alcohol for your flowers

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HERBIE43 Rutland , MA(Zone 5b) Dec 31, 2006

i am not into flower gardening but i read an article in a newspaper magazine (parade) where a group of scientist at a university found that small amouts of diluted alcohol from whisky, vodka, teckilia (sp) causes the stems to limit growth but does not effect the flower itself. they claim that flowers with very long stems won't have to be suported as usual.

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beaker_ch Columbia Heights, MN(Zone 4a) Dec 31, 2006

Hi Herbie! Are you planning for your summer pots of flowers yet?

I can't speak with any authority regarding alcohol, but I can tell you this. I volunteer with a group that provides meals for the homeless. Where we prepare the meals is at a residence where the chief cliental are homeless men and women with severe drinking problems, many of them in the terminal stages of whatever disease they are suffering from. The residence often has problems with people trying to sneak alcohol in and also relieving themselves in the flower gardens. When one of the administrators was telling me about this last summer, I replied "Well, you'd never know it, the gardens are beautiful."

I also remember from many years ago, a neighbor kid having a keg party (while the folks were away). He was caught because his friends used the backyard as a bathroom. I've never seen so many spots of burned grass as in that yard.

I suppose there might be some truth in what you have heard. Happy experimenting; a drop for you, a drop for the pot!

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claypa West Pottsgrove, PA(Zone 6b) Jan 02, 2007

Someone mentioned this in the bulb forum. I tried it on my paperwhites before I saw this site. One came out nice and compact, the rest are as tall and gangly as could be. If you do a search for 'Pickling your Paperwhites' you'll find a factsheet about it


http://www.news.cornell.edu/pressoffice1/April06/DrunkFlowers.shtml

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HERBIE43 Rutland , MA(Zone 5b) Jan 02, 2007

seems like a waste of good booze to me. LOL

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fancyvan Calgary, AB(Zone 3a) Jan 02, 2007

YOu can use rubbing alcohol too - just a different concentration. I was going to try it this year but never got around to it. Just as easy to grow your paperwhites in very tall glass vases!

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