There has been a rise in the number of gardeners who are 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, 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 the microbial activity which, in turn, increases the availability of micronutrients to the plants.
Using 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.
On the basis of their extraction, the two types of molasses are as follows: first molasses which are an intermediate by-product and results from the first sugar crystal extraction.
The first molasses contains 80-85% 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 a lesser amount of sugar.
Unlike first molasses, second molasses doesn’t crystallize spontaneously.
Molasses for Plants
Use molasses for the speedy growth of a variety of plants.
Make sure you are using unsulphured blackstrap molasses – molasses that have sulfur dioxide added.
The unsulphured part is important because sulfur is generally used as a preservative that kills microbes.
And since in organic gardening, you encourage microbes, you should feed unsulfured blackstrap molasses to the plants.
During the growing season, use molasses with milk which is another component effective for protecting plants against diseases such as powdery mildew.
Use a hand sprayer to feed the plant milk and molasses mixture.
How To Fertilize the Plants Using Molasses
To yield 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 doesn’t block the sprayer.
When applying to individual plants, mixed two tablespoons of molasses per gallon of water.
Drip the mixture to 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 plants to keeping the pests away, molasses is used as both 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 insecticidal foliar spray.
Molasses plant fertilizer is a non-toxic and cost-effective fertilizer which doesn’t only make your garden pest-free but also keeps your plants healthy.
