Is Sugar Water Good for Plants? (Answered)

does sugar water help plants growth?

When it comes to choosing the perfect water for your plants, you have many options, including tap water, distilled water, reverse osmosis water, and many more.

But there’s one water option gaining popularity lately on social media: sugar water.

I’ve seen way too many social media posts talking about sugar water hacks for plants that will make your plants grow faster.

Well, is it true? Is sugar water good for plants? Turns out the answer is a big no.

Generally, you don’t want to use sugar water to water your plants. This is because sugar in sugar water can harm your plants instead of make them thrive.

What’s the science behind it? Keep on reading as we will dive deep into this discussion.

What happens when you add sugar water to plants?

One thing that will most likely happen when you add sugar water to plants: your plants will suffer from it.

When you give sugar water to plants, it can hurt them in many ways, like making them unable to take in water because of the sugar in the sugar water.

Moreover, sugar water will also leave sugars in the plant’s soil, which might attract insects and pests very close to your plants.

Let’s break it down further.

When you water your plants with sugar water, you bring unnecessary sugar to your plants’ environment.

As we all know, plants do photosynthesis to stay alive and grow. As a result of this process, plants will produce their own sugar.

So when we add sugar water to plants, we are actually adding more sugar to the plants’ environment, particularly to the soil. 

This caused a lot of problems for our plants.

First, the sugar in the soil will not allow water to get into the roots of our plants.

Through the process of so-called osmosis, the plants absorb moisture from the soil to grow and survive.

However, when you add sugar into the soil thru sugar water, the plants cant absorb the water from the soil anymore and will start to wither and die.

Since the plant can’t get water from the soil anymore, it will keep the soil wet for a longer time. 

This will again lead to another problem, like root rot.

Furthermore, sugars in the soil can affect the growth of a plant.

Sugar attracts insects to plants. These insects eat and spread diseases to your plants.

If you use sugar water, it will attract even more insects to your plants. 

And when these insects eat the plants, they leave behind the waste products.

These waste products can cause the plants to become weak and sick.

Based on those reasons mentioned above, you might not want to add sugar water to your plants.

Also, I haven’t found any scientific studies that say giving plants sugar water is beneficial for them.

In fact, putting sugar in the water for your plant might bring it closer to dying.

Adding sugar water to your plants might deliver them to their death doors.

Can you fertilize plants with sugar water?

No, it’s probably not a good idea to fertilize plants with sugar water. 

Sugar water adds extra sugar that your plants don’t need, hurting your plants more than it helps them.

We all know that plants get their energy from sugar.

Because of this, sugar is also one of the main things plants make when they use sunlight to make food.

But you’re probably wondering:

Should giving your plants sugar water help them grow faster by giving them more energy and acting as fertilizer?

However, that is not the case. Plants already make enough sugar that they need from photosynthesis as long as you give them enough sunlight.

The problem is that the added sugar you bring from the sugar water will cause your plant to die faster instead of growing faster.

As we explained above, sugar water will make it hard for your plant to absorb moisture from the soil.

As we know, water is an essential nutrient for a plant’s life. 

When they can no longer access this essential element to survive, they will die sooner or later.

This is why you shouldn’t use sugar water to fertilize your plants because it can make it hard for plants to get water and other nutrients from the soil.

And let’s not forget other kinds of stuff that might occur when you water your plant with sugar water which we have discussed above: wet soil and pests.

In other words:

If you use sugar as a fertilizer, you should know that it is more likely to kill your plants than the conventional fertilizers you are probably using.

Do indoor plants like sugar?

This is a question that I’ve seen asked by people around me who don’t know much about houseplants and indoor plants.

In a nutshell, indoor plants do not like the additional sugar you pour on their soil thru sugar water.

Sugar can not only attract pests that might eat your indoor plants, but it can also stop water from getting to the roots of your plants.

As a result, it is safe to say that your indoor plants do not like sugar and won’t appreciate the extra amount of sugar you bring with sugar water.

Do plants need sugar to grow?

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We have talked about how sugar water might be harmful to our plants.

But another interesting question to discuss is whether plants need sugar to grow.

Well, the simple answer is yes. Your plant needs sugar to grow and thrive. Without sugar, plants will not have the energy to do whatever they need to grow.

For instance, sugar is needed for plants to grow new leaves, new cells, and even new roots to help them absorb nutrients and water from the soil.

That is why sugar is one of the products produced by plants during the photosynthesis process.

To put it in another way:

Sugar is essential to the growth and health of plants, and plants can’t grow without sugar.

Please keep in mind that we don’t need to water our plants with sugar water, even though we might be tempted to do so. 

Plants already have enough sugar to keep them growing.

Through photosynthesis, plants can make enough water for them to use and grow.

They don’t need us to give them more sugar to help them grow faster.

Conclusion: Does sugar water hurt plants?

To conclude, we can say that adding sugar water to our plants might hurt them.

We have already talked about how adding sugar water to our plants is not good as it will cause them to lose their ability to absorb moisture. 

We also have learned that sugar water will cause the soil to stay wet longer and might attract nasty pests to our plants.

So there you have it. Based on those reasons, we can safely say that sugar water will not be good for our plants.

Now, I’d like to hear from you:

Have you ever added sugar water to your plants? What happened with your plants afterward?

Please do share your experience with all of us here by commenting below.

Last but not least, don’t forget to check out our houseplant beginner care guide that will help you to take care of your houseplants.

Until then, happy gardening!

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