John Howard Garrett, the "Doctor of Dirt," is a personable, reasonably intelligent man, who has set himself up as an expert in organic gardening and "natural" nutrition, an overall program he calls "The Natural Way."  As such, he professes to espouse a worthy cause that few would argue with.

Unfortunately, though, instead of informing himself and then sticking to factual and verifiable information, he swears by unsubstantiated "anecdotal evidence" and what amounts to wishful thinking.  And, as if to impress his audience with his vast store of knowledge, he dishes out a totally unnecessary stream of what might be termed, kindly and politely, as "misinformation."

For example, during May and June of 2000, the "Doctor of Dirt" repeatedly told his radio listeners that every black plastic pot at the nursery, from 2 inches to 40 gallons, is coated on the inside with a copper material as a root pruning device.

Only he could explain why he deemed it necessary to invent such a tale.  Ordinary nursery pots have no coatings of any sort, but growers can order copper-coated pots if they require them.  Check out the facts at Nursery Supplies, Inc.

What he hopes to gain from such remarks is difficult to fathom.  Perhaps, his more outrageous statements are due to some unfortunate personality quirk or to a deep-seated complex, rooted in his own ignorance and fed by his obvious distrust of scientists and almost anything they do  Or maybe his is just the carefully contrived spiel of a consummate con artist.

In any case, he must consider that his audience is either ignorant or brain dead, since he seems to be unconcerned that anyone will know enough to recognize his obvious fallacies -- or will bother to check out the validity of his statements.  And this arrogance often causes him to make a fool of himself.

For example, in August of 2001, the "Dirt Doctor" received an e-mail plea for help in combating an infestation of dodder.  "...there is an area where the trees and bushes are covered with dodder," the message read, "Do you have any ideas on how it can be controlled?"

For gardeners who don't know what dodder is, a 10-minute trip through the internet via a search engine will reveal that it is a pervasive, vigorous, parasitic weed that spreads rapidly by seed.  Originally classified as a member of the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae), it can only be controlled with a herbicide and/or by pulling it out and applying a pre-emergent.  In spite of this, the "Dirt Doctor" replied, "I have no idea how to control it or what caused it but I would try spraying strong mixtures of potassium bicarbonate and go from there."

Of course, any thinking gardener who knows that dodder is a plant, would wonder why the "Dirt Doctor" would even suggest that it might be controlled by spraying with a mild fungicide.

A second example is his statement on November 16th of 2001 that "now is when the organiphobes are making recommendations to use Fungi-Kill or Orthotox to kill fungal diseases on Saint Augustine grass."

Perhaps he was just trying to be cute and made up a couple of what he believed to be fake names for effect.  If so, he failed miserably because the names aren't fakes.   Madurox Fungikill is a water-based curative and preservative for wood.  And ORTHOTOX, manufactured by Sipcam-Phyteurop, is an insecticide used for plant lice on apples and pears.  Neither would ever be used as a fungicide for grass.  So, whether he made up the names or not, he succeeded again in making a fool of himself.

And then, there was a third example on his radio program of September 22, 2002, when he said, "I have a tool for getting rid of dallisgrass.  It's ferrous oxide on the end of a wooden pole, and it's called a hoe."

Ferrous oxide?  That would be a novel gardening tool.  Ferrous oxide (FeO) is a black powder used to stain glass and for making various abrasives.  It is highly flammable, chemically reactive, and quite dangerous to be around.  So it might get rid of more than just the dallisgrass.

Often, his ill-informed remarks can be tested for validity merely by reading a product label.  For instance, in his newspaper column of March 28, 2003, the "Dirt Doctor" set out to dispute a comment he claimed was made by a garden consultant, who said, "Fungicides are not toxic to anything but the disease pathogens."   But, instead of pointing out real and valid data, he apparently just concocted a collection of lies and exaggerations, assuming that none of his readers would bother to check out his statements.

In this column, he included what he said was "paraphrased" information from the product labels of Daconil, Captan, Bayleton, Alamo, Banner, Funginex, and Terraclor. For each fungicide, he listed one or more toxic attributes. But a quick and cursory glance at the data provided by the Pesticides Action Network, an organization with no love for chemical pesticides, showed that his information was false or distorted for every product checked. Here are just a few examples.

    Daconil - toxic to roses (recommended for black spot of roses)
    Captan - toxic to apple trees (recommended for apple trees)
    Bayleton - toxic to fish (aquatic toxicity rating: slight)
    Alamo/Banner - toxic to fish (aquatic toxicity rating: slight)
    Funginex - toxic to pear trees (validity of this was not checked)
    Terraclor - can be toxic to bean and tomato plants (recommended for beans, tomatoes)

But it soon becomes obvious that he doesn't read labels.  Or, if he does, he doesn't understand them.  For instance, in his newspaper column of August 1, 2003, he answered a question from A.M. of Dallas, "Roundup works primarily on grasses, not on broadleaf or woody plants."

When in print for all to see, this is a dangerously false statement.   As described in Complete Guide to Pest Control, Roundup® is a "highly versatile translocated, non-selective herbicide, useful for the control of many annual and perennial grasses and broadleaf weeds."

The following is a further, but small sampling of documented examples of his gems of "misinformation."  Examine these and read the pages at this website devoted to his descriptions of diatomaceous earth, lava sand, and what he refers to as volcanic rock powders.  Then decide for yourself about the real knowledge and the actual motives of this self-anointed and self-serving "Doctor of Dirt."

Begin by asking yourself if he is less than truthful and believes that his flock suffers from an attention deficit disorder when he issues contradictory statements, as illustrated by these regarding his favorite soil amendment:

9/8/95: "I learned about lava sand from Phil Callahan, the scientist who taught me to add lava sand to the soil."

3/22/96: "Commercial rose growers and home-gardener rosarians were the first to tell me about the advantages of lava sand."

12/13/98 and 12/17/00: "Orchid is the plant that started me thinking about lava sand."

Here are two more of his conflicting statements.  And, since they were issued only a mere three weeks apart, they call into question his own attention span:

10/26/97: "Fireblight is caused by a virus."

11/15/97: "Too much nitrogen is what causes fireblight."

Not only do these statements conflict, but neither of them is true.   According to Westcott’s Plant Disease Handbook, fireblight is caused by a bacterium, Erwinia amylovora. Thus, it can be and is treated with streptomycin, a bactericide.

Then, almost three years later, he demonstrated that he hadn't learned anything more about fireblight -- and very little about neem oil, an important pesticide for organic gardeners.

6/4/00: "Neem, used as a drench on the soil, is very effective against diseases like fireblight."

Of course, neem oil is not a bactericide, an anti-viral agent, or a nitrogen reducer and is, therefore, useless against fireblight.  Also, it's relatively ineffective as a drench in the alkaline soils of North Central Texas.  (See the explanation of this below.)

Equally puzzling is what he wrote on page 6 of the August, 1999, issue of his club bulletin, The Dirt Doctor's Dirt: "Sometimes labels throw you a curve.  Neem is a great example ... because the label says it's not safe for vegetables.  This fluke came about because of the onerous EPA labeling requirements ..."

Then, during his radio program on Sunday, August 22, 1999, he said, "There's only one place to get neem now.  It's the Green Light line."

Again, this was all nonsense and more evidence that he doesn't bother to read labels.  First, there were and still are several different neem products on the market.  And, second, all the Green Light products at that time (Rose Defense™, et al) were clearly labeled for use on edible crops.

To illustrate further his ignorance about neem oil, witness the following statement.

