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By P A U L
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Joined:  Mon Jan 29, 2018 5:04 am
#366291
THIS RECIPE IS N O T FOR CARNIVOROUS PLANTS!

Has anyone that own vine plants (e.g. golden pothos, heart-leaf philodendron, etc.) ever spray a mixture of water/baking soda onto your vining plants and their aerial roots? What were the results? Aerial roots being the roots that grow at each node alongside a leaf to help it climb and catch nutrients from the air.

I read that a cocktail of ammonia, epsom salt, and baking soda is great source of nutrients for aerial roots. So being the amateur among amateur, and laziest among the laziest, I filled a spray bottle with iodized table salt, windex, and baking soda...then sprayed a small area of my vine plants to see what happens. :lol:

I put literally a pinch of salt, maybe a a teaspoon of windex, and a tablespoon of baking soda into a pint of tap water. I'm a little surprised though that the leaves of my plants were coated and slippery from the baking soda. I figured it would be too dilute to really do anything.
Last edited by P A U L on Sun Oct 11, 2020 4:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By uxleumas
Posts:  401
Joined:  Thu May 07, 2020 5:30 pm
#366298
P A U L wrote: Tue Sep 29, 2020 5:06 am Anyone that have vine plants, ever spray a mixture of water/baking soda onto your vine plants and their aerial roots? What were the results?

I read that a cocktail of ammonia, epsom salt, and baking soda is great source of nutrients for aerial roots. So being the amateur among amateur, and laziest among the laziest, I filled a spray bottle with iodized table salt, windex, and baking soda...then sprayed a small area of my vine plants to see what happens. :lol:

I put literally a pinch of salt, maybe a a teaspoon of windex, and a tablespoon of baking soda into a pint of tap water. I'm a little surprised though that the leaves of my plants were coated and slippery from the baking soda. I figured it would be too dilute to really do anything.
well...
let's see what each chemical would do to the plant
ammonia: quite a strong base and evaporates quite quickly. it'll literaly turn oils into SOAP. this is bad news for plants as they are covored with waxes and oils. i doubt that it'd cause thattt much damage with the tiny concentration.
epsom salt: good source of magnesium and sulfates. maybe a fertilizer? don't know what air roots are really though.
(epsom salt is VERY different from table salt!!!!) epsom salt is MgSO4, but table salt id NaCl. SUPER DUPER DIFFERENT. also, salt water has a tendency to kill plants but again, in those low concentrations you should be fine if you're not watering it with it.
baking soda: lowers ph and is a fungicide. has sodium in it.
windex: has buncha chemicals that shouldn't be on plants. ammonia evaporates, lots of other chemicals don't
could you send a link to the place where you saw it?

also, forgot to mention: even though it's at a low conc. don't use it. this could literaly stop your plants from getting water by blocking the holes (or so i've heard) it might turn the surface of the leaf into soap, which then washes away more wax.
The pH of 0.02 M ammonia solution (assuming windex is around 3% ammonia) is about 10.7 , which is quite high if you ask me. for comparason, Sodium bicarbonate(baking soda) has an alkaline pH of 8.4, with washing soda (sodium carbonate) being at a ph of around 11 so DON"T USE IT
(by the way ph is used on a logarithmic scale. so 9 is 10 times more basic than 8, and 14 is 1000 times more basic than 11)
Last edited by uxleumas on Tue Sep 29, 2020 10:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
By uxleumas
Posts:  401
Joined:  Thu May 07, 2020 5:30 pm
#366857
oh, here's a better version that won't turn your plants into soap.
disolve everythingin 1 gallon of water
1 tsp epsom salt (ONLY EPSOM SALT. do NOT use table salt!!! also, only for house plants that can have it )
you can also use 1 tsp household ammonia (do not use windex!!!) BUT only if you mix it with 1 tsp of 3% nitric acid (you prob don't have that. )
only add baking soda if you have a pest or mold problem, and also be sure to only spray on leaves, never near the roots. use a max of 1 times per week if that's the case(add 1tsp)
also, it's best if you can find any ammonia that doesn't have soap (aka surfactant )
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By P A U L
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#366877
My extremely non-scientific observation of the apparent results of me spraying sodium chloride and windex at my plants:

My neon heart-leaf philodendrons appear to have perked up. The leaves are more vibrant neon green and the leaf stems more erect allowing more of the leaf surface to be parallel ish with the ceiling where the lightbulb is.

