Trichoderma Harzianum & Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizas

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Hi MoonDog,

Don't think the compost is to blame for your fungal problems, it's more likely to environmental. I'd look at your airflow first of all, if you have good airflow then fungal problems rarely get started. Make sure you're cycling the total volume of the room regularly enough and have plenty of circulation inside the room.

However should a fungal infection take hold then you need to treat with Webby's essence. Canna's AKTrivator is a very different product containing just Trichoderma Harzianum spores, although better than nothing it's not as good as the essence which contains a mix of Trichoderma species along with a whole bunch of beneficial bacteria.

The species in the essence need to be awakened from the state of suspended animation they're in or they won't get started. The process of activation wakes them up and kicks their metabolism into high gear so when they arrive on your plants leaves they can start colonising right away and over run any fungal infection.

You'll need to re-apply every few weeks to keep new growth covered as there will likely still be spores active in your grow area.

[MoonDoG]

Thanks for the response buddy, i know it's not the compost causing the infection, just thought it best to give as much info as possible, i was asking if using the coco would be better because i saw on this thread that the canna coco was already full of trichoderma and the ppl using it never seemed to get LSF, i'd love to be able to bubble up the full mix but it's not really feasible with my situation, just wanted to know if spraying with just the canna aktrivator would be any use for combatting LSF or similar fungal infections or if it only worked when mixing up the entire essence.

Also i know it's nothing to do with trichoderma, but, i've been reading alot about Fungus Fighter and since it's only 4 quid a bottle in homebase, i wondered if it was any good? I prefer to be as natural as possible and as close to organic as can be, but i'm not religous about it, but obviously i'd prefer to ask someone who knows before spraying chemical shit all over my babies. Also when using that do you drench the plant or just mist it well? same with the essence mix, do you soak or well mist?

Thanks again

MoonDoG

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

I'd give the fungus fighter a wide berth on plants you're going to smoke. Can be useful for saving a mother that's been hit hard but that's about it.

[MoonDoG]

Hairy Muff, i just used some on my plants they only just went into flowering, hopefully its caught the lsf and i won't need to use it again.

Any chance you could pm me a recipe for this essence, that is the absolute bare minimums of what i NEED to use as a foliar spray to fight this ruddy thing ? I thought the essence was made up using canna aktrivator and the molasses/treacle, but it seems that someone sells his own mix of helpful fungi etc? Is there anything i can get in a standard garden centre or grow shop that i could use?

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

This essence is not really something you can knock up yourself

a highly concentrated culture of over 20 strains of micro organisms in proper ratio to repopulate the soil and foliage and to re-establish balanced bioactivity. The blend includes Bacillus strains such as B subtilis and B mageterium together with Rhizobia, Azotobacter (nitrogen fixers), Sacchoromyces and other natural strains. There are no pathogens or harmful organisms present.

Plus Trichoderma species which need Potato Dextrose Agar to grow on. I haven't the foggiest idea how you'd go about isolating all those different species and then culturing them either individually or together but I should imagine it's not easy .

I doubt you could find this in a standard garden centre or grow shop as it's a fairly specialised agricultural inoculant.

Canna AKTrivator would probably do some good but even then you'd want to activate it or the spores would be over run before they could even get to grips with the disease causing fungi. Like I said before you really do need to activate the inoculants to ramp their metabolisms up into high gear, that way they have a head start on any disease causing organisms.

Just to recap.

Canna AKTrivator = Trichoderma Harzianum P22 (A single species of trichoderma)

Essence = several species of Trichoderma (mycoparasitic fungi - they kill other fungi) plus beneficial bacteria

Granules = Mycorrhizal fungi (similar to RootGrow) with added Essence

e4sp:

Edited May 1, 2008 by felix_dzerjinski

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

That's because Canna AKTrivator contains purely Trichoderma Harzianum which isn't activated with molasses. Mollasses are for activating bacterial species, as the bacteria work by out competing pathogenic fungi for cell leachates on the leaf surface using that inoculant without activating is really not giving them the best start in life. Essence when used correctly will form a community of micro organisms on the leaf surface that will stop any fungal spores from being able to get a foothold, whereas Canna's T Harzianum will not persist on the leaf surfaces for long.

