ALOE VERA

[heady blunts]

so i finally was in a trader joe's and remembered to pick up a gallon of the aloe vera juice.

i know clack has recommended it on various threads around the site, but i'll be darned if i can't remember what for!

i thought this thread could be a go-to collection of the uses and value of aloe vera in a living soil garden.

the main thing i recall is that it works as a surfactant, and adding it to your foliar sprays can help the beneficials stick to the leaf long enough to be absorbed or established.

according to the bottle, it is full of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, so that surely plays into it's usefulness to the soil food web as well.

thanks in advance!

 

[supuradam]

I'm pretty sure he endorses it as a rooting compound as well. Salicylic acid or something?

Someone more learned than I will be along shortly.

 

[mad librettist]

perfect!

I have a side by side going right now.

half the cute were given organic rooting powder, half were stuck into an aloe leaf broken right before.

 

[B. Friendly]

don't short sight yourself with this amazing plant
Aloe Vera qualities:
Good for hot weather conditions, helps plant stay cool and hold their energy

an easy method is to take a thick pussy stem of aloe vera and do a quick 30 second boil with it. strain it and put that pot of aloe extract in your res next feeding...

 

[big ballin 88]

I've heard of people using it as a surfactant and believe CC was talking about the saponins within it. I think that might be what youre referring to. Saponins are good stuff and I remember CC writing a thread in the OFC regarding them. I think it has something to do with an immunity response.

 

[guest2012y]

Aloe has a high number of beneficial properties. I use it as a foliar off of CC's experiments with it.
Mix the aloe juice with an emulsifier like yucca extract and dyna-gro protekt.
I forgot the recipe because I just eyeball it anyway....ask CC.

You may notice a few hours after a foliar that the leaves all point upwards for some reason....an indicator of growth...YMMV
I also started to add it to my watering schedule.
It's expensive in bottle form,the best thing to do would be to get some leaves of aloe and collect the gel yourself. The bottled products often come with preservatives which I think are sodium benzoate,citric acid,and another popular one which I forget. I'd avoid all but the ones with citric acid. Citric acid isn't a bad thing...it's when you combine it with sodium benzoate that it turns carcenogenic.

 

[Scrappy4]

Has anyone tried a commercial product, like earth juice assist (yucca)? I think there are others along this line.

Personally I have not yet tried aloe or yucca. I do use the pro tekt but I also use dr bronners soap when I want to emulsify something. But I'm eager to hear of any things that I might want to take advantage of......and my wife has some aloe vera growing, nyut,nuyt, nya, she wouldn't miss a few leafs.............scrappy

 

[Corpsey]

I thought i had picked up the "correct" (just citric acid added) bottle of aloe vera juice from lily of the desert.

But after looking at the back it says citric acid, and potassium sorbate. any harm to the plants with this other addition to the aloe vera?

they have so many different versions, i really should have looked closer.

 

[heady blunts]

the TJ's one has citric acid, sodium benzoate an potassium sorbate. does this make it useless for our applications?

i guess the plant is better than the juice (duh).

 

[CT Guy]

Foliar Spray for Powdery Mildew (2-3x week in veg) per quart
1 t. Neem Oil
½ t. ProTekt
1 T. Aloe
Pre-mix the neem and ProTekt in shot glass before adding to water/aloe mix in sprayer. Shake well. Use warm water.

 

[CT Guy]

Oh and I'm using George's Aloe Vera from Texas I think? It's preservative free. When I run out, I'll probably switch to the Trader Joe's stuff or make my own to save on $.

 

[CC_2U]

A few properties of Aloe Vera

A few properties of Aloe Vera

Amino Acid

Aloe Vera contains the following Amino Acids: Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Valine, And Tryptophan, Alanine, Arginine, Asparagine, Cysteine, Glutamic Acid, Glycine, Histidine, Proline, Serine, Tyrosine, Glutamine, And Aspartic Acid.

Enzymes

Those include the following: Amylase, Bradykinase, Catalase, Cellulase, Lipase, Oxidase, Alkaline Phosphatase, Proteolytiase, Creatine Phosphokinase and Carboxypeptidase.

Micro & Micro Nutrients

These include Vitamins A, C, E and B2, B3, B5, B6 and B12 in addition to Choline, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Magnanese, Chromium, Selenium, Copper, Iorn, Potassium, Phosphorus and Sodium.

Lingnins & Polysaccharides

They include: Galactose, Xylose, Arabinose, Acetylated Mannose And Acemannan.

And of course there's the Salicylic acid compound and its associated benefits as far as root development. Adding 1/4 cup of Aloe Vera juice/extract/whatever term you want to use to 1 gallon of water and use that to wet your rooting medium - even Grodan Rockwool cubes - will give you root size and development that is nothing short of amazing. Or at least in my experience.

HTH

CC

 

[DARC MIND]

just grow the darn plant!!!,
stuff can grow anywere in small containers & thrives off neglect

 

[guest2012y]

I used a brand that had citric acid and potassium sorbate. I didn't read the label because It said "organic" and I got it at Whole Foods....just goes to show. I didn't have any side effects,only positive results. Now I make my own from aloe leaves you can buy at Mexican grocery stores.

 

[mad librettist]

ALOE VERA

FYI i did a side by side and protekt came out inferior to just about everything else as an emulsifier.

it works, but soap is better.

 

[guest2012y]

FYI i did a side by side and protekt came out inferior to just about everything else as an emulsifier.

it works, but soap is better.

Couple drops of Dr. Bronner's works well.
I need that silicone in my region so I want it in there,but I've also have been using yucca along with it and it works out well.

 

[mad librettist]

ALOE VERA

Couple drops of Dr. Bronner's works well.
I need that silicone in my region so I want it in there,but I've also have been using yucca along with it and it works out well.

I've been adding protekt to my blumat rez. no I'll effects, but I can't say it helps.

I'm going to start sprouting and maybe growing some rice in the non canna portion of my grow.

 

[CC_2U]

The Pro-TeKt label indicating that somehow potassium silicate is a surfactant is pretty funny. It is a great emulsifier but where in the world did they come up with this statement?

If you want 'home-grown saponin' then plant quinoa. Birds avoid the seeds because they're covered with saponins which are very bitter. Simply wash the seeds off and keep the water which will contain very high levels of this compound.

Commercial quinoa that you might purchase at Whole Foods, etc. have been washed and that is usually indicated on the package label.

There are even botanists trying to hybridize this ancient plant to eliminate the saponin on the seeds as the process of removing this compound adds a pretty hefty cost for growers and packers.

CC

 

[guest2012y]

I use protekt as a surfactant in some things...works great.

Start using it in every watering and in a month or so try snapping off a leaf. They don't just snap right off anymore.

 

[CC_2U]

CC1

Okay - fair enough. Let me define what I am calling an effective surfactant: An agent that when added to water will cause foaming in an amount necessary to cause the carrying liquid to stick to the leaves and branches for a period necessary to allow the carrying agent to be absorbed by the leaves"

If one uses Yucca extract then the amount of 'foaming' will cause the water to foam up not unlike flocking a Christmas tree. The more that you shake the sprayer the more foaming action you can achieve. Aloe vera has lower saponins resulting in less foaming action. Alfalfa tea has even less and it produces very little foaming action in this application. The foaming aspect in brewing AACT is well known and has been discussed on several threads.

Just do NOT ever add Yucca extract or aloe vera to the Pro-TeKt & neem mix as it will turn into a gel that you cannot break apart. Add whatever organic surfactant you're using after you've completed the initial mixing.

It's a mess to deal with.

CC