It often happens that crops stop developing, leaves become brittle and wrinkled, flowers do not form, and fruits turn out to be small and deformed. This indicates boron starvation of plants, and to cope with this, the correct use of boric acid is necessary.

After treatment with boron, the roots of the plant are supplied with oxygen, calcium enters all the fibers of the plant, the volume of chlorophyll increases, and metabolic reactions are accelerated.

Spraying seeds before planting, stimulates their germination.

Plants are able to consume boron only in the form of a solution - boric acid.

After fertilizing tomatoes and crops in the garden, Yield increases by 1/3, taste quality is improved, and the shelf life of fruits is extended.

Mechanism of action

The microelement boron, entering the plant, accelerates biochemical processes and helps saturate it with nutrients. Acid is most often used as a spray, since boron ions in plants tend to migrate very slowly.

Fertilizer is used for many crops:

• Potato tubers are processed before planting. This is necessary to protect the culture from scab disease.
• It is recommended to spray tomatoes during the period of flowering and bud formation. Thanks to processing the number of ovaries will increase, and the sugar content and taste will improve, and the size of the fruit will be larger.
• Beets can be fertilized to increase yield.
• Apple and pear trees are sprayed to increase yield and reducing the fall of ovaries.
• For strawberries, this fertilizer is necessary for better fruit formation, increased sugar content, and protection against gray rot.
• After spraying, the grapes will have many more ovaries than without it.
• The rose will bloom longer, the buds will become larger, and fungal diseases will not appear.
• Gladioli will also not get sick with fungus; their number of bulbs will increase.
• Dahlias, thanks to boron, will become larger. Therefore, there will be a need to garter flowers.

Using boric acid in the garden

Fertilizer is used on all types of soil and for most garden and fruit crops. If you feed them in a timely manner, rapid growth and strengthening are guaranteed.

For complete dissolution, boric acid must be diluted in one liter of hot water. After cooling, you need to bring the solution to the required amount by adding water.

Application for fruit trees

Apple and pear trees should have high concentration boron But you cannot oversaturate them, otherwise the lower leaves may get burned.

To treat trees you need to dilute 15 grams of powder per 10 liters of water. You need to spray the entire crown at sunset twice: when the buds open, then a week later.

Use on vegetables and tomatoes

For tomatoes, it is better to use the solution during the appearance of ovaries and the formation of green fruits. 10 grams of acid diluted in 10 liters of water.

Cucumbers are treated with a solution of 5 grams boric acid and 2 grams of manganese sulfate per 10 liters of water.

Pepper is fertilized three times during the growth period on moist soil at the rate 1 gram for 10 liters of water.

Beets are fed in the phase of appearance of 5-6 leaves, then after 2 weeks. On 1 gram take 10 liters of water.

Application on beds with berries

Timely fertilization with boric acid improves the growth of berry crops, helps them become strong, increases fruiting, preserves the harvest and makes them resistant to negative conditions, as well as pests and infections.

Before planting strawberries, the material must be kept for 2 days in a solution, for the preparation of which 0.2 grams powder is consumed per 1 liter hot water.

Strawberries are fed 3 times:

• In early spring 1 gram of potassium permanganate and 1 gram of boric acid should be diluted in 10 liters of water. Then you need to water the roots of the plants, it will be enough for about 35 bushes.
• Before flowers form it is necessary to spray the berry crop. To prepare the fertilizer, take 5 grams of boron powder per 10 liters of water.
• During the flowering period, strawberries can be sprayed or spilled on their root system with a nutrient solution. To do this, pour 1 glass of wood ash into 2 liters. boiling water, stir and let stand for 2 hours. Then add 3 grams of potassium permanganate, 3 grams of boric acid, 1 tablespoon of iodine and 8 liters of water.

To enrich raspberries and strawberries with nutrients in early spring, you can take a bucket of water with a pink solution of potassium permanganate, add boric acid on the tip of a knife, and mix everything thoroughly.

Safety precautions when working with the product

It is believed that this fertilizer in small quantities will not harm humans. But when working with it, you need to use special clothing, gloves and a respirator. After completion, you must thoroughly wash your face and hands with soap.

Fertilizer may easily ignite, therefore it is unacceptable to leave it in the fire zone. It is recommended to close the packaging well and use a dark and cool place for storage.

Compatibility with other drugs

Boric acid is compatible with many fertilizers. The main condition when preparing a solution with other substances is that the concentration of the powder is halve.

