I love finding new, exciting and EASY ways to help an ailing plant or garden. Easy ‘medicine’ for my plants is a big thing for me. If it takes a lot of work, I’m probably just going to let that plant die and buy a new one. (Shhh…don’t tell Jason that. As far as he’s concerned, I have a green thumb got it?) But I never dreamed that my plants might actually benefit from real medicine, like say Aspirin.
Yes, that little white pill we all know so well that’s been curing headaches for as long as any of us can remember, helps keep heart attacks at bay, and is rumored to reduce your risk of cancer is actually good for healing your plant’s ailments too. Who knew? According to Avant Gardener mixing 1.5 uncoated Aspirin tablets with 2 Gallons of water can bring your sick little plant back to life. Here’s how it works.
Aspirin is Salicylic Acid derived from the Willow Family. Stressed plants naturally produce Salicylic Acid in an attempt to heal themselves. Unfortunately, sometimes their efforts are too slow to save them in time. Adding Aspirin to the plant can help to speed up the healing process and save the plant. In various studies, treated plants grew faster and were able to fight off pests and diseases better than untreated plants. Aspirin treated plants also showed an increase of production in fruits, herbs, and veggies. Martha McBurney, the master gardener that first tested the effects of Aspirin Water on plants at The University of Rhode Island even treated their seeds with Aspirin and reported 100% germination. You can even add an Aspirin to your vase of fresh cut flowers to keep your flowers fresher longer. I don’t think I will ever look at Aspirin quite the same way again.
I haven’t read any studies yet on whether eating fruits and vegetables treated with Aspirin Water can help deter headaches, but I figure it probably couldn’t hurt to try.
For more info on how Aspirin can help your garden, visit PlanTea.