Anyone using beneficial microbes?

[Nate]

Just curious if anyone here is using any beneficial bacteria or fungi in their grows? Mostly I’ve heard of people using mycorrhizal fungus for soil, but I’ve also heard of people using humic acids and different things to encourage beneficial bacterial growth. Does anyone here have any experience using microbe boosting additives? Its something that I’ve heard about, but not something I’ve had the chance to try out for myself.

[Keith]

I use Mr fulvic and myco.  I started with myco, PowerSi and fulvic at the same time so it’s hard to say what helped so much but something certainly did.  I started noticing better roots, I believe from the fulvic and myco and much heartier stems from the silica.  To hard to super crop.  From what I’ve read, if I remember right Molasses also introduces beneficial microbes.

[Nate]

Right on. I think if I were to use any, I’d probably start with the mycorrhizae, since that’s what I’ve heard the most about. What medium are you using?

[Keith]

Soil.  I think the PowerSi made the most difference.

[Nate]

Sweet, I had good results with silica in my last grow, so I think I’ll keep using it as long as I can get it to sit well in my reservoir.

[Somatek]

Fulvic/Humic acid don’t do anything with microbes, their chelate which are compounds that make nutrients easier to absorb by changing the charge of the minerals so the roots don’t have to expend as much energy to absorb them.

You really need to tailor the beneficial microbes to the specific purpose, are you looking to increase nutrient availability in fortified soils or trying to reduce the pathogen pressure by using aggressive colonizers that’ll out compete potential problems?

Used appropriately they have a huge benefit but they can also quickly become a money pit.  My general advice for beginners is to focus on understanding the basics inside and out and how they’re all inter related to create a stable environment first and foremost and then testing different additives one at a time in a side by side comparison with as few variables and as large of a sample as possible to figure out how much of an effect they actually have and see if they make sense in terms of add cost vs increased yield/quality.

[Nate]

That’s good info on the fulvic/humic acids, I honestly don’t really know much about living soil or microbe rich type grows. I’ll definitely have to do some research into how the more advanced additives work to enhance your grows.

[Somatek]

If you’re growing in a “living soil” (aka fortified soil) with compost then it’ll naturally have humic acids (fulvic acid is a fraction of humic, so it’ll also be present but just in smaller quantities) with no need to supplement specifically.  The real advantage is when growing in hydro or hydro-organic systems with a soilless mix as the addition of fulvic acid (which is the better chelate between the two) will show a definite benifit.  Which illustrates how often amendments are over prescribed for the wrong situation where they’ll have minimal effect.

[Nate]

Ah, okay so as a coco grower that’s probably something I should look into for my next run. I think I’ve switched up enough variables so far (new irrigation system, and new nutes), so I don’t want to over complicate things by adding a bunch of other factors on top of that. Thanks for shedding some light on some things I’ve been wondering about. I definitely appreciate being able to ask more experienced growers questions.

[Keith]

Somatek is on it again!  You’re a wealth of knowledge about growing.  That was really good info audible.

[Atom]

I use mykos granular for transplant,sprinkle it on the roots and they will grow very well. And I use recharge up until week 4 flower every week or so. It’s basically a ready to go microbe tea and helps build up microbes in soil. It can basically bring plants back from the dead, really great product recharge is.

[spaceman79]

I use Advanced nutrients Voodoo juice with nice results. It’s expensive but has been worth it for me.

[Cannabliss]

I like Extreme Gardening Mykoz for rootball dusting & adding a layer to the soil at transplant.

I have a new bottle of Microbial Mass that’s supposed to be good. I’ll report back once I try it out. 

[Author]

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