Over then years I have been told or read about some plant care tips that are kind of crazy, but us plant people tend to do crazy, ha ha. I think I heard of the pasta water in a magazine for the first time. I know I have had a few other people tell me through out the years but not sure which was first. I do not do it very often and as of late not at all.
Just so we are on the same page when I say pasta water I am talking about the water you boiled pasta in. This "tip" is usually mentioned in articles about reusing and not really geared towards plant growers. It just tells you how to do it but no first hand reviews of how it works. Maybe if I had spent more time looking around the web I might have found some.
The biggest problem for me is waiting for it to cool down. You have to have a place to store it while it cools down. And when do you usually make pasta? I hardly ever make pasta lunch, so it is usually late and I don't water at night. That means it has to sit overnight. By morning it is so nasty looking you don't want to use it. The first time I did it I did not do anything with it and just used it as is, and that just made a mess. The starchy film left a residue on top of the soil. It lasted through a few waterings with plain water. I have tried many concoctions; diluting it with tap water, skimming it, etc... and it Doesn't seem to benefit the plant enough to go through all that BS when you can use other fertilizers.
If you are thinking about trying it I would say skip it, not worth it.
* Note you shouldn't use any pasta water on plants if it has oil or salt. Ha, I know when do you ever not use salt when cooking pasta. another thing they don't tell you in the articles.
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