Aussie Growers Thread

reza92

reza92

Well-Known Member
Aussieaceae said:
Anyone in here use / used EM-1 as a foliar against Botrytis?
OMRI spray from Bayer i tried last year didn't seem to make a difference at all. Also couldn't apply it in flower.
Curious about EM-1 as a spray for that reason. Wondering if anyone here has any experience using it.
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prevention is better than cure. Foliar heaps more calcium through veg/stretch to aid in cell wall strength.
 
Aussieaceae

Aussieaceae

Well-Known Member
reza92 said:
prevention is better than cure. Foliar heaps more calcium through veg/stretch to aid in cell wall strength.
Click to expand...
Yeah, i'm gonna go with it. I can get it in a 1lt bottle, last me a few years.
Safety data sheet seems to check out, i'll just use it without a surfactant i think.
I'm considering silica in veg and right before flower.

Meant to be in La Nina this coming season..
 
reza92

reza92

Well-Known Member
Aussieaceae said:
Yeah, i'm gonna go with it. I can get it in a 1lt bottle, last me a few years.
Safety data sheet seems to check out, i'll just use it without a surfactant i think.
I'm considering silica in veg and right before flower.

Meant to be in La Nina this coming season..
Click to expand...
silica won’t help much. Calcium is what your after. Foliar calcium nitrate 1-2 times weekly the whole way through veg and stretch.
 
Aussieaceae

Aussieaceae

Well-Known Member
reza92 said:
silica won’t help much. Calcium is what your after. Foliar calcium nitrate 1-2 times weekly the whole way through veg and stretch.
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Have you tried silica yourself before? Just curious.

Want to try and keep it organic as best i can. It's also why i'm undecided about silica. But it seemed plausible, so long as there weren't excessive amounts of silica in the end product. That's something I haven't the faintest about.
I don't doubt calcium's importance, i'm just not sure wether it's practical in my own circumstance. There's loads of lime and gypsum already. But more because I'm going bananas with animal wastes during veg and early flower. I push the nitrate a bit much already.
How strong are you suggesting as a foliar? You measure the foliar in ec?

EM-1 seems a solution for flower. They recommend applying when wet and humid, early morning or dusk. 1ml to 1ltr water. It's all wet as shit around here then anyway, figure it can't hurt.
 
reza92

reza92

Well-Known Member
Aussieaceae said:
Have you tried silica yourself before? Just curious.

Want to try and keep it organic as best i can. It's also why i'm undecided about silica. But it seemed plausible, so long as there weren't excessive amounts of silica in the end product. That's something I haven't the faintest about.
I don't doubt calcium's importance, i'm just not sure wether it's practical in my own circumstance. There's loads of lime and gypsum already. But more because I'm going bananas with animal wastes during veg and early flower. I push the nitrate a bit much already.
How strong are you suggesting as a foliar? You measure the foliar in ec?

EM-1 seems a solution for flower. They recommend applying when wet and humid, early morning or dusk. 1ml to 1ltr water. It's all wet as shit around here then anyway, figure it can't hurt.
Click to expand...
calcium is notoriously hard for plants to absorb through the roots. Personally I use nts cmb trio as my calcium foliar (it’s cal nit based with a few extra goodies) and just follow the directions. A quick google will come up with a foliar rate for cal nit but as it’s a common thing to foliar in a few crops like tomatoes and capsicums

silica is very limited in the amount the plant can absorb and what it can accomplish. Without enough calcium the silica won’t even be metabolised by the plant.

everyone talks about NPK but what the should be talking about is NPKCa that’s how important calcium is.
 
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Aussieaceae

Aussieaceae

Well-Known Member
reza92 said:
calcium is notoriously hard for plants to absorb through the roots. Personally I use nts cmb trio as my calcium foliar (it’s cal nit based with a few extra goodies) and just follow the directions. A quick google will come up with a foliar rate for cal nit but as it’s a common thing to foliar in a few crops like tomatoes and capsicums

silica is very limited in the amount the plant can absorb and what it can accomplish. Without enough calcium the silica won’t even be metabolised by the plant.

everyone talks about NPK but what the should be talking about is NPKCa that’s how important calcium is.
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Thanks for the advice. I will check the product out.

I might be understanding it wrong. I figured the purpose of Silica as a foliar application, wasn't for the plant to absorb it, but for the silica to form it's own layer?
There's a calcium silicate fertilizer base i am trying to find. Which seems to be used regularly in agriculture as a foliar too. It only seems easily available in big blocks and they add phosphate. I'm assuming phosphoric acid / ph down in the water, so it dissolves. But honestly guessing.
It's organically derived as well, but powder grade seems difficult to find. I have plenty of ph down, might give it a shot if i can find calcium silicate in powder form.

Anyway cheers, really was helpful.
 