First aid for poisoning

Boric acid, if ingested by a person, can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and redness. If fertilizer accidentally gets into the stomach, you should drink several glasses of water and induce vomiting.

If it gets on an open area of ​​skin, it must be wash with soap.

An experienced gardener who promptly detects signs of boron starvation in garden crops will definitely feed them with boron. The use of boric acid is beneficial for all plants. Indeed, thanks to its action, the harvest is rich, the taste of the fruit improves, and the shelf life is extended.

A substance such as boron is necessary for plants in order to supply the root system with oxygen as much as possible. Its absence significantly reduces the level of calcium supply to plant organs.
In order to always have a blooming, beautiful garden, and a generous harvest in the garden, in the arsenal of any gardener and gardener there is one necessary product containing boron.

The use of boric acid in the garden.

Thanks to fertilizing, which contains boric acid, plants become more resistant not only to diseases, but also to adverse weather conditions.
Experts note that thanks to boric acid, the yield increases by an average of 20%, or even 25%.
Especially, such high rates are found in cucumbers, tomatoes, and cabbage.
The seeds are treated with boric acid before planting - they are soaked for 12-24 hours (0.2 g of boric acid is diluted in a liter of water).
Boric acid is applied directly to the soil before planting seedlings or seeds (2 g per 10 liters of water).
Boric acid is sprayed on the leaves (5 g per 10 liters).
In addition to pure boric acid, ready-made fertilizers such as boron superphosphate are also used: granular or double.
Immediately before sowing, it is advisable to soak the seeds for a while in a solution with boric acid.
By doing this you can speed up the germination process of your seeds. Typically, the seeds of vegetables such as onions, tomatoes, carrots or beets need to be soaked for 24 hours. But, for example, zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage - you can do less, twelve hours will be enough for them.

For the main application of microfertilizer to the soil, before planting seedlings or sprouted seeds of flowers, fruits or berries, dilute two grams of boric acid in ten liters of water and water the soil generously in the following manner: diluted composition per ten square meters.
The use of boric acid for flowers had a very good effect.
It needs to be added to soil with a large amount of peat, because it is too poor in boron content. Flowers such as violets need this.
Boron helps speed up the absorption of calcium and abundant formation of buds. For foliar feeding, use a 0.1% solution of boric acid (10 g per 10 l). When foliar feeding with boron together with other microfertilizers, the concentration of boric acid is reduced by 2 times (0.5 g per 1 l). The solution is sprayed on plants in the budding and flowering phase.

Roses. Spring spraying with a solution of boric acid in a proportion of 10 g per 10 liters gives very good results. To prevent fungal diseases, rose cuttings are immersed for 2-3 minutes. into a solution of boric acid (20 g per 10 liters of water).

Gladioli. A solution of boric acid (2 g per 10 liters of water) is used to feed gladioli in the phase of 3-4 leaves and during the flowering period to obtain larger corms.

Dahlias. Spraying with boric acid mixed with potassium permanganate (5 g + 2 g per 10 liters of water) has a beneficial effect on the development and flowering of plants. Fertilizing is done 2-3 times before mass flowering in the evening with an interval of 15-20 days.

It was also noticed that boric acid had a very good effect on roses, and their resistance to fungal diseases increased. Boric acid in the garden is practically one of the best remedies today.

Root feeding.
Boric acid solution: 0.1-0.2 g of boric acid per 1 liter of water. It is used only in cases of severe starvation or a clearly known lack of boron in the soil. Plants are pre-watered with plain water to avoid chemical burns to the roots. Usually used on seedlings of flowering plants growing on soddy-podzolic soils or in a mixture of peat and sand.

Good to know

Boric acid dissolves easily only in hot water! Always first dilute the sample (bag) in 1 liter of hot water, then bring it to the required volume with water at room temperature.

Strawberries: signs of boron deficiency:
curvature of leaves and necrosis of the edges. Fertilizing with boric acid significantly increases the yield and improves the taste of the berries. In early spring, plantings are watered with a solution of boric acid with the addition of potassium permanganate (1 g potassium permanganate, 1 g boric acid per 10 liters of water), consumption - approximately 10 liters per 30-40 bushes. It is useful to carry out foliar feeding with a solution of boric acid (5 g per 10 liters of water).

Before flowering, when the plants have put out their buds, apply foliar feeding with a solution (2 g of boric acid, 2 g of manganese, 1 cup of sifted ash per 10 liters of water). Make an extract from the ash in advance: pour a glass of ash with a liter of boiling water and leave, stirring occasionally, for a day, then strain through cheesecloth - and the infusion is ready.

