New genius ipm technique developed by Leap Farms in Oregon

[Rodehazrd]

This is the basis of things like a baking soda (milk, etc.) solution for control of powdery mildew. As Weird and Green have alluded to it creates an alkaline environment in which the fungus cannot proliferate. This is based on the generality of bacterial>alkaline & fungi>acid.
Some companies market bottled solutions based on this theory. The problems involved are the negative impact on the leaf tissue and the short-lived control aspect.

As Weird has mentioned 'fixing' your soil with living biology to try to control pathogens at this level is the better approach IMO. If in this process one allows for and maybe introduces natural predators, in most cases 'bug' pests will also be controlled.

I skipped through the video and for sure it is an interesting way to treat leaf surfaces for pathogens but I did not note the validation for efficacy for pests. It is possible, I missed it.

I contend that this process may not be so effective as a permanent solution to a 'bug' onslaught.

One thing we noticed on our farm was that outdoor gardens were much less susceptible to pathogens and pests than indoor. I hypothesized this was because of the natural biological and predatory life in the outdoor environment. This was the motivating factor for our efforts to bring outdoors to the indoor gardens and discontinuance of fertilizers.

This looks like the forum with the greatest level of pest management expertise yet.
I would like to tell you folks a question about PM.
I am plagued with cool damp nights in september and the PM just rocks. We get several colors but a lot of purplish. I grew Bangi Haze outdoor last year up on the ridge and had very little loss. This year I plan to go back into the bottoms with a Bangi Haze where in years past with less resistant strains losses were almost 100%. I know my genetics are better and I plan to drench the hole with a package of actinovate. I have read a foliar of potassium carbonate would help but what else can I prepare ahead of time? Would a foliar of MKP help the ph enough to work? I still have 30 days before the plant can go outside to work on the soil.

 

[Rico Swazi]

Rodehazrd; if you are talking river bottoms and swales, I have grown in similar situations and perhaps can help. Question for you is why don't you grow on the ridge where you have had success before? Lowlands are notorious for holding cold moist air. If you must grow in the bottoms, do so above the typical fog line for that area. Took me a while to realize a few feet in elevation and the plants did much better in terms of mold and PM .


Can't help on the actinovate or MPK foliar but I have used potassium carbonate from the beer and wine store, potassium silicate (K-sil not organic) milk and horsetail sprays in the past. These past few years been using only horsetail and that goes directly in the soil mid veg through flower.

I'm curious on the amount of energy it takes to manipulate the PH of what I imagine would be hundreds of gallons of water

Kangen by another name and cheaper
https://www.waterionizerexpert.com/pages/what-is-kangen-water

 

[Gry]

I was annoyed and insulted when they attempted to connect a kitchen countertop appliance with
industrial sized needs clearly demonstrated with a couple of guys using back pack sprayers.

 

[Rodehazrd]

Rodehazrd; if you are talking river bottoms and swales, I have grown in similar situations and perhaps can help. Question for you is why don't you grow on the ridge where you have had success before? Lowlands are notorious for holding cold moist air. If you must grow in the bottoms, do so above the typical fog line for that area. Took me a while to realize a few feet in elevation and the plants did much better in terms of mold and PM .


Can't help on the actinovate or MPK foliar but I have used potassium carbonate from the beer and wine store, potassium silicate (K-sil not organic) milk and horsetail sprays in the past. These past few years been using only horsetail and that goes directly in the soil mid veg through flower.

I'm curious on the amount of energy it takes to manipulate the PH of what I imagine would be hundreds of gallons of water

Kangen by another name and cheaper
https://www.waterionizerexpert.com/pages/what-is-kangen-water

Thanks Rico
I am staying on the ridge too, its just not a full day of sun. I'm hoping to learn to grow a tree someday and thought this bottom land would be ideal. Full sun and and abandoned. I'll hit the brew shop for some potassium carbonate and be ready to spray if needed but it could be a dry August. I will put out a small clone this year of a couple strains to test. And there are several options of elevations there to try just not as nice a soil as it goes up the hill.

That horsetail is it for silica?

 

[Rico Swazi]

Yes, horsetail is loaded with amorphous silica/ silicon in the form of water soluble silicic acid said to be between 5% and 8%. (Duke) also contains fair amounts of potassium, calcium, saponins and other goodies. Soil drench seems as effective as foliar while being faster and easier for me. Nothing to buy if you grow it yourself. Best of luck to you on your grow whether it be on the ridge or the bottom. better yet ...both,

I was annoyed and insulted when they attempted to connect a kitchen countertop appliance with
industrial sized needs clearly demonstrated with a couple of guys using back pack sprayers.

