Molasses Resources/Research

Web

Molasses as microbial stimulant (and ant control?)

http://www.malcolmbeck.com
One container was given only tap water; the other was given equal water with two tablespoons of molasses per gallon stirred in. After 8 weeks, the molasses watered plants were almost twice the size of the plants in the other container.
...I dissolved 4 tablespoons of molasses in each gallon of water and sprayed along the drip pipe. By the next day, the fire ants had moved out four feet in each direction. We were able to graft the vines without a single ant bothering us.

Molasses and whey mixture cleans contaminated soils

http://sanjose.bizjournals.com
This company injected cheese whey, then molasses and then a mixture of both into the ground, finding the right ratios through trial and error. Supplied with a plentiful and evidently ideal source of food, the bacteria multiplied. As time went on, however, the cheese whey and molasses ran out, leaving a now-expanded population of microbes in search of something else to eat. While solvents and the other pollutants are not the food of choice, the microbes will eat them. "We have had contaminant concentrations that have decreased 99 percent or more over the last year with the cheese-whey solution."

Molasses helps control pathogenic nematodes (pdf)

http://www.aftresearch.org
In a papaya plantation on Maui where high and damaging populations of reniform nematodes had caused a reduction in fruit yield and quality, the molasses applications lowered nematode soil populations and resulted in marked improvement in the tree growth and harvestable fruit. When applied to Chinese cabbage, the numbers of Herodera nematode cysts decreased following harvest. Preplant applications of molasses to onions improved plant color and onion yield although no difference in soil nematode populations or in cyst number was observed.

Books

The Non-Toxic Farming Handbook. Phil Wheeler and Ron Ward. Available from Acres USA.