Foliar feeding - Do's and don'ts

Wires_Guy_wires

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Well there is plenty of research going on relating to the effects of different organisms on and within plant tissues.
Your nitrifying bacteria, fungal endophytes that protect limber pine against white pine blister rust have been identified and isolated from trees in my area. Some combinations confer heat and drought tolerance, deter herbivore browsing and insect damage... etc, etc. Of course the pathogens also heavily studied.
This is all known and being studied. Is anyone looking at how these populations can be effected by foliar sprays of different recipes, not necessarily nitrogen based, carbohydrate or complex carbon maybe or, whatever, it would be an interesting path of investigation I think.


For now we don’t know enough for practical applications, it may be to complicated a system to ever be predictable but general trend could be determined. Even just counting population densities of target beneficial organisms on sprayed vs unsprayed, surely someone somewhere is working on something like that?

Yes, people are working on it. The plant pathology departments of nearly every company are looking in to it. There are some commercially available beneficial micro-organisms. I remember a texas bacterial strain being used, and a lot of trichoderma strains. Trichoderma viride for instance.
But I'm not going to wait for that. I'm going to make isolated cultures from wild pine foliage that remained unaffected by needlecast and other disease. Then see if I can breed those and if inoculation can make any difference.
I dont have any other plants with fungal issues.
 

wireme

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Yes, people are working on it. The plant pathology departments of nearly every company are looking in to it. There are some commercially available beneficial micro-organisms. I remember a texas bacterial strain being used, and a lot of trichoderma strains. Trichoderma viride for instance.
But I'm not going to wait for that. I'm going to make isolated cultures from wild pine foliage that remained unaffected by needlecast and other disease. Then see if I can breed those and if inoculation can make any difference.
I dont have any other plants with fungal issues.

When you say people are working on it I think we are not on the same page regarding “it”. Hopefully and probably people are but a different “it” than your “it” if I understand you?
No time to explain right now, I think it’s back in the previous post.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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When you say people are working on it I think we are not on the same page regarding “it”. Hopefully and probably people are but a different “it” than your “it” if I understand you?
No time to explain right now, I think it’s back in the previous post.
By 'it' I meant that interesting path of investigation in beneficial micro-organisms and development of commercially interesting products. I know we have a department looking into that at the veggie company I work for.
I don't know if we're on the same page here. Let me know if thats the case, when you find the time.
 

wireme

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By 'it' I meant that interesting path of investigation in beneficial micro-organisms and development of commercially interesting products. I know we have a department looking into that at the veggie company I work for.
I don't know if we're on the same page here. Let me know if thats the case, when you find the time.

Letting petris cool down right now, got a couple minutes.

Briefly I’m talking about investigating the effects of foliar feeding on the target beneficial organisms, not so much the research on the organisms themselves which I know is undergoing. I’ve looked online, pretty much came up empty.

BTW, I’ve done all my culture work and transfers gloveless since we spoke a few months back. Flawless, not a single contam that I’ve seen yet.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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Letting petris cool down right now, got a couple minutes.

Briefly I’m talking about investigating the effects of foliar feeding on the target beneficial organisms, not so much the research on the organisms themselves which I know is undergoing. I’ve looked online, pretty much came up empty.

BTW, I’ve done all my culture work and transfers gloveless since we spoke a few months back. Flawless, not a single contam that I’ve seen yet.

That's some good news! I bet it would save a lot on gloves. If you'd be so kind, I would find it valuable to hear the difference in contams between gloved and non-gloved when there's enough data.
BTW If you're using ethanol to clean your hands, you might want to go ahead and buy a tub of vaseline. My hands are magic somehow, they don't damage as much or as fast as others. They stay silky smooth for some reason, even after molding cement with my bare hands. But most people get dry skin after a few times of using ethanol like that. Once skin is cracked up and dry, the only thing to get it to heal and re-moisturize faster is using creams containing urea (that might be of some advice to a tonne of gardeners). Best to prevent it as a whole of course.

As for the foliar feeding, as soon as they grow in petri's, we'll know what makes them tick. I don't have a gas chromatography machine at home, so that's the most investigative stuff I can do right now. I mean, I can't go out and check the genetic profile of a plant, and I can't determine what's floating the micro-organisms boats without a GC analysis. I'm planning on whipping up some agar recipes with different compositions to see if anything can be isolated. When cultures have established, I'll be introducing collected pathogens to see if there's anything going on. Also, the other way around would work well; introducing the isolates to infected plants to see if there's a host defense response.
Sure, leaves have a completely different environment from petri's. But maybe, maybe there's just two or three strains that can thrive in/on both.
 

Tieball

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That's some good news! I bet it would save a lot on gloves. If you'd be so kind, I would find it valuable to hear the difference in contams between gloved and non-gloved when there's enough data.
BTW If you're using ethanol to clean your hands, you might want to go ahead and buy a tub of vaseline. My hands are magic somehow, they don't damage as much or as fast as others. They stay silky smooth for some reason, even after molding cement with my bare hands. But most people get dry skin after a few times of using ethanol like that. Once skin is cracked up and dry, the only thing to get it to heal and re-moisturize faster is using creams containing urea (that might be of some advice to a tonne of gardeners). Best to prevent it as a whole of course.

As for the foliar feeding, as soon as they grow in petri's, we'll know what makes them tick. I don't have a gas chromatography machine at home, so that's the most investigative stuff I can do right now. I mean, I can't go out and check the genetic profile of a plant, and I can't determine what's floating the micro-organisms boats without a GC analysis. I'm planning on whipping up some agar recipes with different compositions to see if anything can be isolated. When cultures have established, I'll be introducing collected pathogens to see if there's anything going on. Also, the other way around would work well; introducing the isolates to infected plants to see if there's a host defense response.
Sure, leaves have a completely different environment from petri's. But maybe, maybe there's just two or three strains that can thrive in/on both.
And......I thought I was doing so well with a magnifying glass looking at the color of the green in the leaves....the pulp of the veins....and seeing that leaves and buds were perky. It’s interesting to read the more in-depth discussion points and relate to the commentary.
 
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I get great results from Foliar feeding and have done comparison side by side foliar and non folia to test, very clearly folia feeding works on all my bonsai , only applied in the shade of an evening . If the leaves didn't absorb chemicals systemic insectacides and weedkillers wouldn't work, would they. I use half strength mirical grow and liquid seaweed
 
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