Kitchen Garden Forum

I saw an article on social media this morning with somebody commenting they had sprinkled an old stale bag of flour on ther soil and forked it in because "the flour still contained nutrients which would have benefitted the soil"

All aI can imagine happening would be to transfer the mites whixh live in old flour into the soil as well as creating a messy mix of earth dough the moment it rained and everything got set.

Surely there can be no benefits to such a move?

Perhaps others can think of other useless hints which serve no genuine purpose?

I,m sure some people only do these things because ." My granny or grandpa always swore by it ! "

If it was an unrefined flour with the bits in it then maybe there would be some nutrients left from the oils in the grains, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it as it would just attract rats or mice. If fully processed white flour I can't imagine there would be anything left of value to the soil & you would end up with the old days glue which was flour & water.

Sometimes I do see some old things pop up & think maybe, but our genetic control of seeds & the masses of varieties there is a seed to suit a lot of conditions so we don't need home made remedies. Imagine the harvest overload during the war & what might have been different in Ireland if they had access to blight resistant varieties? But that's just history now!

Yes, it is effective to use old wheat flour to fertilize plants, especially if the soil is poor in nitrogen. Wheat flour contains nitrogen and other nutrients that can feed the soil microbes and improve the soil texture and fertility.

However, you should use only a small amount of flour at a time, and mix it well with the soil. You should also water the soil thoroughly and wait for a week before planting. This will help the flour decompose faster and avoid attracting pests or causing fungal growth.

You can also use flour to deter some insects, such as grasshoppers and aphids, by dusting it over the plants.