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foliar feeding- how do YOU do it?

Don't worry about buying a "diffuser", just get a regular spray bottle and a wetting agent.

When ever you spray anything on your plants, whether it is for pest control, fungicide or to foliar feed you plants. You should always use a wetting agent also referred to as a surfactants. The purpose of this is to break the surface tension on the leaf so that product will be absorbed rather than running off the plant.

I use dutch master saturator

GOLD_RANGE_SATURATOR.png
 
thanks, i'll see if I can buy it next time I run to our garden center. Can anything else be used as a surfactant that may be more readily available here in South Georgia.
 
Cayennemist said:
will that stuff kill your Biofilm?
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Soap? Yea for sure. Just like I would never use chlorinated tap water with organics.

I was just saying it can be used as a surfactant.


I spray with botanicare and I do not use a surfactant but I am sure it makes things effective..

I have sprayed with soap to control pests, but thats it.
 
Capsicum said:
Soap? Yea for sure. Just like I would never use chlorinated tap water with organics.

I was just saying it can be used as a surfactant.


I spray with botanicare and I do not use a surfactant but I am sure it makes things effective..

I have sprayed with soap to control pests, but thats it.
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No no I meant the surfactant. I know nothing about surfacant, just was wondering. Yeah the soap I use on dishes kills 99.9% of germs lol

Capsicum said:
I just read something interesting about kelp. It says that if you spray with kelp it ultimately makes the plant have higher yield.
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It supposedly kelp has lots of growth hormones,Cytokinns, in it. They get 200'+ long so I believe it. Also after using it most of my plants started spitting out buds?!?!

CYTOKININ
Kelp products have long been known as a source of
cytokinin. As one group of several naturally
occurring plant growth regulators (PGR’s) cytokinin
has a range of known physiological effects on plants.
These include:
• Stimulates Cell Division
• Stimulates Shoot initiation and bud formation
• Stimulates leaf expansion from cell enlargement
• Stimulates Chlorophyll Synthesis
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CarvinGuitarist said:
I still have some Coco wet from Spray-n-Grow that I could use since it's only 1/4 tsp or something per gallon of mix.
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Got a whole bottle for free yesterday at the garden shop I frequent along with 10 samples of different companies Myco. I used the 1/2 tsp per gallon of AACT I sprayed my plants with last night...it definitely seemed to not be running off as much.

Cayenne...when you spray with kelp, are you using kelp meal fertilizer or no?
 
Just wondering if anyone has figured out a homemade wetting agent solution? I'm thinking of trying either vegetable oil or even egg yolk as a wetting agent for my first batch of tea. Anyone try a DIY approach or am I just wasting my time and effort?
 
LGHT said:
Don't worry about buying a "diffuser", just get a regular spray bottle and a wetting agent.

When ever you spray anything on your plants, whether it is for pest control, fungicide or to foliar feed you plants. You should always use a wetting agent also referred to as a surfactants. The purpose of this is to break the surface tension on the leaf so that product will be absorbed rather than running off the plant.

I use dutch master saturator

GOLD_RANGE_SATURATOR.png
Click to expand...

This is a delivery agent, not a wetting agent (although I've been meaning to get some of that DM saturator)

A delivery agents help deliver the nutrients to the plant by helping it penetrate deeper through the cell wall.

A wetting agent allows for the water to flow over the entire surface area of the leaf. Rather than beading up and dripping off.

These should be used in conjunction with one another for maxim efficiency.

 
bigbodybussey said:
thanks, i'll see if I can buy it next time I run to our garden center. Can anything else be used as a surfactant that may be more readily available here in South Georgia.
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Typically nonionic surfactants are used for foliar feeding. One of the most common in households that doesn't contain detergent would be a dishwasher rinse agent like Jet-Dry, but I don't know the concentration needed, probably a very small amount like 2 drops per gallon. Disclaimer - I don't do foliar feeding, never tried this on plants. Maybe some day I'll get motivated and spray this on some weeds and see what it does to them.
 
Just a note on the stinky kelp in a bucket. Pretty much anything that is rotting in water and smells like poo is undergoing anaerobic decomposition. Generally (not always!) this is bad for making fertilizer. Some/many anaerobic bacteria produce phytotoxic substances and this is a major reason why you need to turn over your compost piles; to keep the process aerobic, vs. anaerobic.

Dump that bucket out on the ground or your compost pile and let the aerobic bacteria do their thing,
 
PepperWhisperer said:
Just a note on the stinky kelp in a bucket. Pretty much anything that is rotting in water and smells like poo is undergoing anaerobic decomposition. Generally (not always!) this is bad for making fertilizer. Some/many anaerobic bacteria produce phytotoxic substances and this is a major reason why you need to turn over your compost piles; to keep the process aerobic, vs. anaerobic.

Dump that bucket out on the ground or your compost pile and let the aerobic bacteria do their thing,
Click to expand...

Not sure if you are talking about me?
If so, yeah I plopped that stanky stuff in the compost a few weeks ago.
 
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