Ascorbic Acid to Promote Growth

thewanderingjack

thewanderingjack

Well-Known Member
I'll be down to test this when I get a chance... my water is alkali so that would be a way to offset that... I have used vinegar/water before (for ph), and I happen to keep a large supply of citric acid powder handy.

Very interesting.

Kinda torn on whether it will work or not... and definitely know to be careful... may be safe for consumption, but it is very strong.

Rock on with your mad scientist self.

NOTE: Unless you have lab conditions, a true scientific experiment is impossible. But to me, this is still meaningful and important exercise because it leads to more research. Most research starts with one crappy study that usually doesn't have enough subjects for a real answer... but it leads to bigger better ones that do.
 
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BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
Citric acid is actually the best antfungal around as a soil drench, better than acetic or ascorbic. For pH adjustment I recommend malic acid, available in brewing supply stores. It tends to keep solutions in the right pH range over time. But since you're interested in trying vitamin C, in this case ascorbic would be appropriate. I can't say for sure if it will increase yield but I haven't seen it do any harm and my plants are certainly healthy.
 
thewanderingjack

thewanderingjack

Well-Known Member
BobCajun said:
Citric acid is actually the best antfungal around as a soil drench, better than acetic or ascorbic. For pH adjustment I recommend malic acid, available in brewing supply stores. It tends to keep solutions in the right pH range over time. But since you're interested in trying vitamin C, in this case ascorbic would be appropriate. I can't say for sure if it will increase yield but I haven't seen it do any harm and my plants are certainly healthy.
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OOOH yes important distinction:

http://blog.fooducate.com/2015/09/10/whats-the-difference-between-citric-acid-ascorbic-acid-and-vitamin-c/

I have both, so I guess I'll test that too :-D
 
thewanderingjack

thewanderingjack

Well-Known Member
BobCajun said:
Ever tried malic though? Not many people ever mention that one. I haven't even used it myself yet. Next time I see a brewing store I'll get some though. I just read about it being good as a pH buffer.
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Not in gardening... will add to the test list :-)

The three main citrus acids and potential effects on plant growth (other than Ph balancing agent), right on
 
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slownickel

Well-Known Member
We use citric acid weekly on grapes via the irrigation system. It is spectacular. I am not sure if it is the adsorbtion of vit c or the nice acidic pH twang. The grapes from these farms is spectacular. For those metric folk, we use 2 kgs/HA/week with 1600 grape plants per ha.
 
BobCajun

BobCajun

Well-Known Member
slownickel said:
We use citric acid weekly on grapes via the irrigation system. It is spectacular. I am not sure if it is the adsorbtion of vit c or the nice acidic pH twang. The grapes from these farms is spectacular. For those metric folk, we use 2 kgs/HA/week with 1600 grape plants per ha.
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Citric acid is the one you want if fungus in the soil is a problem. I've seen studies where they compared a few different types of acids, acetic, citric and ascorbic. The citric was far ahead of the others in killing power. The ascorbic is more as a plant nutrient than soil treatment, though it does work by soil or spray. You might also try spraying citric acid solution to prevent fungus on the grape plants themselves.
 
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slownickel

Well-Known Member
Where we bury damaged limes and you dig down 6 months later, the roots have gone crazy! With that said, I farm in a pH of 7.4 haha
 
Dr. Who

Dr. Who

Well-Known Member
This whole concept is just, how do you say it so as not to offend - fuck it !
Kinda stupid!

I mean come on Cajun. Why do you want an anti fungal in your soil?
You're seemingly excited about killing off what most others are TRYING TO PUT IN! Look at all the bio's/myco's being marketed to synthetic users! Look at the studies now showing that living bio's are having a positive affect on synthetic nutrient grown plants!

Why hell's bells! Us organic folks have known the need for bacteria's and fungi all along!

And here you are pushing citric acid and liking it because it's anti fungal...Soil drench? WTFF?.....Shooting yourself in the foot is now good for you?

Any thoughts @churchhaze ? ;-)
 
Roger A. Shrubber

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
so we've taken a plant that takes 8 to 9 months to complete naturally, and gotten it down to where it can come from a seed to a finished product in as little as 4 months, and now we have to start looking in our little Bobby Hobby chemistry kits for shit to make it grow faster? why don't you guys just start working on a gun that shoots fucking thc bullets so you can get it to your brains faster? some of us enjoy growing plants, we learn how to space things out to fit the schedule we want, and don't try to add chemical and perform genetic alterations to satisfy our irrational need for instant gratification. how about trying to figure out how to grow it cheaper, so we can start dropping the prices the rich little fuckhead yuppies have artificially inflated?
 
mauricem00

mauricem00

Well-Known Member
I use ascorbic acid to reduce the PH of my tap water but have not seen any effect on plant growth as a result of using it
 
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DrGhard

Well-Known Member
ascorbic acid does not promote "growth" per se, but promotes more plant stretch by interfering with the cell wall.

for cannabis cultivation having a more stretched plant is rarely something you want to have, because it takes up a lot of space and the stems are less resistant if you have heavy buds
 
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DrGhard

Well-Known Member
RM3 said:
If nothing else you are removing Chloramine from your water 8)

4.1.4 Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) addition is effective for chlorine and chloramine removal. As indicated in the compound's name, this is an acid and it does reduce water pH if unreacted with a chlorine compound. In distilled water, it can produce a pH as low as 3.0. It is sometimes used in municipal water treatment, however it's pH reduction effect and higher cost can make it less desirable than metabisulfite addition. Ascorbic acid is added at a rate of 1.7 milligrams per liter (~6.4 milligrams per gallon) to remove up to 3 milligrams per liter of chloramine. The reaction equation for ascorbic acid and chloramine produces ammonium (NH4), chloride, and dehydroascorbic acid. Since the dosing is very low, the resulting concentrations are not a concern. Be aware that ammonium is a yeast nutrient and is not a problem in brewing water.The reaction is shown below:
ascorbic acid (C6H8O6) + monochloramine (NH2Cl) --> NH4+ + Cl- + C6H6O6
A similar dosage will also remove chlorine (OCl-) from water. The reaction produces water, chloride, and dehydroascorbic acid.
ascorbic acid (C6H8O6) + hypochlorite (OCl-) --> H2O + Cl- + C6H6O6
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plants do not care much for chloramine. they may even benefit from it in the amount is in tap water
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Dr. Who said:
This whole concept is just, how do you say it so as not to offend - fuck it !
Kinda stupid!

I mean come on Cajun. Why do you want an anti fungal in your soil?
You're seemingly excited about killing off what most others are TRYING TO PUT IN! Look at all the bio's/myco's being marketed to synthetic users! Look at the studies now showing that living bio's are having a positive affect on synthetic nutrient grown plants!

Why hell's bells! Us organic folks have known the need for bacteria's and fungi all along!

And here you are pushing citric acid and liking it because it's anti fungal...Soil drench? WTFF?.....Shooting yourself in the foot is now good for you?

Any thoughts @churchhaze ? ;-)
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I agree that this thread is stupid. I lost you on the fungus..

"Why hell's bells! Us organic folks have known the need for bacteria's and fungi all along!"

...except you don't need them... Not only do you not need them, they're kinda pointless, especially in hydro. In soil, bacteria is needed. (of course you don't need to put it there). If you just fed jacks classic or miracle grow (organic urea), fungus would be pretty much useless. You certainly don't need it.
 
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