It's hot outside and our plants are feeling it! This week we are talking about the best additives for our gardens and farms to battle stress from the summer heat.
This summer has been blistering hot and our plants are taking a
hit! I want to talk about a few products that will help deal with the heat along with multiple other benefits they provide, and will keep your plants going strong during this heat wave!
* SIDE NOTE* Besides additives, there are a few ways you can help your plants with heat stress. One way is to bring your plants into the shade for a little while to keep the sun from penetrating and burning up the leaves. Another option is to apply mulch around the base of your plants to keep them cool. We suggest Cedar or Cypress mulch over Pine since they help keep pests away!
SuperThrive, The Vitamin Solution!
SuperThrive is a great additive for any plant in any situation. We can use this for seedlings/cuts, vegetative, and flowering. This additive is one of the oldest formulas on the market and definitely the oldest additive on this list. It consists of Kelp and B Vitamins to promote healthy transplants, lush growth, and abundant yields.
Kelp does a multitude of things and is the MAIN ingredient for all the products in this segment because it's the catalyst that helps with heat stress! The two main varieties of kelp that are used for plant growth are Ascophyllum Nodosum and Laminaria Digitata. In the future, we will break down ingredients like "kelp" and go over the benefits of each organic input, for now, we will focus back on what makes SuperThrive so great!
Created in 1939 by Dr. John Thomson, who studied and was fascinated by biochemical processes that aid in a plant's development. This product won the World's Fair gold medal in Science and Industry in 1940. Another cool fact about this product is that it was used to create the parks and landscaping for Disneyland! 100% transplant success in each tree and shrub that was planted in the park when Disneyland first opened! There is not another product like this on the market making it a truly unique additive to your plants!
SuperThrive is a budget-friendly, super concentrated formula that only requires 0.25 ml or 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water, meaning a little bit goes a long way! It also comes in a variety of sizes that work with any hobbyist or commercial entity out there. A 4oz bottle all the way up to 55 gal drums!
You can find SuperThrive in most hydroponic, nurseries, and garden centers around the nation ranging from $12-$15 per 4oz. Online stores sell them a little cheaper from Amazon and eBay which I will post links for easier access!
Lastly, I will post the benefits that this product is able to do to help those plants in
need.
Natural & non-toxic
Improves plant vigor
Revives stressed plants
Reduces transplant shock
For all plant types
For all stages of growth
Can also be used as a foliar spray
Fox Farm Bush Doctor Boomerang, the COMEBACK Formula!
Boomerang has inorganic and organic inputs, such as soy protein hydrolysate, worm castings, and Kelp. There are four different strains of Glomus to help with root colonization which is unique in this situation and the only product on this list that has mycorrhizae in it. The mycorrhizae along with the kelp help quicken the nutrient uptake providing fast relief for your plants from
heat or other stresses!
Fox Farm Bush Doctor Boomerang is not only a solution for certain stresses and deficiencies, but it can also be used as a vegetative supplement, giving your plants a boost in needed micronutrients! Mixing 2-4 teaspoons per gallon of water will provide your plants with lush new growth without worrying about any minor issues outside the NPK realm.
General Organics BioWeed Additive
General Organics is the "organic" line in the General Hydroponics brand. General Organics consists of a 2-part base system called Bio-Thrive Grow and Bio-Thrive Bloom and a few different additives which are: BioRoot, BioBud, and CaMg+. Black Diamond used to be in the mix but they recently closed that product out. Overall this is a great nutrient line! BioWeed is a natural fertilizer additive that can be used with a variety of media including inert like coco, coco/perlite, peat moss/perlite, peat moss, and so forth, making it one of the most
versatile additives on the market (definitely says something with it having a lot of organic inputs!). Another reason why this is a good option is its low mix rate, this stuff is highly concentrated suggesting you only had 1/2 to 1 teaspoon per gallon! Not only is this a great additive to aid your plant's recovery and growth, but it is also cost-effective!
Biobizz Acti-Vera
Biobizz is not only organic but it is vegan too! What sets Biobizz Acti-Vera apart from competitors is their usage of aloe vera extract in their formula. Another key ingredient that this
nutrient line is derived from... You guessed it, KELP! Straight from the extract (Ascophyllum nodosum). As stated earlier, Kelp is the main catalyst for helping relieve stress in plants, but keep in mind that too much kelp, like everything else, is a bad thing as it does contain very very small trace amounts of mercury, which will affect testing if your growing on the commercial medicinal side of the business. Biobizz's Acti-Vera not only makes plants stronger and healthier, but it also increases germination and metabolism in plants! The suggested dosage is 20ml per gallon as a soil drench and/or 5ml per gallon as a foliar spray.
Biobizz Alg-A-Mic
Biobizz has created some truly superior vegan-organic products and I want to give a shout-out to another one of their products and that's Alg-A-Mic! Acti-Vera does help with stress including heat and it does boost the immune system of your plants organically to make them stronger, but Alga-A-Mic takes the stress relief to the next level!
Derived from cold-pressed seaweed extract that is 100% organic. Seaweed being a wide variety of marine-based species of algae and plants, you get the full plant spectrum of vitamins and nutrients that the extract brings, including, KELP! The previous products we discussed in this segment contain strictly kelp, mostly the Ascophyllum nodosum species, so to have a wide
variety of the bio marine variety does change things!
So what does Alg-A--Mic do exactly? Where Acti-Vera provides the nutrients needed to build the plant's immune system and make it consistently stronger while also some minor fixing issues,
Alg-A-Mic is the enforcer of correcting any discrepancies and deficiencies your plants may be suffering from.
Some of the issues that Alg-A-Mic can rescue your plants from are:
Overfeeding
Temperature fluctuations
Diseases
And it also ensures green leaves by stimulating chlorophyll production in your plants! One of the best products on the market and one of the only few vegan nutrients in the game right now!
So what's the best one you ask?
We study a lot of products being a hydroponic/garden center and we try to experiment with as much as possible to be able to give our customers the best feedback and choose what's right for them when they need help. I say this now, I will not choose what's the best out of the options I've given because, like most things, it can be subjective! The same goes for those in the gardening realm!
Each product stated above has a unique quality that they bring to your garden. Whether it's the vegan style and sustainable vision of Biobizz or the mycorrhizae establishment that Fox Farm's Boomerang brings to the table. The key to stress relief, especially HEAT is, Kelp! The one big thing each of these products has in common is kelp.
The great thing is, that there is a wide variety of products that have kelp. Check out our online store for these products and more! If you're in the Southern Oklahoma area, come by and see us! Please keep in mind that our online prices differ from our physical store prices. Ask about this blog and you'll get 10% off your whole order!