7/17/99 and 4/30/00: "When sprayed on the leaves, neem doesn't have any systemic qualities.  When used as a drench on the soil, it does."

A publication by Montana State University reads, "Neem has some systemic activity when applied as a foliar spray, but it seems to work best as a systemic when applied as a soil drench...(However) alkaline soils, such as we have in most of Montana (and in North Central Texas), reduce the effectiveness of neem drenches."

The Dirt Doctor" claims many attributes for lava sand, but there's often a fine line between exaggerating or being mistaken and flat out lying.   During his radio program on April 13, 1997, the 'Dirt Doctor" said, "Lava sand has a high exchange capacity, which is the ability to hold water and nutrients.   Measurements are: sand only, 1 to 2; black gumbo, 45 to 50; and lava sand 200 to 300."

The Lava Sand Facts Report, freely available from the supplier, Twin Mountain Rock Company, lists the exchange capacity as only 4 milliequivalents per 100 grams.  Since the "Dirt Doctor" claims that he, personally, talked this company into marketing lava sand, how can he possibly not have seen this one-page fact sheet?  (Furthermore, cation exchange capacity has nothing to do with water-holding ability.  For more details and the results of a test of water adsorption and holding capacity, see Lava Sand.)

Ignorance often makes it difficult to fabricate even a credible sounding lie.  For example, speaking of fireplace ashes on March 13, 1998, the "Dirt Doctor" stated, "When I had a fertilizer analysis done on my own ashes, they did test very high in potassium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorous, and nitrogen -- but were very low in soluble calcium."

According to Rodale’s Chemical-Free Yard & Garden, "(Wood ashes) contain 20 to 50 percent calcium carbonate, depending on the type of wood."  Furthermore, Rodale and other publishers give the typical N-P-K content of wood ashes as 0-1.2-2 (leached) or 0-1.5-8 (unleached).  Note that the nitrogen content is zero, zilch, zip, rien, nil, nada for both leached and unleached ashes.

His statements about rose pruning are just as bizarre. At least three times -- on January 31, 1997, on February 16, 1997, and again on February 5, 1999 -- the "Dirt Doctor" said, "The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has experimented with hedge-trimmer pruning of roses.  I get their newsletter."

That certainly sounded definitive. But, when asked about this, Steven Scanniello, author and long-time curator of the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, replied, "I don’t know what he’s talking about. We’ve never done anything like that."

That he knows little about roses is illustrated by statements such as this one from the February, 2003 issue of The Dirt Doctor's Dirt: "There are two basic types of roses -- Hybrid and Old or Antique roses."

Do you suppose he thinks that old or "antique" roses aren't hybrids?  And that hybrid roses and old roses constitute two "types" of roses?  Doesn't he know that, except for the relatively few species roses, all roses are hybrids and that age has little or nothing to do with it?

On January 12, 2001, his newspaper column included a question from T.N., Dallas: "How and when should we dig up wild roses for transplanting? Also, where can we buy native roses?"  The "Dirt Doctor" answer (in part) was: "Many garden centers that sell organic products also sell antique roses and wild Texas roses."

It's obvious from this that he has no idea what a "wild Texas rose" is.   And he isn't likely to find one for sale at any local garden center.

Further illustrating his general ignorance of roses (and of fundamental botany, for that matter), the "Dirt Doctor" has said several times, and as recently as November 14, 1999, "You can't take cuttings from 'hybrid roses' because they're not on their own roots.   You won't get the exact same plant.  Take cuttings of antique roses instead because they're on their own roots."

While you ponder that classical bit of empty-headed reasoning, check out these additional gems of "misinformation," with comments and verifiably factual information appended inside brackets.

Plants for Texas, University of Texas Press, 1996, page 141: "The ‘Music Rose’ is a very fragrant old rose that is now commercially available." 

[According to Dobson and Schneider's Combined Rose List, no rose by that name is or has ever been sold anywhere in North America, Europe, or Australia.]

And on page 5 of Plants for Texas, on the subject of soils the "Dirt Doctor" wrote, "A balanced soil should have approximately the following percentages of available nutrients: calcium -- 65-70 percent, magnesium -- 12-22 percent, potassium -- 4-5 percent, and adequate amounts of sulfur, iron, copper, zinc, molybdenum, boron, manganese, and other trace minerals."

[In the context of his understanding, he completely omitted nitrogen and phosphorous -- and left little or no room for them.  Also, he seems not to realize that anything more than 2000 parts per million (ppm) calcium is considered "very high," and that 65 percent would amount to 650,000 ppm.]

[Actually, though, he probably copied these numbers off of some soil analysis reporting form.  What the "Dirt Doctor" doesn't understand is that they represent, not the desirable amounts present in a soil, but ranges of "base saturation" values for nutrient cations.  That is to say, they represent the typical percentages of the cation exchange sites occupied by each of the listed elements in an alkaline soil in a semiarid region.]

9/27/97: Talking to a meeting of his Ground Crew: "Whitewash is just latex paint and water, like Tom Sawyer used."

[Whitewash is a mixture of slaked lime and water, often with a binder added.  Latex paint wasn’t introduced until 1949, many years after both Aunt Polly’s picket fence and Tom Sawyer were reduced to humus.]

9/1/01: Speaking of fences, a caller to his Saturday radio program expressed concern that boiled linseed oil contained heavy metals and asked what he could use in its place on his wooden fence.  "Dirt Doctor's" answer: "I normally don't stain or paint a fence."

[Then he must have been no little surprised and irritated when someone sneaked in and put that oil stain on his wooden fence.   Maybe it was Phil Callahan's little leprechauns.]

8/31/97: "The E. coli problem may go back to 1952, when we genetically engineered soy beans."

[Really?  James Watson and Francis Crick described the double helix shape of the DNA molecule in 1953 in a paper published in Nature.   Twenty years later, in the 1970s, genetic engineering was developed, and the first genetically engineered organism (a bacterium used for cleaning up oil spills) was patented in 1980.  The first genetically modified soy bean wasn't introduced until 1995, and the seedstock became commercially available only in 1996, some 44 years after his claimed date.  Besides, what's the connection between soy beans and E. coli, a strain of bacteria found in the digestive systems of animals?]

9/27/97: Speaking at a Ground Crew meeting: "Well, guess what!  Lava sand doesn’t contain any iron."

[The Lava Sand Facts Report from Twin Mountain Rock Company, the chief supplier of lava sand, lists a 7 percent content of hematite, the most abundant of all iron ores.  And an x-ray diffraction analysis of a small sample indicated that it had a hematite content of as much as 15 to 20 percent.]

11/14/97: "Boric acid is acceptable in an organic program because it’s a natural material, dug right out of the ground."

[No, it isn't.  Boric acid may be acceptable in an organic program, but it's a man-made chemical obtained either by treating borax, colemanite, or other natural boron salts with an acid or by the hydrolysis of boron halides or hydrides.  This is fundamentally the same process used to make superphosphate fertilizers, and they're a no-no in any organic program.]

6/7/02: "Compost used to make compost tea for the Garrett Juice does not have to be completely finished.  In fact, a decent tea can be made by soaking the raw materials before they have composted."

[Such a statement is not only ignorant, it is absolutely irresponsible, considering that he urges his followers to compost anything and everything that was once alive, including all sorts of garbage and both human and animal waste.]

1/4/98: "I really don't understand why so many in the organics world are against using sewage sludge on edible crops.  It's the best fertilizer of all.  Human sewage sludge has been used for thousands and thousands of years."

[And, as a result, humans have suffered from diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever, and the ravages of enteroviruses for thousands and thousands of years.]

