Hydrogen Peroxide in Horticulture
Question from Christine:
I have read that adding hydrogen peroxide to plants helps the root system with oxygenation, and produces healthier plants. I have used 3% with annuals/perennials, and food grade – 35% for my vegetables…both diluted with water. Have you used this before? What are your thoughts?
Answer from Pat:
Hydrogen peroxide has know horticultural applications, such as to prevent or cure root rots in hydroponically-grown crops and also to cure root rot in waterlogged soils by delivering oxygen to the roots of plants. Here is an article explaining the mechanism of this substance and its horticultural uses. http://www.quickgrow.com/gardening_articles/hydrogen_peroxide_horticulture.html
You asked me what I think of using hydrogen peroxide in gardening and whether I have ever used it. No I have not used it out in the garden, but if I were doing hydroponic growing I would have to use it at times. The uses of hydrogen peroxide are scientifically proven. I believe in the scientific method and in cases where it has been proven wrong, I simply think science had not yet been able to go far enough to unravel all the mysteries. Therefore, have no reason to dispute science, but rather always try to adopt its principles but in an organic way. Hydrogen peroxide doesn’t exactly fit into organic principles, but I have used Oxygen Plus fertilizer, which contains hydrogen peroxide, to feed houseplants and see nothing wrong in that. I am not a hydroponic gardener and the soil in my garden is well drained, so I have no real need to use hydrogen peroxide outdoors.
Hydrogen peroxide is used as an ingredient in some houseplant fertilizers to prevent damage from overwatering. Oxygen Plus is a good example of a fertilizer that uses this way of adding oxygen to roots of houseplants. Currently some soil mixes used for planting and growing houseplants do not contain adequate air pockets in the mix. Also, they either dry out too completely or get soggy wet and fail to drain properly. These soil mixes stay wet too long so that the roots of houseplants growing in them die of root rot. In this situation, fertilizing with Oxygen Plus can correct the problem, so why not use it? I find it easier to use the ready-made commercial fertilizer than try to figure out the math of purchasing hydrogen peroxide and getting the proportions right for plants.
Thank you, Pat – I did try this on a young pecan tree that was showing “black spots” that I assumed was some kind of mold. I sprayed this mixture onto the leaves and the black spots disappeared! Thank you for your wonderful website – I just purchased your book, too!
So much great info, and so little yard space to play in …
The normal uses of hydrogen peroxide in agriculture are in soil drenches or watering and fertilizing solutions to increase oxygen around the roots. Your idea of using it as a spray may have been tried or may be something new. Black spots on leaves of fruit and nut trees could be a sign of one of a number of fungal or bacterial diseases or from various insects. There would be no way to make such spots quickly disappear unless they were simply a surface discoloration as from sticky mold. Since your hydrogen peroxide spray got rid of them, it sounds as if the problem was sticky mold from aphids. Aphids can often be removed by a strong spray of water. In this case hydrogen peroxide made the spray of water more effective and also cleaned up the mold far better than water does alone. You might be onto something. How much did you add per gallon of water?
Here’s the site I referred to for peroxide.
Since I used this on a Pecan tree, I used the food grade, 35% solution, in this case – foliar application. http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html
Great! This is very helpful. Now I see it is recommended also as a spray.
I’m not so sure it’s not organic. I’ve seen several accounts of how falling rain picks up the extra oxygen molecule from atmospheric ozone, making a bit of peroxide naturally. Upon contact with soil, the extra oxygen molecule is released, oxygenating the soil. Of course, we don’t manufacture peroxide in a natural way, which could negate any beneficial effect.
Hydrogen peroxide occurs naturally in nature but in nature it is unstable. As I see it, bottled hydrogen peroxide is not natural because it is a manufactured, commercial product made by a chemical process. Here is an informative writeup on Snopes http://www.snopes.com/medical/homecure/peroxide.asp. I find the agricultural uses of hydrogen peroxide interesting and at least some of these uses are effective, but let’s keep everything in balance and not go over-board with enthusiasm. The fact is that hydrogen peroxide is not a cure-all. Nor is it totally harmless. If misused or used for the wrong purpose, it can be dangerous or deleterious. For example, if used too often to cleanse a minor cut or wound, hydrogen peroxide tends to slow down the healing process. (Today alcohol is more frequently used for this purpose.) If injected into the body or if ingested in sufficient quantity and too strong a concentration, hydrogen peroxide can cause death.