The Secrets Of Foliar Spraying

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Samoan

Samoan

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The Secrets of Foliar Spraying
Your tomato plants look limp and sickly. Their lower leaves have turned a nasty yellow between the veins. You need to do something quickly. Searching the web, you discover your tomatoes have magnesium deficiency. Under the bathroom sink, you find an old bag of Epsoms Salts and an empty spray bottle. Dissolving a tablespoon of the salts in a couple of pints of warm water, you spray the leaves of the tomato plants all over. A couple of days later, the plants are bright green and healthy again.

From this example, it looks like foliar spraying could be the magic bullet we are all looking for. Within one hour, according to the scientists, a plant can transports minerals from its leaves all the way down to its roots. Compared to root feeding, this looks like the fast track. However, foliar spraying is not an alternative to good growing methods. It is best seen as a powerful addition that has its own secrets for success.

Mineral Deficiency Spraying
Spraying for mineral deficiencies can be particularly effective: magnesium for tomatoes, zinc for grapes, boron for many vegetables; the list is long and complex. Plants signal their need for help by exhibiting distress in leaf, bud and flower. As the plant’s ‘primary care person’, your task is to diagnose the problem and provide corrective procedures. Mineral spraying acts rather like an injection; it gets the medicine into the plant’s system as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The main stumbling block is our limited diagnostic skills. Each species of plant has both general and specific mineral needs. When these minerals are missing from the soil or hydroponic solution, a range of confusing symptoms appear. We may not discover the specific reason quickly enough to prevent plant collapse. Even when we do, that plant will take time to recover and may never reach optimum productivity.

Spraying for mineral deficiencies is emergency medicine -- fast and efficient. To be successful, we need to know which element is missing and have the cure ready to hand. This is not always possible, so, in general, it is better to think in terms of prevention rather than cure. We do not wait until sick to take vitamins (a contraction of ‘vital minerals’). Just so, rather than spraying when a deficiency appears, put in place a program of foliar fertilization to increase plant health and resilience. If deficiency spraying is specific first aid, foliar fertilization is preventative health care.

Foliar Fertilization
We all have had the basic course in fertilization: plants need NPK – nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. This is like saying humans need carbohydrates, fats and protein. It tells us the basics but certainly does not say how to eat well. We need a balanced diet with nourishing foods -- and plants are similar. They prefer nutrients in which the complex chemicals are bound organically. Rather than a dose of chemical nitrates, plants thrive best on organic products that provide not only the NPK but also a range of trace elements.

Vegetation evolved in the oceans, bathed in a solution containing every imaginable mineral. Seaweed takes food directly from seawater. Land plants, like their marine ancestors, can take in nourishment through the pores or stomata on their leaf surfaces. Stomata are tiny mouths that breathe in CO2 and exhale water and oxygen. They also transport nutrients up to ten times more efficiently that root systems. Foliar feeding bolsters the nutrients available to each plant, like a regular dose of vitamins and supplements.

Most vegetation requires a minimum of 16, but probably more like 50 essential minerals and trace elements. Is it just coincidence that some of the best providers of these elements come from the ocean? Fish products are high in organic nitrogen; kelp is a wonderful source of minerals, particularly potassium, while algae has a range of trace elements and hormones beneficial for cellular development. Research suggests that natural sea salt contains a vast range of trace elements. When sprayed in a very diluted form, sea minerals provide most elements needed to prevent deficiencies.

Foliar fertilization is fast becoming an essential addition to standard cultivation techniques. For many growers who have grown up with chemicals, it is a small step to organic fertilization – the NPK is just packaged differently. However, there is another, less well-known aspect to plant cultivation based on biology rather than chemistry -- the realm of the microbes.

Spraying with Compost Tea
When plants evolved on land, they formed an alliance with the microbial life in the soil and air. Certain species of bacteria and fungi became the chefs that prepared the plant’s food, the medics that helped them fight disease. Plants like to dine on biologically predigested nutrients; it is easier for them to assimilate. Healthy plants have a strong immune system that includes a ‘bio-film’ of microbial life on the roots, stems and leaves. To make use of these biological principles to feed and protect our plants, we can spray with compost tea.

