TOPIC: Organic sprays

Kind of related to the last post about chemical spraying...
I have some leftover kelp solution from my veggie garden and I was thinking about spraying my sang seedlings when they emerge, or at least a test patch.
I understand that on one hand, to get true wild-simulated sang you don't want to interfere with the plant's growth but on the other hand, I'm told these seaweed solutions can really help any plant's early development when used as a foliar spray.
My understanding is that it is organic.
What say ya'll? Any thoughts? Or has anyone tried this before?

If you would like to spray your ginseng with it, and are confident that it is an organic product (fertilizer) It would sound like a nice little experiment to try. If it is a foilar application it should not do much to the structure (shape) of the root other than enhance its size. As long as you didnt make your beds using a tiller you probably wont have to worry about your ginseng looking like a fat white carrot. I have read however that using large amounts of fertilizer on ginseng will weaken its immune system and make it susceptable to diseases.

Below is a product that Classicfur has used and I think Latt is using this year too.

It is oganic and can be used on several crops and they show test results for using it on ginseng on their website. Made a nice difference in first year root growth - which should give the plant a better chance to survive those first 2-3 critical years, especially if you spray both your 1 and 2 year old planting sites.

www.ampacbiotech.net/products/main.htm

I was looking around at lowes yesterday and found a liquid calcium (concentrate) that you can spray on and it has something in it that not only adds calcium but also makes the calcium that is in the soil already breakdown so that the plants can actually use it faster.

Sounds interesting - especially for me since my planting sites both tested low on calcium (by ginseng standards). I am adding gypsum and bonemeal (sort of double doing the calcium supplement by adding both of those but the bonemeal also has potassium).

What do you guys think about using something like this nutri-cal product on seng - especially in areas where your calcium test low like mine does ?

www.nutri-cal.com/about.html

Hey I just noticed they have a Nutri-K product too which is a liquid concentrate potassium supplement and one of the benefits it list for it is...

\"Increased protection to fungal attack\"


TNhunter

TN,
It looks pretty promising. I saw where it goes for about $60 per gallon for the liquid concentrated Nutri-Cal. It says mix 9 oz with 2 gallons of water and this will cover 1,000 square feet of garden area when applying to the soil directly. So that is a pretty good size area at a reasonable cost. It also stated 4 tablespoons per gallon of water for a foliar spray. I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. The cost seems reasonable. I would spray it on my soil and ginseng leaves.
It is interesting to talk about this kind of stuff. Even a few expert/growers have stated to me that when it come to this kind of stuff they are all for it. One grower told me that they get set in their ways and stick to what they have done year after year after year and that it's good to try new things. One grower even told me that he would be interested in hearing about studies pertaining to new products or natural sprays derived from plants like goldenseal and horsetail made into a tea to be used as a spray that a few ginseng growers are trying out. I think it would be good to try some Nutri-Cal on a ginseng bed close to another ginseng bed without spraying and to see if there is a difference. Between all of us we may stumble upon something great that will benefit all of us as we continue to communicate our ideas as our ginseng grows over the next 10 years.
Latt
Latt

TNhunter, Latt

At first glance it looked good to me. But then I noticed that it claims to \"Replaces Traditional Lime Products\".

If it acts like lime products, it will probably raise the soil PH. And if it raises the ph every time you spray, that might not be good. It says that it is derived from calcium Nitrate. I'm not sure if that is the same as lime or gypsum.

Then it says that it has a Guaranteed Analysis:
Total Nitrogen (N) 6.5%
0.5% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
6.0% Nitrate Nitrogen
Calcium (Ca) 8.0%

Here's the product label:

www.nutri-cal.com/pdf/nc_label.pdf

From what it sounds like, it would fertilize plus add calcium.

The two things that would concern me is the 6.5% nitrogen and also whether it will raise the soil ph.

I personally don't like the idea of adding Nitrogen to my roots.

I will search to find out what Calcium Nitrate is.

classicfur

Latt wrote:

TN,
One grower even told me that he would be interested in hearing about studies pertaining to new products or natural sprays derived from plants like goldenseal and horsetail made into a tea to be used as a spray that a few ginseng growers are trying out. Between all of us we may stumble upon something great that will benefit all of us as we continue to communicate our ideas as our ginseng grows over the next 10 years.
Latt
Latt

here is a link to some research done in North Carolina on goldenseal and horsetail. looks like you have to contact the person at the bottome of the page for the full results

http://www.ncgoldenseal.com/info/research.html

Classicfur,

I agree with you on the nitrogen issue - I would not want to do that either.

If you could just get calcium, (P & K) with no N that would be nice.

Hey I was just looking around on the Johnnys Seeds site and noticed they have a fairly long list of Fungicides and several are OMRI approved.

www.johnnyseeds.com/c-709-fungicides.aspx

TNhunter

TNhunter

The one thing that sounded good about the Nutri-cal, was that it had something in it that helps with the intake of the calcium into the plant. Plus spraying it onto the leaves would mean immediate calcium into the plant.

And as we know, high calcium helps to reduce the chance of disease.

Its too bad it has nitrate in it.

Some of those fungicides listed on the Johnnys seeds site I think would work well like the Plant Helper. Especially the Actinovate, Rootshield and Plantshield. These three I have reasearched and they would be good for the health of the plant along with some protection from disease. And perhaps some of the others would be good for seng.

Nice list!

Thanks,
classicfur

Hey Classicfur,

Think I will give that Actinovate a try.

Below are some details on what all it treats...

==

Actinovate? AG is a biological fungicide for the suppression of root rot and damping-off fungi
and the suppression of foliar fungal pathogens. When used as a soil drench or seed treatment, soil
borne fungi suppressed include Fusarium, Rhizoctonia, Pythium, Phytophthora, Phymatotrichum
omnivorum (cotton root rot), Aphanomyces, Monosporascus, Armillaria, Sclerotinia, Postia,
Verticillium, Geotrichum, and other root-decay fungi. The active ingredient in Actinovate? AG
colonizes the root system and protects it from harmful fungi. When used as a spray, Actinovate?
AG effectively suppresses foliar diseases such as Powdery and Downy Mildew, Botrytis,Monilinia,
Anthracnose, Greasy Spot, Sclerotinia, Alternaria, Erwinia and others.

==

It protects against several types of root-rot and foliar diseases, including Alternaria which is I think the Big One in foliar diseases for Ginseng.

It also mentions Fusarium and Verticillium which I think are the two main types of foliar diseases that affect Tomatoes (early and late blight).

I read down in the details where the 2 oz package will treat 5000 sf of area (for example lawn). I may get a couple of those and give em a try in my garden and on some of my seng beds.

TNhunter

Tn & Classicfur,
That Actinovate? AG sure looks promising. I did a search on the net and it sounds like it really works well for diseases that attack many plants and specifically some diseases that attack Ginseng Roots and Foliage.
Were do you plan on buying your Actinovate? AG ?
Thanks,
Latt