mrman56780

i've no idea if this could actually work or not...but if the ph in your soil were kind of high, if i remember from my chemistry class, milk is a neutral kind of thing...so couldn't you possibly water your plants with milk? and they could get the water from the milk plus it would neutralize the soil so it would be more beneficial to your plants? i don't know if this topic has been covered or not but i've ran a search and turned up no results. i'm not even sure if this is the right forum to post under but i thought i'd give it a try. also, not saying i'm pouring milk into my soil yet, but i was curious if anyone has thought about this or am i just off a lil bit. anyones thoughts are welcome, thanks in advance...

Lizzie Borden

milk?

Just a dream Im inquring about.

lilmama

Very interesting. I'd also like to hear some feed back about this. I'll try to search it also when I have time, and post any results I may get also.

Good luck, and thanks for sharing.
lil

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The_Undertoker

In order to actually neutralize the acidity or alkalinity of soil, you need to put the opposite into the soil. A neutral solution would only maintain status quo.

It might take a while for the milk to break down into nutrients the plants could use. For the fertilizer aspect you are better off using some nice organic nutes made specifically for plants.

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mrman56780

wow, i was shocked that i got any replies at all... but thanks guys... and i'm interested in hearing your results lil..

lilmama

mrman56780, Click on the link that Brindie posted here.

lil

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Weed may be the road to no where, but at least it's the scenic route!

The Electron

I was talking to someone who calimed to be one of the best growers in BC. He claimed that his secret was misting the plants with milk. He claimed that it produced a layer that can not be produced inside under artificaial. I dunno if there is any truth to this or not.

mrman56780

well thats a very interesting idea...misting with milk huh? its worth a shot i guess, i mean what can you loose really? i'm still new to this whole growing thing, i mean i've read practically everything in existance on this website, and its great btw... but someone once said you can't learn only from a book you gotta do a hands on to truly know it or something to that effect... so maybe later on thats something i'll try unless someones got a setup to do it now... thinking two clones one for control etc i don't have the specifics worked out just yet you know just talkin off the top of my head...

anyway i've reconsidered what i said about milk being neutral and then i was thinking, if you drink some kind of potentially dangerous chemical, i'm thinking some sort of acid, they may say to drink milk, which neutrallizes it, which is why i thought it was neutral, but now i'm thinking it is actually more basic...so wouldn't that possibly do as someone previously said, and neutralize the acidity of the soil? again just talkin off the top of my head, who knows...well thanks for ya'lls inputs...

Lizzie Borden

Milk is just on the acidic side of neutral, with a pH of about 6.7. Its pH drops as it sours, as lactose is converted to lactic acid. When you mix two things with different pH's, the end pH will always be somewhere between the two. One of them being neutral doesn't change this. To end up with a neutral pH you either have to mix two neutral things or an acid and a base.

suburbanfarmer

Milk is actually slightly basic, so it would neutralize a low pH. However, it is a poor choice for a pH adjuster as it is a very weak base and has many impurities.
As for using it for the purpose of some kind of supplement, theoretically, it will not work. Milk is a colloidal suspension, so there are many particles in milk which are insoluble in water. These particles would most likely get deposited in the soil and either build up (bad) or be consumed by bacteria or mold or something (worse). Milk also contains a good amount of lactose, which can be broken down into more simple sugars, but it is not at all practical, and if you want to try using a sugar... just use sugar :P
Perhaps there are some components of milk which would help the plants to grow, but I certainly can't think of any. Well, if you do decide to use milk, make sure it's skim so that the fat doesn't get deposited and build up in the soil. I'm quite interested to see the results of a side-by-side experiment with milk... if anyone has done this or is planning to, post the results!