Trichoderma Harzianum & Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizas

[Guest Dr Benways Assistant]

Afternoon folks.

I mixed up some Trichoderma powder this morning and sprayed my crop. But one thing I noticed straight away was, having no wetting agent mixed in meant that the spray wasn't saturating the foliage properly.

Is that going to be a problem?

Also, do you think adding a wetting agent to the Trichoderma power would be harmful to the spores?

Cheers,

Mr P

You want to really drench the plants, you'll get a sore hand and your spray gun will break but it gets them saturated.

[Guest Mr P]

You want to really drench the plants, you'll get a sore hand and your spray gun will break but it gets them saturated.

I used a pump up sprayer, and soaked them good and proper, but unless you use a wetting agent of some sort, the water will bead up and not leave the plant fully saturated.

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Mr P, you pretty much answered your own question there, I'm pretty sure that a wetting agent could damage the Trichoderma spores. The beading shouldn't matter as the spores will be left on the leaves as the water droplets evaporate. Like Doc Benway says the gritty particles in the Canna product may damage sprayers.

Niceone, you can add it at any time and it won't cause the compost to sour. I'm going out on a limb here but I think OT may have possibly, might just, perhaps said that it doesn't affect the PH, allegedly.

Back on firmer ground, the rockdust won't get used until the Mycorrhizal fungi get to work so no worries about it going off. The VAM fungi in RootGrow and other fungal inoculants will unlock the minerals in Rockdust well within the time scales we are dealing with, if you are not using fungal inoculants then yes Rockdust will take ages to be used. I mix mine up a couple of weeks before use but you could just as easily mix it in just before you fill the pots. The only advantage to mixing several weeks earlier is if you are inoculating with bacterial inoculants then, don't use fungal inoculants until there are live roots in the compost.

Hope that helps.

Felix.

[Guest Mr P]

Thanks Felix

[smeagol]

Right chaps .. is there any room on the Fungi Express ... i have

1) Mollasses

2) SMB Seaweed Extract

3) 20kg Rockdust

4) Rootgrow ... where ?

5) Tricho powder .. PM Joolz

all aboard :wink:

[Guest Dr Benways Assistant]

I'm getting quite pissed off at the spray gun carnage going on with the Canna product.

Anyone found a spray device that doesn't break, the pump up ones any good?

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Always room for one more smeagol

You can get it from a lot of garden centers or you can order it online from their own web shop.

Doc you haven't been using those 'gritty spores' have you ? Ditch the dealer man and grow your own

[Leprechan Sweet Leaf]

I'm getting quite pissed off at the spray gun carnage going on with the Canna product.

Anyone found a spray device that doesn't break, the pump up ones any good?

A sprayer with a venturi valve will shred the friendly lil fungi!

A pump up sprayer (pumped to med pressure) and with the nozzle adjusted to a coarse not fine mist will do the job.

I found that pirhana leaves a powdery residue on the foliage but at least I know its getting on there.

Felix, couple of q's, sorry

Do you have any idea if neem or pest off will have a detrimental effect if sprayed on plants that have been treated?

[Peter Petrelli]

Wow!!! What a truly great thread with lots of usefull information. Thanks to all that have contributed to the knowledge that makes it up

I used to use Canna's Trichoderma Harzianum T-003 aka AKTRIvator (nice name btw) on my clones and in my NFT system a few years back had some serious root mats back then B) I must say Felix your really are taking the 'Grow your own' motto to dizzy new heights

I have had numerous trials & tribulations during this grow, seems the plants are not the only thing the LSF has infected... B'stard has also infected me greenfinger In an attempt to rid myself of it permenantly I stumbled across this thread and I am glad I did... almost, ALMOST, makes LSF worth getting

Hello everybody,

Couple of pointers, Trichoderma H doesn't need activating and can be applied in plain water. Bacterial inoculants will need molasses and fungal inoculants will need seaweed extract, if you are using a mixed bacterial/fungal inoculant then use both. When applying all three activated the bacteria normally and then 15 or 20 minutes before applying throw in the Trichoderma H spores, the reason for this is they are quite delicate when they first geminate and could be damaged by vigorous bubbling.

Hope that helps,

Felix.

Damn man, I have Pirhana which is a mix of myco and trich h, so are you saying I shouldn't bubble the spores?

I'm getting quite pissed off at the spray gun carnage going on with the Canna product.

Anyone found a spray device that doesn't break, the pump up ones any good?

I always wondered what that shit was

Withnail asked a question that got overlooked afew pages back, I have the same Q and I wonder if you guys can help at all...

