YouLookAdopted
New member
If you're using fresh aloe vera leaf, I think the extracted juice/gel is diluted at 2x tbsp per gallon and is to be used within 20mins due to it degrading.
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ALOE VERA
- Thread starter heady blunts
- Start date
I've found about 1 1/2 inch of aloe filet will do the trick for a gallon of water.
I add clean water and a few ice cubes to get it nice and cold. That will slow the fermentation process down a bit as I'm then taking the solution about 20 minutes away to add to my sprayer. I vitamix it and then strain through a metal tea thingy. Then at the garden add to a gallon of clean water and away she goes.
I add clean water and a few ice cubes to get it nice and cold. That will slow the fermentation process down a bit as I'm then taking the solution about 20 minutes away to add to my sprayer. I vitamix it and then strain through a metal tea thingy. Then at the garden add to a gallon of clean water and away she goes.
C
Carlos Danger
For those of you using aloe for a surfactant, I've found soap nut powder, or Therm-X70 (yucca extract) to be simpler alternatives. You don't get the secondary metabolites, however.
If you want a great surfactant, try Gynostemma pentaphyllum. You can buy it as a drinking tea (great health benefits). A little goes a long way. You can let it soak for 24 hours in some clean water or blender it. Also, if using the blender, only fill about 2/3 of the way and go slow. This will produce a lot of foam as Gynostemma is saponin rich. Plus is it has a nice mineral and amino acid profile for your soil microbes.
1/2 - 1tsp in blender and then add that to make a gallon of water. I use this when making a new soil and I need to hydrate peat, coco, etc.
canna woop!
Member
Two totally different plants with different uses and expiration dates from harvest
canna woop!
Member
Alfalfa is also a surfactant, probably around the price of yucca, though cost more or less depending
therm x-70 uses such a small amount per gallon it will last a long time. I use both.
I have 200x extract Puraloe, Lily of the Desert, 4 medium sized living Aloe plants, and a gallon of Therm X. Keep the arsenal of variety stocked up. I try and give it to them as much as possible. Dont forget the coconut H20. Dried mix, whole coconuts and bottled on the shelf
fe
I have 200x extract Puraloe, Lily of the Desert, 4 medium sized living Aloe plants, and a gallon of Therm X. Keep the arsenal of variety stocked up. I try and give it to them as much as possible. Dont forget the coconut H20. Dried mix, whole coconuts and bottled on the shelf
fe
C
Carlos Danger
Alfalfa also has a fraction of the saponin levels of aloe or yucca. All different uses though. My garden got a drench with quite a bit of fresh aloe, but I might do one last foliar with it before we get too far into the season.
Those filets get huge by this time of summer.
Those filets get huge by this time of summer.
Yes these guys are no longer with us (just proof that your message goes further and longer with a little understanding and a little less ego) it doesn't mean there is a gap in knowledge. True you can't go to just one thread or one section anymore to get amazing answers and increasingly insightful tips, the knowledge is still out there.
While I give them a lot of credit to the new tips they have put me and everyone else on to, it is priceless, It doesn't mean the knowledge is not out there. I have learned more from reading Acres and books from its catalog, as well as soil classes and just life observations.
I give tremendous credit to CC for sprout teas and other teks he and others have started, the living soil/no-till paradigm is old news, mother nature have been doing this for millions of years. It just takes reading and observation to to come to the same conclusions they did, and mimic mother nature.
When you start just following the methods of others and not trying to improve or understand how things work you do yourself and everyone a dis-service by not building on the knowledge base.
They were great builders if we take their cue and build your own knowledge base and share it well all become smarter.
We do have some great contributors here still, people with a strong understanding soil science and microbes who don't have a ego and get points across in a much nice way. I encourage all the new faces who are interested in organics to read read read and observe everything, the answers are all around us and together who knows where we can take our favorite plant.
Ignorance is bliss and knowledge is power but knowledge is also responsibility.
Timbuktu
YouLookAdopted
New member
Hi watts,
I picked up the purple label preservative free Lily of the Desert and I think it says good for 45-60 days refrigerated. 2 weeks still the case for what we're using it for, or....?
B
BillMollison
Interesting thread to read. Thanks for posting it.
