| MadSci Network: Botany |
Irrigating a plant only with vanilla extract would be very costly. Plant scientists probably have never done an experiment like this so I can only predict what would happen based on the major ingredients. We do not have plant toxicity data for most chemicals such as the vanillin in vanilla extract because we don't really need that sort of information. We do usually have a Material Safety Data Sheet for each chemical that detail its known or potential effects on human health. There are three kinds of vanilla extract according to the USDA website cited below. 1. Real vanilla extract is very expensive and contains about 34% ethyl alcohol and 12.65% sugar by weight. 2. Alcohol-based imitation vanilla extract contains about 33% ethyl alcohol and 2.4% sugar by weight. 3. Water-based imitation vanilla extract contains about 86% water and 14% sugar by weight. The alcohol in 1 and 2 will harm or kill the plants. See the answer in the references on why alcohol is harmful to plants. That concentration of sugar alone in 1 and 3 can also harm or kill many plants. Sugar makes water less available to plants. It is doubtful that the small amount of active ingredient, primarily vanillin with some ethyl vanillin, will have the major effect on plant growth. However, to test their effect, you would have to have a pure source of vanillin, without sugar or alcohol. References Material Safety Data Sheet for Vanillin Vanillin Production USDA National Nutrient Database Re: Why can't a plant survive with alcohol as its liquid? Re: Why did the liquids kill the plants? Why did the tea do well? Re: What is a good plant to test the effects of sugar or sweetener? Re: Why will plants grow in Diet Coke and water and not other sodas?
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