Aspirin Spray - Orchid Board

Shirley · #1 08-19-2007, 04:47 PM

I'm interested in trying an aspirin foliar spray which is supposed to be very beneficial for orchids. Has anyone made use of this and, if so, what dilution did you use and what are your conclusions? Is it really worth the bother?

Shirley

IowaOrchid · #2 08-19-2007, 07:27 PM

Shirley, I did a google search and came up with this.

Aspirin For Your Plants? Try it!

very interesting!!

Julie

Shirley · #3 08-19-2007, 10:09 PM

Thank you, Julie

Some very interesting reading! Seems like it might be a good idea.

Shirley

starwhiz · #4 08-19-2007, 10:31 PM

Interesting! Thanks Julie and thanks Shirley for bringing this up. I actually use aspirin on roses
and the flower stays fresher for few days. Wonder if it works on orchid plants.

IowaOrchid · #5 08-20-2007, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starwhiz

Interesting! Thanks Julie and thanks Shirley for bringing this up. I actually use aspirin on roses
and the flower stays fresher for few days. Wonder if it works on orchid plants.

It's suppose to work on orchids from what it says in the article. I sure wish that I had known about this in the spring. Didn't know we were going to have a monsoon season this year. I just sprayed every thing with Physan and I will probable do it again the end of this week. Boy we are just getting an unbelievable amount of rain this week.

Get out the rowboat!!

Julie

Ray · #6 08-20-2007, 05:18 PM

In that study, they used a 15 millimole concentration. That sounded slim to me when I initially thought about it, but my numbers flip in the opposite way:

A mole of acetylsalicylic acid is 180.16g, a mole of water is 18.01 grams. Therefore, you need to dissolve 15/1000 x 180.16 = 2.7 grams of acetylsalicylic acid in 18.01 grams of water to make that concentration.

As a typical aspiring is 500 mg (1/2 gram), and a quart of water is roughly 950 g, you would need to dissolve 285 aspirin in a quart of water to achieve that concentration.

I ain't puttin' that on MY plants!

newflasker · #7 11-25-2008, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray

In that study, they used a 15 millimole concentration. That sounded slim to me when I initially thought about it, but my numbers flip in the opposite way:

A mole of acetylsalicylic acid is 180.16g, a mole of water is 18.01 grams. Therefore, you need to dissolve 15/1000 x 180.16 = 2.7 grams of acetylsalicylic acid in 18.01 grams of water to make that concentration.

As a typical aspiring is 500 mg (1/2 gram), and a quart of water is roughly 950 g, you would need to dissolve 285 aspirin in a quart of water to achieve that concentration.

I ain't puttin' that on MY plants!

"dissolve 285 aspirin in a quart of water" ???.

It's nonsense!!!! I agree that we ain't puttin' that on our plants! but NOT agree with the calculation!!!! In scientific concentration definition, 15 millimole concentration means 15 millimole in a LITTER of water NOT in a mole of water!!!. So using 1.5 tablets of Aspirin (81 mg) in 2 gallons of water (in the article) made sense. That is the way we used to put few aspirin tables in flower pots to keep cutting flower fresh longer.

camille1585 · #8 11-25-2008, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newflasker

"dissolve 285 aspirin in a quart of water" ???.

It's nonsense!!!! I agree that we ain't puttin' that on our plants! but NOT agree with the calculation!!!! In scientific concentration definition, 15 millimole concentration means 15 millimole in a LITTER of water NOT in a mole of water!!!. So using 1.5 tablets of Aspirin (81 mg) in 2 gallons of water (in the article) made sense. That is the way we used to put few aspirin tables in flower pots to keep cutting flower fresh longer.

I though there was something wrong with the calculation! Your answer seems much more reasonable. I never was any good at calculating this sort of stuff, in gives me a head ache. So how did you calculate the 81mg for 2 gallons?

M68 · #9 11-26-2008, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by newflasker

"dissolve 285 aspirin in a quart of water" ???.

It's nonsense!!!! I agree that we ain't puttin' that on our plants! but NOT agree with the calculation!!!! In scientific concentration definition, 15 millimole concentration means 15 millimole in a LITTER of water NOT in a mole of water!!!. So using 1.5 tablets of Aspirin (81 mg) in 2 gallons of water (in the article) made sense. That is the way we used to put few aspirin tables in flower pots to keep cutting flower fresh longer.

15 mmol/l=.015mol/l=2.7 g/l
If its a 500 mg pill, that would be 5.4 tablets per liter, which would be about 20 tablets per gallon. That's not 285, but it's also not 1.5 tablets in 2 gallons

newflasker · #10 11-27-2008, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M68

15 mmol/l=.015mol/l=2.7 g/l
If its a 500 mg pill, that would be 5.4 tablets per liter, which would be about 20 tablets per gallon. That's not 285, but it's also not 1.5 tablets in 2 gallons

In the study, 15 mili-mole concentration is used to figure out how much salicylic acid can be absorbed by plant and find out that "However, little of the salicylic acid (1.4%) moved into new plant tissues" So MARTHA MCBURNEY, the master gardener uses 1.5 tablets (81 mg) in 2 gallons. Retry your calculation you will understand why Martha uses 1.5 tablets. Remember that this is the pratical dosage Martha uses with her experience and it's not necessary exactly the same number with your calculation. Cheers.