My plants have been looking a little weary lately. I'm tempted to blame the sunny weather, but I fear that I'm just not giving them the attention they need. So, I headed to social media to see if I could find a hack that would help me out (and not cost me a lot of money).
After lots of searching, I finally stumbled upon something I'd never heard of before – using matches to create my very own plant-boosting fertilizer. It's a staple of my messy kitchen drawer that I usually only pull out when I need to light a birthday candle. Suddenly, I'm looking at that little box of matches in a totally different light. Here's what happened when I followed the simple hack to help feed my plants.
How does it work?
YouTube creator, @creative_explained, has a page full of clever tips and tricks to use around your home that he shares with his almost 5 million subscribers (one of which is me). He taught me a clever potato peel hack to supercharge my garden that's saved me a bunch of money on fertilizer and he's even taught me how to clean a shower head with vinegar.
Sometimes, I like to head back into the archives on his page to see if there's any hacks I've missed and I was surprised by what I found. The video, featured above, reveals that you can feed your plants and give them a natural boost with just a box of matches and some water. Since I already have both those things in my home, I thought it was definitely worth a try – and it turns out it's really simple.
All you have to do is this:
- Put 5 to 10 matches into a container
- Fill the container with some water
- Wait for around an hour
- Give them a stir and use the pink water to pour onto your plants
He explains that by letting the matches soak in the water, it'll turn pink: "That's the phosphorous and sulfur being released into the water," he explains. "Pretty much what that means is that it's food for your plants! Phosphorous will help your plants grow these nice, healthy roots and sulfur will produce nice leafy greens."
But, while in the video you'll see him light the matches and let them burn, it turns out you don't want to do that – and I learned this first-hand when I tried it out.
Here's what happened when I tried it
As mentioned, I made the mistake of lighting the matches when I first gave this a try. I'd seen the flames that @creative_explained had lit on his video and hadn't quite paid full attention that it was just for show. Look a little closer and you'll find that the matches inside the water are still red-tipped and that's because he hasn't let them burn.
This is an important part of this hack because if you burn them, you're eliminating the phosphorous and sulfur that you need for the water to turn pink and nutritious for your plants. So, after a couple of failed attempts, I used the matches without letting them burn. Lesson learned.
I also thought I'd like to use a little more water than he demonstrates with to make sure I could feed the numerous plants around my home. So, I added 10 matches in one go to see if that would help infiltrate more water – and it did.
Now, I've only just started trying this new match-infused water trick on my plants, so it's hard to say whether it's making any difference yet. What I do know is that it was super simple to do, very affordable and I haven't seen any damaging effects to the plants.
So, I'm wiling to keep trying it out using my mom's 'Thirsty Thursday' routine in collaboration with the matches. Since it's so low-cost and quick, it's easy to play the long game and see if my plants get an extra boost. Either way, I feel like I'm creating potions and that's made remembering to water my plants a lot more fun, too.
