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Koala Doug · January 23, 2018

A few thought popped into my head while reading that study:

* Market growers may not be able to call their crop 'organic' if that treatment is applied.

* The study was undertaken in Saudi Arabia with tomatoes grown outdoors in the field in extremely poor soil with frequent feedings with chemical fertilizers. I'm wondering how such a test would compare if done in a more hospitable environment for tomatoes. Maybe it would be the same... maybe it would be different.

* The resultant fruits are significantly more acidic (up to 66.4% more acidic, which would make the tomatoes more like lemons, PH-wise). I'm not sure if there is any benefit to a more acidic tomato.

* There does appear, at least in this one study, increased leaf growth and fruit size (as well as total number of fruit). Quite interesting.

* The n is pretty small (only forty total plants - 10 for the control and 10 each for the three application levels), so I'm pretty sure the sample size is not statistically significant.

* Since this treatment potentially affects so many aspects of the plant, could taste be affected too?

If you can find some small amount of shikimic acid for cheap, I say run a little test yourself (with a control group) and see if you can replicate some of the study's findings in your garden.

January 23, 2018	#2
Koala Doug Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: Detroit Posts: 688	A few thought popped into my head while reading that study: * Market growers may not be able to call their crop 'organic' if that treatment is applied. * The study was undertaken in Saudi Arabia with tomatoes grown outdoors in the field in extremely poor soil with frequent feedings with chemical fertilizers. I'm wondering how such a test would compare if done in a more hospitable environment for tomatoes. Maybe it would be the same... maybe it would be different. * The resultant fruits are significantly more acidic (up to 66.4% more acidic, which would make the tomatoes more like lemons, PH-wise). I'm not sure if there is any benefit to a more acidic tomato. * There does appear, at least in this one study, increased leaf growth and fruit size (as well as total number of fruit). Quite interesting. * The n is pretty small (only forty total plants - 10 for the control and 10 each for the three application levels), so I'm pretty sure the sample size is not statistically significant. * Since this treatment potentially affects so many aspects of the plant, could taste be affected too? If you can find some small amount of shikimic acid for cheap, I say run a little test yourself (with a control group) and see if you can replicate some of the study's findings in your garden.