bifidobacterium bifidum, B. infantis, B. longum, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, L. brevis, L. plantarum, L. rhamnosus, L. salivarius, Streptococcus thermophilus, L. acidophilus, L. casei and inulin. I would like to know if it would be possible to use this as well? I plan on buying some aloe vera juice today and some of them contain sodium benzoate, would this harm my girls? If anyone has the skinny on products in health food stores that may be used for my garden as well it would be very much appreciated.
Why do you want to spend so much $$$$$? A 5lb bag of kelp meal is ~$12, 50lbs of alfalfa meal/$17 and the plants utilize them just as well. Save your money. People supplements for people and plant supplements for plants. You're GTG with the aloe juice though. Wet
IMO you should use the health food store for human health and the ag/farm stores for your plants. You'll save a lot of money in the end. The only item I might get at a health food store would be yucca powder or maybe aloe vera powder. chunk
But will the sodium benzoate that is in her aloe vera juice kill the microbes in the soil or the tea or wherever it happens to be used? I am curious about this as well. I have a gallon of the stuff and the sodium benzoate is 1/10th of 1 per cent along with the same amount of ascorbic acid which I know to be harmless in that amount. Thanks, Sam
Try to get an aloe without sodium benzoate. Lily of the Desert has a 'traditonal' aloe with citric acid and potassium sorbate. They also have a 'preservative free' aloe that only has citric acid.
I was able to get a gallon of the Aloe Vera (Liiy of the Desert) yeasterday with only citric acid - its out in the car, but I think I remember the bottle reading that the citric acid was in it to balance the ph. I was also able to get some organic Blue Agave nectar to use in place of molasses for teas. I got these two items from the local health food store in Auburn, Maine. I think the gallon of Aloe Vera was $22.00, and the Agave was $12.00. I dont think I could have found these 2 items without going to a health food store...at least here in Maine... peace. jerry.