Sap to water orchids? (its sugaring time again)
well its now time to tap the black walnut trees.. (you can tap them like maples . but the sugar content is just a bit lower.. tho not by much)
we get gallons of sap crystal clear.. tastes like a cross of distiled water and a hint of sugar.and its o so good to drink straight (using cup of course) out of the bucket as i harvest it... but out of curriosity. i was wondering if it would be a viable water source.. would it.. having trace minerals..etc be a good type of fertilizer water?
unfortunately i could not find a write up of the chemical composition of black walnut sap.. but i did find something about maple syrup.. which should be similar except not as much sugar.thinking about.. testing out some on a phal i have. just to see. does it make a diff?
The sap of sugar maple contains sucrose and trace amount of oligosaccharides including raffinose (Willits, 1958). The concentration of sucrose in the sap is typically 2-3%, though it can range from 0.5 - 10% (Kozlowski & Pallardy, 1997). mably because of the advantage due to photosynthesis (Kozlowski & Pallardy, 1997).
Other organic compounds in the sap include organic acids, amino acids, amides, ammonia, and peptides. The organic acids in the sap include malic (0.21%), citric (0.002%), and traces of succinic, fumaric and several others. The total ash (mineral) content of the sap is 0.66 %. Common minerals include potassium (0.26%), calcium (0.07%), silicon oxide (0.02%) and lesser amounts of manganese, sodium, and magnesium (Willets, 1958).
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