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Hydrogen Peroxide is it good or bad?

Dr. Cres

Dr. Cres

Wow!!!!!! This sure opened a can of worms. First of all my brother and sister chileheads, I would never, ever post anything that would vindictively, harm, or otherwise destroy the plants We are trying to raise in perfect health. When I want to know or learn something I will dig until the shovel bites the Devil's ass!!!!! Now you gotta admit that's deep!!!!! I love Science. I live for it, therefore everything I post has been researched extensively. Please forgive me I am not perfect or 100% accurate. There's a name for that its called "God." I made a response concerning hydrogen peroxide recently and obviously offended some of you. This was not my intention. I'm new here. But my intentions are good. I am interested in learning and helping I have had very positive results using hydrogen peroxide. If your beliefs, instincts, thoughts etc. tell you otherwise, don't use it. If your curious, like me, research it and come up with your own conclusions. If your making a comment, at least back it up with fact or experience. Please take a moment and look at this: http://www.trivology.com/articles/960/what-is-hydrogen-peroxide.html

Did you read the section where it said hydrogen peroxide is good for plants? Now please read this:http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4606163_hydrogen-peroxide-kill-bacteria.html
How about the section where it says H202 kills serious plant diseases. Here's one you that will really make you think:http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/peroxide-garden.html

Ok, I'm sold. Once again if you don't believe that's ok. But my intention is not to harm, or insult.
 
i dont know what other thread you are talking about, but are you just pouring it into the soil?
h202 is just another oxidizer. i think the reason it jives so well with the organic crowd is that it decomposes into water and o2. i dont see how it could be usefull to plants however, unless you are asserting the extra oxygen does someting usefull.i dont see how that could be the case tho.

ive said this a bunch of times, but h202 is actually a very very strong oxidizer, much stronger than hypochlorites. in significant concentrations it is violently unstable, and can kill you easily.
h202 is used as a mono propellant in those funky jet packs fyi.
 
very interesting, yesterday i was looking up on how to use it to soak on my seeds, (search bar FTW) :), but its funny this thread pops up the next day, good info, thanks crest.
 
No, I dilute it. I use it very sparingly and I never use any amendment unless I I feel it is absolutely necessary. If anything I use it on the very light side. Like 2 tablespoons per quart of water.
 
POTAWIE said:
Great for cleaning grow equipment, pots etc, treating root rot, or for killing nasties in hydro setups
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Your plants are beautiful. You obviously have your system down to a Science. Very nice.

Beelzeboss said:
very interesting, yesterday i was looking up on how to use it to soak on my seeds, (search bar FTW) :), but its funny this thread pops up the next day, good info, thanks crest.
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Your welcome and thanks for the comment.

queequeg152 said:
i dont know what other thread you are talking about, but are you just pouring it into the soil?
h202 is just another oxidizer. i think the reason it jives so well with the organic crowd is that it decomposes into water and o2. i dont see how it could be usefull to plants however, unless you are asserting the extra oxygen does someting usefull.i dont see how that could be the case tho.

ive said this a bunch of times, but h202 is actually a very very strong oxidizer, much stronger than hypochlorites. in significant concentrations it is violently unstable, and can kill you easily.
h202 is used as a mono propellant in those funky jet packs fyi.
Click to expand...
Yes I dilute it about two tablespoons to a quart.

meinchoh said:
I used it on several and they loved it! I'll continue using it - I have no problems at all with it.
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Thank you.

GreenTea said:
Use it on ONE of your plants and see what happens.
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Makes perfect sense, thanks for your input and advice.
 
As a practicing environmental scientist (and biodynamic gardener) who has specialized in H2O2 use for > 30 yrs, I believe the most important thing to know about H2O2 is its concentration (dose). Yes, it's a good rocket propellant at > 90% w/w (and extremely dangerous). But it's also present in your breath at < 0.000001% w/w. Most aerobic organisms produce H2O2 in their metabolisms, and our immune systems depend on it to fend off invaders (the process is called phagocytosis). Plus, H2O2 is produced naturally by the action of sunlight on water surfaces containing humics &ndash; a &lsquo;natural&rsquo; purification process. So ... H2O2 is neither inherently 'bad' or unnatural.

