Watering orchids with vodka

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by rbarata

Vodka? Which brand?

He already has the plant. Cheap would be adequate.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

It could possibly be linked to the 'beer' method - along the same lines.

Using beer your home/greenhouse would smell like...
...a brewery.
-Keith

[Ray]

I think I can offer some clarity to the entire subject...

There was a gentleman, named "Jerry", in California who found and proved experimentally that ethanol, when added to fertilizer, indeed enhanced growth. He partnered up with Dyna-Gro and sold a product called "Jerry's Grow", and he patented the concept.

The part nobody seems to appreciate or remember is that it is only effective on very high-light plants.

My speculation - way back when - about cell permeability has never been proven or disproven, but fellow orchid-grower and veterinarian, Brian Monk (who used to run Blu Llama Orchids) and I discussed another possibility that I think is likely more applicable: added carbon.

In the case of a runner, the speed is limited by the body's ability to pump oxygen to the muscles. An example of an improvement was Secretariat, who still holds records for all three Triple Crown races, who, upon his death, was found to have a heart nearly twice the normal size. Brian speculated that in most plants, the transfer of carbon into the plant is not necessarily the limiting factor in growth, but in high-light plants, it might be, so having a additional carbon source to supplement foliar uptake might allow photosynthesis to occur at an accelerated pace.

Several years ago, after Jerry's Grow went out of business, I got permission from Jerry to utilize his patented technology, but the problem is that the alcohol content - as high as 75% of the formulation - made the product a (costly) fire hazard for shipping purposes, and that is what shut him down and stopped me from proceeding.

[estación seca]

Table sugar is a much cheaper carbon source. You don't need to mail-order it. Plants make sugar and will take it up through the roots.

But people will be better off focusing on proper temperature, humidity, light and watering than worrying about additives.

It's the same situation with sports supplements. They are useless wastes of money unless people are already working as hard as they can in the gym or on the field. Most are useless even when those conditions are met.

[Roberta]

Disadvantage of using table sugar is that the runoff is likely to bring ants. Any vodka in the runoff water will just evaporate.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

This requires testing. Something on the scale of 100 identical plants divided into 4 groups of 25 each. Situated in a greenhouse under identical conditions for 12 months.

Group 1: Pure water with regular fertilizer
Group 2: Add 0.3 tsp/gallon
Group 3: Add 0.6 tsp/gallon
Group 4: Add 0.9 tsp/gallon

I probably have enough plants for a .05 p-value. I have over 100 C. dowiana and C. walkeriana seedlings. Next time they're potted up I could weigh and measure them all, sort them into two groups with equal size size and weight, water one group with booze and one without, then weigh and measure them again every 6 months.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of experiments I should run first using the same method. The other problem with this experiment would be drinking the nutrient mixed with orange juice before it gets used.

-Keith

---------- Post added at 06:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:10 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Roberta

Disadvantage of using table sugar is that the runoff is likely to bring ants.

Ugh. I have enough trouble keeping ants from making their home in the orchid pots.
-Keith

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by estación seca

But people will be better off focusing on proper temperature, humidity, light and watering than worrying about additives.

Agree!
I wonder what is the purpose behind these "improvement" experiments.

[estación seca]

At a soil science lecture I heard the amount of sugar necessary for 1 acre of bermuda grass lawn or citrus trees irrigated with sugar water winds up being around 1 cup / 225ml of granulated sugar per acre foot / 1,233,481 liters of water. Any more is wasting it. So you shouldn't need to worry about ants if you're using the proper small amount.

[K-Sci]

Originally Posted by estación seca

At a soil science lecture I heard the amount of sugar necessary for 1 acre of bermuda grass lawn or citrus trees irrigated with sugar water winds up being around 1 cup / 225ml of granulated sugar per acre foot / 1,233,481 liters of water. Any more is wasting it. So you shouldn't need to worry about ants if you're using the proper small amount.

Any particular kind of sugar?

-K

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Originally Posted by Ray

I think I can offer some clarity to the entire subject...

There was a gentleman, named "Jerry", in California who found and proved experimentally that ethanol, when added to fertilizer, indeed enhanced growth. He partnered up with Dyna-Gro and sold a product called "Jerry's Grow", and he patented the concept.

The part nobody seems to appreciate or remember is that it is only effective on very high-light plants.

My speculation - way back when - about cell permeability has never been proven or disproven, but fellow orchid-grower and veterinarian, Brian Monk (who used to run Blu Llama Orchids) and I discussed another possibility that I think is likely more applicable: added carbon.

So how would this work in s/h? A little bottle of everclear is cheap.