THE SCIENCE BEHIND MAGNETISED WATER 

Adapted from an original article from Mars Mlodzinski 

The science behind magnetic water can be traced back to the work of French scientist, Louis Pasteur, who in the last century began experiments on magnets and plant growth. Because our product Plantsurge has been causing such a stir in the garden industry with results that are proving almost ‘too good to be true’ – improved plant performance, bigger blooms, more yield and vibrant gardens- we were delighted when one of our favourite garden experts undertook an academic and scientific literature search and found no shortage of studies focussing on magnetised water and the impact it has on plants and seedlings. 

This article is based on an original blog from https://myhomefarm.co.uk and we would like to share some of the outcomes of those studies with you. The objective of this post is to show that magnetic soft water is one of the most well researched areas of horticulture, proving there is strong prolific scientific evidence to be made for magnetised water and healthier plants. In an effort to prevent any “old” data counterarguments, Mars from My Home Farm has looked at studies from 2015-2022, and the number of studies from 2000-2015 alone is staggering

Magnetised water studies

In a study called the Impact of magnetically treated water on the growth and development of tobacco published in the Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants the authors say “magnetism is one of the physical methods affecting water properties. It is considered as an environmental factor that plays a role in the physiological and biochemical reactions,” and this is a common theme that’s cited in most of the studies that we’ll discuss.

Many of the studies looked at will, like the one above, cover topics that most home vegetable and plant growing gardeners won’t engage in (like growing tobacco),but the purpose of this post is to show that magnetised water does have a beneficial effect on plants. The study above concluded that using “magnetically treated water in irrigation might be a very practical way to improve agricultural and horticultural production under greenhouse or field conditions.”

Next, this study appeared in the Journal of Plant Nutrition, and examined the effects of water magnetic treatment on seed germination and seedling growth of wheat. Their conclusion: “Magnetised water had significant effects on seeds’ germination and seedling growth. The crop production and plant morphological properties increased noticeably during the experiments when using magnetised water.”

The next one was super interesting says Mars because him and his partner Kirsten grow tomatoes (as do many home gardeners). This study appeared in Notulae Scientia Biologicae, and they assessed the influence of magnetised water and magnetised seeds on yield and uptake of heavy metals of tomatoes.

It’s a fascinating paper, and the authors concluded: “Combination of magnetised seed and magnetised water increased tomato yield by 44% while combination of non-magnetized seed and magnetised water increased tomato yield by 27%. Magnetised water had more influence on tomato yield than just magnetised seeds and irrigated with non-magnetised water. Magnetised water did not add heavy metals to the tomato which could be harmful to man and all the concentrations of heavy metals in the tomato were below FAO/WHO permissible limits.”

We turn to turnips next. in this study they looked at how magnetically treated water affected turnip seed germination, seedling growth and enzymatic activities, and the results appeared in a publication called Information Processing in Agriculture. 

“The effect of irrigation with magnetically treated water was evaluated on the basis of germination, seedling growth and biochemical parameters. Results revealed that magnetically treated water enhanced germination, seedling growth, protein content, chlorophyll content and enzymes activities. Water quality parameters were also improved because of magnetic field treatment. Results reveal that the magnetically treated water has the potential to enhance seed germination and growth and biochemicals.”

The next study focused on the influence of magnetised water on soil water dynamics under drip irrigation systems, and it appeared in Agricultural Water Management, an international journal that’s part of El Sevier. “The results showed that the surface wetted radius increased, and the vertical wetted depth decreased in homogeneous soil profiles using magnetised water… It is recommended to use magnetised water in drip irrigation systems particularly in homogeneous soil profiles.”

The African Journal of Agricultural Research studied the application of magnetically treated water to eggplant seedlings for research conducted in Brazil: “The magnetically treated water influenced the variables shoot fresh matter and shoot dry matter of eggplant seedlings in the three conducted experiments… Substrate water evaporation evaluations showed 37% of evaluations reduced with application of magnetically treated water and only 3% presented increase with magnetically treated water.”

The same African Journal of Agriculture Research investigated the response of lettuce crops to magnetically treated irrigation water and different irrigation depths: “The variables of MTW-irrigated [magnetically treated water] lettuce crops showed more positive results when compared with those irrigated with CW [common water]. The lettuces’ aerial green weight irrigated with MTW reveals a production higher than or equal to when compared to that irrigated with CW, for the two cycles, with an approximate 63% increase. The technology of water magnetization for irrigation produces new possibilities for production increase and water volume decrease.”

The Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine journal’s published conclusion to whether maize plants benefitted from being water with magnetised water was: “Irrigation of maize plants with MTW remarkably increased iron content of kernels (2.3 fold of the control). Interestingly, calcium content of maize kernels in MTW-irrigated plants was also significantly higher than the control group. All together, these facts imply that MTW increased maize plants growth and metabolism and improved the quality of its yield.”

The IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science looked at whether magnetised water, when used in conjunction with a biofertilizer had an impact on the growth and yield of melon Cucumis melo L. Their conclusion was, “The interaction between magnetized water and bio fertilizer led to improvement of melon traits. Using magnetic water with bio fertilizers could be a promising technique for agricultural improvements, but more research is required for different crops.”

Mars has summarised his findings with these words, ‘these are just some of the papers we’ve read, and the conclusions are all similar: magnetised water typically had a positive effect on the vegetables or plants that formed the basis of the study. As part of the literature search, we didn’t come across a single study that showed that magnetised water didn’t have a positive effect on plants, and there were no studies that suggested any adverse effects’.

In addition to all the results, the consensus was that magnetically treated water enhanced uptake of potassium and phosphorous, which plants need to develop strong roots. Magnetised water also improved calcium, iron, potassium, and zinc content in vegetables and significantly increased the production quality of the plants when compared to non-magnetised water.

The team at My Home Farm  has been watering seedlings with Plantsurge magnetised water in conjunction with boosts of Ecoworm (an organic vermicompost fertiliser) and  germination rates have been high and the seedlings look strong - stronger than they did at more or less the same stage last year under fairly similar conditions.