Tomatoes: signs of boron deficiency
Blackening and death of the growth point of the stem, rapid growth of new shoots from the root, while the petioles of young leaves become very brittle. Brown spots of dead tissue form on the fruits, usually in the tip area. As a preventive measure, soaking seeds in a solution of boric acid (0.2 g of the drug per 1 liter of water) for a day or in a solution of microfertilizers containing boron helps well.

Before planting seedlings, add boric acid or boron-containing fertilizers to the soil (not necessary on cultivated soils). Do not forget about foliar feeding before flowering (10 g of boric acid per 10 liters of water). You can use foliar feeding of the same concentration in the green fruit phase to accelerate the ripening and accumulation of sugars in the fruits.

Grape
Signs of boron deficiency: the appearance of chlorotic spots between the veins of leaf blades, which gradually grow, the absence of normal ovaries on the racemes (hummocking). A new seedling dies within a year or 1-2 years after planting in a permanent place. Even a single treatment during the budding period increases the yield by more than 20% due to the preservation of flowers and less shedding of the ovaries. Taking into account the characteristics of the grapes, add zinc salts to boric acid (10 liters of water, 5 g of boric acid, 5 g of zinc sulfate).

If the fruits of zucchini or zucchini rot, if the tomatoes in the greenhouse are stressed from the heat, if the fruits of peppers and eggplants do not set, if there are few ovaries on cucumbers, make a solution of boric acid and spray the plants.

Jul 9, 2018 Olga

How to properly use boric acid in a suburban area, whether it is possible to spray flowers with boric acid, as well as other useful information about this essential microelement, read our material.

The range of applications of boric acid is quite wide. In medicine, it acts as an antiseptic, in photography - as a component of the developer. Boric acid is used to get rid of cockroaches, produce glass, and use it in nuclear reactors and jewelry. But we are primarily interested in how boric acid is useful for plants and why it is needed in the country.

Signs of boron deficiency

Boron is an important trace element necessary for normal plant development. It has a positive effect on metabolism, promotes the production of chlorophyll, and helps roots “breathe.” The effects of boron starvation are easy to notice in dry weather. To identify boron deficiency, inspect the plant, paying special attention to young parts.

The plant urgently needs treatment with boric acid if the following “alarm signals” are detected:

• chlorotic spots on young foliage, leaf veins turn yellow;
• leaves become smaller, curl and fall off;
• apical buds inhibit growth, lateral buds, on the contrary, enhance;
• the plant blooms weakly, the fruits set poorly;
• fruit deformation (ugly shape);
• in pome crops, suberization of fruits is observed;
• death of bark on shoots or entire tops.

Plant growth is suppressed, and if measures are not taken in time, you may lose the harvest. But you shouldn’t overuse fertilizer: with an excess of boron, although plant fruits ripen faster, they are stored worse, and the leaves run the risk of getting burned.

How to use boric acid?

Boric acid is used for seed treatment and plant nutrition. To speed up seed germination, boric acid is diluted in a proportion of 2 g per 10 liters of water, the seeds are placed in a fabric bag and immersed in the solution for a day.

Seeds of zucchini, cucumbers and cabbage are soaked in boron solution for 12 hours.

Depending on the extent to which a particular crop needs boron, plants are divided into 3 groups:

1. Minor degree: herbs, legumes, strawberries, potatoes (we’ll talk about the last two crops separately).
2. Average degree: most green and vegetable crops, stone fruit trees, berry bushes.
3. High degree: cabbage, pome trees, beets.

Plants first group, as a rule, they are fed only in case of boron starvation (pre-sowing application of fertilizer to the soil is also appropriate).

Potatoes and garden strawberries (strawberries) are among the group of plants that have little need for boron, and yet a lack of the microelement can significantly affect these crops. At the slightest sign of boron starvation in potatoes, watering the plants with boric acid will help (6 g of fertilizer per 10 liters of water, this amount of solution is enough to treat 10 sq.m.). Read about strawberries below.

For crops second group Foliar fertilizing with boric acid (2 g per 10 liters of water) twice per season is suitable: the first time - at the stage of bud opening, and then 5-7 days later (the stage of ovary formation).

Third group plants need boron fertilizing more than others. In areas with fertile soil, crops are traditionally sprayed with a 0.01% solution, in areas with less fertile soil - 0.02%. For poor soils, the concentration should be increased to 0.05-0.1% (5-10 g of boric acid per 10 liters of water, consumption 1 liter per 1 sq.m). The application schedule for most crops is the same as for the second group.