Givingstifftothestiff

Givingstifftothestiff

Well-Known Member
reza92 said:
calcium is notoriously hard for plants to absorb through the roots. Personally I use nts cmb trio as my calcium foliar (it’s cal nit based with a few extra goodies) and just follow the directions. A quick google will come up with a foliar rate for cal nit but as it’s a common thing to foliar in a few crops like tomatoes and capsicums

silica is very limited in the amount the plant can absorb and what it can accomplish. Without enough calcium the silica won’t even be metabolised by the plant.

everyone talks about NPK but what the should be talking about is NPKCa that’s how important calcium is.
Click to expand...
There's a reason people call it King Calcium :hump:
IMG_20200910_193822_DRO.jpgPXL_20200912_024635701.jpgPXL_20200912_024147120.jpg
 

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Aussieaceae

Aussieaceae

Well-Known Member
@reza92

Searched all the rest of yesterday and calcium silicate in ag ready form seems too difficult to find. It's apparently an anticaking agent in food too. I think they derive it from DE. It's also available in a granular form for soil but screw that.
Potassium Silicate is pretty affordable for a 10L concentrate. SARsil is the product from OCP / Bayer i'm looking at. It can be used as a wetting agent in small amounts and OMRI certified.
EM-1 recommends a surfactant for better application. SARsil might be a good choice at least early on. The outdoorsy's on here seem to be really successful using silica, so i'm going to commit to it.

I started a thread asking about EM-1 yesterday. I'm figuring i might just turn it into a journal of sorts and document any results.
I'm way over the recommended application rate for lime and gypsum and do the same every year. I'm a little doubtful the calcium nitrate will be effective in the way you suggest. it's usually over a month past stretch when it starts to get them and I'm pretty sure it isn't blossom end rot, at least in the deficiency sense.
Same time a few will be potted this year, so i think i'll get the calcium nitrate too. They'll be in roughly the same spot, might make it a controlled experiment of sorts. The pots should get a fair bit cooler than the beds overnight.
I'll give both the ones in the ground and pots EM-1. But no calcium foliar for the ground and no silica for the pots.

I'll tag you in the thread. I'm choking up this one blabbing on about it! :dunce:

Cheers.
 
reza92

reza92

Well-Known Member
Aussieaceae said:
@reza92

Searched all the rest of yesterday and calcium silicate in ag ready form seems too difficult to find. It's apparently an anticaking agent in food too. I think they derive it from DE. It's also available in a granular form for soil but screw that.
Potassium Silicate is pretty affordable for a 10L concentrate. SARsil is the product from OCP / Bayer i'm looking at. It can be used as a wetting agent in small amounts and OMRI certified.
EM-1 recommends a surfactant for better application. SARsil might be a good choice at least early on. The outdoorsy's on here seem to be really successful using silica, so i'm going to commit to it.

I started a thread asking about EM-1 yesterday. I'm figuring i might just turn it into a journal of sorts and document any results.
I'm way over the recommended application rate for lime and gypsum and do the same every year. I'm a little doubtful the calcium nitrate will be effective in the way you suggest. it's usually over a month past stretch when it starts to get them and I'm pretty sure it isn't blossom end rot, at least in the deficiency sense.
Same time a few will be potted this year, so i think i'll get the calcium nitrate too. They'll be in roughly the same spot, might make it a controlled experiment of sorts. The pots should get a fair bit cooler than the beds overnight.
I'll give both the ones in the ground and pots EM-1. But no calcium foliar for the ground and no silica for the pots.

I'll tag you in the thread. I'm choking up this one blabbing on about it! :dunce:

Cheers.
Click to expand...
you need to start fighting it in veg that’s why calcium foliar the whole way through veg and stretch is the nuts. It allows the plant to build its cell structures strong enough through veg that in flower there’s no bottle necks to getting the smaller and harder to use calcium through the roots. Just because there’s ample calcium in your medium (soil) doesn’t mean the plant can use it. Calcium is notoriously easy to lock out and will also lock phosphorus out in the medium so having too much calcium in the soil is a double whammy of unhelpfulness as the plant can’t absorb all the calcium it needs and it also can’t get phos after it reacts with the calcium becoming dicalcium phosphate which is unusable to majority of plants.

Botrytis attacks the plant through the cell walls. Strong cell walls makes it harder for the botrytis to take hold and use the plant as a host.

Also remember that calcium is the highway that all nutrients travel on through the plant.
 
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reza92

reza92

Well-Known Member
Aussieaceae

Aussieaceae

Well-Known Member
reza92 said:
you need to start fighting it in veg that’s why calcium foliar the whole way through veg and stretch is the nuts. It allows the plant to build its cell structures strong enough through veg that in flower there’s no bottle necks to getting the smaller and harder to use calcium through the roots. Just because there’s ample calcium in your medium (soil) doesn’t mean the plant can use it. Calcium is notoriously easy to lock out and will also lock phosphorus out in the medium so having too much calcium in the soil is a double whammy of unhelpfulness as the plant can’t absorb all the calcium it needs and it also can’t get phos after it reacts with the calcium becoming dicalcium phosphate which is unusable to majority of plants.

Botrytis attacks the plant through the cell walls. Strong cell walls makes it harder for the botrytis to take hold and use the plant as a host.

Also remember that calcium is the highway that all nutrients travel on through the plant.
Click to expand...
Fully intend to on the potted plants. So will find out soon enough. Then you can say "told you so!" ;)

Once i've got all the products and ready to transplant, i'll get the ball rolling on the EM-1 thread. Maybe a month, tops probably.

Peace.
 
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