Many gardeners, wanting to help their houseplants enrich themselves with useful substances, buy expensive fertilizer formulations. However, there is a simple and inexpensive means for feeding home flowers, the effect of which will be no worse than the advertised formulations. It's about castor oil. It turns out that it can be used to improve the condition of indoor plants. How to water flowers with castor oil, we will consider in the article.
What is this product?
Castor oil is obtained from a plant called castor oil. The culture itself is extremely toxic, the use of its fruits, even in small quantities, can lead to death of a person. But in the production of a product from castor oil plant, all toxins are inactivated, so that the final composition becomes harmless, and sometimes useful.
Castor oil is a mixture of triglycerides, linoleic, oleic and ricinoleic acids. The name apparently came from the word "castoreum", which means in English the beaver stream, which was replaced with the oil in question. Also, the product is sometimes called ricin oil.
The consistency of the substance is a viscous transparent or yellow liquid. The smell is weak, and the taste is unpleasant. The substance freezes at -16 ° C, and boils at +313 ° C. The product does not oxidize in the light, does not dry out, and when burned, it disappears without a trace, oil products do not dissolve it.
When castor oil gets into the soil:
- Accelerates the ripening of buds.
- Activates plant regeneration.
- Acts as an antibacterial agent.
- Accelerates the delivery of nutrients from the soil.
- Helps plant growth.
- Restores lifeless flowers.
- Accelerates the process of cell division.
- Improves soil composition.
How to use castor oil for flowers?
It is impossible to bring the substance in pure form into the soil, this can lead to a chemical burn of the trunk and roots. Therefore, dressing with castor oil for flowers should be properly prepared first. The product can be combined with other oils and substances, this will increase the effectiveness of the fertilizer.
Recipes
Topping flowers with castor oil can be done in several ways. Next, various recipes will be offered.
First option:
- Add a teaspoon of oil to a liter of settled water. Mix better in a spray bottle.
- During the fertilizer process, the plants are first watered to moisten the soil and thus protect the roots from burns.
- Shake the container until the fat circles disappear.
- Two hours after watering, shoots and soil are treated with castor solution from a container with a spray.
Processing is carried out during the formation of buds and during the active growing season.
Be sure to take into account the characteristics of the plant itself and growth inhibition in winter.
The second recipe for fertilizer
You can cook with a lot of nutrients. For this purpose, castor oil should not be mixed with water, but with beneficial solutions. The necessary components are in every home. For instance:
- Castor flower oil is mixed with the liquid remaining after defrosting the meat.
- It can be combined with manure and other organic fertilizers.
- Add milk to the castor.
- A useful mixture of oil with wood ash.
Before feeding, it is important to make sure that the plants really need it. Do not fertilize during hibernation, this can harm the flower.
Mandatory conditions for the use of castor oil
In order for the fertilizer to benefit, you should adhere to some rules:
- In water or another liquid, the oil is thoroughly stirred. Otherwise, if a drop of insoluble oil gets on the plant, it will cause a chemical burn.
- It is very important to comply with the dosages and the timing of top dressing. If the plant blooms, it is fertilized before this period and after it. Top dressing is performed no more than once a month.
- Ready solution of castor oil for flowers is used immediately, while shaking at the same time.
- Water for the preparation of fertilizer is taken standing for a week.
- In the period of suspended animation, feeding is not done.
What to consider when choosing a product?
To purchase high-quality castor oil, you should contact the pharmacy network. It is not worth buying a product at unverified retail outlets, since there it can be diluted with aromatic components. Only top quality oil is suitable for top dressing.
To verify the authenticity of castor oil, a small amount is added to a glass of water. The natural product does not form an oil film on the surface.
Castor oil has a shelf life of 2 years. All the beneficial properties of the oil are preserved during this period. Keep it in the refrigerator or other cool place.
Upon contact with the skin, castor oil does not cause irritation if there is no individual intolerance to the substance. Nevertheless, when using it, it is better to wear protective gloves.
When should castor flowers be watered?
Indoor plants, unlike their garden counterparts, are limited by the size of the pot. And sometimes they lack vital nutrients. In this case, castor oil will come to the rescue of the grower. It is able to revive a sick or weak plant.
The use of castor oil for flowers is relevant in the following cases:
- if the stems of the plant break;
- leaves wither for no apparent reason;
- the green part of the flower wilted;
- plantings do not add to growth;
- after frequent transplants of indoor flowers;
- with damage to the root system.
If these symptoms are observed, the plant will need at least three months to recover. Watering flowers with castor oil can successfully replace the use of the well-known composition “Epin”.
Florist Tips
Home plant lovers share their impressions of using ricin oil. According to reviews, the use of castor oil for flowers makes the plantations more magnificent and more beautiful. Watering with a solution is recommended during budding. Thanks to castor, flower heads are formed large and get a brighter color.
After the preparation is prepared, it is advised to shake the bottle with the solution and immediately use it so that the oil does not rise to the surface and does not burn the roots of the plant.
If the plant blooms annually, then such dressing is sufficient only once a year.
Experienced growers castor oil is considered one of the most powerful growth stimulants, therefore, they are actively used to water their plants.
There are negative opinions about castor for home flowers. Some experts believe that the use of the described tool will be dangerous for plants and may lead to death. There is also an opinion that castor oil clogs the pores of green spaces, as a result of which photosynthesis reactions inside the stems and leaves cease, and bacteria appear in the clogging places, leading to decay of living parts.
However, no one argues with the use of castor oil as an ant repeller. If these uninvited guests visited the pots with your favorite plantings, it is worth spraying the prepared composition of their paths, and the ants will leave.
Which category of gardeners is right, and which is not, is to be decided individually in each case. Any tool can be tested in practice. At least, the fertilizers described in the article have more supporters than opponents.