| Both Companion, which is the one I most like, and Essentials are made by Growth Products.
Essentials has a long list of ingredients, but the basic parts are Humic Acid from Leonardite, which is used to buffer the PH and allow the plant to use the other ingredients. This is also administered separately at a lot of nurseries to improve fertilizer effectiveness. Gibberelic acid (0.001%) which I believe is the growth hormone and Vitamins B2 and B6. Also something described as 'Natural Rooting Substance' 0.01%.
I made an error when I said a quart made 10 1/2 gallons, it makes only 8 gallons. Making it 1200 times as expensive as SuperThrive. SuperThrive is Indole-3-butyric acid and Vitamin B1. DynaGro K-L-N has only Nitrogen and B1 listed on its ingredients, although, I have seen references that it also has Indole-3-butyric acid.
Whether I keep using Essentials is a commercial decision. It is very expensive and I do not believe it has a shelf life after mixing. For me I mix 4 gallons and use it all in a couple of hours. But at $5 a gallon for working solution it is expensive and more so if part gets thrown away. Also a liter is the smallest quantity sold for almost $40.
There are no label restrictions on use so it can be used by anyone, with cost being the only deciding factor.
Now Companion I like even more. It is Rhizosphere bacteria Bracillus subtitus GB03. Used as a drench with follow up spraying every 28 days it claims to stop fungal infections (which worked for me) and inoculate the plant from further attack. It is active through the roots of the plant. It is more reasonable for use needing only a 1/4 tsp per quart
All plants have some roots damaged when they are re-potted. This prevents the fungal spores, which exist everywhere in the world, from being able to infect the plant.
In my case I saw the fungal infection attacking at the point where the leaf met the pseudobulb. Normally it spreads rapidly and cutting the infection out is necessary to prevent infection of the entire plant. I treated with Companion and left the diseased leaf on the plant to see the effect. The rot dried up and stopped spreading. The leaf still died and fell off. That leaf was being infected because of root damage and the damage still prevented the plant from absorbing water to the leaf. The important point was it did not spread on that plant and did not spread to other plants.
Normally infected leaves fall off the plant while green with some black at the base. The treated plants kept the leaves until they were totally dried.
As to Worm Tea I have talked about it a lot. The only thing to add is all three can be mixed. I learned that OurVitalEarth has been supplementing their worm feed with Bracillus bacteria. This is the reason theirs is so dark. Companion just has a lot more (55 billion per gallon guaranteed). Bracillus is the bacteria they are using to eat oil spills.
I mix all three together and love the fact that they are harmless to humans and pets.
I will be re-bottling these in smaller quantities for anyone who wants to try them. I need to research the shelf life of the products after mixing. It is way too expensive to use once and discard.
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jerry  |