Within the field of horticulture, H2O2 has application as a soil treatment and foliar spray. In both applications, the conc of H2O2 applied is on the order of 0.01 &ndash; 0.1% (as active ingredient) or 0.3 &ndash; 3% (as 3% H2O2, drugstore strength).

When used as a soil treatment, it&rsquo;s primary mode of action is to oxygenate the soil. This does two things: 1) it improves drainage, due to the oxygen released as it permeates the soil and decomposes; and 2) it eliminates the anoxic conditions that allow many pathogenic microbes to thrive, while creating the oxic (oxygen) conditions needed to establish a healthy soil microbe community. When used as a foliar spray, it&rsquo;s primary mode of action is to stimulate the opening of leaf stomata and thereby facilitate the exchange of gases and nutrients in/out of the leaf. It&rsquo;s important to note that neither of these applications require direct microbial kill, and so their use is typically as a &lsquo;probiotic&rsquo; (i.e., producing conditions conducive to healthy living). Hence, H2O2 sold into these applications does not require EPA registration as a biocide (under FIFRA regs).

While the primary mode of action may be oxygen release, there are undoubtedly direct chemical oxidation reactions occurring that may alter the chemical properties/constituents of the soil and/or kill microbes &ndash; hence the need for caution and careful measurement. But at the doses recommended, and under the conditions it&rsquo;s applied (neutral or slightly alkaline pH), those secondary reactions should be minor.

BTW &ndash; H2O2 has been certified by OMRI (Organic Materials Research Institute) for use in these oxygenation applications.

Hope this helps, John
 
jwalton said:
As a practicing environmental scientist (and biodynamic gardener) who has specialized in H2O2 use for > 30 yrs, I believe the most important thing to know about H2O2 is its concentration (dose). Yes, it's a good rocket propellant at > 90% w/w (and extremely dangerous). But it's also present in your breath at < 0.000001% w/w. Most aerobic organisms produce H2O2 in their metabolisms, and our immune systems depend on it to fend off invaders (the process is called phagocytosis). Plus, H2O2 is produced naturally by the action of sunlight on water surfaces containing humics &ndash; a &lsquo;natural&rsquo; purification process. So ... H2O2 is neither inherently 'bad' or unnatural.

Within the field of horticulture, H2O2 has application as a soil treatment and foliar spray. In both applications, the conc of H2O2 applied is on the order of 0.01 &ndash; 0.1% (as active ingredient) or 0.3 &ndash; 3% (as 3% H2O2, drugstore strength).

When used as a soil treatment, it&rsquo;s primary mode of action is to oxygenate the soil. This does two things: 1) it improves drainage, due to the oxygen released as it permeates the soil and decomposes; and 2) it eliminates the anoxic conditions that allow many pathogenic microbes to thrive, while creating the oxic (oxygen) conditions needed to establish a healthy soil microbe community. When used as a foliar spray, it&rsquo;s primary mode of action is to stimulate the opening of leaf stomata and thereby facilitate the exchange of gases and nutrients in/out of the leaf. It&rsquo;s important to note that neither of these applications require direct microbial kill, and so their use is typically as a &lsquo;probiotic&rsquo; (i.e., producing conditions conducive to healthy living). Hence, H2O2 sold into these applications does not require EPA registration as a biocide (under FIFRA regs).

While the primary mode of action may be oxygen release, there are undoubtedly direct chemical oxidation reactions occurring that may alter the chemical properties/constituents of the soil and/or kill microbes &ndash; hence the need for caution and careful measurement. But at the doses recommended, and under the conditions it&rsquo;s applied (neutral or slightly alkaline pH), those secondary reactions should be minor.

BTW &ndash; H2O2 has been certified by OMRI (Organic Materials Research Institute) for use in these oxygenation applications.

Hope this helps, John
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can you link some references to peroxide being able to oxygenate soil? i find that super hard to believe personally. furthermore, i dont see how such an intermittent application could do anything to substantially effect the plants growth.
its my understanding that plants use an insignifanct amount of oxygen... like single digit ppms, and its my understanding that in most cases most of the oxygen they obtain is simply absorbed across cell membranes on the suface of the plant.
And whos to say the peroxide would even make it into the soil? i wouldnt be suprised if it reacted completely before wetting an inch of soil.

and how does peroxide open plant stomta?
link me what ever you have if you dont mind, i dont mind being wrong, but none of that makes sense to me.

sounds like more gardening lore to me, rather than a sound practice.
 
