spirulina soil drench

[crimsonecho]

Some of their products use hydrolyzed algae, for the amino acid content presumably. I like how Arbico grows their algae using captured co2 emissions from a gas power plant in Spain.. I've also noticed a lot of the big players in Agriculture are working on algae based products. Some of the studies on spirulina used hydrolyzed spirulina, while others used a water based extract-it was interesting to see how each of these different products were extremely beneficial, from seed coats to root drenches on adult plants. One study showed that Spirulina treatment "increased a vast array of secondary metabolites", enzymes, hormones, antioxidants, etc. I actually just sprouted my next batch of seeds, and now I wish I'd started them with a spirulina seed coat lol

yeah i wish i coated my seeds too but definitely algae seems to be a viable option and with spirulina my understanding is that because it lacks a thick cell wall everything offered by this algae should be pretty available from the get go i mean you can do specific extractions for increased ratio of one beneficial compound probably but even with dry powder (which most products offer them cell walls already broken) those aminos and stuff should be pretty available as it is. tho maybe hydrolyzation helps with stabilization for liquid suspensions for longer shelf-life or something i’m not sure.

 

[crimsonecho]

also i should mention that apparently not all spirulina is created equal because the spirulina i was using before was from nutrex and it created a very beautiful blue color when mixed with water as i’ve posted the pics of but this new brand which was about 1/3 the price of nutrex seems to be little more on the greener side and i’m not getting that deep blue phycocyanin color when i mix this one. there is still a blue hue there but not as vibrant as that hawaiian spirulina. but thats to bad because that hawaiian stuff is expensive so i’m gonna stick with this one until i use it up then maybe i may consider switching to the powdered hawaiian stuff to see if the difference is really there when it comes to color.
by the way as i said not much of a scientific method left in this grow for me to compare the efficacy of spirulina but to my eyes they seem to be doing better with it then without it. the real test i guess will be my next run. i can run 2 clones of each and give 1 group spirulina in topdressing and water/feed them with it and the control would get only topdressing and water/feed.
however i have atleast 7-8 weeks left on this run still so its gonna be a while thus for the time being i’m unable to pursuit this route so if anyone wants to do a side by side, has done side by sides, wanna give spirulina or other algae a chance please do post your experiences. there of course is not a magical plant tonic to perfect everything but i really do think we can benefit from algae as a grower community as it may offer better benefits than seaweed/kelp because its easier to source, cheaper to produce, traps a lot of carbon, ecologically sustainable and really rich in beneficial molecules and compounds.
so do feel free to post your experiences
happy growing

 

[Rurumo]

I just started my seedlings on it last night, at 1/4 teaspoon per gallon. That's about the dosage I used to give of a powdered seaweed extract I used to use, and it certainly turned the water pretty dark. I'm curious to see how they do since I can't remember the last time I grew a crop without seaweed.

 

[crimsonecho]

I just started my seedlings on it last night, at 1/4 teaspoon per gallon. That's about the dosage I used to give of a powdered seaweed extract I used to use, and it certainly turned the water pretty dark. I'm curious to see how they do since I can't remember the last time I grew a crop without seaweed.

oh great i’m curious too now, if you’re that familiar with seaweed and its effects you could probably notice any difference in growth better than me. i was using seaweed too but not very often.
i’m also giving one tomato seedling spirulina solution its basically growing in a sterile nursery mix without any nutes so it’s getting all of its nutrients from spriulina, though its in pretty early stages atm, has been like a week since it broke soil and i only watered it twice but at one watering i also had some feed left from my gals so gave it a bit of bio-bloom and banana ferment but from now on i’m gonna keep it straight spirulina for a while.

 

[Rurumo]

oh great i’m curious too now, if you’re that familiar with seaweed and its effects you could probably notice any difference in growth better than me. i was using seaweed too but not very often.
i’m also giving one tomato seedling spirulina solution its basically growing in a sterile nursery mix without any nutes so it’s getting all of its nutrients from spriulina, though its in pretty early stages atm, has been like a week since it broke soil and i only watered it twice but at one watering i also had some feed left from my gals so gave it a bit of bio-bloom and banana ferment but from now on i’m gonna keep it straight spirulina for a while.

I actually started taking spirulina again since I've been researching it for plants lol.

 

[crimsonecho]

I actually started taking spirulina again since I've been researching it for plants lol.

hahaha i was taking spirulina when i was eating vegetarian but then i broke down and started eating meat again

 

[crimsonecho]

It's probably a cyanobacterial species that form mutualistic relations with that particular cannabis strain. That canna' plant is most likely producing root exudates that favor its growth/proliferation. I wouldn't worry about it unless the health of the plant begins to suffer. It may very well be a PGPR (plant growth promoting rhizobacteria).

Cyanobacteria - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

rep to the article and the poster good read

 

[portfolio]

i’ve been using seaweed/kelp extract for a while now but kinda worried about the origin and the composition of the material and the destruction of marine ecosystem due to kelp harvest. i know it contains growth regulators and micro and trace elements but it also contains a serious amount of sodium as far as i know. some of the research i read suggests this sodium can inhibit plant growth with heavy applications so i had some spirulina sitting around the house in pill form and some stressed plants in flower so i though why don’t i just try if spirulina works as a bioactivator/stress reducer.

i know its a rich source of nutrition for humans and has very high amounts of protein/amino acids and doesn’t have much sodium or arsenic or other heavy metals which somewhat causes concern with kelp for me. it should also be easily digestible source for the soil microbiota.

well anyway i have stressed/yellowing plants mostly 2 clones of the same 2 strains and 1 other gal. so 5 plants in total 3 of them will get spirulina and the 2 others will get standart feeding which is mostly liquid wormcastings and some biobizz bloom etc. either way they will all get the same feed but 3 of them will get additional spirulina and i’ll try to asses if it had any positive effects on them.

now i did my first drench today with 2 plants 1 of 2 destroyers (which were on their way to recovery already) and a caribe which is yellowing very fast since i lowered the lights on it. the other plant was not ready to be watered yet.

i dropped 2 tablets into water and let them dissolve a bit. not much dissolved in the 20-30 minutes i waited and stirred, maybe half of them. so i guess half of 2 3g tablets is 3g. 3g of spirulina diluted in 6-7lt of water. didn’t want to go heavy on them as i don’t know how they’ll respond yet.

anyway i also took pics of the plants and i’ll update this thread with before/after photos if i see any difference.

- do you guys ever fiddled with spirulina as a plant fertilizer?
- how did it work out for you?
- to your knowledge, is there anything that is especially beneficial or detrimental to plant growth on these nutritional info i shared?

here’s some nutritional info on spirulina i found online

View attachment 5086832View attachment 5086828View attachment 5086831View attachment 5086826

this is the analysis of the actual product i have
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this is the color of the diluted final solution. looks so cool and beautiful.
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portfolio likes your post . i will study post information .

as a reward i offer this video i came across . at this point i am just learning . i hope there is something in this video that might help you .

enjoy