Study: Watering w/Seawater = More Antioxidents

[Bitwise Gamgee]

"Watering tomatoes with diluted seawater can boost their content of disease-fighting antioxidants and may lead to healthier salads, appetizers, and other tomato-based foods, scientists in Italy report. Their study is scheduled for the May 14 issue of ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry."


http://www.physorg.com/news128605310.html


- Bitwise

[tomatoguy]

Somehow, I don't think that would be cost effective for me. Besides, I can just barely keep the kinks out of a 50 foot garden hose much less one 400 miles long.



mater

[Ruth_10]

I think I would want to see just how much the increase was before I entertained the notion of watering my plants with salt water.

It would have to be a LOT. And I would need an even longer hose than 'mater.

[dice]

Some research has shown growth and production
drops correlated to salt content in soils (changes
the osmotic pressure). Google's sample pages for
_The Tomato Crop: A Scientific Basis for Improvement_
mention it:

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i4120id.html

(See section 7.3.5, page 297.)

I am not saying the research in the ACS journal is wrong,
just that the results may depend a lot on what kind of soil
you have, it's exact nutrient levels, and that it is probably
all too easy to get too much salt in it if you water with seawater
and not that easy to get rid of it once you exceed the levels
needed to produce the antioxidant effects without depressing
production.

Seems like a very fine line there between short term benefit
to the crop and long-term harm to the soil.

[JimmyWu]

Does anyone here use aquarium water in their garden?

I did try it last year, and my plants seemed to thrive. But most of my containers were lost when I went on vacation in August for 10 days.

I won't rely on cheap 11 year old labor again !@##@!!!

-Jimmy

[Tomstrees]

sooooo - should I drive down to my beach with a few 5-gallon buckets to test this theory ???

~ Tom

[dice]

Jimmy,

Does anyone here use aquarium water in their garden?

I have used freshwater aquarium water on houseplants
and outside container plants. Worked great. No saltwater,
though.

Tom,

sooooo - should I drive down to my beach with a few 5-gallon buckets to test this theory ???

I would not. You probably get a little sea salt with your kelp,
so you probably already get the benefits mentioned in the study,
without overdoing it.

I think one needs a lab on hand to try something like this,
so that one can test all of these variables in soil chemistry
that affect crop production in interaction with salts in the soil.
Otherwise you don't know when "this is more than enough"
until your plants suddenly stop growing.

[jenn_sc]

Originally Posted by Tomstrees

sooooo - should I drive down to my beach with a few 5-gallon buckets to test this theory ???

~ Tom

I wouldn't, Tom. Your beach is in New Jersey, right?

Jennifer

[Doris]

I'm at the Jersey Shore, about a mile from the ocean. I would not consider using any ocean water in my garden.--some dried seaweed, perhaps, or some clean sand. But the sea water is very very salty.

I've used aquarium water in the past on houseplants, fresh water, not salty, and it worked okay.

Regards...........Doris, NJ

[JimmyWu]

LOL....That was low Jenn !!!

-Jimmy

[The Future]

I've grown man things in diluted saltwater to good effect. See Maynard Murray's early 1900s book on the matter. Contrary to popular belief, properly diluted oceans water is a great fertilizer. Overuse is possible but much much rarer than your commercial products. You can add many times the reccomended concentration without killing plants. What commercial fertilizer can boast of that?