1/4/98: Caller's question: "Is raw sewage dangerous to use on the lawn before the feces break down?"  "Dirt Doctor's" answer:  "Really, no."

[The neighbors may not be too happy with the odor, but it'll sure cut down on fertilizer costs.]

5/14/00: "It's fine to put human feces in the compost pile; they're full of proteins.  Besides, the Chinese have been doing that forever, and there's a gazillion of them.  It hasn't killed them off"

[Nevertheless, I don't think I'll be spraying my vegetables with anything he makes from his compost tea.]

12/29/00:  To a caller's question about whether or not to put dog excrement in a compost pile, the "Dirt Doctor" replied, "Mother Nature composts everything that was once alive and so should we.  The best way to eliminate any dangerous aspects of any waste material is to neutralize it with the purifying heat from microbial feeding in the compost."

[If human excrement is okay, it would be a little silly to ban dog poo.  But, will he never learn?  No heat achieved in a compost heap will kill viruses.  And, obviously, compost heat doesn't even kill all the bacteria that generate it.  In addition, research at Rutgers University, published in January of 2002,  has shown that bacteria, such as E. coli and Listeria, can be absorbed by the roots of salad greens and carried up into the plant.  Therefore, washing a crop fertilized with manure or contaminated compost won't necessarily eliminate the danger of food poisoning.  And these are just a few of the known and well-established dangers of including any fecies of meat-eating animals in a compost heap.]

5/6/01:  On the other hand, he apparently believes composting can solve all ills.   Discussing with a caller to his Sunday radio program the proposed disposal of radioactive waste in West Texas, the "Dirt Doctor" said, "The solution to the problem of burying atomic waste is composting."

[One can only marvel at such ignorance, both that of the speaker and of the listener who failed to challenge the statement.]

1/25/04: "Earthworm castings are a better quality compost . . . just a good quality compost."

[Which begs the question, does the "Dirt Doctor" even know what compost is?]

5/14/00: "Larkspurs are colorful annuals, but they're poisonous.  They contain digitalis."

[It's foxgloves (Digitalis sp.), not larkspurs, that contain this poison and medical potion.]

1/6/01:  During his radio program, in answer to a caller's question about adding nitrogen fertilizer to his compost heap, the "Dirt Doctor" replied, "The biggest source of nitrogen for a compost pile is the air.   You don't have to put a nitrogen source in."

[It's a simple, well known fact that air is not a source of nitrogen for composting, another process he obviously doesn't understand.]

2/22/98: "People are afraid of salts, but that's not right.  We all know sodium is a salt, but magnesium, potassium and nitrogen, for that matter, are also salts."  Then, as late as August 23, 2003, he repeated this spurious statement."

[He brags that he never took a chemistry course in college.  But, apparently, he didn't even  take high school chemistry.  Otherwise, he would know that none of these are salts.  They're all chemical elements.  But he apparently refuses to believe it, as the following also emphasizes.]

6/23/02: "Orange oil is a salt.   D-limonene is a salt."

[Five and a half years passed between the first and last of these statements, and he's still at a loss to know what a salt is.  D-limonene is a terpene, an unsaturated, chemically reactive hydrocarbon that can be derived from many vegetable products, such as orange oil in this case.]

11/01/03: Furthermore, on his Saturday radio program, he said, "Table salt, which is calcium chloride, . . . "

[Does this even deserve a comment?]

1/23/04: "A reader wote to his newspaper column, "We have well water that is slightly salty.  Does this affect trees and shrubs."  The answer was, "Salty water sprayed on foliage can cause burns.   Organic soil treatments can neutralize the salt problem.  Inject compost tea, Garrett Juice or liquid humate into your irrigation system to eliminate the burn."

[Chemists are waiting with bated breath for an explanation of how any of these "treatments" can "neutralize" sodim chloride (the same thing as common table salt) -- or any other salt, for that matter.]

11/02/03: On his radio program, the "Dirt Doctor" suggested to a caller, "According to the Mississippi Delta Extension Service, sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and sodium chlorate will all control nutgrass.   Let's try potassium bicarbonate, another salt."

[Shoot, as long as we're trying just any old salt, we might as well try baking soda, epsom salts, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, and gypsum.]

11/10/02:  Speaking of chemistry, a caller on his Sunday radio program was concerned because his new brick work was washed with muriatic acid.  The "Dirt Doctor" responded, "No problem.  That's diluted acid -- sulfuric, I think -- and won't hurt anything."

[Muriatic acid,  generally sold as a 15 percent solution, is an old name for hydrochloric acid.  By the same token, potassium chloride is often sold as "muriate of potash."]

2/23/97, 11/22/98 and 8/8/99: "Native Americans called sulfur ‘brimstone’."

[The word "brimstone" is derived from an Old Saxon word meaning "burning stone." There’s no evidence that Saxons ever communicated with Native Americans -- unless the "Dirt Doctor" has unearthed an old Caddo/Saxon dictionary.]

3/1/98: "The American Indians used lamb’s ears as an antiseptic bandage." 

[Lamb’s ear, Stachys byzantina, is native to Turkey and the Caucasus, a long and arduous canoe trip for Native Americans.  But maybe they interrupted the journey with a visit to the Saxons, where they picked up some brimstone and took a few language lessons.]

6/21/98: "We're real unusual here (in North Central Texas) with our alkaline soils.  The rest of the country generally has acid soils."

[It's well documented that the majority of soils west of the Mississippi River are alkaline, as are soils in most other regions with relatively sparse rainfall.]

6/13/99: "Arsenic is a trace mineral and is actually good for you at very low levels." 

[Arsenic is not a mineral.  It's one of the toxic chemical elements in the same category of cumulative poisons as mercury, lead, cadmium, and selenium, none of which are "good for you" at any level.  The EPA has classified arsenic as a human carcinogen.  And the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council has cited evidence indicating that arsenic causes high blood pressure and diabetes.]

4/29/01: "As far as I'm concerned, the arsenic content (of our drinking water) should be zero."

[It's possible that he finally read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring or that he found out about the EPA studies in the interim between these two statements.  But, more than likely, this is just another example of the "windsock behavior" his early employers noted -- his predilection to blow with the wind.]

8/11/02: His comment to a listener who called in with a question during his Sunday radio program: "You're the caller that sounds like Rachel Carson."

[Let's see now.  Rachel Carson died in 1964, when the "Dirt Doctor" was a high school junior.  There's no mention of any voice recordings on the Rachel Carson website, so maybe this is another example of the mystical powers of paramagnetism.]

5/16/99: "Kodiak is the new non-toxic, pressure-treated wood.  I have a fence of it now."

6/20/99: "I have a fence of Kodiak, and it's beautiful."

3/19/00: In reply to a radio listener's question: "There were some problems with Kodiak, so it's not on the market."

[And that's why you'll need truly mystical powers to conjure up his fence that never was.]

7/11/99: "You've heard of 'salt in the wound.'  Salt is a good disinfectant.  It's actually good for a wound."

[Obviously, he doesn't comprehend the meaning of this old bromide.   And he's unaware that aboriginal peoples have, for years untold, rubbed salt into fresh cuts in order to create raised scars as body decorations.]

10/10/99: "This (oak wilt) is basically the same disease that hit elm trees several years ago."

[The "Dirt Doctor" must have learned that these two diseases are caused by fungi belonging to the same genus: Ceratocystis fogacearum for oak wilt and Ceratocystis ulmi for Dutch elm disease.  He just doesn't understand that, otherwise, they aren't related, and the symptoms, the vectors, and the treatments are completely different.]

