Topic: Jeyes Fluid

[Hugh_Jones]

And what better feed for the onions than that? - especially if you drink Newcastle Brown.

[Mrs Ava]

Purchased me a can of Jeyes today.  Nine quid!  Nine quid for goodness sakes.  Do you know how many packets of seeds I could have brought from Tuckers for that.  And the tray of gorgeous blue pansys that came with them....well.....necessity to brighten up my front door. ;D  Greenhouse now clean and sparkly and wrapped with bubbles and filled with tender plants!  ;D

[Multiveg]

Purchased me a can of Jeyes today.  Nine quid!  Nine quid for goodness sakes.  Do you know how many packets of seeds I could have brought from Tuckers for that. ...

YES!!! (well, I can guess - a dozen or more)

[Doris_Pinks]

Not that I would ever do anything as wicked as sterilizing my soil with Jeyes, but suppose I was to, what ratio of fluid to water would I use? 35ml to 5L? And when would it then be safe to plant my lettuces in said imaginary bed? DP

[growmore]

Well if suppose you was and I know You won't.
I quote from Jeyes Fluid leaflet Guide to All Year round Garden Hygiene... "A solution of 15ml of Jeyes Fluid per 5 litres of water at the rate of 5 litres per square yard  should be forked into the soil as it is being broken down in preparation for planting or sowing.
After 14 days it is esential that the bed be raked over again to break down the Jeyes Fluid that has done its work"..
SO supposing You  was Doris and I know you aren't. I suppose it would stand a fortnight before you raked it and set anything in it..

Also supposing I was going to use it on my onion beds now to prepare it  for next years crops, As I have always done in the past..But of course I cannot now . ;)
I would dig the bed rough, I would double the strength of mixture to 30mls per 5 litres,  and apply it now leaving it to over winter.

Cheers Jim...

[settler]

i will use jeyes fluid as i have been directed by the other lottie holders
i will use it on as much of the land to clean it up n all my pots and canes etc


shiny future beckons 8)

[ina]

We are neighbors and still many things we do so differently and don't know it from each other.

I had never, ever heard of anyone 'sterilizing' soil or canes or greenhouses until I started reading English laguage garden boards. Does the soil really get sterilized with this magical Jeyes Fluid? I can't imagine. Never mind, I plan on 'going British' and clean the canes, pots, tools, greenhouse etc., (anything but the soil) and be a real Scrubby Dutch hehehe.

Now, what is Jeyes Fluid? Could it be something like what is known as Lisol or Lysol in Holland? Maybe some of the expats know?

[Hugh_Jones]

Jeyes Fluid is (or was when I last bought a gallon 10 years ago - still got a quarter of it left, but it`s now on its third can, having eaten its way through the previous two) a combination of phenols distilled (I believe) from coal tar. I think the formula is still more or less the same. It is most effective in killing a large variety of bacteria and fungi which might otherwise overwinter on canes, pots, woodwork etc. as well as in the soil, where it will also kill a large number of soil pests as well (unfortunately) as the more beneficial creatures.

Lysol certainly used to produce a product with a similar formulation in the USA for many years, but I believe that it was discontinued some years ago in favour of several milder formulations which are not likely to be as effective horticulturally.

[detailista]

I looked at Jeyes fluid as I had some dampening off with seeds planted in old pots. Seems ok for greenhouses - is labelled with directions on the bottle. Just wondering could I use milton or similar as a stand in for Jeyes to clean old plant pots?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Blight shouldn't be able to survive long outside living tissue, with a slight caveat in case two strains have interbred. As far as I know that hasn't yet happened in the UK. So no need to worry about last year. Just hope we get a drier summer!

[GRACELAND]

 ;D

its good stuff

you all know it will be banned soon so stock up  ;D

[Vinlander]

 The following year my onions were green for longer than anyone elses and I actually managed a crop - felt dead smug I can tell you.

Sterilising soil means it is left choc full of zillions of dead worms, insects, bacteria, fungi, protozoa etc. etc.

99.9% of them were beneficial. In some cases bad stuff couldn't get in because something otherwise useless was already in that niche.

However the soil is rapidly recolonised by bacteria that rot it all down so there is a large and instant jolt of fertiliser that the next plant can take advantage of.

It doesn't last long but can make a difference. This may be what you observed.

