My new scroogie/screwy idea

[applestar]

Don't quite know where to put this so I'll post it here, though it may rightfully belong somewhere in one of the gardening forums:

Since there's every indication that sugar in every form is good for soil biology, and since my municipal recycling program "encourages" you to rinse out bottles before putting them in the bin, when I give that last swish to empty soda/juice bottles, I use filtered water and pour out in one of the container plants that needs watering.

p.s. Have been doing the same when rinsing out coffee and tea pots

[Toil]

Are you sure sugar in every form is good in every instance?

Too much sugar will send your bacterial counts very high relative to fungal, which is not great unless you really like weeds. I would set a goal for the soil and use or not use sugar to accomplish it.

not sure what that would look like.

[rainbowgardener]

I take my bottle/can rinse water (just tap water, not filtered) and dump it in the compost bucket that is always sitting under the sink. That way the sugars or whatever feed the compost and get all balanced out with everything else. And my compost bucket always has used paper towels in it so the water gets soaked up, the compost bucket doesn't get too full of water (I just use a little bit per rinse).

[applestar]

Toil, it's just that little bit that didn't pour out from the bottle/container with at least one pot watering worth of water (usually close to 1 cup I would guess) so I think it should be OK, though rainbowgardener's practice is a great one for mitigating any excess (and I do have my compost bucket handy as well). Point is not to throw it away down the sink! (Hence the "Scroogie" idea )

[Toil]

I like the compost idea a lot. We don't keep soda at home (I have a moderation problem with sugar - it's all or nothing), but my one of my worm bins has to be watered regularly. When we finish a bottle of apple juice, I can rinse it in.

Good point too. It's only a bit of sugar, but it adds up, and besides, keeping things out of the waste stream focuses the mind and uncovers a new way to conserve or reuse.

[a0c8c]

High Fructose Corn syrup is NOT good sugar. It's in fact sort of liek fake sugar, tastes like sugar but acts completely different. If you're drinking sodas with cane sugar, then I'd go for it, but not corn syrup of any type. This may sound odd coming from an Iowa native who loves his corn, but I don't trust corn syrup that much. Messes up your stomach(stops you from feeling full), and messes up your soil(if you've ever poured some soda out on the grass, you'll notice the grass gets damaged).

[Kisal]

Ha! You beat me to it, a0c8c! I was just going to comment that there are a lot of things besides sugar in soda, and most of it is stuff I wouldn't feed to anything, nor would I drink it! HFCS is one of 'em!

[wingdesigner]

The coffee and tea, however, are great ideas, as long as they're either not decaf, or decafed (is that a word?) using water or some non-chemical method. I tried it out as a kid for a science project after hearing my mother say that's what her mother used to do was feed the leftover coffee and tea to the garden. Did the usual control/comparison plants and WOW! what a difference! Been sold on it ever since. I have a croton (Mr. Moore) that's head-high thanks in part to being watered with regular, hair-on-yer-chest, coffee.
That's my 2 cents.

[Toil]

Wouldn't a compost pile likely find a way to turn that corn syrup into good stuff?

Maybe the nature of soda explains why I can't put it down, while apple juice with as much sugar mixed with seltzer is no problem?