table of contents
- Beer and its ingredients
- What about alcohol
- The problem with the carbon dioxide
- Beer for more leaf shine
Despite its alcohol content, beer is considered healthy. It is isotonic and has a large number of nutrients that are beneficial to health. After exercise or even after intense competitions, its alcohol-free variant is therefore popular and widespread today. But did you know that it is not only people who can benefit from it? Plants also benefit from the countless positive contents of barley juice.
Beer and its ingredients
According to the German Purity Law from 1516, beer in Germany may only be brewed from three ingredients:
- water
- hop
- malt
Despite or precisely because of these few, but definitely valuable components, it also includes them Product, i.e. the beers brewed from it, many things that are quite beneficial for an organism are. These are for example:
- Carbohydrates, i.e. starch or sugar
- protein
- Vitamins
- Folic acid
- potassium
- phosphorus
- sulfur
- magnesium
- calcium
- Silicon
While protein and vitamins are especially valuable for humans, they also contain some of the typical ingredients of plant fertilizers with potassium, phosphorus and magnesium. Countless other minerals contained in much smaller quantities round off the nutrient spectrum.
What about alcohol
As an attentive reader, you will surely ask yourself what about the alcohol content in beers? Can plants be drunk?
No, since the plants lack a brain comparable to the human organism, the symptoms known as intoxication cannot occur either. So you don't have to worry that your flower will stand crooked in the vase the next morning and give off a bad smell. However, alcohol is a cell poison for every type of cell, including plant cells. If these plants are watered excessively with alcohol, a destruction of only a few, but later all cells of the plant can be expected in the long run. Ultimately, you could say your plant has a hangover from which it will unfortunately not recover.
To enjoy the benefits of watering with leftover beer without the disadvantages of alcohol on your plants Transferred, it is therefore advisable to always dilute the drink with at least two parts of water to one part of beer administer.
ATTENTION: Of course, there are also low-alcohol and even non-alcoholic beers today. But you should not use these drinks undiluted either, otherwise there is a risk of over-fertilization due to the intensely nutrient-rich brew!
The problem with the carbon dioxide
In addition to the alcohol content of the beer, carbon dioxide is also a problem that should not be neglected when using barley juice as a liquid fertilizer. Very few people will pour freshly tapped beers on the plants. However, even beers that have been stale overnight still have enough carbonic acid to damage roots and cells in general if given too much. Let your leftover beer stand for at least two to three days and dilute them as indicated before you let them benefit the plants.
Beer for more leaf shine
In addition to using it as a liquid fertilizer, you can also use your leftover beer for the good in other ways Use your plants: Applied with a soft cloth or cotton ball, beer leaves the leaves again shine. In addition, the defense against parasites and pathogens can also be increased in this way.
TIP: But also pay attention to the mentioned dilution, as the alcohol content with intensive use otherwise it damages the cell walls and thus causes more damage to the leaves than you actually cause want.