9/01/02: "I believe there are a lot of ways the oak wilt virus can be transmitted."

[But now, three years later, it's caused by a virus?  It must have mutated.]

10/06/02: "Oak wilt has a workable cure.....My sick tree treatment is the cure for oak wilt.

[If you're interested, this treatment can be found on his website. But the impetus for its development is in doubt since, once again, he has apparently assumed that his audience suffers from attention deficit disorder.]

1/17/04: (Saturday) "I originally designed my sick tree treatment to deal with the problems of red tip photinias."

1/18/04: (Sunday) "The sick tree treatment was developed for the most part to deal with oak wilt."

8/23/03: And speaking of that treatment, the "Dirt Doctor" told a caller to his radio program that he could stop cotton root rot by finding some Actinovate (zeolite laced with a symbiotic bacterium) and using the full sick tree treatment.  He made no mention of reducing the soil pH to an acidic condition with some form of sulfur, the standard means of dealing with that fungal disease.

1/2/00: A caller to Howard Garrett's Sunday radio program related that she had seen a late-night PBS television program that told how someone had planted seeds from the original Mayan wheat and, using ancient Mayan growing techniques, had harvested a bigger crop than we do with modern seeds and modern growing techniques.  The "Dirt Doctor" was duly impressed with her story.

[It's difficult to know who is the most ignorant here, PBS (if the caller actually saw what she described), the caller, or the "Dirt Doctor."  The ancient Mayas never grew wheat.  Wheat is native to the Fertile Crescent and the eastern Mediterranean and was introduced into the Western Hemisphere by the Spanish and English.  And, even if the caller misspoke and meant to say corn instead of wheat, the premise is still ludicrous.  The Mayas didn't grow corn as we know it today.  They grew a maize plant with tiny little ears, an ancestor far-removed from modern corn.]

[Of course, history might be wrong.  This could be more evidence of the far-ranging travels of ancient Americans.  Maybe the Mayas acquired wheat by going along on one of those overseas trips for brimstone, lamb's ears, and language lessons.]

10/18/03: Speaking of antiquities, on his Saturday radio show, he declared, "We've exposed the caliper [root flare] of a 1000-year-old pecan tree over in Weatherford."

[Maybe Mel Brooks' 1000-year-old man planted that tree.]

3/17/00: Newspaper column question from M.M., Dallas: "What kind of flowers repel bugs from vegetable gardens?"  "Dirt Doctor's" answer: "The key to companion planting is to use annual and perennial flowers, vines, shrubs and trees that provide a multitude of flower sizes, colors, fragrances and times of bloom.  The biodiversity encourages a wide range of beneficial insects and hummingbirds, which control pest insects and pollinate flowers."

[Excuse me?  All in a vegetable garden?  Translation: "I have no idea, but biodiversity has six syllables."]

3/17/00 and 3/24/00: Two-minute noontime radio spot: "Here are two pesticide sprays you can make at home out of animal products: orange oil and garlic-pepper tea."

[Animal products?  Doesn't he even listen to himself?]

4/13/01: Newspaper column response to a question regarding blood meal: "I use very little blood and bone meal.  Soft rock phosphate is much more effective in our soils than bone meal and costs less."  (Then he went on to write that bat guano and corn gluten meal were superior to blood meal as nitrogen sources.)

[Soft rock phosphate is essentially the mineral apatite, calcium phosphate.  It is chemically inert and ineffective unless the soil pH is less than an acidic 6.2, but almost all local soils are alkaline.  Plus, most local soils already contain an excessive amount of both calcium and phosphorous.]

Then, only two months later the following two items appeared: As you read them, you'll just have to wonder why the "Dirt Doctor" believes that rock phosphate can substitute for Sul-Po-Mag (a mineral commonly used as a source of potassium and magnesium) and for glauconite (greensand), a potassium iron silicate.

6/22/01: Newspaper column about growing roses: "In sandy acid soils use soft rock phosphate (instead of Sul-Po-Mag)."

6/29/01: Newspaper column about fruit and pecan trees: "(Use) Texas greensand ... or soft rock phosphate at the same rate if in acid soils."

[Suddenly, after several years of touting its value for alkaline soils, he discovered a truth about rock phosphate!    Perhaps he read it here.]

But, between the appearance of the two previous columns . . .

6/23/01: Radio comment: "You can plant directly in it (soft rock phosphate), and the plant will do very well.  It's almost a soil in itself."

[Anyone that actually believes this should give it a try.  I did, and I took pictures.   Send me an e-mail request, and I'll show them to you.]

11/9/03: And on this date, according to Howard, some people are still saying (by e-mail) that soft rock phosphate isn't any good here.   "I have no idea why," he said.

[Has he conveniently forgotten that even he has admitted that it's viable only in acidic soils?  Apparently so.]

12/20/03: To a caller to his radio program who wanted to know what kind of "lime" to add to increase the pH of his soil, the "Dirt Doctor" replied that a high calcium "lime" would be best, but he added, "My favorite, because it buffers and has lots of trace minerals, is soft rock phosphate."

[So, if he believes that soft rock phosphate raises the soil pH (which it doesn't), why would he recommend it for use in alkaline soils?  And, obviously, he doesn't know what a buffer does.]

7/22/01: A caller to his Sunday radio program said that the trunk of his tree had split vertically down the middle and wanted to know what he could do about it.  In his reply, the "Dirt Doctor" said, "Don't bolt the halves together like some arborists will advise because tree tissue doesn't have the ability to heal itself.   It will always leave a rotted area and a weak joint."

[Think about that for a minute.  If it were even remotely true, there wouldn't be any grafting of trees, would there?]

9/28/02: On his Saturday call-in radio program, he proclaimed, "Trees will send feeder roots up to the surface where they'll feed on organic matter and the other stuff."

[There's nothing like chomping on a chunk of organic matter and "other stuff" to satisfy a tree's hunger.]

7/26/02: J. M., a reader from Canyon Lake, wrote to the "Dirt Doctor's" newspaper column and asked what to do about the moss-like growths in his oak trees.  "Does the parasite kill the tree?" he asked.  "What can we do for it naturally?"  Answer: "Ball moss is a parasite that only hurts the tree in heavy infestations, but it can be controlled easily by spraying baking soda or potassium bicarbonate at 1/2 cup per gallon of water."

[How is it that this tree expert doesn't know that ball moss (Tillandsia recurvata) is not a parasite and takes nothing from the tree?   It is an epiphyte, like orchids and like its cousins, the bromeliads.  It can, indeed, be killed by spraying with a strong fungicide -- in the spring when it's actively growing.  But it can also be removed by hand or with a strong blast of water.]

12/01/02: Then, on his radio program, he told a caller, "We see Spanish moss, even ball moss, attacking those plants (trees in stress)."

[Stress has nothing to do with epiphytic growth, nor do epiphytes attack anything, two more facts he obviously doesn't understand.]

10/19/03: A listener to his radio program called in to ask about his dying pine trees, believing the problem might be caused by pine beetles. Stating his mantra about stressed plants, the "Dirt Doctor" replied, "If so, that's a secondary problem. They come in because the trees are in stress. It's probably moisture. Add lava sand, and add some compost if you don't already have a lot of pine needles."

[First, lava sand and compost to ward off pine beetles verges on the inane. Second, stressed trees and other plants are certainly more prone to damage from pests and diseases, but this self-proclaimed expert needs to learn that some pests, including the pine beetle and the beetles that carry oak wilt, Dutch elm, and rose rosette diseases, attack completely healthy plants and thereby devastate entire forests and landscapes. But to admit this would be to admit he doesn't have a clue about a solution to any of these diseases.