If I have applied Bayers Fungus Fighter to my plants in an effort to combat LSF (8 days ago), can I assume that the Fungus Fighter will also kill of any Trich-H & Myco that I try and colonize the arial parts of the plant with? If so how long will it be before they can be drenched with Trich&myco? (If at all )

I want to get some molasses for the hydro, but am wondering how this dissolves into water and if it's a bitch to mix... I am guess the water must be warm right... Don't want to add it if it may block my pump.

Thanks again for the knowledge departed in this thread dewds, it's much appreciated!!

Edited November 9, 2007 by Peter Petrelli

[hydro98]

hi

rather than start a new thread. ive got some canna Trichoderma. my plants are in coco/pebble mix with canna coco nutes and have just gone 12/12.

would using the Trichoderma be of any use to them at this stage ? and for that matter will it live in coco.

cheers jon

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Hi LSL, Neem has anti bacterial and possibly anti fungal properties (it's used in toothpastes in India) so I would imagine it would have a detrimental effect on any inoculants, how long it would persist I've no idea perhaps someone else would know ?

Peter, that's interesting you've used it in hydro, I hadn't even thought of that nice one So if it works in NFT it could work in any setup and would offer the same protection from fungal attack, well that opens up a whole new load of possibilities. Hope yer green fingers recover man

My thinking behind my method of bubbling and preference for using seperate products was that bacteria are single celled organisms whereas fungi (once the spore has germinated) are multicellular and so are more delicate. Ideally start bubbling in a vigorous airflow with a bacterial inoculant and wait till the populations climb and you can see foam forming on the surface. Then just before spraying add the trichoderma so that the spores don't have a chance to germinate before they are sprayed onto the leaf surfaces. I have no idea how long the spores take to germinate but judging from the petri dishes it's only a matter of hours in the right environment.

Putting VAM fungi onto the leaves won't do any harm but neither is there any benefit as they need to form symbiotic associations with the roots. Never done hydro but be careful with molasses as you could trigger a bacterial population explosion and get large bacterial sheets building up that could clog your kit.

On the Fungus Fighter, I really don't know I'm not sure how it works but I should imagine it would have a detrimental effect. I saw a post sometime ago where someone had contacted RootGrow and they thought it might not have too bad an effect on RootGrow. I honestly don't know.

jjon98, unless you are experiencing a problem with the roots or LSF I'd hold off and use it on your next lot of cuttings/seedlings. It will promote rapid root growth and provide early protection for the young plant.

Niceone the station master ?

[Guest dr rockster]

So how are things Felix,now that you've harvested via you card method?

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Hi Doc,

I'm going to post some pictures tomorrow of the last two plates but the card method was rubbish Just ended up with a sticky messy jelly

I've had several suggestions which I'm going to try tomorrow in the day light, scalpel and paint brush are the favourites at the moment.

[Peter Petrelli]

Cheers Felix Because Pirhana is a mix of Trich&Myco there is no way to seperate the 2.... I think I may pick up some root grow & AKTRIvator so a to be able to mix as you describe after vigorous bubbling. The only reason I sprayed the VAM onto the leaves originally is because as described before it's mixed with the Tricho so no way to seperate, I learnt on through this thread that the VAM is for roots only B)

jjon98 your probably already using it you just don't realise it......... that is if you are using Canna's coco, as it is innoculated with Trichoderma H as standard... I'm not sure if you should add it to the your feed... though it wouldn't hurt and cost is really no biggie.... I usually dip my clones that reside in rockwool in it before planting onto a system or into coco to get the colony started. I am going back to canna coco after this grow, I always had great roots and no transplant shock while using it.

Edited November 10, 2007 by Peter Petrelli

[hydro98]

Cheers Felix Because Pirhana is a mix of Trich&Myco there is no way to seperate the 2.... I think I may pick up some root grow & AKTRIvator so a to be able to mix as you describe after vigorous bubbling. The only reason I sprayed the VAM onto the leaves originally is because as described before it's mixed with the Tricho so no way to seperate, I learnt on through this thread that the VAM is for roots only B)

jjon98 your probably already using it you just don't realise it......... that is if you are using Canna's coco, as it is innoculated with Trichoderma H as standard... I'm not sure if you should add it to the your feed... though it wouldn't hurt and cost is really no biggie.... I usually dip my clones that reside in rockwool in it before planting onto a system or into coco to get the colony started. I am going back to canna coco after this grow, I always had great roots and no transplant shock while using it.

yes mate always use canna coco. never new that about it. cheers pete

roots normally realy white and in abundance, but i always use rhizatonic. pricey but good stuff in many ways.

cheers jon