Using Vodka
 

I have been doing this for a couple of years and most people have laughed at me was glad to see SAOS print an article about it

Ethanol. It has been suggested
that adding ethyl alcohol to
high light growing orchids
can enhance the growth rate.
Using an 80 proof vodka, the
recommended addition rate is
0.6 tsp/gal. I have been using
about a third that rate weekly
during the growing season
and am seeing very vigorous
growth. Some growers suggest
the alcohol has no impact,
others think perhaps the alcohol
is easily converted to sugar
and absorbed by the plants or
that perhaps the alcohol is an
alternate carbon source to the carbon dioxide absorbed
from the atmosphere. Ray Barkalow of FirstRays
speculates it might increase the permeability of the plants’
cell walls, therefore allowing a greater throughput of the
fluids the plants need to grow. This is an experiment in
progress but I think I’ll continue using 0.2 tsp/gal weekly
during the spring and summer growing season.


Sometimes Its one for me and one for the orchids. LOL

There are two schools of thought on the reasons for it's effectiveness, one is the extra supply of carbon that it gives the plant, and the other is the enhancement of the permeability of the cell walls.

I have heard it described as being akin to something like a runner's limitations: One can only run "so fast" because the body is limited in its ability to get oxygen to the tissues. (After he died, Secretariat was shown to have a heart was twice the size of a normal thoroughbred.) Plants that grow under "normal" light levels probably have systems ("hearts") perfectly capable of supplying (whatever) to the tissues to maintain good growth, but those under high light situations - hence the possibility of higher photosynthetic rates - could be limited by the system's supply capability. Enhancing cell permeability might offset that limitation, and if carbon is the limiting factor, that explanatory scenario could apply.

wow.....I am going to try this.
And on another thread - aspirin. These go hand-in-hand don't you think ? Maybe alternate waterings :rofl:

I will try your vodka mix, Carol....on my Mokara 'gold' every wednesdays vodka....mondays fertilizer and fridays seaweed mix ....and the rest of the days water....it started to give me blooms every four months.....the aim is flatter, bigger and more vivid colors.....

How interesting! I'm really tempted, but I love my vodka to myself. lol

Vodka ... :rofl: it is the Russians cure to everything! :)
we had a Russian lady who lived at our house for 10 years and everytime any one had a problem ... the answer was always Vodka! & to be honest I can't disproove... colds, flu, infections from cuts, Burns, etc.... so why not on orchids? !!!!

This gives me an excuse to buy a bottle of vodka and help my orchids drink it!

I might leave the bottle with the orchids!!

Do they prefer flavored Vodka?

Actually I have a few orchids that I think are drinking on the sly. They do some strange things, blooming at strange times and producing some strange looking blooms.

I happen to have some apple flavoured vodka. I wonder if they would like that.

Lol

you guys are a riot. I always
mixed fertilizer, seaweed extract and vodka in one orchid cocktail , my share was just over the rocks.