Fellow Growers,
First, I wanted to say thanks to those who have stepped up for early trials on small parts of their crops. You will be taken care of as our journey unfolds. I cant wait for pictures and your results to be posted. For all you other growers… give us a shot… its free, organic and you have nothing to lose and everything to gain when going with us.
I figured I would use this first post to cover some of the microbes and their functions within the rhizosphere of your Cannabis plants. I know a lot of people go for Compost Teas… I was one of them from 2004-2009 until I discovered this product. So I would like to offer my two cents on this topic which is open for debate and education…
To be blunt, compost teas are at the grade school level and we are at the PhD level. Each of our microbial strains are grown separately, given food and vitamins, and grown at a specific temperature, untouched by human hands and with as little exposure to the air as possible. Every batch has a QC check and is the same.
URB and your average fertilizer will outperform a well brewed compost tea. A huge market point for compost tea is soil revitalization…
Revitalization, is one of our largest markets. URB is revitalizing rice paddies in Vietnam which have been abandoned, typically due to excess salts (from high salinity water as well as salt residue from chemical fertilizers). Think salt buildup in our hydroponic systems…on a massive scale… The first run in this shitty, abandoned, grow environment delivers a commercial crop and the second crop is better than the so called “good” rice paddies… URB will revitalize the soil.
In fact, we frequently describe URB as a product which builds the soil health so that anything with a root responds favorably. We used to say that we increase nutrients – -- however, it is more appropriate to say we balance the soil. We had an organic farmer who had been using chicken litter for over 20 years…his P was off the charts too high; all manures are high in P, but especially chicken litter. In his case, URB caused a reduction in P which was required to balance the soil.
High Ph soil tends to go lower with URB and low pH soil tends to rise.
SO WHATS IN OUR PRODUCT?
Well first is our extremely high quality humic derived from humalite and weighing in at a whopping 12% of our bottle. Triple screened so it wont clog sprayers or other feeding systems and a high quality fulvic as well for foliar application. I wont get into how bad we beat any other competitor in this area… You can do your own research…nor the difference in quality of humic derived from leonardite vs humalite. Basically humic extracted from humalite will have all good trace elements and the lowest amounts of unwanted metals.
We contain 5 Strains of Bacteria and 1 strain of Fungi concentrated at levels higher than anything on the market
-Bacillus subtilis 2x106 CFU/ml
-Bacillus lichenformis 1x108 CFU/ml
-Bacillius subtilis subsp. spiziizeni 2x108 CFU/ml
-Bacillis pumilus 1x107 CFU/ml
-Bacillis Magaterium 1x106 CFU/ml
-Trichoderma harzianum 1x106 CFU/ml
Briefly, the 5 strains of bacillus serve the following benefits to plants…
-Decompose organic matter to create extra nutrition for your plants.
-Grow bigger, healthier root system enabling the plant to grow heavier buds with higher levels of cannabinoids.
-Help produce plant hormones
-Restore Biotic Balance
-Process nutrients more effectively
-Replace beneficial bacteria after each flush
Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus subtilis, or B. sub, is a key beneficial plant bacteria. B. subtilis plays a role in replenishing soil nutrients through both the carbon cycle and the nitrogen cycle. To aid the carbon cycle B. subtilis degrades thatch, pectin, cellulose and other organic materials. B. subtilis forms biofilms which are dense populations of organisms. These biofilms provides the plants with preventive colonization, sometimes called competitive inhibition. While beyond the scope of this post, preventative colonization essentially prohibits other microorganisms from forming colonies around the plant roots.
Bacillus megaterium
Another key beneficial plant bacteria is Bacillus megaterium. In addition to some of the benefits conferred by B. subtilis, B. megaterium is known to be a phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB). PSBs have several important benefits:
-They make phosphorus more available to the plant
-Reduce the need for traditional fertilizer applications
-Increases uptake of water. Increases disease and drought resistance.
-Reduce Environmental problems downstream
-Promote sustainable growing practices.
Bacillus licheniformis is a spore-forming soil organism that contributes to nutrient cycling and has antifungal activity. There is current research on B. licheniformis (strain SB3086) and its effects as a microbial fungicide.
Bacillius subtilis subsp. spiziizeni - prevents and controls root rot
Bacillus pumilus participates in a wide range of symbiotic relationships. B. pumilus can function as a plant growth promoting rhizobacteria within the rhizosphere. Additionally, B. pumilus is thought to function as a plant growth promoting endophyte.
Our single strain of fungi is an interesting one… I will just copy and paste some information on it…
WHAT IS IT?
Trichoderma is a soil dwelling genus of fungi prevalent worldwide that are opportunistic plant symbionts, meaning they form beneficial relationships with a variety of plant species. The various species of Trichoderma are important elements of a healthy soil system for this reason. Considered to be fast-growing and adaptable to many different soils due to their global spread, some strains of the Trichoderma genus have been isolated to use the aforementioned traits to the advantage of gardeners and growers.
Trichoderma harzianum, strain T-22 is a hybrid strain developed at Cornell University to enhance certain characteristics of its parent strains. These enhancements in disease resistance, environmental tolerance and crop compatibility made T. harzianum one of the first biofungicides. Since its development, T. harzianum has proven to be useful in controlling common soil-borne diseases like Fusarium, Pythium and Rhizoctonia on a wide range of crops including corn, soybeans, potatoes, tomatoes and cotton.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
T. harzianum, strain T-22 utilizes several methods to suppress fungal diseases. First, it forms a physical bond with the root system of the plants, establishing itself in the rhizosphere (root zone) and thereby preventing other pathogens from colonizing the soil. This bond and continual growth of the T. harzianum throughout the root system forms a physical barrier to plant pathogens. T-22 also feeds on excess nutrient content left unused by the root system, which would provide a food source for incoming pathogens otherwise. Keeping that in mind, T. harzianum does not interfere with mycorrhizae activity or Rhizobium (a common nitrogen-fixer).
Secondly, T-22 releases chitinases, specific enzymes that denature chitin, to break down the cell wall of fungal pathogens in the soil. The holes in the cell wall created by the enzymes turn the pathogenic fungi into prey for other soil microorganisms. The combination of these methods allows T. harzianum to displace other organisms from the soil and the root system to develop additional biomass useful in increasing plant yields.
A lot of this information is a little advanced and I am no expert…if anyone would like to speak with our microbiologist on this material please hit me up and I will put you in touch. I just wanted to give a run down on what our product is doing for your plants on a microbial level.
Thanks for the read,
Cody