Jerry Baker, "America's Master Gardener" or Master Quack?

Well, the most amazing gardening shows are running all week on WETA, the local PBS affiliate - Jerry Baker's how-to videos.  He not only calls himself "America's Master Gardener," he's actually trademarked the term.  Takes cajones, don't ya think?  Well, that's just for starters (though I can't help wondering if "Maryland's Master Gardener" is still available.  Hmm.)

Anyway, his advice for a "spring clean-up" is to spray everything with a mixture of antiseptic  mouthwash, dishsoap, the juice of chewing tobacco, and any "medication" that we think is needed.  And by "everything" he means lawn and all your "trees, shrubs and evergreens."  He used that nonsensical term so often during his show on the subject, I almost forgot how stupid mistaken it is.  This homemade formula is supposed to start our gardens out "clean, green and mean" and is to be followed by spraying everything with dormant hort oil, followed by a combination of "any old fertilizer" to which is added sugar and epsom salts.  This is not only to be sprayed on everything but also inserted into holes drilled around every tree.
 

After all these applications you'd think you'd be set for the season, right?  No, it's just the beginning because Jerry next instructs us to spray with his "green-up tonic" every 3 weeks throughout the season and his "clean-up tonic" every 2 weeks.  Oh, and don't forget the anti-dessicant spray in spring and fall.  Also in the fall we're supposed to spray with his "jump start" formula of beer, dish soap, ammonia and epsom salts.  And you're still not done. His recommended program for feeding and "cleaning," by which he means killing insects, should be continued throughout the winter, even on top of snow.  And after pruning in late winter, the cuts should be sealed with latex paint.   As hard as it is to stop relating this parade of horrors, I think I've conveyed the essence of Jerry Baker, conveyer of "natural remedies and environmental products for your health," according to his own promotions.

All of which sent me scrambling to Google to find out more about this guy and among the marketing sites for his products and his 40 books, I found this good article fleshing out my own concerns. There I learned that he's been universally condemned by plant scientists, who say his advice "ranges from the wacky to the downright dangerous."  For example, the nicotine in chewing tobacco juice is a lethal pesticide, far more dangerous than what most of us buy in the stores.  State and federal agricultural agents have objected to his use of the name "America's Master Gardener" - well, I should hope so.

Apparently every scientific group there is has complained to PBS but hey, when Jerry's videos are shown, PBS rakes in their third largest fund-raising hauls.  So their VP of fund-raising says they "haven't seen convincing evidence his advice is harmful" and that "most of the criticism has come from people with vested interests, who are the traditional experts."  Wow, what a concept, that if you're a "traditional expert," presumably  meaning one with a degree in the field, you're somehow suspect because you have a vested interest. Sometimes it's hard to distinguish PBS's attitude toward science from that of our president, but I'll spare you my tirade on that subject. (Last week's New Yorker had an excellent article that I recommend if you have the stomach for it.)

Now for my questions.  First, why is this guy so popular?  See, his 15-year-old national radio show airs on 217 stations, he's been Kmart's gardening spokesman for 27 years, and he's considered one of America's foremost gardening authorities.  Despite his folksiness, I'm surprised that his shows aren't sending viewers running in terror from the overwhelming burden of continual spraying.  I thought the public was looking for low-maintenance advice, so you see why I'm confused.

But more importantly, if this guy were a medical quack, would he be allowed on, much less promoted by, public television? Hell, no.  But I suppose nobody takes gardening seriously enough to dare suggest a little proof and heck, it's only the environment at stake, anyway.  Bottom line, why hasn't this guy been totally discredited and run off PBS long ago?  Apparently only a couple of stations have been persuaded to drop Jerry's programming; is that because gardeners, even master gardeners, are happily zoned out in their gardens?  Guys, it doesn't have to be that way, especially now that gardeners and environmentalists are often one and the same. 

If I've failed miserably and you're not pissed off about all this, here's my last shot. One of the pro-Jerry sites I found has the heading, "Get the latest scoop straight from the bloggers," followed by a listing of various commercial sites with not a blogger in the bunch.  But you see how bloggers are being cited as legitimate grassroots voices?  Now that's a challenge I can't let pass, despite my life-long love of public television.  Sorry, guys.

[Photos:  My neighbors' gardens on the 2005 House and Garden Tour, by Julie Wyatt, Takoma/Silver Spring Voice. Notice the roof garden looking great in its first year.]

Comments

[Miz S]

Shame on PBS. I'm glad you're spreading the word.

