The Forgotten Kitchen Liquid That Helps Pepper Plants Thrive

Do you want to pick more than a peck of peppers this summer? Kitchen waste, from coffee grounds to compost tea, can be the secret to bigger pepper harvests. There's another common food waste product that can give your pepper plants a boost: rice water. The next time you soak rice before boiling it, don't pour the soaking water down the drain. Instead, use it to water your pepper plants. The starchy liquid contains nutrients pepper plants love, namely nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

You've got two options for using rice water on your plants. Use it as is, right after draining the rice, or ferment it for a few days to concentrate its nutrients. Keep in mind that while your peppers are likely to get a little nutritional pick-me-up from the starchy water, it's not a full-on replacement for fertilizer. Continue using fertilizer in your vegetable garden, either synthetic or organic, to ensure your pepper plants get the balanced mix of nutrients they need to produce the most fruit. 

The benefits of using rice water on your pepper plants go beyond a little fertilization. It's a way to conserve resources, making good use of something that would otherwise literally go down the drain. And, it's not just peppers that enjoy a boost from it. Plenty of other plants love rice water, including succulents, spider plants, and ferns. In the vegetable garden, it can also provide a nutrient boost to tomatoes, eggplants, and spinach.

The simplest way to use rice water on your pepper plants is to strain the water from the rinsed rice into a bowl or jar and pour it directly onto the soil around your plants. There's no need to dilute it. Use the water from either brown or white rice.

To amplify the nutritional kick of the rice water, ferment it. After soaking, strain the rice and pour the water into a jar or bowl. Cover the top of the jar or bowl with cheesecloth or a clean tea towel and let sit for three days out of direct sun. After three days, smell the rice water. It should have a slightly sour scent. You can let it ferment for a couple more days if it doesn't smell sour yet.

Since fermented rice water is acidic, with a pH of less than 5, you'll need to dilute it before using it in the garden. Mix one part fermented rice water with one part regular water and apply it to the soil after watering your peppers. Use every few weeks while your peppers are producing fruits and flowers to give them a dose of extra nutrition.