Hydrogen Peroxide?

[one800fish]

Good info guys..clearly peroxide is benefical in more ways than killing pathogens
......also I have copied and pasted below another opinon (and the link to it) concerning the drug store peroxide as well as the benefits of using peroxide.

Using Hydrogen Peroxide in your Hydroponics Growing System

Using Hydrogen Peroxide in your
Hydroponics Gardening System


There are no doubts about the benefits of using hydrogen peroxide properly in a hydroponics system. This becomes especially true if your nutrient reservoir is kept above 72 degrees. Warm water holds less dissolved oxygen, and therefore encourages the growth of more viruses, fungi, and anaerobic bacteria. Using hydrogen peroxide adds oxygen to you water and cleans the water of pathogens. Benefits include healthier root systems, increased nutrient uptake, thicker stems, and bigger leaves.



One expert claims it should be used on all soil gardens as well as in hydroponics sytems. Knowing as much as I do about beneficial fungus and micro-organisms and the benefits they provide to living plants, I am shy in taking this advice. However, when this first line of defense fails and plants become sick I often resort to using hydrogen peroxide treatments on my soil grown plants.



The chemical formula for hydrogen peroxide is H2O2. You may notice it is simply water with an extra oxygen atom. In fact, as hydrogen peroxide breaks down in a solution the result is oxygen and water. Its application helps deliver oxygen to over watered plant roots and helps to sterilize the growing media by killing harmful anaerobic (not oxygen compatible) bacteria and pathogens that cause disease. This includes bacterial wilt, pythium fungi, fusarium fungi, and others.




Using 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
In your Hydroponics Garden
I avoid using hydrogen peroxide you commonly find at drug stores. This is because such low percentage (3%) solutions are unstable, and chemicals are added to the peroxide to keep it from breaking down before it can be used. I did a little research because I did not know what chemicals were used for this, or if the plants uptake these chemicals, or if there was a health risk associated with any of these stabilizing chemicals.


Hydrogen peroxide is usually stabilized with acetanilide. Acetanilide is a synthetic compound that was first used for its fever reduction and pain killing properties in the late Nineteenth Century. For many years it was utilized as an alternative to aspirin to treat various ailments, but large scale medical use stopped when the toxic side effects of consuming acetanilide became apparant. This was enough to convince me to use 35% hydrogen peroxide instead.




Using 35% Hydrogen Peroxide
In your Hydroponics Garden
Firstly, 35% peroxide is caustic and should be treated with the same caution as a strong acid. 35% strength hydrogen peroxide should be readily available at any quality hydroponics supply shop. The stronger concentrations do not use the added stabilizers.


The recommended dosage is to add 2-3 ml to each gallon of water, however, I use 5 ml per gallon and have never had any problems. At every nutrient change treat your fresh water using hydrogen peroxide. The general idea is to let the hydroponics system circulate the hydrogen peroxide solution for about a half hour to let the peroxide work against pathogens and to let the solution stabilize before adding your nutrients.



The beneficial effects of using hydrogen peroxide last about 4 days. There are some gardeners who add a little peroxide to their nutrient reservoirs every 5 days in between nutrient changes. If you decide to do this, stick to the guidelines and always make sure your solution is thoroughly mixed before exposing your plants roots to it. Another option is to top off your nutrient reservoir with peroxide treated water whenever it is low.

[GpsFrontier]

I disagree with the link in that the clam of chemicals used to stabilize the 3%. I have never seen any proof of that, including that link. If there were anything in it the federal law would require it to be on the label. And both "active ingredients" as well as Inactive ingredients" are both listed. If "purified water" needs to be listed, any chemical would need to be listed as well (active or inactive). The only difference between the 3% and the 35% is that the 35% is ten times stronger, it's also 10 times more expensive and harder to find.

[NorEastFla]

I've had such great results without using the peroxide, I think I'll pass.

It's that old "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" thing.

I'll include it as a test in my outdoor hydroponics this coming year.