[Pam L]

This must be the guy I've always ignored and switched the channel on in the past because who has time to make that horrible home made brew and wait for it to ferment or whatever the procedure is. I don't know that I'd heard about the antiseptic spraying though to "cleanse" my poor dirty garden. And, what does he have against insects? How does he distinguish between the bees I love to see and need and whatever else he deems unfit to inhabit my garden? I mean, I'm not fond of the slugs and cinch bugs eating the petals as soon as they bloom,and even went so far as to buy slug killer and put it down once before I felt so guilty that I might be harming the other living things that I threw the rest away and went back to the harmless , for other insects anyway, of using tuna oil in cans for the cinch bugs, beer for the slugs and the blue bowls of water with Dawn for the thrips. Bees are too smart for all of these it seems. What a quack Mr. baker seems to be.

[Pam L]

P.S. I love the planting "bed" and the brick wall fountain. Are those in your yard?

[Alice]

I was breathless with indignation by the time I finished reading your post. I mean, what hope has the environment got when the 'big guys' put profits above all else? Talking of vested interests, I'd say PBS was top of the list there. Honestly, if a garden needed that much fertilizing and cleaning, I'd settle for pavers and cement. You'd be so worn out with spraying (even if the sprays were environmentally safe) that you would have no time or energy left to actually enjoy the garden.

[Jenn]

MmHmm. He and Kmart are both local Michigan, which may explain the long association. He probably just walked one day and talked some ad exec into letting him be a spokesman.

Bloggers as grassroots explains this (ahem) garden writer contacting me to do a review of his new book. Still debating the debunk. Don't know if I have the energy to do a proper job of it.

Link: https://www.asseenontvnetwork.com/vcc/allstar/pestfreeproperty/134660/
(not html on your comments, or I would have given you an embedded link.

[Heather]

oh, thank goodness! When I first started gardening, a friend called and said, "Hey, there's a gardening show on PBS!" So I eagerly switched it over and watched. By the end I was thinking, "Man, either I'm not cut out for gardening or this guy is smoking crack when he comes up with this stuff." Glad to know that *I'M* not the one with the issues.

[Reading Dirt]

My goodness -- the longer this guy goes on, the more and more bizzare his magic formulas get. I think he must just open up the cupboard and grab whatever is there. Mouthwash? Since when do my plants have halitosis? Dish soap? There are soap-based natural pesticides, but dish soap is pretty strong stuff (we use it to kill box elder bugs, but it could also kill plants). Antiseptic? Hey, those soil bacteria are SUPPOSED to be there! Don't mess with them! Tobacco? My grandma used to make tobacco water to kill bugs using leavings in my dad's ash trays. He never liked to be reminded that he was smoking bug poison, but maybe that was one of the things that finally convinced him to quit. Nicotine is one of the most toxic non-radioactive substances on the planet.

Maybe he's hoping we'll mess up our gardens so much, he can sell us more advice on how to mend the damage.

[Verdant Heart]

Remember this is a decision made by your local station. We got him taken off our local PBS station. It took some persistence. I work for the Dept of Horticulture at the Univ of Wis which ironically is also the station holder of our PBS station. Many letters from staff at the U and extension agents along with pressure from their own garden show host worked after two years.

Jerry Baker is an irresponsible and dangerous quack. While I haven't seen the shows you saw I suspect they are the same ones that have been running for years. The usual excuse the stations give is that they get a lot of pledges during these shows. There are many other locally produced shows they could use that are probably cheaper that would get more response.

Maybe we should start a petition to the Victory Garden producers and others to put pressure on them. As a professional this kind of drivel makes me sick. Just like these concoctions can. Wait til someone sues the station and Baker, it'll stop.

[Michele Owens]

This post is the most enjoyable thing I've read in months!

Hilarious! He sounds like a comedian, not a gardener.

[debra roby]

One comment I left off my report of this blogpost. When you wrote "if this guy were a medical quack, would he be allowed on, much less promoted by, public television? Hell, no." I'm assuming that you've never closely watched the Perricone Prescription programs during fundraising.

I've read that many stations are embarrassed that many of these programs appear to have an "acceptable" stamp because they are shown on PBS... and the programs are pure crap. The musicians? Not as great as PBS makes them out to be. The fabulous specialists? Not so fabulous.

I've come to dismiss most of these shows as pure marketing sleight of hand.

[Jim Gallion]

All I can say is: YES, Jerry Baker is a quack.... Nice blog Susan...

