[BillFarthing]

What is a biostimulant? The European Biostimulant Industry Council defines it as the following:

“A ‘Plant Biostimulant’ is a material that contains substance(s) and/or microorganisms whose function, when applied to plants or the rhizosphere, is to stimulate natural processes to benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and/or crop quality, independent of its nutrient content.”

You know all of those additives you buy at the hydro store? They virtually all fall under the following categories:

1. Humic/Fulvic acids
2. Botanical extracts (seaweed/neem/alfalfa, etc.)
3. Protein Hydrolysates (aminos)
4. Chitosan/Biopolymers (shellfish/crab/frass)
5. Beneficial bacteria
6. Beneficial fungi
7. Minerals (silica, Molybdenum etc.)

When you take a look at traditional agriculture additives, you realize that bottles from the hydro store are just "dolled up water". When companies don't list ingredients (*ahem Advanced Nutrients and Golden Tree), it is probably to pay for the cartoons on the label or the marketing to convince you there's some "Shazam" in there.

What biostimulants are you using?
Are there any products that don't fall under those categories?
What simple biostimulant is the biggest rip off at the hydro store?

[MJPassion]

Why go to the hydro store when most all of those types of items are made available at local Agricultural supply & grocery stores?

I use most, if not all, of the types of Biostimulants listed while trying to avoid the hydro store. Sourcing from the hydro store is not cost effective.

Also, sourcing dry ingredients is far cheaper & you can mix it w water as needed.

What Biostimulants can be purchased only at hydro stores?

[Dog Star]

Cocaine and whores are a best biostimulants... tough its gona be a hard quest to found
those items in hydro store..

[Dog Star]

LOL.. too much stoned yesterday..


Am use Ferticell-Universal and Algaren from biostimulants,first is based on auxines
giberlinnes from freshwater algae,second on Ecklonia maxima,african seaweed and
yiest extract.. then i use kelp extract from Ascoplhylum nodosum,use beneficial
bacteries from Biotabs and their mycorhiza..

LT-94 best fishmeal,cold processed,saved best nutrient profile,vitamins,minerals,etc. .

Antartic Krill meal for chitosane part,but very small amounts,this shit is strong..

Crunched kelp in flakes

Dry beer yiest,deactivated for human consuption,human grade..

Mineral part--- Granite dust,maerl,zeolite in nanodust,dolomite lime,agro lime,sea shell flour..


and alive worms with wormcastings as great biostimulants that are actually alive
and live inside this soil-mix munching on decompositing flakes of crunched kelp..
and shiting underground some great food that will bacteries prepare later for plants
to ingest and to feed them later..

works like a charm.. weed is high terpy if growed in medium thats alive..

[BillFarthing]

Originally Posted by Dog Star

Cocaine and whores are a best biostimulants... tough its gona be a hard quest to found
those items in hydro store..

Stimulating you and your plants, I see!

I don't understand how fertilizer companies can put out something without saying what's on the label. Take Canna Boost for instance (and yes, I read the whole damn thread on it!). Whether it's Molasses, Corn steep liqour, soy lecithin, salacylic acid, triacontanol or chitosan, why wouldn't you tell people that so you don't have any contradictions in your lineup?

I really didn't intend for this to turn into my personal vendetta about hydro stores playing on people's ignorance. If people took a little time to learn, they could learn "why" things work and save a little money in the process.

Right now, I am using:
2-1-3 late tomato recipe and some MKP
Chitosan Oligosaccharide, drench and foliar
Sunshine #4 with beneficial mykos and silica
15% worm castings for humus/beneficial bacteria

[Only Ornamental]

There's a bunch of other compounds which would/should/could qualify as biostimulants. I found over thirty available compounds which stimulate plant growth and about as much which stimulate plant immunity. Notably, not all of these are necessarily approved for the use on plants and not all are of natural origin and are often at least semi-synthetic although many break down into natural products.
It's often only possible to sell this kind of compound if you don't mention its presence within the cocktail. Certainly, some are and others should be prohibited and IMHO all should be put on the label but with many legislations there's some sort of 'Upps, didn't we mention THAT on the bottle, sorry!' should someone ever discover what's really inside. On the other hand, most of these aren't patentable and somehow, as a profit driven company, you have to keep the recipe of your secret sauce secret. Nobody (at least nobody sane) is willing to share his hard work and labour with a copy cat, right?
Here's a list of a few such plant growth stimulants with broad use for example in China:
- N-ATCA
- DA-6
- DNP and 5-nitroguaiacol
- Then, there's a bunch of chemicals called 'plant activators' including INA, BTH, and PBZ. Some of these are actually marketed by big agrochemical companies.
Other ingredients may be hidden by using the wording 'contains plant extracts, amino acids, and vitamins' which might even be the truth in the broadest sense if purified constituents and their synthetic counterparts, derivatives of amino acid, and former alleged vitamins were to be considered as fitting the bill. Again 'Upps, we didn't know...'. You're all familiar with the Alar and Cycocel fiasco, right? These two are amongst the most dangerous PGRs one could possibly use. And now you tell me how long it took till someone cared and actually did something? What was the fine for selling that shit to thousands of consumers? Sorry, I deviate...

[Odisseo86]

Originally Posted by Dog Star

LOL.. too much stoned yesterday..


Am use Ferticell-Universal and Algaren from biostimulants,first is based on auxines
giberlinnes from freshwater algae,second on Ecklonia maxima,african seaweed and
yiest extract.. then i use kelp extract from Ascoplhylum nodosum

algaren cause stretching to your plants?


I found from the agraria market, algaren and other biostimulators based on algae that contain auxins, cytokines and giberlinnes... my fear is that the latter (giberlinnes) can cause an increase in the intermodal distance...

Sorry for my bad english

[Dog Star]

Algaren stretching a bit but nothing you cant manage... ,you can always
supercrop plants,dont worry for nothing..

[Stickybred420]

indigenous micro organisms and that fpe, fpj, aact, bokashi. build soil not ego. haha

[mrrangz]

be careful when working with DNP

DA-6 does not respond with cannabis 5-nitro exerts similar effects as tria.