Does rice water need to be fermented before watering flowers? How to tell it is fully fermented

1. Whether fermentation is needed

Before using rice water to water flowers, it must first be fermented and cannot be used directly. If you water flowers directly with rice water, it will burn the plant roots and may very likely kill the plant. Only fully fermented rice water can be used to water flowers.

2. Fermentation method

To ferment it, put the rice water into a bottle, screw the lid on tightly, and place it in the sun to let it ferment slowly. Gas will be produced during fermentation, so after a few days you should slightly loosen the bottle cap. If you are worried about a bad smell during fermentation, chop up some orange peel and put it into the bottle together with the rice water, so the fragrance of the orange peel can reduce the odor produced by fermentation.

3. How to tell it is fermented well

Fermentation does not take too long. If there is good sunlight, it will be fermented well in one week. Under normal circumstances, you may need to wait about 15-30 days. When the rice water in the bottle becomes clear, it means it has fermented fully and can be used to water flowers.

Note that even if it is fermented well, it still needs to be diluted before watering flowers. There are many plants that can be watered with rice water, as long as they are flowers that like acidic conditions, such as the common camellia, gardenia, azalea, pothos, jasmine, and money tree. Because it becomes alkaline after fermentation, do not use it to water plants such as cacti and ball cacti.