Compost tea is “brewed” by aerating a mixture of water, compost (sometimes humus or worm castings), and organic nutrients such as molasses, kelp, fish emulsion, and yucca. This produces a nutrient-rich solution containing vast colonies of beneficial bacteria and fungi. The microbes digest the nutrients into organic compounds that can be easily taken in by the plant. These same microbes colonize the surface of the leaves to help fight off disease.

When you spray with compost tea, you envelope the plant with living organisms -- and you enhance the web of life of which the plant is a part. The results can be astounding: large, mineral rich vegetation with clear glossy leaves, decreased disease, and even lessened insect attacks. Plants treated with foliar fertilization and especially compost tea have higher “Brix” levels – a measure of the carbohydrates and mineral density in the sap. High Brix is said to make the plants less attractive to pests and more resilient to stress. If they are vegetables, they even taste better!

Compost tea, unlike mineral sprays and foliar fertilization, cannot be over-applied and does not burn leaves. The microbe-rich droplets drip off the leaves to improve soil and growing solutions. Those same microbes can clean up toxic chemicals and turn them into nutrients. For growers who regularly use compost tea, there is nothing better. The main drawback is that brewed compost tea is not always available and, being alive, has a limited shelf life. If you brew your own compost tea, it needs to have the best ingredients and proven test results.

Whether you apply a mineral solution to deficient plants, have a regular foliar fertilization program or go the distance with compost tea, foliar spraying benefits your plant quickly and profoundly. Find that old spray bottle; hook up your hose-end sprayer; invest in a commercial spray pack. Once you see the results, you will never neglect this method of plant care again.

Tips on Spraying
Below are guidelines for foliar spraying:

  1. When mixing up your formulation, whether mineral, organic fertilization or compost tea, use non-chlorinated, well oxygenated water. Bubble air through chlorinated water or leave it to off-gas overnight. You can try using seltzer in your foliar spray to give plants an added CO2 boost.
  2. Make sure mineral ingredients are dissolved and the solution is very dilute. Chemicals in high concentration tend to ‘burn’ foliage and leave a salt residue. Compost teas need to be diluted 10–1.
  3. Add a natural surfactant or wetting agent to help the solution flow over and stick to foliage. Yucca is a natural surfactant and is often a component of compost teas. Use true organic soaps such as Dr Bronners, Tom’s, or Pangea. The great majority or other soaps contain detergents that do not break down easily.
  4. Young transplants prefer a more alkaline solution (pH 7.0) while older growth like a somewhat more acid (pH 6.2) spray. Use baking soda to raise pH and apple cider vinegar to lower the pH of your spray.
  5. Spray with a fine sprayer for foliar fertilization and a coarser, low pressure sprayer for compost tea. The microbes in compost tea need large protective water droplets. Apply in the early morning or evening when the stomata are open. Do not spray if the temperature is over 80F or in the bright sun. Harsh ultraviolet rays can kill microbes in compost tea.
  6. Cover at least 70% of the foliage, paying particular attention to the underneath of the leaf surfaces.
Apply foliar fertilization or sprayed compost tea every two to three weeks during the growing season.
 
DrMcSkunkins

DrMcSkunkins

Dabbling in Oil
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You shouldnt spray compost tea all throughout the growing season on cannabis...
Never spray foliar teas on developed buds, stop two to three weeks into flower, those articles are for edible crops, not smokable ones.
 
Samoan

Samoan

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@DrMcSkunkins @ultrahealth @Nugteq

This is from Rollitup Organics.

-EXCESSIVE amounts of ADDED SUGARS applied foliarly can shock the
plant resulting in shortened growth internodes, increased leaf maturity & initiation of excess fruiting sites. This can be a short term effect lasting only a few days.




“Molasses and Plant Carbohydrates”
Sugars relating to plant functions for maximum economic production.
Texas Plant & Soil Lab, Inc., Texas Plant & Soil Lab (Home)

Environmental factors that affect when and how much sugar to use:
a. How much nitrate is in the soil, and plant sap (petiole test).
b. Soil moisture conditions.
c. Sunlight intensity.
d. Temperature.
e. Wind
f. Fruiting stage / load
g. Growth / vigor [shade lower leaves]

The right amount at the right time can improve fruiting and produce normal
plant growth with less attraction for disease and insects.

