Borax Amounts for Organic Gardening

What is Borax?

You might know borax as a traditional household cleanser that is used most often in the laundry room. Borax is a naturally occurring mineral made of boron, sodium, oxygen and water.

It is commonly used as a laundry booster, stain pretreater, water conditioner and cleanser. However, its usefulness moves far beyond the laundry room.

Borax Amounts for Organic Gardening Uses

Borax is most commonly used in organic gardening as a means of weed control. A solution of borax and water is a good way to kill unwanted plants in your yard and garden.

The trouble with borax is that it can kill other plants or make them sick as well as getting rid of the plants that you don't want. You need to be careful to use the right borax amounts for organic gardening. In this case, that means a quarter of a cup of borax dissolved into a gallon of water.

Spray a good coating on the plants you are trying to get rid of. This method is particularly popular for creeping Charlie. If you are eliminating weeds from your lawn you might want to fertilize once the weeds have died to encourage new growth in your lawn.

While borax is known for killing a lot of plants, there is one plant that apparently benefits from the application of borax to its soil: sunflowers. According to GardenWise magazine, watering sunflowers with a mixture of water and borax helps increase the size of blooms and seed production by up to 20 percent, as well as making the plants stronger. They advise that plants should be watered with a half teaspoon of borax mixed in a gallon of water when the buds are about halfway developed and again a month later.

They also mention that borax can be used to help preserve flowers. Just dip the flower in borax, let it sit for a day and then tap off the excess borax.

Some people also suggest the use of borax to get rid of insects and other unwanted creatures. Unfortunately, because its tricky to get the right amount of borax that will kill the pests but not the plants, this method of insect removal is not recommended.

Is Borax Organic?

You won't see borax that says it is organic or not organic. It is usually considered an organic solution because borax is naturally occurring and mined from deposits, the largest of which are in Turkey, California, Chile and Tibet. However, borax can also be chemically produced, which clearly is not an organic process.

If you're looking for borax and want to make sure that you're getting a product that was mined rather than produced in a lab, check the package for information about the source. If you can't find the information you need, contact the company directly.

The most popular borax available, Twenty-Mule-Team, was originally mined from Death Valley, but the package gives no indication where the borax comes from today.

You might also try looking for borax at your favorite organic gardening supply store. People who own such shops take great care to ensure that their products meet their high standards and the standards of their clients. You can trust that they have done their homework and only sell products they would want to use in their own gardens.

While there are other methods of weed control that don't involve borax, it is something worth trying. In addition, the sunflower trick is especially useful if you like big beautiful blooms and lots of sunflower seeds. Borax can be as big a help outside the home as it is inside.