BM
BM
O
OrganicOzarks
A fraction is not correct. Coot has posted extensively on this. Alfalfa was somewhere in the 30,000 range. Not a fraction.
O
OrganicOzarks
I ditched using aloe. I ran through a bottle of preservative free organic aloe, and I decided not to buy anymore. I get it at wholesale from a distributor, but I did not see any positive effects. Just because a plant "prays hard" after spraying does not mean that there was a positive effect. Positive for me would be increased yield, potency, taste, smell, resin production, etc.. I saw none of these. It seems it was just another bottle to buy.
Same with yucca. I just use alfalfa meal in my teas, and I was able to cut another bottle out. I can get a 50lb. bag of alfalfa meal for $12.50. I do buy in ton quantities on my amendments so most will not pay that, but most can get the same bag for the $20 range.
I have a bottle of therm-x that is almost full. I suppose I will be giving it to someone so it does not go to waste.
Same with yucca. I just use alfalfa meal in my teas, and I was able to cut another bottle out. I can get a 50lb. bag of alfalfa meal for $12.50. I do buy in ton quantities on my amendments so most will not pay that, but most can get the same bag for the $20 range.
I have a bottle of therm-x that is almost full. I suppose I will be giving it to someone so it does not go to waste.
anonymousgrow
Active member
I am starting to get to this point. An interesting anecdote I want to share is that I noticed a bigger difference with the addition of aloe in plain 707 bag soil than I did in my good soil. I have wondered if perhaps aloe has more of an effect when the soil isn't as good to start with. I don't care enough to experiment with it, but I wanted to share my observations to see if smarter minds can share ideas in response.
I kant comment on the bottled aloe but fresh aloe "does" work as a wetting agent
a great one imho, I feel it enhances foliar applications & was not aware people were led to think it increased yield, potency, taste ect
helps re-moisten peat & with proper mulching; keeps the top soil singing
I also prefer healthy strong vigorous foliage during the 100+ heat we tend to get hear in the great outdoors & morning aloe supplemented foliar does help..
FWIW I can get "praying" leaves from a simple drench of agua or several hand full of other simple methods shared on the boards..
i would think, fresh also has more of the famed properties then some thing in a bottle so that possible plays a important role. i also always wondered if dried ground up alfalfa meal contains much of its natural Plant Growth Regulators or PGRs; as i get similar results w/ lots of fermented botanicals
a great one imho, I feel it enhances foliar applications & was not aware people were led to think it increased yield, potency, taste ect
helps re-moisten peat & with proper mulching; keeps the top soil singing
I also prefer healthy strong vigorous foliage during the 100+ heat we tend to get hear in the great outdoors & morning aloe supplemented foliar does help..
FWIW I can get "praying" leaves from a simple drench of agua or several hand full of other simple methods shared on the boards..
i would think, fresh also has more of the famed properties then some thing in a bottle so that possible plays a important role. i also always wondered if dried ground up alfalfa meal contains much of its natural Plant Growth Regulators or PGRs; as i get similar results w/ lots of fermented botanicals
C
Carlos Danger
Ozark I'm in agreement with giving up buying things that don't bring improvement. If I had to buy aloe I wouldn't do it, same as coconut water(which I don't use for cost reasons), but I do seem to see a benefit in using aloe as a foliar spray. This is unfounded and I'd like to see data on it but I seem to have had luck using aloe as a "burn remedy" when lights have gotten too close or when I dosed too heavily with a foliar.
If I had to make yucca extract myself I'd pass, but Therm-X is a useful surfactant for me and at the price even a quart of the stuff should last me a year or two. I love the stuff.
Even with the obscene profit per pound on grass we should be considering our margins,as well as environmental impact of our purchases. I haven't seen enough response to warrant the cost of Lilly of the Desert or Lakewood liquid extract - that probably changes with the 200x powder, but it's too easy for me to break off a filet for free.
If I had to make yucca extract myself I'd pass, but Therm-X is a useful surfactant for me and at the price even a quart of the stuff should last me a year or two. I love the stuff.
Even with the obscene profit per pound on grass we should be considering our margins,as well as environmental impact of our purchases. I haven't seen enough response to warrant the cost of Lilly of the Desert or Lakewood liquid extract - that probably changes with the 200x powder, but it's too easy for me to break off a filet for free.
