Watering plants with milk can add some benefits in the form of calcium and trace amounts of nitrogen hailing from the protein content in the milk. While this is something that can't replace fresh water, you can add this to your monthly care routine in small amounts.
As strange as it sounds, you can actually water plants with milk. Even if you can't drink it yourself, it makes for a stellar fertilizer. According to Gardening Know How, expired milk is loaded with calcium, protein, vitamins, and sugars that can help give your plants an added boost and help them grow big and strong.
As milk is a good source of calcium, you can use it to feed your plants occasionally. This milk fertilizer can be used for many vegetable plants, more specifically for the likes of tomatoes, peppers, and squash that suffer from blossom end rot. Milk is also wonderful for citrus plants like lemons and oranges.
Coffee grounds (and brewed coffee) are a source of nitrogen for plants, producing healthy green growth and strong stems. Coffee also contains calcium and magnesium — both of which are beneficial to plant health. To use coffee as a plant fertilizer, you'll need to dilute it. It should look like weak tea.
Milk works best as a preventative measure rather than as a cure. This means you ideally should apply it at the start of warm, humid weather before powdery mildew has appeared on your plants. Through experience, you might already know the times of year when the disease is likely to show up.
Breast Milk Fertilizer
The proteins from breast milk help make the soil nitrogen-rich, making it a great food for your garden. Calcium from breast milk can also serve as an added nutrient boost for your soil too. To make fertilizer from leftover breast milk, follow the 1:1:4 ratio.
Spray on plants dotted with powdery mildew. Repeat weekly to keep leaves fungus-free. [Note: Skim milk has no fat content so there is less chance of odors.]
The absorption of these nutrients encourages more rapid growth in the plant. Therefore, pouring soda on plants, such as Classic Coca Cola, is inadvisable. Coke has a jaw dropping 3.38 grams of sugar per ounce, which would certainly kill the plant, as it would be unable to absorb water or nutrients.
'Sugar water can conversely cause damage to plants that are otherwise growing healthily by changing the way their roots absorb moisture and nutrients. Sugar water can prevent plants from getting the right nutrients from the soil and kill the plants instead of helping them.
Is Banana Peel Water Good for Plants? Using banana water for plants doesn't have many cons if you do it correctly. Banana peels contain essential nutrients for plant growth, like magnesium, phosphorus, and calcium. The amount of nutrients infused into water is very unlikely to cause fertilizer overdose.
Oatmeal is very useful for your health, but it is also useful in the garden. In addition to preventing pests such as slugs and snails, oatmeal water is a good way to improve soil nutrient level to benefit your plants.
Urine can be used as a fertiliser without fear it will fuel the spread of antibiotic resistance, researchers have revealed – although they urge caution against using fresh bodily waste to water crops. Urine is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus and has been used for generations to help plants grow.
Epsom salt can improve the blooms of flowering and green shrubs, especially evergreens, azaleas and rhododendrons. Work in one tablespoon of Ultra Epsom Salt per nine square feet of bush into the soil, over the root zone, which allows the shrubs to absorb the nutritional benefits.
Baking soda on plants causes no apparent harm and may help prevent the bloom of fungal spores in some cases. It is most effective on fruits and vegetables off the vine or stem, but regular applications during the spring can minimize diseases such as powdery mildew and other foliar diseases.
Saltwater also affects plants by inhibiting their growth and photosynthetic capabilities. All living organisms need salt, and plants absorb theirs through their root system along with their water. However, in salinated soil, plants absorb too much salt.
Carbonated water
Carbon Dioxide is a fundamental element of the photosynthesis cycle, without which the plants can't make their own sugar. Carbonated water includes macronutrients that are needed for their development.
Coffee grounds have a high nitrogen content, along with a few other nutrients plants can use. In compost, they help create organic matter that improves the ability of soil to hold water. It's best to add coffee grounds, not whole beans, to compost.
Plants need a mixture of water light, water and soil with a lot of nutrients and minerals in it. Adding Gatorade to the soil will stunt the plant's growth before it even starts.
Spray plant foliage using a 50-50 milk/water ratio, advises Marie Iannotti of The Spruce. Mix the solution in a spray bottle, (the kind you use to mist houseplants). Shake well and spray.
Many studies since than have replicated and added to the peer reviewed consensus that milk is an effective treatment for powdery mildew. There are several theories as to why milk works, but from a gardeners perspective the only thing we really care about is that it works with minimal side effects.