Unfortunately the next sowing will probably suffer from the absence of all the good guys, not to mention the loss of soil structure.

Not a big problem for a small area but could be very bad news for a large area.

What you use doesn't bother me in the least - I'm definitely not in favour of using the law against simple, degradeable, mildly poisonous substances because there's more money to be made from complex, persistent and unpredictable new ones that will turn out worse (every single one has at the last count).

And sterilising may be worthwhile for a very small group of nasties like honey fungus (not blight, mildew, or onion white rot or we'd all be doing it), but its main benefit is to make you feel you are in control - irrespective of how little control you have - same reason the Aztecs went in for human sacrifice.

Here I go a bit away from veggies...

It's taken 20,000 years for us to begin to understand that 'hygiene' is a two-edged sword. Not just polio and the modern view of asthma etc.

Whole cultures have been wiped out because their unscientific 'hygeine' laws actually encouraged pathogens.

Here's a good example if like me you have an academic interest in counter-intuitive parables:

The Essenes thought they were clean, and lots of theologists read their writings, assume they were and sing their praises - even now cranks peddle it like snake oil.

If you have a strong stomach you can check this archaeology site for the real story:

http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/orion/news/scrollNov13-06.htm

[Robert_Brenchley]

They were thinking of ritual cleanness, not hygeine. According to one source from the 1st Century AD, the Essene community in Jerusalem didn't poo on the Sabbath, because their toilet had to be so far from the city that it would have involved walking more than the legitimate 'sabbath day's journey' that was allowed. The mind boggles!

[Ian Pearson]

Here are just some of the warnings on Jeyes fluid safety data sheet:
Harmful: may cause lung damage. Irritating to eyes and skin. Keep out of reach of children. Do not breathe vapour. Wear suitable gloves and protective clothing. Marine pollutant Class 9. Soil residual level after one month 0.1%. Acute oral toxicity LD50.

The main ingredients are Methanol and High boiling point tar acids. I don't fancy getting either of those in my soil. If any of your crops take it up you could end up having it for dinner one night.

Blight arrives by airborne spores which tend to move across the whole country when the temperature and humidity are right (or can survive overwinter in living tissue of toms or potatoes). Sterilizing the soil will not prevent either of these methods of arrival. It will just damage your soil biology

[detailista]

I can't imagine sterlizing my soil but was just wondering about whether it is worth cleaning the stack of dirty plant pots that have been sat in the back yard for the past year or can i just wash them down with a simpler, less toxic cleaner?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Cold water, a scrubbing brush, and elbow grease are traditional; if you want to do it properly you stand in an open shed in the middle of winter scrubbing pots while an icy gale whistles round you. You can wash them down with anything which isn't too toxic, but I wouldn't bother myself unless I had an outbreak of something nasty affecting potted plants.

[valmarg]

Whilst down the lottie yesterday, I was talking to another Ploth Holder, who told me to use Jeyes Fluid to disinfect my tomatoe patch, that unfortunaley succomed to blight.

I always understood that tomato/potato blight were airborne diseases, so disinfecting the soil will not help contol the disease, as the spores do not live in the soil.  Thats what I had been told, but it may be wrong.

With regard to using Jeyes/Armillatox for sterilising soil etc., with particular regard to Armillatox, it has been certified for several uses by UK organisations/universities, but the EU says that unless it is subjected to their tests (costing 100's of thousands of pounds) it cannot be marketed as such in the EU.  Both Jeyes and Armillatox are coal tar based and the EU does not like coal tar.

As far as Armillatox is concerned, if you go to armillatox.co.uk you will find that it can only be used for washing down patios and patio furniture, BUT if you go to armillatox.com you will find the dilution rates for all the other uses it used to be recommended for.  All that means is that you can ?legally use the product anywhere in the world for these purposes, except the EU. ??? ???

valmarg

[Robert_Brenchley]

It won't affect blight, which isn't present in the soil. It's either in living tissue or airborne. But if I had rampant white rot I'd probably try Armatillox. I'm not anti-EU, but I am anti pettifogging bureaucracy wherever it appears.

[Larkshall]

We used to use Jeyes Fluid on the farm, a lot of animals have been saved by it. The only problem these days is that most places only sell 1ltr cans at a vastly inflated price. I hate to think what a 5ltr can would cost (£40).

[:(]

Wilkinsons sell Jeyes Fluid  at £5,98 for a litre.