3 Reasons Why Aspirin Works for Tomato and Pepper Plants

Why am I holding this bottle of aspirin, you ask?

Well, it’s not for my headache.  I actually no longer take over the counter medications for that (but that is a whole other blog post).

The aspirin is for the tomatoes, peppers and other nightshade veggies that I will be growing in the garden.

The tomatoes don’t have the headache, but you might from disease and pests that are sometimes encountered with these plants.

This affordable medication that you probably already have in your medicine cabinet can help your tomato plants, and other nightshades, grow bigger and stronger.

The key is acetylsalicylic acid. This breaks down into its main components – salicylic acid and acetic acid – when dissolved in water.   Tomatoes and other nightshades naturally produce salicylic acid when under stress in order to bolster the plant’s immune system.  But by the time this happens, it’s often too late because the process can be slow.

By giving the plants a dose prior to any disease setting in, you help give the plant a fighting chance against disease.

This is by no means a cure all and this ONLY works for nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes), but there are 3 things that it can help with.

1. Prevent disease: the salicylic acid triggers the disease pathways BEFORE the disease actually sets in.  It’s kind of like a vaccine for the plant to help trigger the immune system and tells the plant to start using it’s immune system.
2. Increase heat tolerance and drought resistance: If this isn’t a plus around here, I don’t know what is.  If I can get my tomatoes to withstand the heat longer in order to produce further into the season, I’m gonna do it.  Before planting your tomato seedlings, give them a quick soak in an aspirin mix, or drench the soil after planting to trigger this response.
3. Increase yields: Studies conducted showed improvements in fruit diameter, length and weight, Vitamin C content, pH, early yield, and total yield, among other things.  The generally accepted ratio of one tablet to one gallon of water is your safest bet to prevent an overdose.  Spray leaves four times at 10-day intervals, two weeks after planting.

There are things that aspirin CAN’T do. This includes deterring and killing pests, improving seed germination, and curing disease.

Your best course of action to help with these is to create good, healthy soil so that a healthy plant can grow.

So how should this be applied?

Dissolve 1- 250mg uncoated tablet in a gallon of water and spray on the leaves, as a root soak, or both.  Do this in the morning to prevent leaf scorch and don’t alter the ratio as too much aspirin can have adverse effects.  Spray every 10 to 14 days.

Give this a try and let me know what you think.

 

Would you like your family to learn more about how to start gardening and homesteading?  Maybe you don’t even know where to start.   Have no fear, I am here to help with my FAMILY HOMESTEADING CLASS.  This class along with others will be offered throughout the year.  You can join the wait list HERE and be contacted first when registration for these classes open up.