Pome fruits are treated with boric acid three times: at the beginning of budding, at the beginning of flowering, and after the flowers fall off, when the fruits begin to fill.

Boric acid: instructions for use

Boron does not dissolve in cold water, so the water must be heated to prepare the solution. In order not to heat 10 liters of water (which, you see, is not very convenient), there is a little trick. A solution of boric acid is prepared as follows:

1. the required amount of the substance is dissolved in 1 liter of hot water (70-80°);
2. the resulting “mother” solution is cooled and water is added to it to 10 liters.

How many grams of boric acid are in a teaspoon?

Typically, a sachet contains 10 g of boric acid, and a standard teaspoon holds half of the entire serving - 5 g. Be careful when working with boron and, if possible, use a spoon that is not suitable for food (or wash the spoon thoroughly after measuring substance).

How much is 1 gram of boric acid?

As they say, we asked - we answer. To measure 1 g of suspension, lay a sheet of paper on the table and carefully pour 1 tsp onto it. boric acid. Then, using, for example, a knife or a flat stick, divide the powder into 5 equal parts. Leave one part (this is 1 g), put the rest in a bag.

How to feed plants with boric acid

In most cases, spraying with boric acid is used. "Three pillars" of foliar feeding:

• evening time;
• warm cloudy weather;
• fine spray.

When spraying a plant, do not get carried away: “dew” on the leaves and branches is a sign to stop. Dripping should not be allowed.

Watering the soil with a solution of boric acid is acceptable for emergency assistance to the plant (this mainly applies to potatoes and strawberries). You need to water the plant from a watering can and strictly at the root, so that the drops do not fall on the plant itself.

Boron suspension in its pure form is not used in the garden - there is a risk of burning the plant or, conversely, “losing” the fertilizer in the soil.

Boric acid for tomatoes (tomatoes)

Typically, tomatoes are fed with boric acid solution three times. The first time - before flowering, when the buds have already formed (1 g of powder per 10 liters of water, consumption 1 liter per 1 sq.m.). Then boric acid for the ovary is applied during flowering (no less than 10 days after the first, the concentration is the same), and the final feeding occurs at the fruiting stage.

At the very beginning of the fruiting phase, tomatoes can be fed with a mixture that includes ash, iodine and boric acid. The feeding is prepared as follows:

1. in 5 liters of boiling water, dilute 1.5-2 liters of wood ash and 10 g (1 sachet) of boric acid, mix thoroughly, cool, then add water to the solution to make 10 liters;
2. pour 1 bottle of iodine into the solution and leave the mixture to infuse for a day;
3. Before use, dilute 1 liter of infusion in 10 liters of water to obtain a working solution.

Application rate: 1 liter per bush. Such fertilizing will not only speed up fruiting, but also increase the resistance of tomatoes to late blight.

Boric acid for cucumbers

Cucumbers are fed according to the same scheme as tomatoes, the solution concentration is 0.05% (5 g of boric acid per 10 liters of water). Boron improves the taste of cucumbers, stimulates the formation of ovaries and the development of fruits. This microelement also improves frost and drought resistance of plants, and also helps strengthen the root system of cucumbers.

Fertilizing strawberries with boric acid

The first feeding is carried out in early spring: 1 g of boric acid is dissolved in 10 liters of water (previously filled with a small amount of hot water) and 1 g of potassium permanganate, and the strawberry beds are watered, using the solution for 30-40 bushes. The second feeding is carried out before flowering, at the stage of bud extension. Plants are sprayed with a mixture prepared according to this recipe:

1. prepare an extract from wood ash (pour 1 glass of ash into 1 liter of boiling water, stir and leave for 24 hours, then strain the infusion);
2. in 10 liters of water add 2 g of boric acid (previously dissolved in a small amount of hot water), ash extract and 2 g of potassium permanganate.

Consumption - 0.3-0.5 l per 1 bush. This solution is also used for obvious signs of boron deficiency in strawberries.

Boric acid for flowering

Boron is indispensable not only in the vegetable garden, but also in the flower garden. Ornamental plants are also fed with a solution of boric acid. The optimal concentration for spraying most types of flowers is 0.5 g per 10 liters of water. For root feeding, prepare a “stronger” solution: 1-2 g per 10 liters of water.

