asprin

[Ozphil007]

Just a questio
been reading about useing aspro on plants.
has anyonr used this if so what are good or bad points
what dose did you use
phil

[Cym Ladye]

I can think of no reason to use Aspirin on orchids. What problem do you have that you feel aspirin would solve?

[Ray]

Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid. Salicylic acid, often from willow bark, has been shown to have some root-growth stimulating effect. Does aspirin do that? I have no idea.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

I can think of no reason to use Aspirin on orchids. What problem do you have that you feel aspirin would solve?

An important ingredient of aspirin is salicylic acid (SA), which is a major plant hormone that plays an important role in plant defenses, among other things. For research purposes pure SA can be sprayed on plants to boost the plants own production of SA and then evaluate the effects on plant defense induction. While it does provide protection against certain attackers (mostly sap sucking insects and biotrophic pathogens) it will often block the induction of another major plants hormone called jasmonic acid, which mediates defenses against other types of attackers (necrotrophic pathogens and chewing insects).
So while treating plants with aspirin may help avoid some problems, it can increase susceptibility to other things.....


But I second the question to the OP, what are you trying to solve by using aspirin on your plants?

[fishmom]

I have heard of putting a bit of aspirin in water for cut flowers, or for cut Christmas trees, to make them last longer. Never heard of using it for plants, though.

[naoki]

I use Aspirin regularly for the reason Camille stated. There is a good evidence that aspirin water can boost the plant immune system. Also, it helps plants under drought condition. SA is a kind of stress hormone (among many other hormonal function), so when I see stressful situation (early infection, deflasking, recently received plants), I spray/drench with 1-4 tablets (325mg per tablet) of cheap, uncoated aspirin per gallon. As with any preventative measures, it is probably difficult to notice the effects, but there is a good scientific evidence to support it in other plants. It also reduces the chance of viral infection for certain types of virus. Here is a good review (it may be abstract-only):
Salicylic Acid, a multifaceted hormone to combat disease. - PubMed - NCBI

Camille, I didn't know that SA had influenced sap sucking insects. Interesting. Also if you happen to have a citation stating that there is a counter-effect against neurotrophic pathogen (I'm guessing that you are talking about fungal pathogen?), I appreciate it. I thought that induction of systemic acquired resistance (SAR) involves killing off the infected tissues, so isn't it supposed to be effective to neurotrophic pathogens?

To Ray's question, ASA seems to be mimic the effect of SA in several plant reaction (induced immunity, reduction in ethylene production etc).

fishmom, I think that you can get the same effect by using vinegar. The pH seems to be the key rather than aspirin. This was mentioned in this paper::RASKIN, I (1992) ROLE OF SALICYLIC-ACID IN PLANTS.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
Volume: 43 Pages: 439-463

I personally haven't seen any negative effects, but I wouldn't use it continuously. The continuously raised immunity states might reduce the growth (my speculation based on the belief that there is a reason why SAR is not raised all the time in the normal state). But I have seen a couple papers showing that applying SA frequently can results in bigger plants.

Also there are some evidences showing that some plants use SA for allelopathy. In other words, the roots excrete SA to prevent other plants to spread their roots (to win the competition). If this is the case, SA may inhibit root growth in some plants.

As a related note, aspirin does reduce the germination rate of seeds (I have done this experiment), so it has the opposite effect of gibberelins.

[Ozphil007]

Thankyou all for your input
I dont have a problem with my orcids
Just thought it may prevent some problems and a subject of some interest,im trying to be a little more green in the way i look after my orchids

[Ray]

Dumping non-plant-focused drugs into the environment is green?