Why You Should Place Match Sticks in Your Plants

Want to find out Why You Should Place Match Sticks in Your Plants? Does it help and make your plants healthy and lush?

The gardening world is full of ideas that may sound bizarre, and one of them is this–Using Match Sticks for Plants! Find out why you should do that, how to do that, and what its benefits will be in this article.

Check out our article on Vicks Vaporub uses in the garden here

Types of Matches

There are two types of matches available–Safety and strike anywhere. For plants, you can use either of them.

Why You Should Place Match Sticks in Your Plants

1. A Good Pest Deterrent

If you do not notice good growth in your garden and houseplants, it might be due to pests and midges despite timely watering, fertilizing, and caring.

Sometimes it’s difficult to sight midges, and they dwell in poor quality soil; excessive watering and fertilization promote them.

• Take 8-10 match sticks and poke them in the soil heads down, slightly away from the container’s edges.
• Water your plants as you usually do.
• Leave the matches for a week in the soil and check whether their heads are dissolved or not. If so, remove the old matches and replace them with new ones. Repeat this process 3-4 times until you get rid of midges.

2. Helps in Boosting the Plant’s Growth

Match sticks contain potassium chlorate, phosphorus, sulfur, a small amount of magnesium, and ferric oxide. Some varieties of match sticks include red phosphorus too. If you miss your fertilizing schedule due to lack of time, this hack can make a small difference in improving your plant’s health.

• The phosphorous in the match stick helps in establishing a good root system. It is also great for fruits, vegetables, and herbs.
• Sulfur and magnesium help in chlorophyll production, which means your plants will have greener foliage.

Note: The match stick trick is good for small container plants and may not work for very large plants and trees.

3. Works as a Fertilizer

It’s not always easy to determine how much fertilizer the plant requires. You can play it safe by poking 10-15 matchsticks per pot. When you water the plants, it will dissolve the matchsticks’ heads–gradually releasing phosphorous, magnesium, and sulfur into the soil, which helps nourish the plants slowly and steadily.

Note: This will not completely replace the use of fertilizer because match sticks can’t provide ample nutrition considering their size, but still, you’ll notice some changes. 

How to Use Match Sticks for Plant Growth

• Insert 10-20 match sticks heads downward in the soil around each plant. Make sure that their heads are properly buried.
• Place the match sticks halfway between the plant stem and pot rim. Avoid putting the matches close to the root ball, as it can damage the plant’s roots.
• To make liquid fertilizer, immerse a few sticks in your watering can. The heads will dissolve in water and will nourish the plants.

Note: Do not use spent match sticks as fertilizer. When a match is lit, the plant elements like sulfur and magnesium oxidize into different forms. Hence burnt or used matches cannot work for this purpose. Always use new match sticks.

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