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watering plants with lemon water
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randyrippley
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Unlikely
Surely by "acidic" what is meant is high nitrate/phosphate/sulphate/carbonate, not organic acids?
I don't know about the acidic part, but some of my family use lemonade to water plants because it gives both carbon dioxide and water to the plants and makes them last longer. I can't say how much better it works since, truth be told, I don't usually do that sort of stuff, but it sounds like it would make sense once you realise what plants need.
DynamicSpirit
Established Member
Sounds implausible to me: My understanding is that plants take the CO2 they need through their leaves. Since the water mostly goes in the soil, I'd rather doubt that the CO2 in the lemonade ever becomes available to the plants. But I'm not a plant biology expert so maybe I'm mistaken. Besides, plants aren't exactly short of CO2 - thanks to burning fossil fuels, levels in the atmosphere are now actually much higher than most plants would have evolved to require.
dangie
Established Member
Not a clue on the answer here, but to balance it up, if some plants grow best in an alkaline environment would you water them with a squeeze of diluted bleach? Probably not.
DaleCooper
Established Member
You might use sodium bicarbonate though.
Just water them with water from your water butt as opposed to tap water. You can also buy soil testing kits or devices to check the acidity levels of your soil to determine if it’s appropriate for acid loving plants.
Diluted Lemonade can be used to extend the life of cut flowers in a vase (particularly carnations), but I would not use it for living plants that still have roots.
For plants that require acidic conditions, don’t use tap water - rainwater is best. Also use an ericaceous compost. Something based on pine bark or bracken would normally be used nowadays. Traditionally peat was the main component of ericaceous composts.
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Oh, suddenly it makes a lot more sense. I've only seen people use lemonade for flowers that don't have roots.