Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

plants dont like sugar.

seems you and bill have different views on sugar. which one is ok?

a small mount is ok, but it cant be used as any sort of fertiliser, too much will kill them.

I'm not saying sugar is good or even usable by they plant, just that it supports microbiology in the dirt. microbiology is good, for the most part.
Using city water probably hampers biological activity to a point.

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If the sugar feeds the microbes and they feed the plants then what is bad about it. I guess we need some kind of citation here bill to back up the sugar cycle if you can locate one. Sugar will easily go into solution.

the key is small amounts, because sugar can kill a plant.

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too much sugar means to much microbes and less nutes for roots.
there is a balance. since I water with city water I'm damaging the microbiology. The sugar most likely repairs this.

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OK so plants do photosynthesis and produce sugars. They might find a use for some extra but they probably do fine without it except in situations where they are struggling for one reason or another.

Bacteria also use sugar but adding sugar encourages the growth of hetertrophic bacteria more than those that do nitrification. The heterotrophs grow much faster so the added sugar would tip the balance in their favor which is probably something you don't want in your grow beds at least.

Hope this helps

Back to Wild Bill, So I guess the question is, "What are you after by adding the sugar" Scotty is the BYAP God of chemistry and I would head his advise. Maybe there is a better way to get the results you are after. I did read that you said. "Small amounts only" Any idea on ppm? I could always try a sample test cup. Maybe if a plant uses energy to make sucrose and then it can get it for free, it can spend energy doing other things. Or maybe one of the other things in the BBQ sauce is helping out. Interesting so far, please continue.

Nah! Lot of educated guesswork goes into it Deuem. A real Chemist could calculate it all out and run circles around me. I used to be able to do some of that but it's been too long.

Cheers

From what I have read you write, You still have that status here. Being an AP chemist is harder then a real chemist. You have to deal with live things. They deal with test tubes. Give yourself more credit.

I think the biology part involves a bit more art than straight chemistry. They both require a lot of knowledge to be able to interpret what's going on though. What we deal with here is often very basic stuff but I enjoy having the practical application of all the information I've picked up over the years. It's also interesting to see how things have changed since I went to school.

In highschool I scored a 105 in chemistry, and 70-75 in biology, and I cheated. Biology, to me, feels magnitudes more complicated. Have ever watched a protein folding simulation? boggles my mind.
So far I'm all guesses. there was about a spoonful of bbq sauce in the potion along with a about 1 teaspoon of ash, in a half liter of water.
the thing about bacteria populations, when introduced into an abundant food supply, is that they go up, and down. And they don't vanish, they leave behind lot's of nutes and biologically active minerals. I believe too much sugar can kill a plant, not directly, but as a result of the spike in bacteria. And the plant does make sugars, true, in the leaves and transports them to the roots. they get used on the way. If a plant was absorbing sugar through it's roots it could be too much, like a person can get too much oxygen.

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and my potion was fed to over 200 densely planted popcorn plants

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Bill, do you know what sugar is in the bbq sauce. Sucrose, glucose or man made. Maybe if it is man made they are just ignoring it all together and using the other items such as ash. I also use ash and it can change a plant overnight. it has a lot of K in it. I think burnt ash from banana peals is one of the highest and easy to get. A plant may suck up some extra sucrose if available but not the other man made junk. Maybe they are the plant killers. They will kill us also. Anything made by man should not be eaten. I mean anything made in a factory and manipulated like Monsanto does. Plants and us are made to eat real food stuff. Everything else will hurt us in the long or short run. It is a reason I am working on this project. To try and get away from chemicals in our food. Bill, please read that label and see what else you are really adding, even if in small amounts. Red dye #4 ? Or corn syrup as the sweetener. If plants did well for millions of years without chemicals they should still do well without them for the next million. I would add only natural items.