Needed for healthy plants - fruit production - plant development &
maturity.
Roots take nutrients from the soil and transport them up the stalk thru the
petiole (stem) to the leaves where the sunlight aids the production of
photosynthates (sugars are not the ONLY product of photosynthesis)
carbohydrates (C, H & O), principally glucose (C6H12O6) and then other sugars and photosynthates are formed.

Plant Sugars and other photosynthates are first translocated (boron is essential to the translocation) to a fruiting site. If fruit is not available, the sugars, along with excess nitrates, spur the rapid vegetative growth of the plant at the expense of creating fruiting bodies (first sink) for the storage of the sugars.

Once the proper balance of environmental factors (heat units, light intensity, soil moisture, nutrient balance, etc) are met, the fruiting buds form and then fruit formation gets the first crack at the sugar supply.

Any excess sugars are then translocated to the number two sink, (growing terminals,) to speed their growth. The left-over sugars, etc. then go to the number 3 sink, (the roots,) to aid their growth. Here the new root hairs take up nutrients to help continue the cycle of sugar and other photosynthate production, fruiting, growth of terminals and roots.

ADDED SUGARS CAN AID THE PLANT IN SEVERAL WAYS:
- MOLASSES is probably the best outside source of many sugars, such as table sugar, corn syrup and several more complex sugars such as polysaccharides found in humus products.
- Sugar can be added to the soil in irrigation water, drip & pivot being the most effective.

In the soil it can:

- Feed microbes to stimulate the conversion of nitrates to the more efficient NH2 form of N to synthesize protein more directly by the plants.

- The roots can directly absorb some of the sugars into the sap stream to supplement the leaf supply to fruit where it is most needed, and ALSO directly feed the roots for continued productive growth.

- This ADDED sugar can also help initiate fruiting buds in a steady-slow
fashion while maintaining normal growth.

-EXCESSIVE amounts of ADDED SUGARS applied foliarly can shock the
plant resulting in shortened growth internodes, increased leaf maturity & initiation of excess fruiting sites. This can be a short term effect lasting only a few days.

Pollination, soil moisture, nutrient balance and sufficiency as well as adequate light for photosynthate production decide how much of the induced fruit can mature.
 
Samoan

Samoan

260
43
You shouldnt spray compost tea all throughout the growing season on cannabis...
Never spray foliar teas on developed buds, stop two to three weeks into flower, those articles are for edible crops, not smokable ones.
I agree completely. I like that this article states that you can use baking soda for ph up and apple cider vinegar for ph down in your ACT.

Also, I am interested in the suggestion of a more Alkaline Foliar spray in early Veg and more Acidic in late Veg. What do you think about that?

I also read that if you add Fulvic Acid to your Kelp Foliar Spray at a 5:2 Ratio Fulvic to Kelp ...The Fulvic acts as a chelater for the kelp

Dr. Harley Smith Explains Kelp, Humic, and Fulvic @ 23.47

 
DrMcSkunkins

DrMcSkunkins

Dabbling in Oil
3,901
263
I agree completely. I like that this article states that you can use baking soda for ph up and apple cider vinegar for ph down in your ACT.

Also, I am interested in the suggestion of a more Alkaline Foliar spray in early Veg and more Acidic in late Veg. What do you think about that?

I also read that if you add Fulvic Acid to your Kelp Foliar Spray at a 5:2 Ratio Fulvic to Kelp ...The Fulvic acts as a chelater for the kelp

Dr. Harley Smith Explains Kelp, Humic, and Fulvic @ 23.47

Some young and new growers take what they see on here as rock solid truth and it would be sad for someone to foliar with compost tea in flower and ruin their crop. I just wanted to clarify for those who didnt know that you should never foliar during flower.
 
Samoan

Samoan

260
43
Some young and new growers take what they see on here as rock solid truth and it would be sad for someone to foliar with compost tea in flower and ruin their crop. I just wanted to clarify for those who didnt know that you should never foliar during flower.
Yes, thank you for clarification I will try to do that from now on
 
C

crisduar

1
3
According to the theory, there is no need to regulate the ph in aerated compost because the micro-life of the substrate will regulate the Ph according to the plant's need, when it is said that the micro-organisms are the chef and waiters of the plants in a certain part is because of this.

sorry for my English
 
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