11/02/03: A listener asked, "Can bark beetles be imported in wood from Mexico?"  The reply was, "No, the life cycle doesn't permit that."

[Strange answer indeed, since it has been well publicized that bark beetles have been imported in wood that came all the way from China.]

5/25/03: A caller to his Sunday radio program asked how beneficial nematodes mixed into only one gallon of water could be used to treat 2,000 square feet.  The "Dirt Doctor" replied, "A gallon of water, if you don't put too much out in one spot, will cover 2,000 square feet.  If you put it out real fast, it'll cover 2,000 square feet."

[Well, duh! But, if you do the math, the man's concern is obvious.   One gallon of water spread over 2,000 square feet would be a layer only 0.0008 inches deep.]

6/06/03: A newspaper column question from B.S. in Richardson asked, "How can I lower the pH of my soil?  Answer: "Although adjusting the pH of the soil usually is an unimportant consideration, it can be lowered by adding Texas greensand, vinegar or sulfur.  An organic program and the resulting healthy soil will cause the pH at the surface to be just about perfect.

[Where to start on such a reply?  Soil pH is undeniably important with regard to nutrient availability for the plants, but there is no such thing as a "perfect" pH.  Sulfur will lower pH for several months; and vinegar in the soil solution will lower pH for a day or two; but there is nothing about Texas greensand that will have any measurable effect on soil pH.  Finally, "pH at the surface" has absolutely no relationship to the plants or to the soil.   It's just a confirmation of his almost complete ignorance about the meaning of pH.]

6/13/03: D.W. of Dallas wrote to the "Dirt Doctor's" newspaper column about his anti-mosquito device.  It sprays a dilute mixture of pyrethrin, permethrin, and piperonyl butoxide (PBO) for 30 seconds, twice a day.  Referring to "mosquito foggers sold at many stores," he asked, "This system can't be worse, can it?"

"Yes, it can," was the reply.  The "Dirt Doctor" then went on to say that pyrethrin is a natural pesticide but is still toxic.   He stated that PBO is a synthetic synergist that has been linked to liver disease in animals.  "But it gets worse," he said.  "For some reason, the geniuses who designed and are selling this system have created an even more toxic and dangerous effect by adding another synthetic synergist to the mix -- permethrin."

[All of this is a mix of ignorance, exaggeration and wrong information.   According to the Pesticide Action Network (PAN), an anti-chemical organization, pyrethrin is a botanical insecticide (extracted from a type of daisy) and only a possible or potential carcinogen.  They state that PBO is a synthetic synergist that possibly has reproductive effects, but they make no mention of any liver disease associated with it.   And they describe permethrin, not as a synergist, but as a pyrethroid, a chemical insecticide that is a manmade version of pyrethrin.]

8/23/03: To a caller on his radio program, he said, "Vampire bats normally attack animals that are in stress, that are dying.   And they normally attack around the feet."

[The caller had seen a PBS program about vampire bats, a program which no doubt refuted everything the "Dirt Doctor" said.  But he said nothing.   Of course, he was also worried about vampire bats being in Texas, having failed to pick up from PBS that they are tropical animals.]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, April, 1999, page 15: Howard Garrett continually rails against the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, referring to most of them as "neurotoxins."  Yet, in his monthly "ground crew" bulletin, he recommended the use of oxalic acid for control of moss on a sidewalk.  Then he wrote, "It's much stronger, but once washed off and diluted, it becomes a valuable soil amendment."

[Commercial oxalic acid is a man-made chemical product.   And, since it consists entirely of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, it is of no value as a soil amendment.  To the contrary, it can react chemically with and tie up nutrient cations in the soil.  But, more importantly, oxalic acid is, itself, a known neurotoxin.  According to The Penguin Dictionary of Chemistry, "It (oxalic acid) is poisonous, causing a paralysis of the nervous system."]

9/26/03: It becomes apparent that the "Dirt Doctor" doesn't really know the meaning of "neurotoxin" when one reads what he wrote in his weekly newspaper column: "The journal says that, in laboratory tests, insecticides  made from pyrethrum have caused tumors in animals, increased the risk of leukenia, disrupted the normal function of sex hormones, and triggered allergic reactions including heart attack and asthma."  Not one of these symptoms concerns the human nervous system.

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, May, 1999, page 1: "During the Civil War more Union soldiers died from food poisoning due to the tinned meats shipped from the Chicago stockyards than died from enemy fire."

[He must have slept through that course in American History -- or his ancestors were carpetbaggers and scalawags.  Where else could he get such a story?]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, February, 2003, page 36: "In fact, when World War II interrupted shipping, most of the 'coffee' in this country was actually chicory.  It's caffeine-free."

[Some of us were alive and drinking coffee during World War II, so this Dirt Doctor Gem of Misinformation must have come from that big manure pile at the Chicago stockyards, the one that poisoned all those tinned meats during the Civil War.]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, May, 1999, page 1: "Neither chickens nor cattle are carnivores -- or cannibals."

[He sure hasn't spent much time around a chicken yard -- or a cow lot for that matter."]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, January, 2000, page 1: "The US Constitution (was) ratified in 1776."

[Now it's certain he slept through that history course.]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, April, 2000, page7: "My new solar greenhouse has a solid roof that slopes at a 22° angle from the south down to the north.  This is the exact angle of the sun at the winter solstice, the lowest path it travels in the southern sky on December 22..."

[He must have slept through more than a history course because the noonday sun in Dallas never dips below an angle of approximately 34°.  (For a complete explanation and additional commentary regarding the design of his special "solar greenhouse," see Howard's Greenhouse.)]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, January 2001, page 2:   "If you buy a fresh tomato in February, the odds are about 100% that it has been imported from Mexico, just one of the countries to which we export pesticides that are banned here."

[Apparently, Mrs. Garrett does all the grocery shopping.   Then she peels off all those little labels, so he's never become aware of greenhouse tomatoes.]

2/18/01: (Comment about omitting the 'h' in 'herbs.')  "It's pronounced 'herbs.'   Only a Limey would say 'erb."

[Honestly? Is that an honorable thing to say about these heirlooms on an hour-long show?  Anyway, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, the first, preferred pronunciation is 'urb' and the second choice is 'hurb.'  And Paula LaRocque, retired writing coach for his own Dallas Morning News, has written, "It's an herb or an herbal (the h- is silent) but a herbicide (the h- is sounded)."]

4/8/01: "There are no fruit trees native to this area."

[Nonsense.  Two species of mulberry, the eastern persimmon, the Mexican plum, the Munson plum, and the escarpment black cherry are all native to Dallas County and to North Central Texas.]

4/27/01: In his newspaper column, he answered thusly a question about what he thinks of epsom salts: "Epsom salts is an excellent tool for improving the production of the soil but only if the soil is deficient in magnesium and sulfur.   That is usually the case in North Central Texas.  The natural Sul-Po-Mag is a better choice."

[To the contrary, because of the limestone and clay content, the Blackland Prairie soils of Texas are seldom, if ever, deficient in magnesium or sulfur.]

4/26/02: One year later, this question appeared in his newspaper column:  "A nursery told us to sprinkle epsom salts around the base of newly planted crape myrtles.  What do you think?"

His reply indicated he still knows little about local soils:   "Epsom salts -- magnesium sulfate -- improve our soils here in North Texas, which are generally deficient in magnesium and sulfur."

[Local soil tests invariably show both magnesium and sulfur to be in the "high" range, unlike the sandy soils of the "Dirt Doctor's" boyhood home in East Texas.]

