Author Topic: Biostimulation Foliar Sprays  (Read 2324 times)

Millet

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Biostimulation Foliar Sprays
« on: May 20, 2017, 02:36:29 PM »
I am reading the text book titled "Advances In Citrus Nutrition". There are several chapters on biostimulation sprays.  Biostimulation is the foliar spray application of items such as marine (fish oils), seed extracts, plant tissues (sea weed), and of all things meat industry wastes.  Meat foliar sprays contains large amounts of amino acids and peptide chains which are valuable to the tree's growth. What are biostimulators ?  They are  inorganic and organic substances or its mixtures that positively affect plant development or other physiological processes in plants.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2017, 02:38:27 PM by Millet »

gozp

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Re: Biostimulation Foliar Sprays
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2017, 07:13:22 PM »
This shud benefit all other trees as well

pineislander

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Re: Biostimulation Foliar Sprays
« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2017, 08:51:02 PM »
I'm currently fermenting a 60 gallon olive drum of fish scraps from my local fish market. I'll be using this fertilizer in fertigation but it could be used foliar, dilution 500-1000:1. Every day at 11 am I pick up 1-3 5 gal buckets of heads, guts, spines, etc. and put it in the drum. I began by culturing local bacteria at home in starchy water from rinsing white rice. I further multiplied this culture in 5 gallons of milk which favors the bacteria lactobacillus, a common natural bacteria. That yielded me a cheese/whey mixture loaded with the bacteria needed to digest fish, a "starter" sort of like yeast which I could use to begin the fish fermentation.
When I put in about 4 buckets of fish, I add 25 lbs sugar and a gallon of culture. The drum is well sealed and equipped with an airlock to allow gas to escape but keep air/critters/bugs out. Very similar to wine or beer making but a larger size. Today, after 3 weeks, I finished filling the drum, it will now sit closed for a month or 2 for fermentation to complete. Surprisingly, it doesn't smell like rotten fish, but also not like beer or wine either. I don't think it would be acceptable in a typical backyard but unless you get 20 ft away you probably wouldn't know it. Likely if I didn't have to keep opening daily the smell would be less.
I'm told the end product will be less smelly than typical fish emulsion or worm casting teas. I'll let you know in a month or 2.

So, I expect to end up with about $500 worth of fertilizer. I'll strain out bones using a screen and paint strainer. Cost to me was time and labor $25 for drum, $20 for buckets and airlock, $20 for milk and $100 sugar. I intend to develop a way to get fish scraps during a season when it is more available, and will probably try using green papaya for pre-digestion of fish since it contains high amounts of the enzyme papain to break down proteins.

I have a second drum which I'll start soon with maybe crab/shrimp waste, and when the current fish batch is out and packed into 5 gal buckets for storage I'll be doing the same process with Sargasso seaweed to make my own seaweed fertilizer. I'm on the lookout for other sources of local stock materials I can process which may be high in micronutrients.

As for effectiveness, at present I can't say, but expect the NPK to be comparable or better than commercial products like this:
http://www.7springsfarm.com/browns-fish-fertilizer-2-3-1-55-gallon-drum-in-stock-359-00/

robbyhernz

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Re: Biostimulation Foliar Sprays
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2017, 01:02:24 PM »
Very interesting!! Send pics of the finished product when ready in a couple months.

sobars_machado

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Re: Biostimulation Foliar Sprays
« Reply #4 on: June 05, 2017, 05:27:42 AM »
Is this fermentation similar like making curd/yogurt or is it similar like wine fermentation?

In india, the Zero budget natural farming system is advising similar thing called Jivamrut, but without fish. And this is getting very popular and people are noticing very positive results. I have not tried it myself though, because to get fresh cow dunk and urine from a local cow is a difficult task.
http://www.palekarzerobudgetspiritualfarming.org/Jiwamrita.aspx

So, by combining fish to this Jivamrut, can it be made even more effective?


simon_grow

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Re: Biostimulation Foliar Sprays
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2017, 06:22:41 PM »
Algae and yeast extracts have shown to work on Mangos.
http://scihub.org/ABJNA/PDF/2010/3/1-3-421-429.pdf

Simon

pineislander

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Re: Biostimulation Foliar Sprays
« Reply #6 on: June 09, 2017, 08:47:44 AM »
Is this fermentation similar like making curd/yogurt or is it similar like wine fermentation?

In india, the Zero budget natural farming system is advising similar thing called Jivamrut, but without fish. And this is getting very popular and people are noticing very positive results. I have not tried it myself though, because to get fresh cow dunk and urine from a local cow is a difficult task.
http://www.palekarzerobudgetspiritualfarming.org/Jiwamrita.aspx

So, by combining fish to this Jivamrut, can it be made even more effective?

The fermentation I am doing uses a lactic acid producing bacteria to break down proteins in the fish and preserve it because in the final product the bacteria consume sugars and produce acid conditions in which other life forms cannot thrive. This process is more similar to cheese making where lactic acid bacteria consume lactose sugars in milk, and different from wine making in which yeasts consume sugar and create alcohol. One of the goals in my process is to preserve but also to break down the proteins in fish tissue.

The Jivamrut process described may be using sugar to build populations of both yeasts and bacteria or other life forms, but since the process takes place in 48 hours I'm not sure that much acid or alcohols are produced. As the dung and urine contain large amounts of nitrogen, that is in itself a form of food for some bacteria.