Clearing out guest room, found bathroom/cosmetic supplies left by guest. Included packets of denture cleaners. Powder that gets dissolved in water?
Mentioned this to garden friend, who opined that there is something in that stuff that is good for plants. Is this weird or possible?
TIA
HB
It could contain minerals that are there to act as mild abrasives such as lime, look on the pack for the ingredients. Of course this would be the most expensive possible way to buy a small amount of such things.
D
If it does indeed include lime or anything else alkaline, DO NOT USE IT!! The soils and water in southern California all tend to be alkaline already.
Actually, I use powdered sulfur repeatedly around most of my plants to make the soil more acidic. Only my dianthus, iris, and primulas prefer alkaline soil. My roses, azaleas, camellias, tea tree, citrus, heath, liquidambar tree, and others all enjoy the sulfuric acid created as soil bacteria slowly consume sulfur.
I've never tried it, but . . .
By Marion Owen, Fearless Weeder for PlanTea, Inc. and Co-author of Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul
aspirin"Take two aspirin and call me in the morning."
We've all heard that advice from doctors. And moms have been dispensing this all-purpose cure-all to their families as a standard way of providing relief from headaches and sniffles, muscle aches and joint pain.
Then it should be no surprise to learn how an important aspirin ingredient--salicylic acid--is being used as an Earth-friendly first aid for warding off plant diseases.
Meet Martha McBurney, the master gardener in charge of the demonstration vegetable garden at the University of Rhode Island. In the summer of
2005 she tested aspirin water on tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, basil and other plants after reading about it in a gardening publication called the Avant Gardener (PO Box 489, New York, NY 10028). The results were well, astonishing..."What caught my eye in the original Avant Gardener article was it said that aspirin is an activator of Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR). And that plants, when under stress, naturally produce salicylic acid, but not fast enough and in sufficient quantities to really help them out in time. So the bugs get them, and diseases get them, and they show even more stress.
"But if you give them aspirin, it helps boost their immune system, kind of like feeding people echinacea so they don't get a cold.
How much, and how often
The dosage that Martha used was 1.5 [uncoated] aspirins to 2 gallons of water. She also added 2 tablespoons of yucca extract to help the aspirin water stick to the leaves better. (The yucca extract can be substituted with a mild liquid soap.) Martha explained that the yucca (or soap) prevents the aspirin water from beading up and rolling off leaves of broccoli and kale leaves. Finally, she sprayed the plants every 3 weeks.
The summer when Martha first started testing aspirin water, was not the best, weather-wise. It was cool, rainy and damp. "But what happened was, by the end of the season, the plants in the raised beds with the aspirin water looked like they were on steroids!
"The plants were huge, and green and with no insects. We even saw some disease problems that reversed themselves. We think we got a virus on the cucumbers, and they aspirin water seemed to reverse it. The cucumbers ended up being very healthy."
Aspirin improves seed germination
Martha also sprayed the aspirin water on the seeds they directly sowed in the ground. The result, they discovered was 100 percent seed germination, compared to spotty germination in the other trial beds.
Scientists at the University of Arizona and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), curious about findings such as what Martha experienced, are studying how salicylic acid prods plants into releasing their natural defenses against harmful fungi, bacteria and viruses. According to an article by Dean Fosdick of the Associated Press, "They envision it as a commercially viable alternative to synthetic pesticides in a natural way to extend the life of susceptible yet popular crops."
Is it organic? Well, not really. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is 'derived' from the white willow tree, Salix alba. Studies are now being conducted on plants using pure willow extracts to compare the effects to aspirin.
cut flowers
Cut flowers that last forever?
Well, not quite. But current research may explain a modern-old wives' tale of adding an aspirin to a vase of cut flower to keep the blooms fresh longer. Here's the explanation: The cutting of flowers is perceived by the plant as a wound, and so it stimulates the production of a substance that not only helps the plant fight off bugs, but also hastens aging or wilting, such as in the case of a cut flower.
Aspirin halts the formation of the substance, which in turn, keeps the flowers looking young and not wilting prematurely. (For more helpful tips about keeping cut flowers looking fresh, naturally, click here).