10/27/02: Even so, in reply to a radio caller's question about adding lime to his East Texas soil, the "Dirt Doctor" said, "Be sure it's the high calcium lime.  You don't want the one with magnesium in it because your soil has plenty of magnesium."

[The one with magnesium in it is called dolomite or dolomitic limestone, Howard.]

9/29/02: On his Sunday call-in radio program, he had said, "Dolomite is the most common form of lime in the feed stores."

[Dolomite is neither lime nor limestone.  Strictly speaking, dolomite is magnesium carbonate, a mineral.  Dolomitic limestone is calcium magnesium carbonate.  Neither one is appropriate for animal feed or for use in alkaline soils.   Therefore, neither one is commonly found either in local feed stores or in local garden centers.]

8/18/01: To another radio caller, the "Dirt Doctor" proclaimed, "(In those sandy, acid soils of East Texas) you probably have too much magnesium."

[Wrong again!  Those sandy, water-leached soils are invariably deficient in magnesium.]

11/11/01: "Cockroaches were crawling around 30 million years ago, even before the giant dinosaurs evolved."

[True, except dinosaurs disappeared about 60 million years ago, and the newspaper article he apparently read actually said that cockroaches have been around for 300 million years.]

11/25/01: "When you use the organic program, even the peeling (of grapefruit) is sweet and edible."

[Chacun son gout. Remember, this is the man who claims to enjoy the taste of juniper berries.]

11/25/01: "Crude oil is a pretty good fertilizer if it's diluted to a degree."

[Yeah, to the nth degree.  And what will it be diluted with?   Water?  Not likely.]

12/21/01: Newspaper column question from C.F., Dallas: "Why is it that watering plants, when freezing temperatures are expected, may improve plant tolerance to cold temperatures?"  Answer: "Plants hurting from any deficiency (such as water) are more susceptible to additional stresses... etc." (He goes on to say that healthy plants have less stress damage.)

[This answer is gibberish and just confirms his claim that he never took a course in physics, since he seems not to know about what is termed the "latent heat of fusion."  Simply put, when water freezes, it gives up this heat of fusion (amounting to 1,435 calories/gm-mol, or about 80 calories/cubic centimeter or 1,195 Btu/gallon).  In plant cells filled with water and in a well-watered soil, this released heat helps to maintain a temperature above that of the adjacent and surrounding air.  Hence, watering plants before a freeze can help to protect them from subfreezing temperatures.]

12/30/01: On his radio program, the "Dirt Doctor" disparaged the use of zinc fertilizers and sprays for pecan trees partly by saying, "Pure zinc is white.  Take a look at zinc fertilizers.  They're gray or brown or black."

[No it isn't, and yes they are.  Why?  Because pure zinc isn't white, but zinc oxide is, which is why it's used as the pigment in white paint.  Pure zinc is bluish gray, at best.  Take a look at any galvanized fence post.  That bluish-colored galvanic coating is pure zinc.  But pure zinc doesn't occur in nature.   Zinc occurs in the form of a mineral ore, with sphalerite (zinc sulfide) being the most abundant.  And sphalerite, which may also contain up to 18% iron,  is gray or brown or black.  Another zinc ore, smithsonite (zinc carbonate), may also contain iron, manganese, calcium, and magnesium and is commonly a gray or brown color.]

1/25/02: Newspaper column question from M.B., Dallas: "Is there an organic alternative to spraying picloram for the purpose of killing several acres of prickly pear cactus?"  "Dirt Doctor's" answer: "Good for you for asking (followed by a long discourse against picloram). Several ranchers prefer to compost the cactus and add manure to the pile and leave it until the pear is starting to rot, then turn the pile a few times. ... However, building the soil by increasing the organic matter is the long-term control."

[I take it, that's a "no."]

2/3/02: In response to a caller's question, the "Dirt Doctor" declared, "Sweet autumn clematis dies back to the ground every year."

[Yet, on page 51 of his book, Howard Garrett's Plants for Texas, he described this plant as a perennial vine, vigorous and semi-evergreen, and recommended against pruning it the first year.  And, curiously, he repeated the semi-evergreen part in the February, 2002, issue of The Dirt Doctor's Dirt.]

2/24/02: On his call-in radio program, speaking about Malathion®, the "Dirt Doctor" said, "They tell you it'll take the paint off your car, but it's safe for you to use.  Ugh!"

[There really are better measures of toxicity.  Orange juice and chicken eggs, just to cite two examples, will take the paint off a car.]

2/24/02: On that same radio program, he related the tale, "We have a young woodpecker around our house.  He hangs at a real awkward angle on our bird feeder.  He's been coming around several years now."

[A young woodpecker that's been coming around for several years?  Wow!  All that lava sand and paramagnetism around his yard must do wonders for the aging process.]

4/10/02: On his two-minute, noonday radio spot the "Dirt Doctor" proclaimed, "Ginkgo has the reputation of growing only about 2 inches a year, but mine grows 10 times that fast."

[So the 30-foot ginkgo on St. Michaels Street in North Dallas must be at least 150 years old and was, therefore, planted out on the prairie when Dallas was still a village on the Trinity River, 10 miles distant, and 50 years before ginkgo trees were rediscovered in China.   I find that a bit difficult to believe.]

5/3/02: (From his newspaper column) "Seaweed provides trace minerals and tricontanol [sic] which is a growth stimulator."

[Triacontanol is, indeed, a growth hormone, but it's found in alfalfa, not seaweed.]

5/22/02: On his noonday radio spot, he declared once again, "I haven't really pushed volcanic rock powders for the past several years.  But I've gotten smarter."

[Hello out there, all you brain-dead listeners.  Obviously, you're too stupid to remember that he's been pushing lava sand and other so-called volcanic rock powders regularly, if not continuously, since at least January of 1993.]

6/23/02: To a radio program caller who had planted some acorns he said, "Oaks are promiscuous, and there's all sorts of pollen in the air.  So you don't know who the mom and dad are."

[Maybe not "dad,"  but I'd strongly suspect that "mom" is the tree that dropped the acorns.]

11/02/02: Explaining to a radio listener that there really wasn't a problem with the listener's lawn, the "Dirt Doctor" said, "Toadstools are the fruiting bodies of organic matter that's decaying in the soil."

[Pardon?  I thought toadstools were the fruiting bodies of fungal organisms.]

11/22/02: Speaking of magic, on his noontime radio spot, the "Dirt Doctor" said that soil contaminated with lead, chromium, and arsenic could be cleaned up with an organic program.  To accomplish this, he said to, first, treat with an activated charcoal product and zeolite to tie up the contaminants.  Then, drench the area with Garrett Juice plus orange oil.  This, he said, will stimulate microbial activity, and the microbes will consume the heavy metals.

[As simple as that sounds, he failed to explain one key thing: What will those microbes do with all those heavy metals to remove them from the premises?]

12/15/02: "Figs don't produce a flower, but they do have seed."

[Figs do produce a flower or, better, an inflorescence.  It's just that it's turned inside out and is the fruit in this case.  That tiny hole in the end of each fig is where the insect gets inside to pollinate the flowers.]

1/31/03: L. H. of Little Elm wrote in to ask, "Will Garrett Juice help break up the clay soil in my yard?"  In his newspaper column, the "Dirt Doctor" answered, "Yes, Garrett Juice, a mixture of compost tea, vinegar, molasses and seaweed that you can mix or buy commercially will soften the soil."

[Interesting.  And to think, this concoction was originally developed for use as an insecticidal spray.  Oh, well, wetting clay is indeed one way to soften it for awhile.]

