When preparing rice, the water used in cooking tends to be thrown away. Did you know that this is wasteful and that you can use that water for many things, including taking care of your plants? The benefits of rice water for plants they are not a myth, in addition to being an exceptional way to make better use of both water and food, thus helping to give a little more sustainability and ecological thinking to your way of life.
If you want to learn how to make rice fertilizer for plants from rice water, don’t go away and join us in this EcologíaVerde article in which we talk about the benefits and how rice water is prepared for plants.
Is rice water good for watering plants?
Nobody wants to risk damaging their plants with a product that may not be beneficial, and the large number of rumors and myths that are popular in the world of gardening, many of them wrong and even dangerous for the crop, make it It is very normal and healthy to distrust those miraculous solutions with which everyone seems to preach.
However, in this case we can safely say that rice water for plants is not an unfounded rumour: its benefits are more than proven and there is nothing wrong with it. Water your plants with rice water is an excellent way to fertilize them and give them an extra supply of nutrients, taking advantage of a product that you were going to throw away.
Benefits of rice water for plants
The benefits of rice water for plants are multiple.
- It is a liquid very rich in nutrients, which is a fertilizer of the first order for crops. Rice water is rich in protein, fiber, amino acids, calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc and potassium, in addition to a large amount of vitamins, all of which are very beneficial for the development of plants. It also contains NPK fertilizers to a lesser extent, which are the essential macronutrients that every plant needs to grow and be healthy. We recommend you also read this other post on How to make homemade organic fertilizers.
- By using this product you contribute rice starch for plants. Starch is a sugar that plants synthesize through photosynthesis and that they store for when they need nutrients, so giving the plant an extra supply of it will make things much easier for it.
- In the same way, the carbohydrates that the starch contains are a very valuable food for the beneficial soil bacteriawhich help break down the organic matter it contains into elements that plant roots can assimilate.
- By keeping the plant strong and a healthy bacterial population, you also promote a much healthier environment. pest resistantwhich will be less likely to prevail in the crop.
How rice water is prepared for plants
There are several ways to use rice water to water plants and strengthen them, although in all cases there is a very important point that should not be overlooked: do not add salt to the water to boil the rice if you are going to use the rice water for your plants. Salt is a very harmful element for most crops, which, added to irrigation water, would not only nullify the beneficial properties of rice water, but would also seriously harm the health of your plants and the soil. You can add the salt later, directly on your cooked rice to eat it, if you do not want to give up its water. follow these tips for preparing rice water for plants:
- Boil the rice, but without added salt, oil or spices, and remove it when it is cooked to your liking, keeping the water aside.
- The important thing is to get a very well filtered rice water free of impurities. You can strain it with a fine cloth strainer or sieve once the rice has boiled, so that you can use it for your plants.
- You should also keep in mind that you should let the rice water cool down to room temperature, as hot could damage the plants.
- In the same way, if you let it rest too long, it will lose all its beneficial properties, so it is useless to store it, you must use it the same day that you boil the rice.
- One of the ways to use rice water is spray it on your plants in the form of irrigation. For this, it is especially important that you have filtered it well so that it does not clog the sprayer. Dilute two parts of rice water in one part of water, add them to the sprayer, and you can spray the plants with it, both from above and on the underside of their leaves and the surface of the soil, preferably first or last thing in the day , that does not give a strong sun.
- Another way to use rice water is by the method of bottom irrigation or immersion irrigation, which prevents plants that do not tolerate humidity in their aerial part from suffering. Place the pot in a larger container, to which you have added enough rice water so that it is a few inches above the level of the pot’s drainage holes. In this way, the water will penetrate from below, being absorbed by the roots and the soil. After about 20 minutes, remove the pot, let it remove any excess water, and return it to its usual location.
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