Scientists laughed, at first
Plants weren't the only things affected by the aspirin water. At first, scientists at the University of Rhode Island gave Martha a bad time about her experiments. Teased her, mostly. But by the end of the summer, they were so impressed that they are now conducting their own formal investigations.
healthy houseplant
"I've recommended it to just about everybody. The people who've tried it, that is, people who grow from oats to orchids, have found that plants do remarkably better when given small amounts of aspirin water. I've tried it on my houseplants, and it does really well. Plants are more vigorous and I'm having fewer problems with aphids and the typical things that can build up on houseplants over the winter."
aspirin on plants"Uh, Martha," I broke in. "My husband is losing his hair. Maybe I should try aspirin water."
Martha didn't miss a beat. "Well, hey, you could give it a go!"
So the next time your plant is looking a little feverish or flushed, consider reaching for some aspirin for treating what ails it.
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3 baby aspirin with 4 gal of water = 1:10,000, the recommended dosage. [That is 243mg aspirin:512oz water.] (Notice how the ounces of water seems to be double the mg of aspirin amount?!)? of an adult aspirin with 4 gal of water = 1:10,000, the recommended dosage. [That is 243.75mg aspirin:512oz water.]
I think it would be more like 1/5th of an adult aspirin to 1 gal of water. [That is 65mg aspirin:128oz water.]
Seems ? aspirin (162.5mg) would need to be mixed with approx double that number in ounces (325), or about 2? gal.
? aspirin (81.25mg) would be much easier to measure than 1/5th of an aspirin. Mix would be about 81mg aspirin:163oz water, or about 1? gal water.
Following this through, about the smallest you could reasonably go would be: 1/8 aspirin (40.625mg) would mix with 81.5oz water, or about 2? quarts.
Will add more links as find them and/or have the time... send me links if you have them, please!!
---------- H2O2
1 oz 3% hydrogen peroxide to 1 quart water16 drops of 35% hydrogen peroxide to 1 quart water
Mist and, or water plants. I do both frequently.
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-Salaam
Not especially related to gardening, but people use denture tablets to clean narrow vases that they can't reach into.
nancy
some of [guest's] denture cleaner tablets.
HB
Thanks for the sulfur reminder. My soil is pretty balanced (I think)
HB
HB
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HB
Some formulations of spirin contain significant sodium (sodium acetyl-salicylate). I would not put that around any plant except a salt-tolerant seashore plant.
Other fomulations omit the sodium (acetylo-salicylic acid). You might try merely soaking mashed willow leaves and twigs in vinegar; it would be cheaper.
w/o
Polident=92s anti-bacterial cleaning system has several ingredients that participate in the cleaning process. The effervescent action (Sodium Bicarbonate and Citric Acid) provides mechanical cleaning action to loosen particles from the denture. The effervescent compounds also reduce odor by neutralizing the by-products of bacteria. The enzyme (everlace; Overnight only) breaks down and food proteins in plaque. The oxidants (sodium perborate & potassium monopersulfate) remove stains and whiten the denture teeth. The detergents (sodium polyphosphate & several others) clean by removing virtually all the particles that were broken down and loosened by the previously mentioned active ingredients.
These are not useful to plants
provides mechanical cleaning action to
These are likely to be harmful to plants.
The detergents (sodium
These are not useful to plants either.
I see nothing there that would be helpful.
D
Agreed
Is your plant by any chance named Audrey?
-Bob
Never saw the usefulness for aspirin or H2O2 for plants.... kinda sound goods, just don't find the science for it. Sounds a bit like feeding excess antibiotics to animals to prevent what you don't know. Now I have used hydrogen peroxide to disinfect my hydro systems and the reservoirs.
**Afterthought: Did the experimenter run a CONTROL garden? Seems like a basic requirement to assess the efficacy of [product] [procedure].
HB
People always want a 'magic' ingredient regardless of science.
DI realize this is an old post and could be why no one knew the answer but denture tablets creates CO2 which help plants grow stronger and produce more. Do you remember the volcano experiment science class, the chemical reaction with baking soda & vinegar?? It also produces CO2 for plants but unless you have a continuous drip into the baking soda creating co2, it has to be done often to get the desired results.
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