6/06/03: In reply to a question from F.A. of Dallas about how to control early blight of tomatoes, the "Dirt Doctor" wrote, "Regular spraying of compost tea, especially if the liquid is aerated, will help.   Bubble air through the ready-to-use tea with an aquarium pump just befor spraying."

[Evidently, he has read or been told that aerobic compost tea (made by bubbling air through the liquid while brewing in order to encourage aerobic bacteria) is the best.  But he doesn't understand what that means.  Bubbling air through the finished tea just before spraying would accomplish nothing.]

5/23/03: D. M. of Dallas wote to ask, "What iron supplement do you suggest in place of Ironite, which you apparently do not advocate?"  His answer was "Texas greensand is better than any other iron prodct..."

[This is simply ignorant.  The iron in Texas greensand is mostly in the ferric state, which simply means it's insoluble and unavailable to plants.   For a complete explanation about Ironite and a discussion of Texas greensand, travel via this link to the page with Rock Powders.]

6/29/03: A caller on his Sunday radio program asked what to do about chiggers. He said he had been using diatomaceous earth, as the "Dirt Doctor" had recommended in his earlier books, but it didn't work. The "Dirt Doctor" didn't remember recommending DE for chiggers and freely admitted, "That must have been when I didn't know very much."

[Of course, that word will never get around to most of those who have those books. But it makes little difference in any case. In his "bug book," published in 1999, he recommends for chiggers a mixture of DE and pyrethrum. And in The Dirt Doctor's Dirt for July, 2003, he recommends for chiggers, "Dust natural diatomaceous earth, and apply beneficial nematodes."]

[Then, in his newspaper column of August 15, 2003, he answered a question about whether nematodes controlled chiggers by writing, "The nematodes certainly help because of the increase in general biological activity in the soil. I don't know about direct control of chiggers."]

7/06/03: Speaking of his "bug book," a caller to his radio program said that a caterpillar had dried up and fallen off a leaf on one of her plants.  The "Dirt Doctor" replied, "This is caused by natural Bt.  There's an illustration of natural Bt near the front of Malcolm's and my bug book."

I have a copy of that book given to me by Malcolm Beck and autographed by both Malcolm and the "Dirt Doctor."  As far as I know it's the only version published to date.  Yet I find no mention or illustration of any such thing as "natural Bt" anywhere in it.  Of course, that's no surprise.  Their publisher doesn't print  fantasy.

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, August, 2001, page 15:   The "Dirt Doctor" (speaking of why he doesn't like drip irrigation systems) said, "Plus, the water drips onto the soil directly below the drip hole.   Then you're depending on gravity to spread it around."

[There's that lack of any understanding of physics again.  Once the water reaches the soil, wetting forces and capillary pressure cause it to spread.  Gravity doesn't work horizontally.]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, August, 2001, page 8: A reader wrote about the safety of using railroad ties in the garden: "Is there anything out there where scientific tests have been done to say that vegetable plants uptake arsenic and other bad things from ties?"  "Dirt Doctor's" answer: "I learned something important in my early days of organic enlightenment.  Trying to offer up 'scientific' proof to people as to whether it's a good idea or not to use toxins and carcinogens around your food and your family is a gross waste of time."

[Translation: "I don't know of any scientific tests, but that doesn't make any difference to me."  On the other hand, aren't railroad ties treated with creosote, rather than with the copper-chromium-arsenic preservative (CCA) used for construction and landscape timbers?]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, December 2001, page 17: A ground crew member's letter stated that the tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia) and the sweet gum tree (Liquidamber styraciflua) are close relatives and gave detailed, laborious instructions for making the "equivalent of tea tree oil" out of sweet gum leaves "for medicinal use."  The "Dirt Doctor" thanked her for the recipe and added the comment that there were "plenty" of sweet gum trees "in East Texas and Oklahoma."

[First, there are also many, many sweet gum trees right here in the city of Dallas.  Second, and more importantly, this home-brew "medicine" could be dangerous because the tea tree and the sweet gum are not "close relatives."  The tea tree is a member of the Myrtaceae family, which includes myrtles, eucalyptus, and cloves; whereas, the sweet gum and witch hazel are members of the Hamamelidaceae family of trees and shrubs.  Just what is the "Dirt Doctor's" expertise?  And what is his liability if someone uses this concoction and has a bad reaction?]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, February, 2002, page 11: "Zeolite (Clinoptilotite) is biologically neutral.  Like lava sand, it is 100% natural volcanic material.  It contains a wide array of basic minerals that were spewed back to the earth's surface in a cataclysmic event--a volcanic eruption."

[Since zeolite, itself, is a family of individual minerals (clinoptilotite being just one member of the family), it cannot contain an array of minerals, basic or otherwise.  And no zeolite has ever been spewed out of a volcano.  Zeolite is a secondary mineral resulting from the chemical alteration of pre-existing rocks.  For more details, go see Rock Powders at this web site.  Or, for a more scientific description, go to Zeolites.]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, September, 2002, page 3: "Methyl bromide is a cheap, effective and highly toxic soil additive."

[Methyl bromide, or bromomethane, is not a soil additive.  It is a poisonous gas that is used as a soil fumigant.]

The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, December, 2003: Root knot nematodes are plant damaging microscopic, un-segmented, parasitic worms.   Some are harmful and some are beneficial."

[One use of methyl bromide is to get rid of root knot nematodes, all of which are harmful to plant life.]

And in that same December edition, he actually wrote, "When pathogens are brought into their proper proportions they are no longer troublesome. In most cases they become beneficial at that point."

The Dirt Doictor's Dirt, June, 2003: In a venomous editorial about Texas A&M fertilizer recommendations and soil testing procedures, the "Dirt Doctor" repeated the lie he has stated many times when he said, "The Texas A&M soil test is one of a kind.  No other testing lab in the country uses this particularly harsh acid extraction procedure."  Then, later on, he says, "How do plant roots extract nutrients from the soil?  They use carbon dioxide and carbonic acid."

And then, finally, he says, "Another problem with the aggie [sic] test is that it does not report organic matter."

[It would, of course, be almost  impossible for any one individual to know that the method of nutrient extractions used by the Texas A&M soil laboratory is used nowhere else in the country.  But, in any case, it's simply not true.   However, a lie told enough times can become a fact -- at least in the mind of the teller.  On the other hand, the statement about how plants extract nutrients from the soil is just so ignorant and so ludicrous that it's not worth commenting on.  And the statement about Texas A&M not reporting organic matter is simply untrue.]

11/01/03: And on the subject of A&M soil tests, a caller to his radio program said a test had shown his soil to be too high in phosphorous and too low in nitrogen.  The "Dirt Doctor" replied, "They (Texas A&M) always get that because they use harsh acids that give total amounts in the soil, not what is available to plants."

[Apparently, he can't see the contradiction here.  How can showing only total amounts result in a phosphorous level that is too high and a nitrogen level that is too low?]

Then, he told the caller, "Don't worry about (your soil) being high in phosphorous.  Red oaks will grow in white limestone, which is very high both in calcium and phosphorous."

[This, of course, is establishing an entirely new realm of geology since, up until now, limestone has, by definition, been composed almost entirely (maybe 95 percent plus) of calcium carbonate.]

Over the past 4 or 5 years, cornmeal seems to have become the "Dirt Doctor's" plat du jour.  And legitimate research has shown that cornmeal does have some algacidal and fungicidal properties.  But, as far back as August 31, 1997, the "Dirt Doctor" was up to his usual vices when he declared, "Cornmeal will not only kill diseases in the soil, but also viruses up in the plant."  Of course, this is nonsense because there is no known substance that will kill plant viruses without also destroying the plant.  In fact, in his The Dirt Doctor's Dirt for December, 2003, he said "There is little that can be done to restore the health of a virus-infected plant."

