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In this YouTube video people are suggesting planting with Aspirin, but would Advil, and Tylenol do the same thing?

THelper
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black thumb
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    This ought to be interesting...do you know why you want to use aspirin? Not that someone told you to but WHY? What is the chemical thingy you hope to attain to help your plants? – stormy Jun 27 '16 at 21:40
  • I agree with @stormy, that I'd like to understand what you think might be helpful, or not, about these drugs. There are mentions of experiments with aspirin, with chemical reasons stated, but I don't want to use a comment like this to get off the topic of your question. – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Jun 27 '16 at 21:55
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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGnmaiHU8mw – black thumb Jun 27 '16 at 22:12
  • Is there a difference in them? – black thumb Jun 28 '16 at 00:07
  • Don't use it. It could change metabolism on tomatoes, so it could change the nutritionally value of tomatoes, or also be more venomous (tomatoes plants are venomous, the red fruits no) – Giacomo Catenazzi Jun 28 '16 at 06:39

1 Answers1

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Well I'm confused. Aspirin, or salicylic acid, is said to mimic a hormone in tomatoes which aids disease resistance. That's one thing, but quite why Advil has been suggested I've no idea. Advil and Tylenol are certainly not the same - Advil is one of the nsaids, and its primary ingredient is ibuprofen, an anti inflammatory, whereas Tylenol is acetaminophen, or paracetamol to us in the UK. Ibuprofen is good at reducing inflammation, paracetamol is better at dealing with fever, both may reduce pain, but I can't see that either would mimic the action of actual aspirin for a tomato plant, unless the blood thinning (in humans) effect of both aspirin and ibuprofen means they mimic one another in a tomato plant, but I can't find anything on line about using Advil for tomatoes.

Found this on the benefits of using aspirin as a spray on tomatoes

http://www.plantea.com/plant-aspirin.htm

UPDATE

Interesting - you've now edited the question to include aspirin, but I've already said that aspirin can be used for tomatoes, yet cannot see why advil and tylenol should be expected to do the same job - they are different chemical formulae, different drugs, as already advised. So the answer to your question in its new format is No, they won't do the same job.

Bamboo
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  • Doesn't answer the question, but answers how you would use it medically, not for plants. – black thumb Jun 28 '16 at 00:21
  • there is no other information available regarding the use of either of the mentioned drugs (in the question) on tomatoes - and I have answered the differences between the two drugs. If you've got an answer that gives that information for tomatoes, feel free to post it, but I suspect someone's got their drugs mixed up when the advice was given, which caused the question to be asked. – Bamboo Jun 28 '16 at 00:23
  • Anyone can edit the question if they know what I mean to make asking the question better than it already is as long as it's the same idea. – black thumb Jun 28 '16 at 00:45
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    @blackthumb bamboo is (almost) right. Aspirin is **acetyl**salicylic acid which is similar to salicylic acid (which is a _phyto_-hormone). Advil and tylenol are (namebrand) chemicals that are completely different, and provide no benefit (probably the opposite) to plants. – Ben Welborn Jun 28 '16 at 12:47
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    @BenWelborn - thanks - I know salicylic acid is the original aspirin like compound from willow, forgot about the acetyl bit on the front for the manufactured drug! – Bamboo Jun 28 '16 at 13:36
  • Aspirin is C9H8O4. Tylenol is C8H9NO2. Advil is C13H18O2. They're definitely different chemicals. Any similar benefit to tomatoes would be coincidental, I'm thinking. Tylenol looks more chemically similar to Aspirin than Advil does, however, and if you were going to experiment, I'm guessing it would be more likely to produce that coincidence. Tylenol does have a little nitrogen in it, by the look of it, however, but I'm sure there are much better fertilizers available. Being a pain reliever doesn't necessarily mean they have the same effects besides pain relief in humans, in some way. – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Jul 01 '16 at 08:21