Ha!

Yes, I am maming hard work of it. I guess it comes down to me being somewhat of a perfectionist, trying to do something to the best of my abilities, and learn as much about something as I can, when it is so relevent to the final result.

I know the ranges have been said in this thread, but the thing is different people saying different things will always have someone like me scratching my head and wondering which of the numerous temp ranges to stick to. Besides, isnt the point of an internet forum, exactly for this, questions and answers?

I have been on a really steep learning curve this past few weeks, and yeah, have asked a shit-load of questions, but I didnt think there was anything wrong with that.

Laz1.0

PS: Thanks for the replies.

My brew, which was at 31c this morning around 6am, is now at 28c 6 hours later. Am I right in thinking I can just leave to brew for a few more hours (say 16 instead of 12) that it should still do the trick on the lsf? I am asking this because I read in this thread that if it drops below 29c then its rendered useless.

Sorry for the noob questions.

I definitely don't agree that it's useless if it drops in temp....the first time I did this I made such a mess of it, but the stuff is really deserving of its name...it's bloody magic!

Don't worry, sounds like you will be fine with how it's going. Try and keep the temps as they are or a little warmer. Is it frothing nicely?

Yes, my friend, it is frothing like something really frothy!!

I am about to go apply the magic, finally!!

Yaaaay!!

Laz1.0

PS: To everyone who helped me get my head arond this, I SALUTE YOU!!

hello

im going to start brewing my essence in a bit

after reading the leaflet that came in the essence box im a bit confused though, it doesn't say anything about adding extra bubbled water to the bubbled brew, just brew and spray,

2 paths to chose what should i do..

also my air pump has only one air tube, when mixing the 2litres of water and 1litre of brew way, would it be ok to put it all in one bucket to bubble and mix?, i was thinking it all ends up in the same sprayer at the end..?

Hi - not sure if it makes a difference adding the extra water or not but if you do the advice is to bubble the extra water seperately before mixing to get rid of any chlorine that might kill the beneficials in the brew.

thanks for your reply bluepixie..

i understand that you have to bubble both sets of water to remove the chlorine

can i do it all in one bucket though,

both sets of water end up together in the sprayer bottle any way..


also which guide do i follow? the leaflet in the box essence box or this thread?..they're different!

cheers
twigs

Don't see why not - 3ltrs in one container, bubble with mollases for an hour then add the essense should be OK.

I haven't seen the official instructions as I got mine from Webby, but I doubt it matters that much.

thanks bp

its on the brew, bubbling away..

just as i've started to see the dreaded lsf

i stuck to the info in the leaflet

i bubbled 2litres for over an hour to get rid of chlorine
stuck in 2 teaspoons of molasses and bubbled for 30mins 'ish
then 3 teaspoons of essence (it says 1 per litre, but i chucked in a bit more because i can see lsf on leaves)
and im using an eco detergent for a wetting agent when its ready

and it should be ready in 6-7 hours!

im undecided about putting seaweed juice in because i gave them a spray with seaweed a few days ago..

cheers

Twigs most washing up liquids chem and environmentally friendly are bactericidal ie have some bacterial killing properties. I would suggest not using them, better to just spray without, the essence will still work but the cover is not so good.

If you want cheap, chempak peatwetter works well as a none destructive spreader, google for it., but yucca is much better.

Brewing is not that critical as I've said before, I put 4 litres of water in a 5 litre ex biobizz fertiliser container, add seaweed and sugar, bubble for a bit then add a couple of level teaspoons of essence, bubble until foaming well then use, it works!

I am about to do a foliar application of essence. I don't have a fancy sprayer.

If I use a bog standard Hozelock mister (holds 550ml and is adjusted by screwing and unscrewing the nozzle) will this shred the beneficial fungi? There is a small margin between a single 'line' of water and a fine mist.

Anyone have positive experiences using this type?

Cheers.

OK, after further reading in the PM forum on a thread between Sticky Russian and Oldtimer1 I can now answer my own question!

Use a pump sprayer not a trigger sprayer since the latter will shred our inoculating friends. Also useful was the bit about cutting back all infected leaves 5mm above the infection.

Hi,

For anyone who's interested. I've been using essence for a while, I don't use any wetting agent at all, just essence, maxicrop,and molasses. And its always worked just fine! You don't need a wetting agent, just make sure you apply well, tops and bottoms of leaf,branches and stem.

Its not rocket science, so stop making it sound as complicated.

have to say though, with the yucca extract it works much better and you use less as its actually not rolling off the plants. I had used no wetting agents before with it untill the other week and i wont be using it without again, used the yucca ectract and ive never seen it put such a nice coating on the leaves.

im a convert

edit: coz i was shouting by accident

But doesnt Yucca have natural antibacterial and antiviral properties?

