How and when to use mustard cake on summer cottages
There are more and more supporters of the use of safe organic fertilizers every day. Among such natural remedies is mustard cake, the use of which in the garden promises not only an increase in yield, but also protection of plants from pests and diseases.
Description of mustard cake and its properties
The cake is what remains from the seeds after the oil is pressed. Crushed and compressed mustard seeds give off the lion's share of fatty acids, glycosides and essential oils. However, some of them, like all organic matter, remain in the cake. The product, which contains proteins, fiber and minerals, is traditionally used as a supplement to the diet of livestock. Recently, with the growing popularity of organic farming, they started talking about the use of mustard cake in the garden and horticulture.
The quality of the cake and its value directly depends on the method of oil production. In agriculture, only a cold-pressed by-product is used, which is thoroughly dried and ground to a homogeneous free-flowing mass.
If the oil is produced using high temperatures and chemical reagents, the use of mustard cake or meal will not be beneficial, and may cause oppression of green spaces.
The use of mustard cake as a phytosanitary agent
The product, new for gardeners, caused controversial opinions. Some manufacturers talk about cake as a miracle cure for increasing soil fertility. But is advertising promises worth believing?
What are the real indications for the use of mustard cake as a fertilizer? When is it really useful?
Mustard oil has pronounced bactericidal and insecticidal properties. After wringing, some of the oil is retained in solid particles. Once in the ground, the cake helps to suppress pathogenic microflora, including putrefactive bacteria, fungi-causative agents of late blight and fusarium, causing considerable harm to potato and tomato plantings, sweet pepper, cucumbers.
Components of essential oils repel pests:
- wireworm;
- nematodes;
- onion and carrot flies;
- gnawing scoop and its larvae.
After adding crushed oil cake to the soil, the wireworm dies or leaves the site after 8–9 days. The agent acts on the larvae of flies a couple of days faster.
Phytosanitary activity is one of the main reasons for the use of mustard cake in horticulture, and especially in garden beds, where there is a high risk of accumulation of pathogenic microflora, fungi and pest larvae in the soil. At the same time, the natural remedy does not have a detrimental effect on beneficial insects, the plants themselves and the beneficial soil microflora.
Indications for the use of mustard cake as a fertilizer
Mustard cake is a solid plant residue containing a lot of useful components. However, for plants, they can be useful only after transformation into the mineral form. This occurs as a result of decomposition or incineration.
It will take at least three months for the cake to quail.That is, 30% of phosphorus and 15% of potassium salts, which the product includes, will at best receive the plants planted next year. In the current season, the use of mustard cake in the garden will allow:
- improve the structure of dense, caking soils and their quality;
- prevent moisture evaporation after watering, when the crushed product is used as mulch in flower beds, under shrubs and garden crops;
- reduce the contamination of the site with harmful microorganisms and soil insects.
How to apply mustard cake on the site
Despite the fact that immediately the field of oil cake application has little nutritional value, its phytosanitary properties are very high.
How to use mustard cake to get the most out of it? During sowing and planting operations, cake is added:
- a tablespoon per hole for potatoes, tomatoes, seedlings of peppers and eggplants;
- a handful per meter of furrow for onions and garlic;
- spoon by spoon for cucumbers, zucchini and squash;
- a full handful per meter of crops of carrots, root parsley and celery, beets and other root crops;
- half a spoon per well under strawberry bushes.
Mustard cake is used as a fertilizer and natural sanitary agent for other crops. Doses range from 100 grams to kilograms per square meter and are dependent on insect and disease related problems.
In order for the active components of the cake to begin to act, the product itself began to be re-cooked faster, it must be sprinkled with soil.
Mustard cake goes well with other plant protection products. In combination with wood ash, the product will support root crops and potatoes. Natural product with Fitosporin:
- protect plants from root rot;
- prepare the soil for next year's harvest;
- will improve the safety of vegetables and root crops in winter.
Oilcake is a long-acting product with a natural composition that cannot cause negative consequences, so its overdose is impossible. The thoughtful use of this tool, along with adherence to agrotechnology, crop rotation, as well as the use of traditional fertilizing and processing, will certainly lead to the desired results.