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Old 23-11-2003, 02:42 AM
Gene Schurg
 
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Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

At the last orchid society meeting Weyman Bussey from Abunda Flora in Texas
spoke to our group. One of the ideas he mentioned was that 180 proof
alcohol (moonshine or grain alcohol) added to the water will make the roots
very happy. He claims it extends the life of the organic media and kills a
few pests too.

His recommendation is 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water.

Is anyone else out there doing this? What do the rest of the readers think?

Good growing,
Gene


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Old 23-11-2003, 04:05 AM
Quelqu`un
 
Posts: n/a
Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

Hello! Interresting....

Where can you find a 180 proof alcohol! Isn`t the max 100????

anyway, I do use pure bleach, 7 drops per liter of water once a month to
clean roots and it seems to keep them happy as well.

Claude

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
ink.net...
| At the last orchid society meeting Weyman Bussey from Abunda Flora in
Texas
| spoke to our group. One of the ideas he mentioned was that 180 proof
| alcohol (moonshine or grain alcohol) added to the water will make the
roots
| very happy. He claims it extends the life of the organic media and kills
a
| few pests too.
|
| His recommendation is 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water.
|
| Is anyone else out there doing this? What do the rest of the readers
think?
|
| Good growing,
| Gene
|
|



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Old 23-11-2003, 09:32 AM
Geir Harris Hedemark
 
Posts: n/a
Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

"Gene Schurg" writes:
His recommendation is 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water.


Lessee.

5ml (your teaspoons are probably more like 3ml, but who cares) of more
or less pure alcohol per 4.5*5 (?) litres is 0.005/22.5 = 0.02% of
alcohol by volume.

Sounds like a homepathic remedy to me.

I am more interested in what had happened if he had tipped a bottle of
ale into those 20 litres. There are lots of nice sugars and vitamins
in there.

Still - whatever is good for you is supposed to taste bad, and
moonshone _does_ taste awful.

Geir
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Old 23-11-2003, 11:02 AM
Aaron Hicks
 
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Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

Well, lessee here. 1 teaspoon = 5 mL, and 1 gallon = 3800 mL
(approximately). So, that's 5 mL into 19000 mL, if my math is correct.
That works out to about 1/4 mL per liter.

For some kinds of tissue culture work, it is normal to dissolve
certain chemicals in ethanol or other solvents because they do not
dissolve well in water. They are then dispensed and autoclaved normally
when diluted in the media. Due to the high level of dilution, not all the
alcohol boils off. As substantial quantities of ethanol, methanol, and
other solvents may be used to compound media (several mL in some cases),
it is likely that more than the concentration stated above (1/4 mL per
liter) remains in the media during autoclaving.

As a result, the constant exposure of plants to these solvents in
vitro is assured. Interestingly, there are morphological differences with
plants raised under these conditions, and there are different results with
different concentrations- showing that at least *some* of these solvents
do, in fact, remain behind. I've never tried to quantify them. Anyway,
these changes vary wildly between different plants.

That plants are capable of chemosynthesis is not unexpected;
orchids derive virtually all of their carbon from the sugars in the media-
it's sure as heck not from the 400 ppm carbon dioxide that gets in
through the vent. Even unvented tissue cultures will grow, with plants
accumulating more carbon mass than would ever be possible from the small
amounts of available atmospheric air. Other organisms use chemosynthesis
as well; while an undergrad, I attended one lecture from an astronomer
turned biologist who tried to poison freshwater mussels with organic
solvents like toluene. The concept was to develop a quick-and-dirty
bioassay for organic solvent levels in water. Remarkably, the mussels
survived high concentrations (the memory fails me, but 500 ppm of some
very nasty solvents), and grew faster than the controls. That the critters
were capable of chemosynthesis of aromatic organic solvents seemed the
most reasonable explanation. I remember the concentrations were so high
that there were problems maintaining such high levels of solvent in
aqueous solution.

The e-mail address in the header doesn't work. Sorry.

-AJHicks
Chandler, AZ


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Old 23-11-2003, 02:33 PM
Ray
 
Posts: n/a
Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

"Proof" is not equal to percentage.

In alcoholic beverages, the proof is generally considered to be twice the
percentage of alcohol in the overall liquid, so 180 proof = 90% ethanol.
That dates back to when spirits were graded with gunpowder rather than
hygrometers. Gunpowder was saturated with the spirit, and if it would flash
when ignited, the spirit "proved" itself, and was defined as 100 degrees
"proof" (100°). This has since been found to actually be at 57.15% ethanol.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!


.. . . . . . . . . . .
"Quelqu`un" wrote in message
. ..
Hello! Interresting....

Where can you find a 180 proof alcohol! Isn`t the max 100????

anyway, I do use pure bleach, 7 drops per liter of water once a month to
clean roots and it seems to keep them happy as well.

