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water Club Soda for Watering?

Mene

Mene

Apparently CU (Boulder) did a study back in 2002 and determined "Plants given carbonated water not only grew faster but also developed a healthier shade of green in comparison to plants given tap water." 
 
http://spot.colorado.edu/~basey/ldanzell.html
 
Has anybody tried this? I have extremely alkaline water here in Utah and I try to water my young plants with distilled water when possible, although this is unreasonable once they are fully grown and I'm watering 50+ plants. Anyway, I'm wondering if I should cough up an extra buck to water my babies with club soda, since it supposedly has some macro-nutrients?
 
I did a quick search and didn't find anything on the website about this, so I apologize if this is a repost. 
 
 
 
No. 
 
You're already spending way too much using distilled water.  Go to your local grow store and get a pH regulating kit to treat your tap water.  Spend your savings on nutrients.
 
DMF said:
No. 
 
You're already spending way too much using distilled water.  Go to your local grow store and get a pH regulating kit to treat your tap water.  Spend your savings on nutrients.
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Some fertilizers cause soil acidification. Why not just have him use those?
 
I'd hardly say I'm spending way too much on distilled water. It's literally pennies per gallon. Not to mention the stuff in the tap water I don't want to be giving to my plants anyway. I prefer not to use tap water period, but that's just me
 
Vicious Vex said:
This might be a good experiment for someone who has extra grow room and additional resources.
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I might give it a shot. It's not like I'd be spending crazy money on a 2 liter of club soda to water once every three or four days for a few plants. We're talking 89 cents at walmart, assuming I don't want to see if it's cheaper anywhere else
 
Mene said:
I'd hardly say I'm spending way too much on distilled water. It's literally pennies per gallon. Not to mention the stuff in the tap water I don't want to be giving to my plants anyway. I prefer not to use tap water period, but that's just me
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Hell, if you're getting distilled water at pennies per gallon, then go for it!  How the heck are you able to get it?
cruzzfish said:
Some fertilizers cause soil acidification. Why not just have him use those?
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Do you really recommend fertilizing at every watering?  With a strong enough solution to counteract a "very alkaline" water?  I don't.
 
DMF said:
 
Do you really recommend fertilizing at every watering?  With a strong enough solution to counteract a "very alkaline" water?  I don't.
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I don't seem to have an issue with it.  If the water is alkaline it's because it already has stuff in it, so it's not like the ferts will cause much of an issue.
 
Interesting topic.
I don't think it's the CO2 to the roots that's causing the extra growth because everything I've ever heard or read shows that the leaves need CO2 but the roots need O2. Oxygen is what makes roots happy. Maybe the CO2 is evaporating up to the leaves or maybe the trace minerals really are helping.
A 10 day experiment on a ground cover doesn't carry much weight IMO but hey, do it, take pictures, and prove me wrong.
 
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Alrighty, here's what I am going to do. I want to clarify, I am not saying this is a good idea, nor is it cost effective, but now I'm genuinely curious. I never intended to grow out plants entirely with any of these methods. Once my plants are in solo cups, they are simply too large to justify using anything but tap water (ideally treated with something) I have a big envelope of seeds I harvested from my best reaper plant. I am going to grow five groups of four plants from seed over the next two months (or more if needed) The groups will be: Club Soda, Distilled Water, Fertilized Distilled Water, Untreated Tap Water, Fertilized Tap Water.
 
My fertilized water groups will be treated with the unfertilized version of the water until they have true leaves, to prevent it from killing them. Once true leaves emerge, I will slowly introduce the ferts. 
 
This should give us (most importantly me) a general idea of weather or not it is worth it for me to use anything besides water strait from the tap in my home.  I can get distilled water for 59c/gallon (which should last a while in my experience). Club soda is 89c/2 liters from what I have seen so far. (already can say it's not worth using this stuff) I will post pictures as I go. Feel free to follow along, if you honestly care that much about what kind of water I use haha
 
Wish me luck!
 
Good on ya, Mene!  Go find out and help us all. 
 
I tried vinegar - the cheap 5% white vinegar - to acidify my alkaline water before I got a real pH test kit, and it worked entirely too well.  One Tbsp per 2 gal produced the equivalent of acid rain.  With pH Down (a commercial product) I now use 1 ml (about 1/15 of a Tbsp) per 2 gal.  Vinegar would work just as well, I suppose, so long as the proportion was right.  And it costs a whole lot less than pH Down.
 
In other words, you really need a pH test kit/method.  Otherwise it's too easy to f* up.
 
Thanks and keep us informed, please.
 
Dennis
 
there is nothing in your tap water that your plants cant deal with better than yourself. 
 
imo the faster you get on with using tap water... the faster you can move on, and away  from gimmicky shit ... getting down to just growing simply and effectively with the least input of labor. 
 
regardless.
if your paper does not lay out or at least hypothesize as to why club soda aids in plant growth or what ever... its not worth pursueing imo, and its not real science, meerly observation.
 
I think I've read that some of the CO2 does get in through the roots. Not necessarily the same goes for peppers, but I think I've read about CO2 intake of grass, bamboo or some sort of sedge. I have forgotten everything except the root intake. Sorry.
 
For alkaline soil, I would use peat in the beginning of the growing season and build a raised bed with garden soil/peat mixture. Peat should lower pH considerably and make it retain water better, it should also attract some beneficial microbes, earthworms and insects. If you won't build raised bed, consider digging holes where you plant your peppers and fill the holes with peat/soil mix.
 
About soda. I have heard (some) of bottled water have a lot of nutrients that may be missing in some soils. For example some sodas have a lot of MgSO4. CO2 in  the soda is actually carbonic acid, which means it will lower soil pH considerably when applied to the soil. Can be devastating if the soil is already acidic and especially if it doesn't drain well enough.
 
I used vinegar for acid loving plants as well. It works and plants grow. I did not make any comparison between acidified and non-acidified plants though, so they could be the same. :P
 
queequeg152 said:
there is nothing in your tap water that your plants cant deal with better than yourself. 
 
imo the faster you get on with using tap water... the faster you can move on, and away  from gimmicky shit ... getting down to just growing simply and effectively with the least input of labor. 
 
regardless.
if your paper does not lay out or at least hypothesize as to why club soda aids in plant growth or what ever... its not worth pursueing imo, and its not real science, meerly observation.
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Club Soda will help improve the growth of plants because it contains macronutrients essential to plant growth. Those macronutrients are: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, and sodium. Science.  :)
 
Mene said:
Club Soda will help improve the growth of plants because it contains macronutrients essential to plant growth. Those macronutrients are: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, and sodium. Science.  :)
 
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is that what the paper claimed? its just the ferts in the soda?
 
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