Here's a link to the soil amendment app ...
http://www.ars.usda....q_no_115=207538
Note the mention of H2O2 being a metabolic signalling agent for nutrient uptake by root hairs. More on that here ... http://www.pnas.org/...1/23/8827.short
You'll also find refs to its signalling the healing process ... http://stke.sciencem...ntcell;13/1/179

Here are two links to the foliar spray / stomata effect ...
http://www.nature.co...1a0.html?free=2
http://www.plantphys...137/3/831.short
You should try Google Scholar if you like this kind of stuff. There are hundreds more papers like these throughout the scientific literature going back decades, and the abstracts (at least) are available free to all through Google Scholar.
 
I may be right or I may be wrong. I have been adding 1 shot glass (1.5 ounces) of h2o2 to my hydro bucket for 2 weeks now and havent seen any bad effects. My root growth has exploded, although I cannot say it it is directly from the addition of the h2o2 or from the fact that I lowered my water level. My plant is nice and healthy though and has really grown alot though, so maybe there is something to it (I am still using the same amount of nutes per gallon as before the addition of the h2o2 so its not that).
 
jwalton said:
Here's a link to the soil amendment app ...
http://www.ars.usda....q_no_115=207538
Note the mention of H2O2 being a metabolic signalling agent for nutrient uptake by root hairs. More on that here ... http://www.pnas.org/...1/23/8827.short
You'll also find refs to its signalling the healing process ... http://stke.sciencem...ntcell;13/1/179

Here are two links to the foliar spray / stomata effect ...
http://www.nature.co...1a0.html?free=2
http://www.plantphys...137/3/831.short
You should try Google Scholar if you like this kind of stuff. There are hundreds more papers like these throughout the scientific literature going back decades, and the abstracts (at least) are available free to all through Google Scholar.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your input John. I was wondering if you would share your personal observations and or experimental results on how you used H202. Please be specific on areas such as intended purpose, dosage, results and recommendations. Also I am wondering if you are using a commercial 3% grade H202 or a 35% food grade diluted down to the standard 3% grade. I realize the standard 3% grade has added stabilizers added and am wondering if you consider them detrimental or whether at that concentration there is any cause for concern. Thanks John.
 
queequeg152 said:
can you link some references to peroxide being able to oxygenate soil? i find that super hard to believe personally. furthermore, i dont see how such an intermittent application could do anything to substantially effect the plants growth.
its my understanding that plants use an insignifanct amount of oxygen... like single digit ppms, and its my understanding that in most cases most of the oxygen they obtain is simply absorbed across cell membranes on the suface of the plant.
And whos to say the peroxide would even make it into the soil? i wouldnt be suprised if it reacted completely before wetting an inch of soil.

and how does peroxide open plant stomta?
link me what ever you have if you dont mind, i dont mind being wrong, but none of that makes sense to me.

sounds like more gardening lore to me, rather than a sound practice.
Click to expand...

I happend to know for a fact it oxygenates soil. I have long used H2o2 in my water and will still keep it up.
 
I use it to pre-treat stale water but try to stay away from using it on organic soils except for treating root rot and other nasties
 
I'm familair with hygrozyme but what are exactly are you recommending this product for? A substitute for H2O2??
 
ive actually been digging around scirus a bunch, and apparently h202 is used to remediate poor anoxic soils conditions. one paper suggested it also killed microbes that consume oxygen.
all the papers i read were useing it as part of a daily irrigation program. its not clear to me if there are any benefits to peroxide being used with good soil conditions.
interesting stuff gentlemen
 
queequeg152 said:
ive actually been digging around scirus a bunch, and apparently h202 is used to remediate poor anoxic soils conditions. one paper suggested it also killed microbes that consume oxygen.
all the papers i read were useing it as part of a daily irrigation program. its not clear to me if there are any benefits to peroxide being used with good soil conditions.
interesting stuff gentlemen
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if you add H202 to your water, you simulate rain water.
 
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