[Glorene Parish]

Jerry Baker is a Quack! And I am so furious with him. I am a beginner gardener so to speak. Even though I have been doing it for years I don't know too much about it. I bought Jerry Bakers dvd and am sorry I ever did. I used his solution for the Spring clean up tonic and now I'm just beside myself.
Immediately after I began to spray this tonic on my gardening area, dozens and dozens of night crawlers began to surface. I had never seen so many night crawlers in my life. And first I thought they were just surfacing because it is what they do when it rains and such. Then I watched them as they died. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Night crawlers are extremely important to a garden and I loved the thought that I could dig any where in my garden and find night crawlers. Now they are all dead! And what else bothers me is what if any birds have eaten any of these poisoned night crawlers? Are they going to die? How long is my garden going to remain toxic to night crawlers now? I can't believe I fell so quickly to such nonsense. I thought this man was for real and never once questioned the idea of tobacco juice even after I had heard years before that tobacco was not good for gardens. Someone needs to stop this man before more people make their gardens a toxic wasteland.

[Garden Blogger Guy]

I agree with you on Jerry Baker. He is a bit of a quack. Your article is great. I don't typically go for use of found items in the garden but I really liked the flower bed made out of a real bed. Funny! Signed up for your RSS feed today keep up the good work.

[Marci]

Great post, Susan. Baker is the
embodiment of the whole huge indus-
try built around the behavioral
quirk of so many gardeners--i.e.
the compulsion to be constantly
adding/amending/augmenting
something (almost anything will do)
to their plants and soil. Our plants look great , but surely dis
aster lurks just around the next
corner (deficiency, infestation,
whatever) so I better buy a bag or
bottle of Super P(anacea) by god
and dump it on. fortuntely, most
plants are more forgiving than we
give credit for, and survive our
horti-chondria

JB is an extreme example of
cashing in on this vulnerability
that all gardeners seem to have to
some extent--the urge to nurture,
coddle to death. If a little of
Product X is good, then let's try
a whole bag...
By and large, it's harmless, I
guess

[Gerald Baker]

Hello Susan,
I like to use the nickname "Jerry Baker" for myself, but people can't find me by doing a Google search, because that other "Jerry Baker" has "hogged up" the web with so many different sites that are all in his name.
Hope you read this, and reply. Thanks.
Jerry Baker

[D. Anderson]

What if entomologists discovered that the decline in our bee population is the result of an incredibly popular charlatan who raises money hand-over-fist and promotes gardening tonics that kill bees and everything else that moves in your garden?

I woke up this morning, eager to get outside and into my garden. Instead, I find myself wondering, here at my keyboard, about the Jerry Baker (AKA) "America's Master Gardener" issue. Life has some strange twists and turns. Here is what happened:

A couple days ago while on vacation, I was introduced to Jerry Baker (AKA) "America's Master Gardener" on a South Carolina PBS station. Never having heard of him and being an avid gardener, I was intrigued by his gardening remedies and claims for all that ails in the garden.

I was also concerned about my garden, which I left to go on vacation. When I left, things in my garden were not looking so good, primarily due to the extended heat wave and pest problems. Furthermore, I recently had a front-porch conversation with a neighbor who told me of a way to rid my lawn of insects, a plan which sounded exactly like what I was hearing from Mr. Baker on PBS TV.

Initially, I was intrigued, then curious, and somewhat skeptical about what I was hearing from Mr. Baker. In my thinking I was very persuaded by the fact that this was PBS airing Jerry Baker’s ideas and products; how off-based could this be? I had to restrain myself from phoning in a $150 contribution to support PBS and to get all of the Baker books and DVD’s as a gift.
Restrained that morning, later in the afternoon I went to a couple book stores to peruse his work and found nothing there. A day later, having returned home, I rushed to the Internet to checkout if Mr. Baker’s touting of his Grandmother’s gardening tips could be sound. I reasoned that he was a gardening genius, a very intuitive gardener, or an incredibly popular quack who had somehow found a way to use mass communication to promote his ideas and to make money. He seemed engaging and to thrive on attention and popularity, but that should not disqualify his advice. My wife questioned some of the products he parenthetically referenced and asked, “Can you still use some of that stuff in the garden?” However, I was very interested in what he had to offer me in order to be a better gardener.

So, this morning, I discovered your blog and related articles. Now I see more clearly what may be going on here with Jerry Baker: Fund raising on one hand and shrewd marketing on the other can create strange bed fellows, neither of which may have anything to do with good gardening.
Again, I say thank you for the information on Jerry Baker. I am disappointed in PBS and think they should be a bit more responsible in this area of broadcasting and fund-raising.

PBS: Save our bees! Do a series on the science of gardening where all these ideas can be explored and the American gardener better served.

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