Re: PMDD modification, acetic acid

["John W. Lemons III" <john at johnlemons_com>]

>Forgive my laziness.  I could have said something much sooner.  The 
>acetic acid is also antimicrobial where the HCL is not.  I.e Low pH is 
>inhibitory if is low enough.  But the inhiibitory value is higher for 
>organic acids than inorganic acids.

Thanks for the feedback.  That certainly makes sense and makes me feel 
a bit better about the validity of my observations.

I dug around a bit more and found that the US government food caning 
specifications indicate that for non-pressure canned foods (like 
pickles), you need a pH below 4.5 and they specifically mention using 
vinegar.  That would also fit with my observations, and dovetail nicely 
with the anti-microbial action you mention.

Also found that bread makers inhibit mold growth by lowering the pH of 
the bread, though not nearly as much.  Apparently newspaper printers use 
acidic paper for the same reason (pH4.5).

I also found several other methods for inhibiting mold, but they don't 
use readily available chemicals or simple processes, and I don't know 
how safe they are for plants (or the person doing the mixing).  So for 
now, I think this is my best/easiest/cheapest option.

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