One of our neighbors, Mike Murray, was gracious enough to pass on this helpful information regarding using dried molasses to help your trees, but it may even prove helpful in keeping those nasty fire ants away! Thanks Mike!
We started applying dried molasses a few years ago. I was talking to a gentleman in Liberty Hill about it in a casual conversation. He told me about what the native americans did in the northeast U.S. They would begin by pouring liquid molasses at the base of an infected tree. Then they would circle the tree while pouring the molasses making a corkscrew pattern until the reached the drip line. He said it worked great. So I did some searching and found some articles that mentioned applying dried molasses. We figured we had nothing to lose so we applied some dried molasses to the front yard. I don’t recall what setting we used for the spreader. Sometimes I have applied to dried molasses by hand around the trees. It seemed to have worked. Or at least our trees didn’t get sicker. So as a routine we apply it to the yard and below the trees about every 4-6 months or so to the front and back yard. We usually use a 50# bag for front and back yards.
An interesting side note, we noticed that the fireants weren’t as thick. It turns out the molasses repels fireants.
I must say that I am not a tree specialist or botanist. The dried molasses is something we thought we’d try. There might be more literature out there regarding dried molsses that I haven’t located. Here is a link to Dirt Doctor who has a website with some great information about trees and plants. Dirt Doctor
The Murrays were in Lampassas this past Saturday and stopped by this feed store for some dried molasses. We’re passing this along because it’s a mom and pop business, friendly people and good price.
Brown Feed Store 501 S Pecan St Lampasas, TX 76550 Telephone:512-556-3432.
Very friendly folks and great prices. The molasses was $12.10 for a 50# bag. In a couple of places locally where they have gotten some molasses the price has been around $19.00. They don’t accept credit cards, only cash or checks.