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The subfamily agavoidae is comprised of approx 640 species of agave and it's close relative, yucca. While the bio-active properties and concentrations can vary from species to species (and from pheno to pheno), they all produce saponins (Latin "sapo," meaning soap) which are important to growers for their detergent or surfactant properties. Agave is also a source of cytokinin, a growth regulating hormone that is biosynthesized by auxins and helps promote cell division in the root zone and apical growth to the shoot tips.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxin
Cytokinins are involved in many plant processes, including cell division and shoot and root morphogenesis. In particular, they are known to regulate axillary bud growth as well as affect apical dominance. These effects are a result of the cytokinin to auxin ratio, and termed the direct inhibition hypothesis. This theory states that the auxin, originating in the apical bud, travels down shoots to inhibit axillary bud growth. This promotes shoot growth, and restricts lateral branching. During this process, cytokinin moves from the roots and into the shoots, eventually signaling lateral bud growth. Simple experiments agree with this theory. When the apical bud—the major source of auxin—is removed, the axillary buds are liberated from inhibition. This allows the plant increased lateral growth, making the plant bushier. Applying auxin to the cleaved stem again inhibits lateral dominance
Agave Lechuguilla in wild.
Agave Lechuguilla in my backyard.
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Agave Lechuguilla Cold Process Extraction
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Using Wetting Agents (Nonionic Surfactants) on Soil
Source:
Some soils, known as hydrophobic soils, are difficult to wet because they repel water. The infiltration of water into these soils can often be improved by applying a nonionic surfactant, more commonly called a wetting agent. Wetting agents are detergent-like substances that reduce the surface tension of water, allowing it to penetrate and wet the soil more easily.
To understand how wetting agents work, it is necessary to know something about the three forces that affect the movement of water into the soil. The first is gravity; it is a constant force that pulls the water downward. The second is cohesion, the attraction of water molecules for each other. It is the force that holds a droplet of water together. It creates the droplet's surface tension, which causes the droplet to behave as if a thin, flexible film covered its surface, tending to keep the water molecules apart from other substances. The third force is adhesion, the attraction of water molecules to other substances. This force causes water molecules to adhere to other objects, such as soil particles.
Tests have also been conducted to determine whether wetting agents have any toxic effects on plants. In tests on barley shoots grown hydroponically (that is, in a nutrient solution rather than in soil), a wetting agent concentration of 300 parts per million (ppm) in the solution caused a reduction of about 70 percent in the dry weight of the shoots. However, the same concentration in water applied to shoots growing in soil or in a sand-peat mixture increased shoot growth slightly. When wetting agents are applied to soil, the concentration would have to be much higher than 300 ppm before plant growth would be impaired.
Despite frequent irrigation, the soil in these spots resists wetting, resulting in patches of dead or severely wilted turf. The water applied wets the turf but does not adequately penetrate the soil surface to reach the root zone.
but the most effective solution was to use wetting agents in combination with coring—making small holes in the soil surface to allow water to pass through the hydrophobic surface layer. Also, keeping the soil moist seemed to be the best defense against the development of dry spots. Allowing the soil to dry out intensified the problem.
Several studies have shown that the infiltration rate of a hydrophobic soil, once it has been wetted, remains higher than it was before it was wetted, even if it is allowed to dry out again.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxin
Cytokinins are involved in many plant processes, including cell division and shoot and root morphogenesis. In particular, they are known to regulate axillary bud growth as well as affect apical dominance. These effects are a result of the cytokinin to auxin ratio, and termed the direct inhibition hypothesis. This theory states that the auxin, originating in the apical bud, travels down shoots to inhibit axillary bud growth. This promotes shoot growth, and restricts lateral branching. During this process, cytokinin moves from the roots and into the shoots, eventually signaling lateral bud growth. Simple experiments agree with this theory. When the apical bud—the major source of auxin—is removed, the axillary buds are liberated from inhibition. This allows the plant increased lateral growth, making the plant bushier. Applying auxin to the cleaved stem again inhibits lateral dominance
Soil Surfactant
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Schematic showing anionic surfactant sorption mechanisms in unsaturated soil. Surfactant molecules are represented by an open circle and tail. Spherical arrangements of surfactant molecules are used to depict mobile micelles. Filled black circles are resident divalent cations that coadsorb anionic surfactant molecules to soil particle surfaces. Hydrophobic adsorption causes surfactant molecules to concentrate at the air/water interface and to interact with those already adsorbed at soil particle surfaces, potentially resulting in bilayer formation. The checkered zone symbolizes a surfactant precipitate.
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Foliar Surfactant
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The root and core are where most of the sugars and active agents are stored. Blue Agave or agave tequilana being harvested for tequila production.____________________
Agave Lechuguilla in wild.
Agave Lechuguilla in my backyard.
________________________
Agave Lechuguilla Cold Process Extraction
___________________
Using Wetting Agents (Nonionic Surfactants) on Soil
Source:
Some soils, known as hydrophobic soils, are difficult to wet because they repel water. The infiltration of water into these soils can often be improved by applying a nonionic surfactant, more commonly called a wetting agent. Wetting agents are detergent-like substances that reduce the surface tension of water, allowing it to penetrate and wet the soil more easily.
To understand how wetting agents work, it is necessary to know something about the three forces that affect the movement of water into the soil. The first is gravity; it is a constant force that pulls the water downward. The second is cohesion, the attraction of water molecules for each other. It is the force that holds a droplet of water together. It creates the droplet's surface tension, which causes the droplet to behave as if a thin, flexible film covered its surface, tending to keep the water molecules apart from other substances. The third force is adhesion, the attraction of water molecules to other substances. This force causes water molecules to adhere to other objects, such as soil particles.
Tests have also been conducted to determine whether wetting agents have any toxic effects on plants. In tests on barley shoots grown hydroponically (that is, in a nutrient solution rather than in soil), a wetting agent concentration of 300 parts per million (ppm) in the solution caused a reduction of about 70 percent in the dry weight of the shoots. However, the same concentration in water applied to shoots growing in soil or in a sand-peat mixture increased shoot growth slightly. When wetting agents are applied to soil, the concentration would have to be much higher than 300 ppm before plant growth would be impaired.
Despite frequent irrigation, the soil in these spots resists wetting, resulting in patches of dead or severely wilted turf. The water applied wets the turf but does not adequately penetrate the soil surface to reach the root zone.
but the most effective solution was to use wetting agents in combination with coring—making small holes in the soil surface to allow water to pass through the hydrophobic surface layer. Also, keeping the soil moist seemed to be the best defense against the development of dry spots. Allowing the soil to dry out intensified the problem.
Several studies have shown that the infiltration rate of a hydrophobic soil, once it has been wetted, remains higher than it was before it was wetted, even if it is allowed to dry out again.
