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Re: [Market-farming] Things grow better with Coke???
- From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
- To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Things grow better with Coke???
- Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 08:05:23 -0600
When I was an undergrad at the U of I, I was involved in a
research project where I measured the pH of the water being used to root red
currant cuttings to observe how the cutting itself influenced the pH of the
water. It would take about an hour a day. One day I was drinking a can of Coke
and just out of curiousity stuck the pH probe in my can of Coca Cola Classic.
The pH was 2.7. That's why Coke can clean battery terminals, pennies and all
kinds of things. But remember, stomach acids are just as strong so when you gulp
down Coke you really aren't increasing the acidity of your stomach. However, the
acid in Coke is phosphoric acid so Indian farmers are applying foliar phosphorus
to the crop and it is in a form that the plants can use immediately. So they
probably assimilate it quickly and get a boost from it. Also, the Coke is highly
carbonated so it releases CO2, which the plant can also take up and use
immediately, bumping photosynthesis. Probably the worst part of it is 120
calories worth of corn syrup, pure fructose. I can't imagine all the critters
that come looking for it. And what fungi develop on the plants as a result?
Certainly a strange development.
Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center
|
-
[Market-farming] Things grow better with Coke???,
Shelly Elliott, 11/02/2004
- [Market-farming] Coke -- O.T., Tom at Limerock, 11/04/2004
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: [Market-farming] Things grow better with Coke???, Windsoap, 11/02/2004
- Re: [Market-farming] Things grow better with Coke???, Bill Shoemaker, 11/03/2004
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