What is everyone's preferred method against PM?

kushking42 said:

good to know! the bottom line with using hydrogen dioxide is lowering the oxygen reduction potential. i havent crunched the numbers as for cost effectiveness but it takes about 10x the amount of peroxide to lower the orp of a solution to the same level as oxidate. high Ca foliar helps a lot in battling fungus. i just sprayed the beds with cal carb. my favorite thing to spray til midway through stretch is ph adjusted brix mix with oxidate, ascorbic acid included in the recipe with fungus in mind

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Don't mean to be "that guy" trying to correct everyone, but H2O2 will actually raise the ORP, not lower it. In my day job, we sometimes inject H2O2 into aquifers contaminated with gasoline or diesel. As the peroxide breaks down, it releases oxygen and raises te ORP. This leads to a bloom of bacteria, which happily consume the gas or diesel, releasing mostly CO2. Pretty neat. If you combine high concentrations of H2O2 with ferrous iron (which is already in most soil), you create something called Fenton's reagent. Fentons reagent produces hydroxyl radicals, which indescriminately tear up organic compounds (including chlorinated nasties like PCE, TCE, vinyl chloride, etc) in a quick and VERY exothermic reaction, producing only carbon dioxide and water.

Chemistry is neat...

the verdict is in....Horsetail rocks!.....no mildew in almost a week, and the plants are happy as fuck!...they love being sprayed with it...sooooo nice to spray an almost scentless tea that is not photosensitive, does not fry the pistils, leaves zero residue, and is completely non toxic...and the plants love it!.....it is a complete game changer for me, and it has given me back my enthusiasm for the garden ....

I have started to lightly spray them with just a mini sprayer once every 2-3 days, every time i have them out taking pics, or what-not.....

Hell yeah Nugs, so psyched you are having great results with this, too. I haven't seen any PM in my garden now for quite some time, and share that renewed love for gardening again. Definitely something that I'm going to continue to use as part of my day to day garden routine.

That is awesome. I will definitely be giving this a try next round.

Hey Nugbucket thanks for the horsetail tip. I use it for the silica content but it's nice to know it can be used for other things too.

I haven't read the entire thread but has anyone mentioned using calcium carbonate during veg to prevent PM in flower? When you foliar spray CC on a plant it will raise the PH of the plant's leaves and this supposedly makes getting PM close to, if not, impossible. I use it up until the first two weeks of flowering and have never seen PM. Plus it gives the plant a CO2 boost. Can't go wrong with that. Anyway Good Luck Nugs!

nugbuckets said:

the verdict is in....Horsetail rocks!.....no mildew in almost a week, and the plants are happy as fuck!...they love being sprayed with it...sooooo nice to spray an almost scentless tea that is not photosensitive, does not fry the pistils, leaves zero residue, and is completely non toxic...and the plants love it!.....it is a complete game changer for me, and it has given me back my enthusiasm for the garden ....

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Ive got more herbal tricks up my sleeve...

We have only scratched the surface of the brilliance of, the biodynamic method,

I think the best part about spraying Horsetail (and many other herbs) is,

it can be a regular part of your fertility/plant health program, regardless if your plant has PM.

If you guys are liking the results you are seeing with this herb,

open your mind to the possibility of using many different herbs, targeted at different regions of the plant, at different times, for multiple purposes...

Chamomile tea for seedlings, (prevents damp off, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, boosts immunity with vitamins and micro minerals (Ca/Mg))

Nettle, Comfrey, Alfalfa and Dandelion leaf for vegetative growth,

and Yarrow, Red Clover, Chamomlie and Valerian for flower.

Simply put, herbal leaves for vegetative growth,

Herbal flowers during the flowering period.



I use all these techniques not only in my Med garden (indoor/greenhouse),

But in my veggie garden and on my fruit trees/lawn as well.

And!

if you have a small outdoor garden spot, all of these herbs can be easily grown, providing you with more than enough to make teas all year!

Plus they look great, smell great, attract bees/butterflys and can be used for HUMAN health as well!

Funny, I was reading about the Chamomile... but you've got a great list there that is almost all new to me. +rep to you Rising Moon. Oh wait, I already did it says. You get more anyway.

I think Nugs was growing/using Comfrey already in his grows, but not sure if he still does. A great source of N and Cal Mg if I recall?

I'm all about this.

Copied and pasted from wikipedia:

"Comfrey is a particularly valuable source of fertility to the organic gardener. It is very deep rooted and acts as a dynamic accumulator, mining a host of nutrients from the soil. These are then made available through its fast-growing leaves (up to 4-5 pounds per plant per cut) which, lacking fibre, quickly break down to a thick black liquid. There is also no risk of nitrogen robbery when comfrey is dug into the soil as the C:N ratio of the leaves is lower than that of well-rotted compost. Comfrey is an excellent source of potassium, an essential plant nutrient needed for flower, seed and fruit production. Its leaves contain 2-3 times more potassium than farmyard manure, mined from deep in the subsoil, tapping into reserves that would not normally be available to plants."

So is the horsetail tea o.k. to spray until harvest?

Yes

just ordered 2 pounds of powdered horsetail for the upcoming season off amazon........very reasonable, like $16/lb....shipping included.

How's the garden looking Nugs, still PM free I trust? Ordered some of the powdered horsetail today.

i went through my whole garden and found one tiny spot on my Pandora....this has been the cleanest my garden has been all winter long by far!.......but again, the best part is the plants love to be sprayed with it...they are so vibrant and their color is just perfect....i am spraying them lightly every 2-3 days when i take them out for assessment......

....this has totally turned me on to foliar feeding, and plan to get into it real good.....

nugbuckets said:

i went through my whole garden and found one tiny spot on my Pandora....this has been the cleanest my garden has been all winter long by far!.......but again, the best part is the plants love to be sprayed with it...they are so vibrant and their color is just perfect....i am spraying them lightly every 2-3 days when i take them out for assessment......

....this has totally turned me on to foliar feeding, and plan to get into it real good.....

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Sounds good, can't wait to try the tea on my plants (was getting tired of all the withered looking pistols from the oxidate as well). As far as the foliar feeding goes, do you think that you'll be using horsetail tea as a stand alone, or will you be trying to incorporate some other substances as well (such as CalCarb or something)?

As always thanks a million for your time and knowledge Nugs

Snap

^^^^i was thinking horsetail as a base, but then adding more herbal nutrients...researching the amazing Nettles plant now.....

Lol... that was my Sunday ^^^^ researching Nettles

Bobotrank said:

Lol... that was my Sunday ^^^^ researching Nettles

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well, what did you find out?

You mean BD 504? I found it when I was reading up on our friend BD 508.

Nettles are great for all sorts of things.. healing properties in humans, and healing properties for the soil. It is great to compost with, make teas, etc. Great for overall soil health. That was the jist of what I got, at least. Breaks down into a black sludge (which sounds just like Comfrey).

I was getting sucked down the rabbit hole of biodynamic farming. There is so much out there, as Rising Moon was saying. Chamomile, is another... I could go on, but...

I've gotta get back to work!