it sounds like a great product! but, seriously, i have no idea what you're talking about. do you have a link? pictures? website?
They are actually two different products...so a simple Google search will result in answers to you question... I am looking for people with experience in Beneficial Bacteria to chime in,especially with these two products in general Roots Excelurator is an awesome product,have yet to find one to meet/and or exceed. Companion Inoculant (from what I am told) is also great,but I need to know if the two are compatible with each other(meaning that they will be symbiotic),and if that will be what I need for to achieve the Epitome of all root structures. But for those that need help to search Roots Excelurator Companion Inoculant
I have used,and did have fun.It(Roots Excelurator) is hands down the best roots stimulator on the market...so do your homework before you post. My nute regimen is fine for me,I want to get more on the root development aspect,and get opinions from other growers on what the best products on the market are.But I really do thank you for you post,it has got your post count up one and also contributed absolutely nothing to this thread.So please lurk somewhere else while I try to educate myself on Beneficial Bacteria on this fine website Also to be noted,is that there is a 250ml bottle at around 52$ with a dilution rate of 1.1ml per gallon.so if you can do the math that is 227+/-gallons.
Good stuff, but obscenely overpriced. They prey on inexperienced growers to separate them from as much $$$$$ as they can. They market it in conjunction with mj growing and never mention that organic farmers/gardeners have been using it for years and would never pay those kind of prices. How about the same thing (Mycorrhizae and Beneficial Bacteria), but for ~$10-$12/lb? Google CONCENTRATES and see. Wet
House & Garden Root Excelurator is nothing more than seaweed extract (marine algae) which naturally contains both of the main 'rooting agents' found in gels, liquids, etc. known as IAA ((Indole-3-acetic acid) which is an auxin (phytohormone) and as well as NAA (Naphthalene acetic acid) that is also an auxin. IAA provides for cell elongation and NAA provides for cell formation - 2 different functions. These auxins were identified over 70 years ago at Oxford University and eventually were isolated for use in commercial rooting compounds. The 'beneficial bacteria' found in this product is simply Bacillus subtilis commonly found in healthy soils. It's also the active agent in the anti-fungal spray sold under the name Serenade which is fairly worthless because of the dilution of the 'beneficial bacteria' it contains. Yep - sounds pretty special and another candidate for the Grow Store Hall of Fame conducted at Oaksterdam University in 'Cali' each year. Right up there with Humboldt County's Own line of elixirs and magical solutions. Organic kelp meal - 50# for $61.00 and 2 oz. will make 5 gallons of 'seaweed extract' - do the math. If you want pure Bacillus subtilis that's no big deal either because it's available for chump-change in a pure form. LD
Wetdog Lumperdawgz Thanks for the input,this is the stuff i was looking for,shoot me in whatever direction that will get my knowledge base stong.I do have a few grows under my belt to get me out from under the Novice blanket,but I took a few years off and I am playing catchup now.The last nute regimen I was using was "Lucas formula" with Kool Bloom and Super Bud was all the rage......so it has been awhile...boo hooo i know. As it stands now my money out for nutes and the quality of harvests I am getting is worth it,but I would like to fine tune things,get past the Hydro store and straight to the supplier.My understanding of Beneficial Bacteria does need some work, so buying the pretty prepackaged "snake oil" is what I will have to put up with until I have a full understanding of what does what and why. Stankie, Sorry if I jumped down your throat there,but I am looking for some sound advice not some"I cannot believe this malarkie"
I'm sorry above my initial post. I really meant to ask you to provide a direct link to the product and information about which you had a question. I find that, too often, people come on here and make threads about random products and don't provide any information. It really is much easier to answer when provided with a picture, description, etc. of the topic at hand. When I have to search around the net to get an idea of what's going on, well...i'm Lazy as shit. It's much easier to 'do our homework' when we have a 'worksheet'...ya dig? my bad given the information in LDs post: you can get many more beneficial bacteria with a quality dry fertilizer line such as Dr. Earth, among others. I only have their Alfalfa meal which is loaded with bacteria strains, But I intend to grab their kelp meal after the holidays. I think I paid $10 at a garden center for the 3lb box and I haven't even used half of it yet after mixing up ~2.5 cu.ft of soil mix I also have Neptune's Harvest seaweed extract in the quart-sized bottle...grabbed it for about $16 at the garden center...there are better deals out there, but it wasn't too bad. Those two combined would give everything and more than what is in the roots excelurator. They are simple to find products...some users here have even seen Dr. Earth in some Home Depots. But, If paying $52 for a bottle of liq. seaweed Is your thing, That is cool. I would actually be quite interested in a journal. I'm always open to seeing different grows with different products...I like to see the comparisons n such.
