Does Microwaved Water Kill Plants? Part One

I have read many forwarded claims that microwave ovens are dangerous. That microwaved water will kill your houseplant, and non-microwaved water will make your plant thrive.

As I frequently heat my cup of tea utilizing the two minute microwave method, I was curious to see if the heat for my tea is neutralizing my antioxidants I'm so happily consuming.

I wanted to make this as scientific as possible, so I chose to use three different waters. One hot from the tap, one heated in the microwave, and one heated on the stove. I also used containers as consistently as possible for my heating. I own a corningware percolator, which was designed to be used on the stovetop. I used its counterpart (in which we reheat soup) to heat water in the microwave.

I poured equal water (2 cups) from the tap for this experiment for each.

I also wanted to use more than one "plant", as not all plants have the same growth rate.

I took soil from our garden (which has borne us good food in the past few summers) and filled an egg carton. I planted in each grouping 3 sunflower seeds and 3 spinach seeds.

This is a blind study for my family, as they do not know the identity of the three waters, but I fully know which is which.

We have group A, B, and C. Each is given the same amount of water, all other controllable factors are the same.

At the end of this experiment, I am curious to see if there is indeed a difference between heating water before giving it to your plants vs not heating it, and if the two heating methods make any difference.



Step One:
Heat the water using the stovetop, microwave, and taking "hot" water straight from the tap.

After 4 minutes in the microwave, bubbles were visible.

Though I heated the "pot" on medium heat for a similar amount of time, perhaps a little longer, I never saw any visible bubbling.
(I didn't know how high the heat could go without putting the pot at risk of breaking)

Only I know the true identity of the water in these three jars...

The day I began this experiment was March 24, 2014. It was a beautiful sunny day! We were encountering a bit of a false spring, and it was so tempting to plant something that I began this experiment. The next day we had sleet, snow, rain, and hail. Day one was the only day so far that I've been able to give the plants some outdoor sun.

Day one, groups A, B, C
(rows are vertical. Row one is sunflowers, row two is spinach, that ends group A.
Group B is row three sunflower, row four spinach,
and Group C is row five sunflower, row six spinach.)

Here is a link to part two