Again, this is a case where the "Dirt Doctor" seems to have a difficult time keeping his story on track.  For instance, during his radio program on January 27, 2001, a caller wanted to know about using cornmeal on botrytis. The "Dirt Doctor" asked him whether botrytis was a fungus or a bacteria [sic] because, he explained, cornmeal is effective against fungal diseases but not bacterial ones.

So he believes cornmeal will kill viruses but not bacterial diseases.  (And shouldn't a gardening "expert" be aware that botrytis is a commonly encountered fungus? Many home gardeners certainly are.)

On January 11, 2002, the "Dirt Doctor" defined cornmeal as "a natural soil amendment that is used to stimulate beneficial soil biology to control fungal diseases" (no mention of viruses, however).  Then, in the next few weeks in his newspaper column alone, he recommended cornmeal for a variety of purposes.

    February 1: "My standard bed preparation -- compost, volcanic sand, cornmeal and organic fertilizer mixed into native soil."

    February 8: "Apply cornmeal to the soil for fungal disease control."

    February 20: "Cornmeal amendment to the soil is 'critical' for control of the bacterial grape disease transmitted by sharpshooter bugs."  [But, only a year earlier, he said cornmeal didn't kill bacterial diseases.]

    March 8: "A thin layer of horticultural cornmeal will control spider mites on indoor plants."

    May 23: "Cornmeal used on the soil around roses is very effective at controlling fungal diseases.  The rate that works best is ... 1 to 2 pounds per 100 square feet.  When used at a greater rate, the biological activity it stimulates can be so heavy that it becomes a problem rather than a cure."

And in the March, 2002, issue of The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, he wrote, "According to Researcher Reports, cornmeal is also effective on athlete's foot, psoriasis, warts and other skin problems."

Then, on his noonday radio spot on May 15, 2002, he declared, "We haven't run into a fungus yet that it won't control."

But, according to the "Dirt Doctor, it's still much more than a fungicide.  On his radio show of November 9, 2003, he declared, "A little cornmeal worked into the soil will give you indirect control of insect pests."

Then, on his talk show of November 16, 2003, he told a caller that St. Augustine decline (SAD) was caused by "some sort of fungus disease" and could be cured by an apllication of cornmeal.

And, on his radio show of January 3, 2004, a caller recommended a paste of cornmeal and castor oil for removing warts and moles. The "Dirt Doctor" thanked him and called that "a great tip."

[It's getting more magical all the time.  If it gets any better, I may have to create a new and separate page solely for the miracle workings of cornmeal.   On the other hand, aren't warts caused by a viral infection?  St. Augustine decline certainly is.  And some moles are cancerous.]

11/10/02: A listener to his Sunday radio program called in and said, "Thanks for telling us about cornmeal.  I soaked my fingernail for 30 minutes.  The next day, it was soft, and I just tore it off."

[Somehow, I don't think that's a proper cure for nail fungus.]

1/10/04: And it gets even better.  He told a listener, "to get rid of powdery mildew on the foliage, cornmeal juice is the best spray of all."

[It would be interesting to know who tested this remedy and when it was tested.  And how "cornmeal juice" was compared to all the other fungicides available to the organic gardener.]

9/19/03: R.W. of Dallas wrote and asked what to do about a grape pest infestation he described as something similar to a small aphid that forms galls on the leaves and starves the plant.  The "Dirt Doctor" replied, "Use horticultural cornmeal on the soil, cedar mulch on top of that, foliar feed with aerated conpost tea and use my entire organic program."

[Cornmeal, cedar mulch on the soil and foliar feeding to rid plants of aphid-like insects?  Oh, well, they aren't his vines.]

12/15/02: At the same time, he promotes corn gluten meal as a pre-emergent.  But it's obvious he doesn't undertand how it works, when he says, "Corn gluten meal won't stop all the seeds from germinating, but it will hurt the germination."

[Corn gluten meal doesn't stop any seed from germinating.  It has a high concentration of nitrogen that encourages topgrowth of seedlings, while inhibiting the development of a root system, according to Iowa State University.  Tests have shown that it is about 50 percent effective in killing newly sprouted weed seedlings in lawns.  As the chief promoter of this product, the "Dirt Doctor" should know that.]

2/2/03: "Don't fertilize until June if you use corn gluten meal now."

[Corn gluten meal has an N-P-K of 9-0-0, so it has no phosphorous or potassium and few micronutrients.  It is not a complete fertilizer by any stretch of the imagination or wave of the magic wand.]

11/01/03: "If you only lightly water corn gluten meal, you can set up an anaerobic reaction, and it really smells bad."

[Apparently, he doesn't even understand that an anaerobic reaction is one that occurs without any oxygen being present,  with only anaerobic bacteria being active, or both.]

In The Dirt Doctor's Dirt for October, 2003, Howard Garrett demonstrated one of the means he uses to defend his position without having to present any real evidence.  He quoted Dr. Mike Merchant of the Texas Cooperative Extension as saying, "Don't be misled by sales claims for many so-called 'natural' products.   Advertising which claims that any insecticide is 'safe,' 'pure,' 'all natural,' 'EPA approved,' 'pesticide free' and 'chemical free' are [sic] at best misleading; and at worst, false or illegal.  Many people get great saisfaction from using only substances found in nature in their garden.  This is generally a good thing.   However, use of synthetic pesticides can also be a safe and environmentally sound practice if practiced with care and discretion."

The "Dirt Doctor" argued with the last sentence of this statement, as expected, but then he went on to write, "It's amusing that these artificial experts can with a straight face say that cornmeal, baking soda, pepper, garlic, cedar and other plant oils can be dangerous."

[Of course, nowhere in his statement did Dr. Merchant (an actual Ph.D. and one whom the "Dirt Doctor" has called a "little weasel") say that any of these particular products is dangerous, although one can suppose that consuming any of them in sufficient quantity might be less than intelligent.]

Another of the "Dirt Doctor's" favorite ploys is to dream up and contribute ignorant statements to the scientific community.  For instance, he has declared on many occasions, "One of the lies told by the organiphobes is that plants can only absorb nutrients in the elemental (ion) form."

Where in the world is he hiding these lying organiphobes?  Every educated botanist and horticulturist knows otherwise.  Certainly, every purveyor of systemic pesticides is aware that plants can absorb complex molecules of many types.

In the same vein, during his two-minute, noontime radio spot on September 17, 1999, the "Doctor of Dirt" said, "Now is the time the organiphobes are telling everyone to spray all the peach trees with Bordeaux mixture for the disease called peach leaf curl."  Then, in the October, 2000, issue of The Dirt Doctor's Dirt, he adopted this same organiphobe approach when he wrote that, for peach leaf curl, October is the time to "spray Garrett Juice with 1 tablespoon of potassium bicarbonate or baking soda per gallon of water."

But these organiphobes exist only in his imagination.  No one with any actual knowledge recommends spraying in North Texas in late summer or early fall for peach leaf curl.  Westcott's Plant Disease Handbook says  it was discovered more than 100 years ago that this fungal disease can be prevented only by spraying peach trees after leaf fall in autumn or early in the year before the buds begin to swell.   And the National Gardening Association recommends spraying "once all the leaves have fallen."   Besides, why is there a problem?  Bordeaux mixture is an approved product for certified organic gardeners.