To activate fungi such as trichoderma use seaweed extract.

[burnt_toast]

I tried to read all 24 pages of this as I believe Im a victim of the LSF But strangely, only on certain strains - Chronic seems especially susceptible whereas White Widow is a tough little bitch.

But...

Few questions...

Am I right in thinking that this "Essense" is full of goodies to help my girlies?

Am i right in thinking that this "Essense" is created and grown for sale by someone called Webby?

Am i right in thinking that brewing a batch as you described Felix is going to be effective?

Does it have to be used in conjunction with the rootgrow granules? Or is it just more effective?

What is the cost of all this?

Ive tried PM'ing Webby but I dont seem to be able to. I Wonder if its my post count?

Cheers!

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Few questions...

Am I right in thinking that this "Essense" is full of goodies to help my girlies?

Am i right in thinking that this "Essense" is created and grown for sale by someone called Webby?

No quite but Webby does sell it.

Am i right in thinking that brewing a batch as you described Felix is going to be effective?

If you follow Pro Libertate's excellent instruction you can't go wrong

Does it have to be used in conjunction with the rootgrow granules? Or is it just more effective?

No, in fact they are two totally separate products one for use on the leaves and the other for roots.

What is the cost of all this?

No idea, you'll have to ask Webby

Ive tried PM'ing Webby but I dont seem to be able to. I Wonder if its my post count?

e4 appalling spalling

Edited May 1, 2008 by felix_dzerjinski

[MoonDoG]

ok thanks again for the responses, so..

am i right in thinking i can mix the canna aktivator with some water, no cultivation or mixing with other stuff, spray on the plants and it will/should be effective on lsf, only problem is that i will have to reapply every 10-14 days??

MoonDoG

[chickenlipsr4]

ok thanks again for the responses, so..

am i right in thinking i can mix the canna aktivator with some water, no cultivation or mixing with other stuff, spray on the plants and it will/should be effective on lsf, only problem is that i will have to reapply every 10-14 days??

MoonDoG

Thats what works for me

[redeyes420]

ok now add the molasses/Treacle to the 1 litre jug of water and mix in well then leave to stand and bubble for 1 hr ( i hope i get these pics in the right order )

hey matey

how much of the treacle do i add to the 1 ltr of water please

[withnail]

Alright redeyes..dunno if its right or not but i add abouthalf a tablespoon full ( not an exact science but nowt is with me ) and it seems to work a treat for me

Probably find out I'm ODing my girls on mollasses now

[redeyes420]

cheers matey.

anyone else got a dose rate B)

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Sorry geez I've only ever used Billingtons

[DangerousDave]

... or do i HAVE to go through the whole rigmaroll of bubbling it up and adding molasses, seaweed extract etc?

I grow at a m8's and he's not up for me setting up the whole bubbler carry on.....

Intrigued

MoonDoG

I think there is an alternative if you dont wanna bubble etc.. I used "vitalink biopac" (Google it) on my seedlings whilst I waited for my essence off Webby to arrive (thanks mate! - I got it now!)

I let 1 of the little baby leaves get burnt as it grew into a cfl bulb It left a nasty rusty coloured burn mark, the perfect gateway for the LSF thats been holidaying in my growroom

At this point I hadn't ordered my essence and frantically started googling around for similar products that I could get from town that day. I found the biopac and it appears to contain the same beneficial bacteria found in the essence off Webby, but in an already brewed/ ready to use state. I added some canna trichoderma and declorinated water to the biopac and applied to my babies leaves using my syringe thingie (thanks for the tip Withnail) this appears to have done the trick, it is now a week later and so sign of LSF anywhere B)

I think that this stuff works well and will be using it again (seeing as I have already got it now!), but there is a downside, I haven't done the maths myself but it dont take a genius to work out that brewing ya own works out a lot cheaper!

Dump the dealer, Brew ya own!!

(but if u cant be arsed use this instead) DD

eta this is good if you only have tiny plants to do, but I will be brewing my own when they get bigger and saving the biopac for cuts/seedlings, hope this helps!

Right, off to pot up now....

Edited May 3, 2008 by DangerousDave