Also, I learned all about the Soil food web by reading Teaming with microbes [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Gardeners-Guide-Soil/dp/0881927775"]Link[/ame] and also The Dirt Doctor's guide to Organic Gardening [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dirt-Doctors-Guide-Organic-Gardening/dp/029272781X"]Link[/ame] for a more well-rounded view on the organic way I will look around a little for free internet sources, however.
No worries dvs1. My first post was kinda . . . well. I would recommend buying a bag of quality Earth Worm Castings, Kelp Meal, and an Air Pump. Make your own 'root exploder' in your garage for pennies. Get a bag of mycorrhizae fungi as a way to really help your roots on a microbial level. Research EM-1 as well. It is a form of beneficial anaerobic bacteria thats is good for soils. Also Actively Aerated Compost Teas using Earth Worm Castings or thermophilic compost in solution of aerated water. The best way to grow is to feed your soil. Then let it and your plant work out the rest.
dvs1 At one time Hydro-Gardens out of Colorado Springs, Colorado carried the KELPAK product. It appeared to me that when I bought a couple of liters that they were buying it in bulk and repackaging. Pretty standard on these types of products. It was odd to me at first that they would carry KELPAK because they're a chemical house for folks who want to mix their hydroponics solutions from the ground up. Then I was told by an individual who is a 'mixologist' that hydroponic nute manufacturers use KELPAK because it's clear and doesn't interfere with their color schemes on the various elixirs which makes sense. For whatever reason they discontinued selling KELPAK. I wouldn't read much into that. A few months ago Caltec Agri Marketing out of Modesto, California registered KELPAK with the Washington State Department of Agriculture for distribution as well as the respective agencies in Oregon and California. They're probably your only shot and even then I'm thinking that you'll probably have to buy the minimum pack which is 5 liters. When I bought it a couple of years back it was running about $15.00 per liter from Hydro-Gardens so you can kind of figure out a general price. I would guess that the 5 liter pack will be around $50.00 or so - hard to say. HTH LD
p_snick, thanks for the name of the Dirt Doctor book. Did you find it had additional, beneficial info over the Teaming book? Seems to have had some great reviews so I got one coming from Amazon. Something good to read while traveling. JaK
a little bit. It's all about organic techniques and practices. the book was kinda old as well, not a thing about AACTs. after Teaming, It seemed like more of the same, just on the philosophical and practical side vs. scientific side. I think it serves well to expand organic practices with things that have worked for years and years in the past. on the neg. side, however, It has a lot of 'trust me!' and some of the recipes for, say, chile spray insecticide seem a little too vague to me and he doesn't really explain waht or how they work More of a beginner's guide to the organic way. a simple read, the language doesn't ever get too dense
p_snickers It actually works and works very well. From my anecdotal experience, I've found that the hotter the chili (the Scoville Scale deal) the more effective the spray seemed to work. The hottest chilis that are currently available in the seed form are from India - the Naga Jolokia or Bhut jolokia and has several other names like Ghost Chili The New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute tested this variety at over 1 million on the Scoville Scale. Habanero chili (aka Scotch Bonnet) comes in between 100,000 - 350,000 using the same testing method. If you take about 1/4 cup of chopped chilis (definitely wear gloves or it will make having a tooth pulled a walk in the park if you get ANYTHING near your eyes or mouth) and place these in a vessel and add 1 gallon of water along with 1 chopped/minced/pureed garlic head (skin and all) and a cup of chopped ginger root and let that ferment. You can just let it sit or if you were to do the EM-1 deal it would only add to the benefit. Mix 1/2 cup of this fermented mix to 1 gallon of water and apply 3x per week and it will be a complete kill zone. Then apply clear water a couple of days after the last application and then a couple of days after that apply some form of liquid kelp to re-establish the beneficial microbes on the leaves and branches because they take a hit as well. All of these ingredients (including the lactobacillus in the ferment) are the very same things that people take for health in their own digestive tracts - ginger, garlic and capsaicin as well as other benefits (arthritis, bacterial infections, fungal infections, et al). It works and it's certainly cheap and if you grow your own chili peppers from India it will be 'shock & awe' for the mites, thrips, gnats, white flies, beetles, larva, et al. LD
Obviously an Oregon boy. But where is the original poster from. As a general rule concentrates does not ship far from their nest.