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The benefits of hydrogen peroxide for a garden can be useful for any kind
of a garden, and any method of gardening. Peroxide is great for plants
that are planted in the ground, and it’s also great for plants in
containers -- it is useful in hydroponic gardens, raised beds, and
greenhouses.
Similarly, peroxide for gardening applies well with
all kinds of plants: a rose garden, herb garden, vegetable garden,
orchard, shade trees, flower garden or lawn -- any or all of these would
benefit from hydrogen peroxide.
Peroxide works by releasing
oxygen. It acts as an oxygen supplement for plants. It seems to really
support both good health and strong growth for plants.
Hydrogen peroxide can also help with soil fungus: it aerates the soil, and it is anti-fungal. (It is also anti-bacterial.)
Ways to use peroxide in the garden
- General fertilizer, either in plant water or sprayed on foliage. This page has much more detail about how to mix and apply peroxide in the garden.
- For sick plants. Spray on the leaves and add to water.
- Hydroponic gardening. Hydroponic gardeners often use peroxide to feed plants, by adding it to the watering system.
- Spray on tree cuts, to prevent infection.
- As a spray in the greenhouse, to control mold and mildew.
- Sprouting seeds before planting. Added to the water that seeds soak in, the seeds will sprout faster and grow stronger.
- Rooting cuttings. Added to the water, if you’ve put the cuttings directly into water. Or, if you’ve put the cuttings into soil or medium, use peroxide in the water you’re using to water the cuttings with.
- Mold or fungus on plants or in the soil. Hydrogen peroxide will help to control mold on plants or in the soil. If you’ve got mold on the plant, spraying the leaves is probably best…
- Weed killer. I’ve never used it this way, and I’m not sure I would want to… but I’ve read that 10% hydrogen peroxide will kill weeds. Personally, I would rather pull the weeds up. If you do decide to try this, I certainly would NOT use 10% peroxide close to other plants… and I would come back later and add a LOT of water after the unwanted plants ("weeds") have died. This is very very very concentrated……
How much peroxide to use in the garden….
This
page has charts showing the amount of hydrogen peroxide to use for
watering and spraying plants, for general applications and for sick or
fungsy plants. Please take a look – it only takes a little bit of peroxide.
Peroxide for sprouting seeds and rooting cuttings…
Here is a science fair project using hydrogen peroxide for sprouting seeds and rooting cuttings.
In this experiment you have a choice of either sprouting seeds or
rooting cuttings. Either way, different amounts of hydrogen peroxide are
used, and the results then compared.
Hydrogen peroxide in earth’s natural watering system (rain)
When
the garden is watered by rain, there is a small amount of hydrogen
peroxide in the water. It is part of the earth’s cleaning system.....
As rain comes through earth’s ozone layer, some of the molecules of water (H2O) pick up an additional oxygen atom (O), becoming H2O2 – hydrogen peroxide!
Oxygen is O2, while ozone is O3. Ozone is very unstable -that third oxygen atom moves on easily. So the water has no trouble picking up some single oxygen atoms.
Hydrogen peroxide is also very unstable -oxygen is readily freed up to oxidize
various things that it encounters (such as bacteria, viruses, mold,
pollution…) In the process of oxidation, the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is
broken back down into water (H20) and oxygen (O).
Hydrogen
peroxide will oxidize many kinds of pathogens and pollution, so it
helps to clean the air, as the rain falls. I’ve read that there is
currently less peroxide in rain water than was common in the
past, since oxidizing air pollution now "uses up" much of the peroxide.
(Hydrogen peroxide is always "used up" by the oxidation process.)
Now, I think that cleaning up some of the pollution in the air is a fine use for hydrogen peroxide, as the air after a rain is so much nicer to breathe. But our plants like peroxide too!
