Bicarb.. Sodium Bicarbonate ... why should you not use it.

Charlie

It's fine to question and you will get answers. That's what we are here for. Keep in mind that even though things are re-quoted it's usually because it has been discussed many, many times before... in some case, decades ago.

Let the search function be your friend.

Gunagulla

In my experience, strawberries will generally die or fail to grow at 3ppt salinity, but do ok at 1ppt, and even better at lower levels.

In my greenhouse system 3ppt salinity is about 18kg of NaCl, which is about 7kg of Sodium.

Adding a teaspoon or 10 of baking soda is totally insignificant as far as Sodium concentration goes, but even so, it is of no use to the plants, why add it?

coachchris

+1
Adding a teaspoon or 10 of baking soda is totally insignificant as far as Sodium concentration goes, but even so, it is of no use to the plants, why add it?

BuiDoi

coachchris wrote:

+1
Adding a teaspoon or 10 of baking soda is totally insignificant as far as Sodium concentration goes, but even so, it is of no use to the plants, why add it?

OK... so we seem to have got to the pointy end.. :thumbleft:

It is acceptable (safe) to use it, and it's effect will be minimal to nil, BUT, given that there are better pH-upers, it is better to go the alternative route...

That is where I wanted to be.. debunking the suggestion... " never BiCarb "
which has been used by a great many for many years, with no observable detriment..
ie.. perfectly fine as an interim, if you don't have the preferred material .. :headbang:

And I found an interesting comment by MrDamage (I think), who, as a botanist suggested that plants most certainly used salt and that you will have to replace it to maintain a set ratio..
..
.

BuiDoi

Gunagulla wrote:

In my experience, strawberries will generally die or fail to grow at 3ppt salinity, but do ok at 1ppt, and even better at lower levels......

and +1 to that... many of my plants that suffered at 3 parts are not doing OK..and for the sake of completeness..

Mr Damage wrote:

..... being a horticulturalist, the plants and their pests are more my forte, although I have been keeping fish, yabbies etc for about 8 years now.......... ( salt ) 1ppt is considered acceptable to maintain in the system for general fish health, in all honesty, your plants may well do better with 1ppt of salt in the system. The plants will use the salt so you will need to add more salt occasionally to maintain 1ppt. A salinity rectometer will help you maintain the salt level accurately......

I'm going to have to get the correct refractometer, if only for the salt conc..

BTW - to the bio-chemists who may be there.. what will generally happen to Sodium Bicarb..
I'm thinking that it would likely form Sodium Nitrate.. :cry:

I found that quote from Mr Damage, when looking for stuff on Potessium PerManganate..
Now that it an interesting topic, where you get Potassium and Manganese, and it fights infections but will kill off ALL bacteria if overdone (one assumes)
..
.

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Bicarb.. Sodium Bicarbonate ... why should you not use it.

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