Thats what I was thinking Gry, I was a bit confused on how a counter top machine could provide the needs for a commercial grow.
I get the feeling its more a marketing ploy not for the machine per say,
but for leap farms to get publicity and name recognition


word leaked that next year they are planning on using pyramid power and giant magnets to increase yield and combat pests. stay tuned

 

[CannaRed]

Speaking as an IPM professional with a background in biology/chemistry it's pretty clear why this works but the key is that there is only so much distance between a pH that will disintegrate/compromise chitin and cellulose and one that will damage the leaf cuticle. People planning on trying this should proceed carefully to gain an idea of what their grow specifically can handle.

On a practical level, I've used many IPM products that raise or lower the pH of water dramatically and can firmly say that in my experience, the plants I've grown can handle being sprayed with a solution ranging from pH 3 to pH 11 (note that these are both just outside the range of corrosive). There's a product called Dr. Zymes Eliminator that works specifically on the basis of its low pH. When used at full strength it usually comes out at pH 3.5. Against spider mites its effects are obvious. Under the microscope you can see the mite's bodies and have become degraded and desiccated in a way that differs from the effects of azadirachtin, etc.

I haven't had to battle PM too much (knock on wood) in my career but it is very likely a high or low pH would temporarily alter the leaf surface enough to kill the pathogen and keep new spores from invaginating.

The real question is, since this is an age-old approach, why aren't more people doing it? It may be because there's less margin for error with this approach and therefore more potential for plants to sustain substantial damage. The primary benefit of this machine seems to be that it saves you the trouble of having to pH the water yourself and allows for easy "pH balancing" followup sprays. It would conceivably save labor on a large or understaffed farm.

Green, what about the mite eggs? When you scoped, how did the eggs appear? Does Dr zyme destroy the eggs as well as mites?

Right now I'm mite free. But I want a cut from a buddy and it's infested.
I heard about the zyme treatment, and thought I could spray the cut down over a week or so, before I left his grow with it. Then quarantine it at my grow, before putting it in my veg chamber.

 

[Encrypt]

He uses acidic water 2.5pH to lower the leaf surface pH, leave it for 5minutes then 11pH. The leaves pH should return to the optimal pH.

The broad range from 2.5-11pH allows using it as a pesticide as well to kill bacteria, mold, virus and most of the pathogens.


There are just a few studies published about water pH used as part of an IPM on agriculture and none specific to canna plants, the most comparable article I could find:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/43213485

(you have to register to read it)


So far it seems that is a reliable method to integrate a pest management routine, anyone is using this or have more info?

 

[RB56]

in·vag·i·nate

verb

ANATOMY•BIOLOGY​

gerund or present participle: invaginating

• be turned inside out or folded back on itself to form a cavity or pouch.

Thank you.

​

 

[h.h.]

Rodehazrd; if you are talking river bottoms and swales, I have grown in similar situations and perhaps can help. Question for you is why don't you grow on the ridge where you have had success before? Lowlands are notorious for holding cold moist air. If you must grow in the bottoms, do so above the typical fog line for that area. Took me a while to realize a few feet in elevation and the plants did much better in terms of mold and PM .


Can't help on the actinovate or MPK foliar but I have used potassium carbonate from the beer and wine store, potassium silicate (K-sil not organic) milk and horsetail sprays in the past. These past few years been using only horsetail and that goes directly in the soil mid veg through flower.

I'm curious on the amount of energy it takes to manipulate the PH of what I imagine would be hundreds of gallons of water

Kangen by another name and cheaper
https://www.waterionizerexpert.com/pages/what-is-kangen-water

Plus1 for the horsetail. I was using it in my mulch up until I moved. You can buy the concentrated powder which I did add to my last mix.
Trying to use local material and not wanting to buy anything was my reasoning for using yucca blossom fermentation this time around.

Once you’ve used silica and recognized the qualities in the plant, you can find other plants with the same qualities. While horsetail may take the prize, there are many other sources.

 

[Drewsif]

Alkaline water a new tek, oh boy! Does that mean dispensary weed will stop smelling like dairy products soon? Is the price of alkaline water going up? Should o buy stock?


Hope bubble boy and gwsam patent this new tek.

 

[Lost in a SOG]

Its not magic, for one thing unhealthy plants actually off gas chemicals that are detected by and attracts paracites to them that know colonisation will be easy.

Poor transpiration leads to loose junctions between cells and allows PM and other fungi to colonize the plant in the first place.

I think a lot of people stress their plants too much in various ways making it super easy for infection then its all the retroactive "cure" as always, just like our approaches to our own health.