I probably coincidentally windexed the thing when it was already doing what it was doing.
By uxleumas
Posts:  401
Joined:  Thu May 07, 2020 5:30 pm
#366892
light green means less cholesterol. maybe a before and after picture?
oh, and i take back the whole need to put nitric acid thing. just make sure to dilute it a lot or make ammoniu carbonate by bubbling co2 through a the solution and letting the ammonia evaporate. the ammonia carbonate won't evaporate though. you could also use vinegar but i'm not sure the effects of ammonia acetate on plants.
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By P A U L
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#366894
uxleumas wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:44 pm light green means less cholesterol.
they're supposed to be neon green ish. like... sour apples.

uxleumas wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:44 pm just make sure to dilute it a lot or make ammoniu carbonate by bubbling co2 through a the solution and letting the ammonia evaporate. the ammonia carbonate won't evaporate though. you could also use vinegar but i'm not sure the effects of ammonia acetate on plants.
you do realize you're telling this to a person that tried to fertilize plants with glass cleaner.
By uxleumas
Posts:  401
Joined:  Thu May 07, 2020 5:30 pm
#366918
P A U L wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:07 pm
uxleumas wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:44 pm light green means less cholesterol.
they're supposed to be neon green ish. like... sour apples.
oh ok
P A U L wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:07 pm
uxleumas wrote: Wed Oct 07, 2020 8:44 pm just make sure to dilute it a lot or make ammonium carbonate by bubbling co2 through a the solution and letting the ammonia evaporate. the ammonia carbonate won't evaporate though. you could also use vinegar but i'm not sure the effects of ammonia acetate on plants.
you do realize you're telling this to a person that tried to fertilize plants with glass cleaner.
oh, might be working. just don't spray windex on plants anymore.
(p.s. for pure ammonia take a large container, put two smaller containers in it, fill one up with windex, the other one with water. wait for a few weeks and the one with water will be dilute ammonia. you can use that for plants)



so in summary.
to make mixture A
1. get 1 large and 2 small containers
2. fill up 1 small containers with 5 tbsp of water, the other with 10 tbsp of windex.
3. place the 2 containers in a larger contaner, cap the large container
4. wait a few weeks.
5. take the container that used to contain water and put 2 tbsp of it into 1 gallon of water.
6.add 10 tsp red cabbage juice. must be red cabbage
the solution should turn blue or green.
add vinegar dropwise until it's purple. do not let it turn pink count how many ml you added.
7. discard solution and make everything again but this time do not add cabbage juice.
this is mixture A
make mixture B
1. take 1tsp baking soda and put it in 1 gallon water.
this is mixture B
use mixture A and mixture B separately or else you might make something else (if it does react the products non-toxic and okay for the plants but it might not be as strong as a fertilizer)
how to use mixture A:
put in spray bottle and spray at leaves. do this 2 times a week max
how to use mixture B:
put in spray bottle and spray at leaves. do this 2 times a month max
might be easier to just buy stuff though. i can send you some epsom salt, and ammonia through mail though.

p.s try this at your own risk!
Last edited by uxleumas on Mon Oct 12, 2020 1:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By P A U L
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#367161
great. i think i gave my plants too much vitamin A. they're all orange now.
By jose
Posts:  153
Joined:  Fri Oct 09, 2020 8:18 pm
#367210
This is a bad idea. It will certainly lead to killing your plants if you continue. Stick to regular fertilizers
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By P A U L
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#367237
uxleumas wrote: Mon Oct 12, 2020 1:36 pm
P A U L wrote: Sun Oct 11, 2020 4:41 pm great. i think i gave my plants too much vitamin A. they're all orange now.
where did you get the vitamin a from?
i suspect the the red cabbage.
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By P A U L
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Posts:  180
Joined:  Mon Jan 29, 2018 5:04 am
#367240
wellp. i got my hands on the epsom salt and surprisingly difficult to find ammonia. will have a proper go with the recipe. the windex and sodium chloride didn't kill my vines. i figure a teaspoon of magnesium and nitrogen shouldn't hurt'em either.

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