Updated 4/27/2022
Rice water! Have you tried it on your plants? I personally don’t cook rice often but when I remember I use it on my plants. After you wash your rice the water that is left back contains starches and minerals. The minerals contain trace macronutrients of NPK, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that help your plants grow.
Not enough studies have been focused just on plants but the few that are out there show they can be just as powerful as a complete food.
I personally use rice water on my houseplants (my Pothos really made a comeback) and my edible plants too.
I try to use it all at once. If you have any leftover it may be wise to keep it cool, but bring it back down to room temperature when feeding plants to not shock their roots.
Beneficial to soil and stimulating healthy bacteria. On soilless plants the nutrients go directly to the roots.
It's really is to make as well, here's all you have to do:
- In a bowl add your rice.
- Add water to the bowl with rice and gently swirl it around with your hand or a spoon.
- You will begin to see the water change color, these are the starches separating from the rice.
- Carefully strain the rice from the water into your container. You can use a mesh strainer or pour it out carefully without all the rice falling out. The trick here is to use height and pour from higher above.
- Rinse and repeat! Continue to wash the rice until it runs clear.
- Use right away to feed your plants and/or store the unused water.
- Store in a cool dry place. Dilute as needed or preferred, there are no hard rules when it comes to feeding your plants.
- Enjoy! You just created a plant fertilizer from plants. How cool is that?!
So have you given it a try? Let me know!
Try growing your own and using it on your edible plants too! Grow here
2 comments
As a commercial formulator of hydroponic nutrient solutions, I can vouch for the presence of starch, macro and trace minerals in rice water. We cook rice 3x a day and all the rice water goes to our native bird eye chilli plants. The grow well and bear exceptional spicy chillies. My mum used it, with salt to pickle mustard leaves, on account of the starch as nutrients for lactobacilli pickling bacteria. Great for garden flowers, tomatoes and ornamental plants. The trace minerals make a difference. Try water from glutinous rice if you are cooking it (it’s better, especially brown rice).
used a good many times for my Maryjane … Oh what wonders it does … With a good few doses of Banana Water during flowering and aloe vera for a pesticide … love natures gifts …