It depends on the bacteria, it works in harmony with all the micro heard species in essence in fact it boosts some of them making them more effective, it boosts the organic matter breakdown and N fixing bacteria in granules when used as a soil drench.

It works in both humans and plants as a natural steroidal stimulant, some body builders use it, it helps with arthritis and rheumatic joint pains in humans and animals as a anti inflammatory.

I don't know about it being anti viral, even if it is, I doubt it would have much effect against an internally infected plant.

Some cannabis has very waxy leaves, water just forms into drops, so spraying gives minimal cover, adding a spreader will give an even coating over the entire leaf surface, that in turn gives protection to all the leaf surface.

thanks for your help mate

this essence stuff is fast becoming my most valued grow essential..

I have a box of grannys original soap flakes which i usually use as a pesticide in the garden, very effective at controlling aphids etc, but what is making me nervous about using it, is that the soap flakes when mixed with water form a waxy shield and its this that kills the aphids etc as they simply can't breathe and explode, have read OT1's comments about soapnut shells and wonder if my soap flakes will be okay? 80% pure soap and 20% water.. maybe a weaker mix for a wetting agent? 1 teaspoon per litre perhaps?

I looked everywhere for a wetting agent today and drew a blank.. i dont like the run off or the spread when not using a wetting agent.

in a catch 22 situation but would still recommend the plant magic to anyone, the clones are looking well perky.

What can I use to heat the brew? Do I need to buy a thermometre? How much more will I need to get after I have the plant magic complete pack?

I heat with a plastic, submersible aquarium heater. It has a temp dial on it so i can set it well. I use to use a reptile heating mat under my glass vessel that I activated my bacteria in, but spillage from the frothing caused a short and a heavy meltdown of the heating pad. Picture included.

A heating mat meant for germinating seeds would probably work well.

... jumping in a bit late here and admittedly I've only read the first page now (I read all 3 pages before, can't remember this being answered).

First off thanks pro_libertate for the guide, but I've got a few questions for you or anyone else reading this. I think I know the answers already (except the last question) but I just wanted to check.

I haven't got any maxicrop but I have got plant magic catalyst which is seaweed extract. I assume it's fine to substitute the maxicrop with catalyst and use the dosage on the catalyst bottle label, right?

Second, the molasses I got with the starter kit is a powder (sort of looks like sticky brown sugar) not a liquid/syrup which is not what I was expecting. Since it came with the kit I'm guessing it's fine to use, but I just wanted to see if any of you guys have anything to say about it. Like maybe it works but not as well as the liquid/syrup?

And lastly, but most importantly (because I'm not sure about the answer to this), I've also got some plant magic boost and bio-silicon and both labels have foliar spray dosage rates but I'm not sure if there would be an issues with adding this to my essence brew. I'd rather not put those two if there's an uncertainty about it perhaps interfering with the essence. So, anyone here know for sure if it's okay to add it? and if so, I'm guessing I'd add them the same time as the catalyst, right?

I've got lsf on my plants and from what I've heard this is a guaranteed "cure" (or at least a good way to control the infection) so I'll be brewing this up today. I'm going with a slightly different technique tho, I'll be brewing with 500ml of mineral water (I hope that's enough for 10 plants once diluted to 1.5 litres) in a brown beer bottle (sterilized of course, wouldn't want yeast feeding off the molasses and making alcohol. brown glass also doesn't let as much UV light in as green so my bacterial/fungal babies should be safer) which I'll place in a bucket of tap water that has an 25 watt thermostatic aquarium heater in it. That way the heater doesn't get coated in gunk and there won't be any high heat in the brewing bottle. Another bonus is any bubbly overflow will be coming from a small hole and overflowing into water so hopefully less mess.

Mine looks like this, is this normal as it dont look anything like your two

Click to view attachment

Could be wrong but that looks a lot more like the pics I've seen of plant magic granules, which I think is the same mix of stuff but intended for putting directly into soil when changing pots. I'ts probably bulked up with other things to make it easier to apply that way

Thats looks like Granules not Essence,Ive brought loads and mine always looks likes Pro's pics???

Thats what i was thinking to but it came as the pack in the plain white tub all sealed up

Click to view attachment

Its pretty much all sunk to the bottom of the jug

Click to view attachment

It doesn't look right to me from what i've seen of other people essence

That 2nd pic looks like Granules rather than Essence to me evans mate - no camera atm for pics of mine sorry

e2a - like the guys above already said

Deffo granules dude... essence is a grey/green powder

Well i got it from greens if it is i'm pretty gutted cause i've got an outbreak just now and really need to get it applied tomorrow, dont see how it could be granules though, it would mean granules have been put in a tub thats meant to be essence then sealed and shipped plus surely everyone else who got it from greens would have the same stuff.

