[compost_tea] Re: Absorption rate

From: growest2002 <g.w.thomson_at_shaw.ca>
Date: Sat, 03 May 2003 16:29:56 -0000

Mike-my understanding is that both foliar ferts and tea are effective
in must a matter of minutes, certainly a rain the next day wouldn't
be
a concern.

One fellow mentioned actually watching the droplets of foliar shrink
as the plant seemed to be translocating the stuff. An important
sidebar would be the application of very light, fine droplets, at
least for the foliar fish/kelp--it seems you want to allow the leaf
hairs to waft the droplets in towards the stomata. Too much foliar,
like to the point of runoff, will probably reduce this action and
actually result in less absorption, not more.

With tea, I would want to apply to just about the runoff pt, but like
you have seen plants that repel liquid on their leaves. We want to
cover the surface with our microbes, but that must be tough on a
garlic leaf, etc. when the tea just beads up and rolls off.

I do add a yucca product at label rates (1:1000) but it really
doesn't
do much in my observation. Should reduce the surface tension of the
droplets, but yucca is apparently more for soil application rather
than leaves.

A conventional non-ionic surfactant like Agri II works great in my
trials, but retards the bugs in the tea (it's alcohol type of stuff,
which is fairly poisonous to most types of microbes). You could use
this in the fert applications only, tho it may still impact the good
guys on your leaf surfaces. So many things to consider, now that
we're worrying about the biology as well as chemistry of everything!

Some people are using Nufilm as a spreader/sticker. Not totally
innocuous, apparently, but better than the alcohol type surfactants.
Dilute this in water before adding tea, to reduce the impact on the
biology.

--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, "Mike Bosko" <mjbosko_at_j...> wrote:
> This is primarily applying to some kelp/fish foliar spray I just
applied to
> my garlic and fruit trees, but the same applies to my CT
applications: How
> long does it take for the plant to get a good absorption after
applying the
> foliar spray?
>
> Reason I ask, is that we got a good, unexpected, rain the day after
it was
> applied.
>
> Also, is there any kind of sticker that could be applied? When
sprayed on
> my garlic leaves, the stuff gets repelled as if the leaves were
waxed.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike
> Central WA


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Received on Sat May 03 2003 - 14:19:54 EDT

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