So Whats Your Favorite Wetting Agent

[Thomkal Vwalaa]

Really it stands for spider mites? Kings of misinformation, lol.

i've heard this so many times. so annoying.

What does the SM stand for? Surely not spider mites

 

[pineappaloupe]

SM 90 kills microbes.
Fine if you don't need or want any beneficial ones.
There are organic wetting agents... i can't remember the name though.

 

[milehighmedical]

.

 

[SupraSPL]

Aloe Vera juice (only) - contains 5% saponins, 10-12% brix levels, 22 amino acids and costs $7.99 per gallon @ Trader Joe's Markets.

Application rate is 2 - 4 oz. to 1 gallon of water. Like any good 'wetting agent' it's equally effective as a surfactant - a distinction without a difference.

CC

That sounds interesting CC thanks. I have been using Coco-Wet and as another poster mentioned Earth Juice makes one called "Assist" and I believe it is Yucca based.

 

[Clackamas Coot]

That sounds interesting CC thanks. I have been using Coco-Wet and as another poster mentioned Earth Juice makes one called "Assist" and I believe it is Yucca based.

SupraSPL

Yucca products are my preferred wetting agent/surfactant. I use an organic human food-grade liquid extract (no preservatives) as well as a wild harvested yucca root powder. The powder contains 4x the amount of saponins so you use very little, i.e. about 1/2 tsp. per gallon of solution.

Yucca extracts are what professional potting soil manufacturers use on their organic product lines (Pro-Mix, Sunshine organic mixes, et al.) with some opting for liquid extraction products and other products contain the yucca root powder.

If you agitate the water after adding the surfactant agent, it will activate the saponins and give you a better result, i.e. 'sticking' a liquid to the leaves, branches, etc. or getting the water or tea or whatever to 'stick' to the soil particles. Agitating it to the point where you see a good amount of foam will give you an indication on the viability of whatever option you go with.

Even alfalfa tea has high levels of saponins - about 1/2 the amount of liquid yucca extract, 20,000 ppm vs. 40,000 ppm. This is where agitating the water is the best/only way to activate the foaming properties.

HTH

CC

 

[bu11dog]

Mega-Wet works well

 

[smokinjay]

Dr Bronners Peppermint Soap


INGREDIENTS: Water, Saponified Organic Coconut*, Organic Palm* and Organic Olive* Oils (w/Retained Glycerin), Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Essential Oils**, Citric Acid, Vitamin E

 

[dr.roots]

Sm-90 seems to work the best from what i used....ill have to agree

 

[vonforne]

Yucca extract.

NO SOAP!!!!

V

 

[puff adder]

You are correct for watering, SM-90 would be what I use as a wetting agent in the nute solution. Used it many times for that reason.
I didn't read thoroughly, I thought the thread was about wetting agents for foliar spraying. For foliar spraying though, nothing is better than Dutch Master Penetrator/Saturator.

Doesn't the ionic nature of the Penetrator make it non-desirable?

 

[TheBioMaster]

Are you guys aware that SM-90 is a systemic fungacide? Not something you want to use on a regular basis in any kind of eatable crops.

 

[The Baphomet]

I like Dr bonners hemp soap for folar sprays like when I use floromite , been using dr bs for years and never had it hurt a plant . I also like sm-90 but I like it in my ez cloner

 

[ColoradoOG]

I prefer wet betty from advanced nutrients. I would recommend this product even if you dislike advanced nutrients. The same goes for ANs fulvic(highest concentration on market) Wet betty is 1-2 ml per litre or i would recommend coco wet which is a smaller container it works out to be the same as wet betty. I would strongly push you away from sm-90 if you are doing microbial additives. As for the yucca extract that stuff would work ok depending on rates. Penetrator/Saturator from dutch master in my opinion would be the worst one to choose for price factor. It recommends 60ml per litre at the same price as wet betty.

Also milehigh not to throw you under the bus or anything but how do you know your beneficals were unaffected? They say low concentrations of h2o2 would be okay but again how do you know? Microbials are expensive and to even consider risking killing them off for sm90 or h202 seems like a deal breaker to me. When honestly there are products that are just as cheap or cheaper that do not run risk of harming your beneficials. If i have a product that claims multiple things but one of those is sterlizing i would not mix that with anything that you want to remain alive.


PS: Just because i mentioned advanced nutrients does not mean im an AN follower, i have tested most things and regardless if you prefer one company over another some companys have select products that are better than everyone else. I currently use around 7-9 different companies for my formula and there is a few products from AN that i would recommend to everyone regardless of their prefered company.

 

[Baba Ku]

If i have a product that claims multiple things but one of those is sterlizing i would not mix that with anything that you want to remain alive.

That seems to be conventional wisdom with many here these days. Thing is, one needs to understand what is meant by "sterilize" and just how the product goes about it.
H202 releases oxygen and the oxygen will attack and kill anaerobic bacteria it comes in contact with, as that sort of bacteria cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. This same oxygen is thrived on by aerobic bacteria, such as beneficial bacteria living at the root zone.

Now, knowing about anaerobic vs aerobic bacteria, and knowing what H202 really is and what it does, wouldn't it be you that needs to answer what brings you to the conclusion that such a product does indeed kill beneficial bacteria?
Could it be that it is just the fact that the word sterilize is used, and you are using that and nothing more than an assumption?
Or maybe you have something to point to that shows what I explained about what bacteria thrives in is off?

 

[sackoweed]

i water with regular water to get soil wet about 1/3 way down and then comeback later with nuted water.. works just fine at no cost to me.. peace n pufs..

sacKO

 

[ColoradoOG]

That seems to be conventional wisdom with many here these days. Thing is, one needs to understand what is meant by "sterilize" and just how the product goes about it.
H202 releases oxygen and the oxygen will attack and kill anaerobic bacteria it comes in contact with, as that sort of bacteria cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. This same oxygen is thrived on by aerobic bacteria, such as beneficial bacteria living at the root zone.

Now, knowing about anaerobic vs aerobic bacteria, and knowing what H202 really is and what it does, wouldn't it be you that needs to answer what brings you to the conclusion that such a product does indeed kill beneficial bacteria?
Could it be that it is just the fact that the word sterilize is used, and you are using that and nothing more than an assumption?
Or maybe you have something to point to that shows what I explained about what bacteria thrives in is off?

Knowing any cell can have oxidative damage and not knowing the levels of concentrations to achieve that with the species your using would indeed result with me recommending a different method and not recommending that for use around beneficials.
Not to mention from personal experience at times when i have no chiller i have had root rot kept at bay multiple times with trichoderma but it wasnt completely eleminated so i have added h2o2 to rid it further and then few days later get a large ploom, adding more trichoderma again gets it back under control to where it was previously so yes i have seen beneficials impacted from using h2o2.