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PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 9:13 am 
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Hot Alum water is the best insect destroyer known. Put the Alum in hot water and let it boil till it is all dissolved; then apply the solution hot with a brush to all cracks, closets, bedsteads and any other places where insects might be found. Ants. bedbugs, cockroachs and other creeping bugs are killed by it while there is no danger of posining the family, pets or injuring the property.

Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 9:57 am 
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Location: Odenville,Alabama
What are the nutrients or minerals inside of alum? Aluminum?
Does it create an acidic reaction if mixed with soil and water?
Is it harmful to aerobic microbes that grow inside of compost piles, the topsoil, or aerated compost teas?

Check out this article I found on alum:

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/don/dt/dt0090.html

Doesn't sound too organically acceptable to me...

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The entire Kingdom of God can be totally explained as an Organic Garden (Mark 4:26)
William Cureton


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2003 12:11 pm 
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The recipe is suggesting indoor household use only. I would use caution outdoors. There is no question that it would have an affect on the soils PH. I have no Idea what affect it would have on the microbes...might pickle them :shock:

The synthesis of alum can be veiwed here...

http://michele.usc.edu/classpages/chem1 ... -lab2.html

Her is some more infomation:


alum - a double sulfate of of ammonium or a univalent metal (such as sodium or potassium) and a trivalent metal (such as aluminum, iron or chromium): it is used as an astringent, as an emetic and in the manufacture of baking powders, dyes and paper; the commonest form is potash alum (potassium aluminum sulfate).

According to the National Food Safety Database, alum is used as an ingredient in baking powder and is used as a crisping agent in the production of pickles and maraschino cherries. It is used only in a soak solution and is washed off thoroughly before completing the recipe. It is also used to harden gelatin. Alum's medical uses are as an astringent, a styptic and an emetic. Some people say that placing a small piece of alum on a cold sore causes healing to take place much faster, but I wouldn't do that myself.

The USDA says that using alum to firm fermented pickles is unnecessary, and that food-grade lime can be used instead. But lime has its hazards too. Excess lime neutralizes or removes acidity and so must be washed out to make safe pickles, and the cucumbers must be rinsed and re-soaked in fresh water.


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