I'd still give it a go. I think I read Granules contains the same mix of bacteria as Essence so it should still work, just might not be as potent (since Granules is mixed with other stuff) and you'll need to make sure the big bits don't go into your sprayer.

Not nice tho, I just got my Essence from greens and it's the right stuff... I'd have been very annoyed if I got granules.

Anyone have any ideas about the questions I posted 5-ish posts back? Mainly the last question I could do with being answered.

Well it is going foamy but not sure whether to use it or not, i've got trichoderma there might just use that instead

This is it now and its been bubbling for 2 hours since adding the essence/granules

Click to view attachment

Well just applied a shit load of trichoderma your meant to apply 1 gram per litre and that will do 30 plants but i just gave them 2 gram per litre and a half per 6 plants so hopefully that will slow the LSF down a bit.

As for greens i just phoned them and she was quite baffled as she says granules is in a big tub and not in the small white ones like the essence is in yet i have a small white tub full of granules, so there sending another pack out and it should be here tomorrow and i asked her to open the tub of essence to make sure it is essence.

Not sure what the hells going here to be honest cause its defo an essence tub as the smallest granules tub is 350g and the essence tub is only 25g and tiny, it would appear its plant magic thats made the mistake and not greens.

Wish I had read this thread properly instead of speed reading through it

I applied essence today, Last time I applied essence was about 7 days ago and tbh I was a bit pissed of when I went to use it as there was no froth left, so this time I used it 9 hours later when it was on full froth mode, now realise the best time is when the froth has de-frothed itself.

I am using too much, 4, seedlings (2wks) 6 clones (4wks) and me mother.. roughly 3 teaspoons of essence in 2 litres of water not happy with using the soap flakes as a wetting agent and as I am now out of essence I need to get some more and will get the yucca wetting agent.

My plants never looked healthier, leaves praying up to the light the lot

Am holding of a foiler spray with the epsoms, they don't look like they need any, but think OT1 said it would not do any harm, but that could be the water feed.. I would sooner not have to be told by the plant that it needs epsom salts, and rather think I can use it as it wouldn't do any harm, believe one teaspoon per litre for foilar spray is okay?

sorry drifting of topic.

Essence... ABSOLUTELY A-FUCKING-MAZING.

Does anyone know if you could use squashed fresh aloe vera as a natural wetting agent or would have to process it in some way? I think it's meant to have surfactant properties.

Just to add this is the way i've done it for the last 2-3 applications and it works just as good, i could even say better as it seems to have kicked the LSF into touch as i've not seen any in the last 4-5 days now.

Its a no hassle way of doing it i quess and it also isn't quite as messy because the narrow bottle top stops a fair bit of the bubble spitting everywhere, not all though but defo not as messy as using the jugs

I don't understand why there's 2 jugs, can't essence just be made up in one container? it'll be easier for me to maintain the temperature consistently if it can

oh and what colour is essence, catalyst and bio-silicon? Iv'e used vitalink silicon or something before and that was clear but all my bottles of plantmagic stuff is brown of varying consistencies/smells

I reread the topic and I guess it doesn't matter about the 2 jugs

what about pH of the water, is that important? mines about 7.6

Don't think pH is an issue Mr. Sparkle....

what kind of temp probe is that? could i use my probe off of my hygro thermomoter?

yes, that's what i use. or you could just sit a traditional glass thermometer in the jug, but it won't be as accurate and you have to take it out to check the temp.

sweeeet looks like its the hygro therm probe it is den im holding u repsonsible if it breaks tho lool jokes mate

I have got my essecne now, just a quick question, i will be using an aquarium heater to heat my water, just wondering is it ok to put the heater in the jug with the essence brew to to get the required temp? also the instructions that come with the essence are wicked to follow, i found this guide a bit hard to follow

The heater will be fine in the water with the essence in it mate. I found this guide spot on thanks 420

wicked thanks budder, my only problem now is getting up at like 5am tom morning :-( so that the essence is ready for lights out at 6pm tom grhhhh :-(

EDIT: also this guide u have to use 2 jugs, the guide that comes with the essence u only need 1 jug, and it gives u the mixture for 1L of water ^_^

EDIT: one thing the instructions dont say is at what pressure to keep the bubler at? its got a hi - low swivel button on the bottom, shall i keep it near to low or near to high?

...

Just wondering about the, "applying just before lights off"

Does this apply to just plants under HPS or MH lighting?

i know to brew at 32c deg but do i apply the spray at the same temps or can i let cool down a bit

I just spray mine straight away.

here's my essence brewing nicely at 32c deg.
brewing in a 2 litre pop bottle with top cut of to fit heater,air stone & that.
will be ready for about 11.30 tonight 30 mins b4 lights out.

...and then you pop the spuds in? Or are those batteries for your heater? soz

thats pm granules bro

Did you read the rest of the thread? Bit late with your ridicule really.