The Effects of Fluoride on Plants

Effects of Fluoride on Agriculture

“…1 In 1883, Schroeder and Reuss thought that plant damage from industrially produced atomspheric fluoride was very likely but its occurrence near a copper smelter was unproven. 2 Shortly thereafter fluoride-induced injury was found by Mayrhofer, 3 Rhode, 4 and Wislicenus 5 in the vicinity of superphosphate plants, and by Ost 6 near both glass and fertilizer factories. However, the potential for damage was present previous to these reports because fluoride-containing minerals, such as fluorspar (CaF 2 ), have been used as metallurgical fluxes since at least the end of the 15th century and, mixed with sulfuric acid, for etching glass since the 17th century.…”

Fluoride Induced Necrosis of Cordyline terminalis Kunth ‘Baby Dolt’ as Influenced by Medium and pH1,2

“…The necrosis was thought to be pathological in nature, but no active pathogen was isolated (7). Although F induced toxicity from soil solutions was reported to be rare (9), improbable (8), and relatively unimportant (3), Conover and Poole (2) showed that uptake of soluble F from irrigation water through the cut stem during propagation caused necrosis of 'Baby Doll', and levels of 0.25 ppm F or more in the irrigation water could reduce the sales value of this crop.…”

“…There are several reviews concerning effects of atmospheric fluoride on plants (3,8,9), but reports of F toxicity due to solution uptake is limited (5,12). Several workers have studied methods of alleviating toxicity due to atmospheric fluoride.…”