Claude

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
ink.net...
| At the last orchid society meeting Weyman Bussey from Abunda Flora in
Texas
| spoke to our group. One of the ideas he mentioned was that 180 proof
| alcohol (moonshine or grain alcohol) added to the water will make the
roots
| very happy. He claims it extends the life of the organic media and

kills
a
| few pests too.
|
| His recommendation is 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water.
|
| Is anyone else out there doing this? What do the rest of the readers
think?
|
| Good growing,
| Gene
|
|







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Old 23-11-2003, 04:02 PM
Quelqu`un
 
Posts: n/a
Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

Thanks Ray!

"Ray" wrote in message
...
| "Proof" is not equal to percentage.
|
| In alcoholic beverages, the proof is generally considered to be twice the
| percentage of alcohol in the overall liquid, so 180 proof = 90% ethanol.
| That dates back to when spirits were graded with gunpowder rather than
| hygrometers. Gunpowder was saturated with the spirit, and if it would
flash
| when ignited, the spirit "proved" itself, and was defined as 100 degrees
| "proof" (100°). This has since been found to actually be at 57.15%
ethanol.
|
| --
|
| Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
| Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!
|
|
| . . . . . . . . . . .
| "Quelqu`un" wrote in message
| . ..
| Hello! Interresting....
|
| Where can you find a 180 proof alcohol! Isn`t the max 100????
|
| anyway, I do use pure bleach, 7 drops per liter of water once a month to
| clean roots and it seems to keep them happy as well.
|
| Claude
|
| "Gene Schurg" wrote in message
| ink.net...
| | At the last orchid society meeting Weyman Bussey from Abunda Flora in
| Texas
| | spoke to our group. One of the ideas he mentioned was that 180 proof
| | alcohol (moonshine or grain alcohol) added to the water will make the
| roots
| | very happy. He claims it extends the life of the organic media and
| kills
| a
| | few pests too.
| |
| | His recommendation is 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water.
| |
| | Is anyone else out there doing this? What do the rest of the readers
| think?
| |
| | Good growing,
| | Gene
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|


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Old 23-11-2003, 04:02 PM
Wendy
 
Posts: n/a
Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

Interesting stuff Ray!
It's party time!!!! In the spirit of things,
picture this, a greenhouse with a bunch of blooming, 'drunken' orchids????
But the proof of the ethanol indulgence would be what they
looked like with a hangover???? *G*
--
Cheers Wendy
Remove PETERPAN for email reply


"Ray" wrote in message
...
"Proof" is not equal to percentage.

In alcoholic beverages, the proof is generally considered to be twice the
percentage of alcohol in the overall liquid, so 180 proof = 90% ethanol.
That dates back to when spirits were graded with gunpowder rather than
hygrometers. Gunpowder was saturated with the spirit, and if it would

flash
when ignited, the spirit "proved" itself, and was defined as 100 degrees
"proof" (100°). This has since been found to actually be at 57.15%

ethanol.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Books, Artwork, and Lots of Free Info!


. . . . . . . . . . .
"Quelqu`un" wrote in message
. ..
Hello! Interresting....

Where can you find a 180 proof alcohol! Isn`t the max 100????

anyway, I do use pure bleach, 7 drops per liter of water once a month to
clean roots and it seems to keep them happy as well.

Claude

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
ink.net...
| At the last orchid society meeting Weyman Bussey from Abunda Flora in
Texas
| spoke to our group. One of the ideas he mentioned was that 180 proof
| alcohol (moonshine or grain alcohol) added to the water will make the
roots
| very happy. He claims it extends the life of the organic media and

kills
a
| few pests too.
|
| His recommendation is 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water.
|
| Is anyone else out there doing this? What do the rest of the readers
think?
|
| Good growing,
| Gene
|
|







  #8   Report Post  
Old 23-11-2003, 07:02 PM
K Barrett
 
Posts: n/a
Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

I thought Weyman Bussey was out of business. Have a contact # for him?

K Barrett
(Now my society's VP for 2004)

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
ink.net...
At the last orchid society meeting Weyman Bussey from Abunda Flora in

Texas
spoke to our group. One of the ideas he mentioned was that 180 proof
alcohol (moonshine or grain alcohol) added to the water will make the

roots
very happy. He claims it extends the life of the organic media and kills

a
few pests too.

His recommendation is 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water.

Is anyone else out there doing this? What do the rest of the readers

think?

Good growing,
Gene




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Old 23-11-2003, 10:12 PM
Susan Erickson
 
Posts: n/a
Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 17:54:44 GMT, "K Barrett"
wrote:

I thought Weyman Bussey was out of business. Have a contact # for him?

K Barrett
(Now my society's VP for 2004)


Congratulations on the new title.... or should that be
condolences on the new job? G

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php
  #10   Report Post  
Old 23-11-2003, 10:45 PM
K Barrett
 
Posts: n/a
Default A cocktail for your Orchids?

"Susan Erickson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 17:54:44 GMT, "K Barrett"
wrote:

I thought Weyman Bussey was out of business. Have a contact # for him?

K Barrett
(Now my society's VP for 2004)


Congratulations on the new title.... or should that be
condolences on the new job? G

SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php


Bigtime condolences. My club's nick name is 'The Little Red Hen Society'.
Its motto is 'You can have your fill of all the food you bring yourself.'

K


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