A Cornell University horticulturist research says that giving some plants diluted alcohol stunts the growth of a plant's leaves and stems but doesn't affect the blossoms.

William Miller, director of Cornell's Flower Bulb Research Program, reported his findings in the April issue of HortTechnology, a peer-reviewed journal of horticulture.

Miller's study focused on paper white narcissus and other daffodils but he's also had promising results with tulips. He began his investigation last year after receiving a call from The New York Times about a reader who had written to the garden editor claiming that gin had prevented some paper white narcissi from growing too tall and floppy and asked if it was because of some "essential oil" in the gin.

Intrigued that diluted alcohol might act as a growth retardant, Miller began conducting experiments with ethanol. Because hard liquor is easier for consumers to obtain, he switched to alcohol and began trying different kinds, including dry gin, unflavored vodka, whiskey, white rum, gold tequila, mint schnapps, red and white wine and pale lager beer, on paper whites.

The beer and wine did not work, likely because of their sugar content.

"While solutions greater than 10 percent alcohol were toxic, solutions between 4 and 6 percent alcohol stunted the paper whites effectively," said Miller. "When the liquor is properly used, the paper whites we tested were stunted by 30 to 50 percent, but their flowers were as large, fragrant and long-lasting as usual."

Any economic benefits, at least directly, are slight, he said. Commercial horticulturists already have other growth-control methods for large-scale production. But for home gardeners, the gain is in terms of product quality.

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The consequences of being caught pouring his white lightning on some plants, would have been much worse than being stunted...

Kt

Omar

I've heard of putting beer out for snails so why not give your plants a little booze! lol

Carol, I got in bad trouble years ago, I put DH's Shiner Blonde out there for the slugs, lol
At that time you couldn't get it just anywhere and he used to love it while he was grilling or maybe he liked the beautiful girl on a swing on the label, lol

Kt

The vodka keeps the flower stalks from getting so tall that they fall over and look ugly. You do need to be careful and engineer when you add the vodka, lest you have no flower stalk, but it is valuable knowledge!

I am a tee-totaler, so my plants know by default that the vodka is not to be enjoyed. For Medicinal Purposes Only!

LOLOLOL

Janie

Sally