Boric acid for ants (against ants)

Boric acid will help control ants on the site. Here are a few bait recipes:

1. Grind 0.5 tsp. boric acid and 2 egg yolks. Roll the mixture into small balls (no larger than a pea) and place along the ant trails.
2. Grind 3 boiled potatoes (in their jackets) with 3 egg yolks. Add 1 tsp. sugar and 10 g of boric acid, mix. Roll balls and place them in ant habitats.
3. Mix 2 tbsp. glycerin and 1 tbsp. water, add 1.5 tbsp. sugar, 1/3 tsp. boric acid and 1 tsp. honey Form into balls.

Ay, what a topic! I won't pass by.

The problem raised by Tatyana is truly pressing. Electronic kitchen scales do not show tenths of grams; between adjacent values ​​of 1 and 2 grams the difference in weight is 100%.

A couple more ways to measure small amounts of dry fertilizer.

Volumetric weighing

With all the variety of thimbles, the average volume of a thimble has remained unchanged for centuries - about 2 milliliters:

Measuring the volume of a thimble

If you have some kind of non-standard thimble, then:

• set to zero
• pour 10 thimbles into a cup
• Divide the scale reading by 10 to get the volume of the thimble (1 milliliter of water = 1 gram of water).

If you don’t have scales on your household, fill a 100 or 500 gram jar with your thimble. And divide the volume by the number of thimble portions used. This will give you the volume of a non-standard thimble.

Or use a used syringe to draw in the water that fits into the thimble - the divisions on the syringe will show what volume it contains.

Theoretical rationale for volumetric weighing

It is necessary to make a reservation that not every fertilizer has an equality of 1 milliliter of volume to one gram of weight. Therefore, Tatyana indicated fertilizers for which this equality is observed.

Fertilizers often have a lower density than water. But for violets, some lack of fertilizer is not critical, especially taking into account the recommendations for violets to dilute standard fertilizers by half. Therefore, volumetric measurement of fertilizers is quite appropriate in caring for violets, even if the density of the fertilizer is unknown.

After using the thimble, be sure to rinse it, fertilizer dust may not be the best reagent for your finger.

Pirate way to determine small quantities

Place the contents of the fertilizer bag on a piece of paper. The weight is written on the bag. By eye, move some of the fertilizer to the side so that in a large pile there remains fertilizer to one of the powers of two (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64,... grams).

Divide the large pile in half. Divide each half in half again. Divide the quarters in half too. Eights are also halved. At some point you will end up with many, many small piles of fertilizer, each containing about 1 gram. Pack each pile in a small paper bag and use as needed for the health of your violets.

Using the same method, you can measure, for example, 1/8 of a gram from 1 gram of potent fertilizers.

Option. If you have a large bag of fertilizer and a kitchen scale, you can measure, for example, 16 grams and package it as suggested.

Historical excursion

In countries where there were many pirates at one time, there is still a running joke:

Question: How many pirates can there be on a pirate ship?

Answer: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128,... Otherwise, you will have to shoot the extra ones during a fair division of the spoils.

Jokes aside, the pirates were great at dividing their booty into any equal number of parts, and everyone considered the division fair.

For this there was a special way of sharing, which was called pirate. In its simplest form (2 pirates), one pirate divides the booty as he sees fit into 2 equal parts. And the other chooses the part that seems larger to him. Questions about fairness do not arise for either side.

For a larger number of people, division follows a similar scheme in several stages - first large groups of pirates divide the loot, then within the group the pirates are split into small groups and continue to divide small groups among themselves, and so on until the entire large pile of loot is divided between many pairs of pirates. Considering that the pirate life was short, everyone was in plain sight, and during the capture of ships, pirates often saved each other’s lives, they often trusted their fellow pirates, who were better familiar with the value of the loot in the colonial markets, to divide/choose their share.

In English-speaking countries, the medieval “pirate” is still one of the most favorite masquerade images for children:

Measuring small amounts of liquid fertilizer

I will add that you can also conveniently measure liquid fertilizers from bottles with a syringe.

And with a pipette you can measure out a very small amount of fertilizer. Don't know how much one drop from your pipette weighs?

• place an empty cup on the kitchen scale
• set to zero
• pour 100 drops into a cup
• Divide the scale reading by 100 to get the volume of the droplet (1 milliliter of water = 1 gram of water).

Similarly, you can measure how much a droplet weighs from a jar of Corvalol and use it as a container for storing liquid fertilizer.

The sizes of droplets from different pipettes and different jars strongly depend on their parameters, so it is better not to use the data obtained for one pipette or jar for others.