Actinovate/Mycgrow/BiotaMax Dip Solution

Siberian · May 13, 2012

Hi All,

I have used Actinovate, Mycogrow soluble, and BiotaMax for the past 2 seasons with good success; however I have seen others on this forum (i believe it was Amideutch & possible others) that use a dip method at plant out combining all three products. I am very interested but not finding great info on concentrations of each product in the solution.

My best guess per gallon of solution would be:
1/12th of an ounce MycoGrow
1/2 teaspoon Actinovate
A bit of a guess here but perhaps an 1/8th of a tablet BiotaMax

Ami and others, may I ask what concentrations you have used?

May 13, 2012

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?p=199882

Ami said:
For my preplant dip solution I get a small bucket 1 1/2 to 2 gallon in size. Add I gallon of water and dissolve 1/4 tablet Biota Max in the water. Then add 2 teaspoons of Actinovate and 2 Teaspoons of Mycogrow soluable to the solution and mix well.
Now submerge the pot of the seedling just below the surface of the water to fill the pot with the solution, remove and allow the pot to drain back into the bucket. Then remove the seedling from the pot if plastic type was used or plant the pot w/seedling if Dot Pot Or Cow Pots were used.
Just be careful when dipping the pot in the solution as you want to retain as much aggregate in the pot as possible rather than have it float out of the pot and into the dip bucket.
During the dipping operation periodically agitate the water to keep the ingredients mixed in the solution. When your done apply the left over dip to the plants you have just planted. The above instructions are assuming you are using 4" pots or less in size. Ami

Siberian · May 16, 2012

Thanks eltex. I used the search function but obviously missed that! My apologies.

janezee · May 16, 2012

Siberian, the search function is spotty at best. Not to worry.

Welcome to the forum. Ask when you need to. I love that you tried to search beforehand, though.

jane

Siberian · May 18, 2012

Thanks janezee!! Truly incredible forum. I already have a ton of stuff bookmarked for this season

I am a novice by this forum's standards but I will chime in with whatever I have found successful whenever I can to add to the ever-growing body of knowledge for current and future gardeners!

May 19, 2012

@Siberian, yeah, it can be hard to keep track of all the stuff you find on here, and other sites too. You will be off researching a subject, and a thought will occur and BAM, you are looking up 5 other things. I will offer a pointer or two on searching, as I often remember reading something but can't remember where I saw it.

If you remember who wrote it, let's say Raybo or Ami, you can use the tomatoville search, and make sure to enter their names in the 'who' field, and then a word or two that you read about. That should narrow the results down to a much more manageable size. If you don't like reading the whole thread, and just want the post, select 'display posts' on the search window, instead of 'display thread'.

Also, I love google searches still. You could type a topic into google, such as "biota max tomato". It will give a lot of results. Just click on 'advanced search' at the bottom of the page, and on the adv search page, refine your results by putting 'tomatoville.com' into the site/domain box. Since each listing will have a preview pane, it should be easy to find what you want.

Happy hunting...

Tracydr · May 19, 2012

Ami, will actinovate, my grow or biota max help with blossom end rot and heat stress?I did one soil drench early on with Actinvate w Iron but my Striped Romans are having BER. A few of my San Marzanos have had it as well. I'm also starting to see a hot of leaf curl this week, our first week of 105 temperatures.
I know paste tomatoes are very susceptible but I did have a good year last year with the SR, only having trouble when it got extremely hot. I didn't use anything special last year but I was growing in pure, composted horse manure last year. My soil is heavier this year, stays more evenly moist and I would have thought this would be a good thing? ( a mix of my clay and composted manure, some peat moss and composted kitchen scraps)
I'm trying to find something that I can add as a soil drench, since I know conditions will only get worse, now that we are up at 105 almost daily. I do have the bed shaded and we are still getting fairly cool nights, so this isn't the same 105 as what we get in June/July/August, when nights stay in the 90s. ( actually, we get up as high as 120 during the worst of it)
Would it help to add calcium nitrate or perhaps some fish, crab, shrimp meal?
I scratched some gypsum and azomite into the surface this week but don't have much hope of this helping, since I'm sure it should have been mixed into the soil, rather than on top.

amideutch · May 19, 2012

Actinovate is used primarily for disease control of soil borne disease and airborne as well.

Mycogrow and Biota Max have beneficial Bacteria and Fungi that can increase a plants drought resistance and water retention which might aid in retarding or preventing BER.

We know one of the reasons for BER is that during the time of heat stress little calcium is getting to the fruit because most of it is going along with the water to the leaves and evaporating. So in this respect the Beneficial Fungi and Bacteria can help. This is one reason we want to inoculate the seedlings on plant out so the bacteria and fungi can get to work setting up their symbiotic relationship with the plant roots and get the process started.

If you feel your growing medium is lacking calcium go ahead and give it a drench of calcium nitrate at a rate if 1 Tbls per gallon of water. Shading your plants can definitely help and if you havn't added any Myco's yet go ahead and do so. Do not let your plants get to the point that they start wilting due to lack of water as this will stress the plant as well which is another cause of BER. Ami

Siberian · May 21, 2012

Okay, another question. To what extent will rain have an effect on the efficacy of the Actinovate/MycoGrow/Biotamax dip? I planted out my toms, peppers, and zucchini yesterday around 4PM after doing the dip and now this morning it is raining pretty hard here in the northeast.

I covered some of my plants with 1 gallon milk jugs with the bottoms cut off to help prevent so much rain from getting to them but only had enough to cover about half my plants.

May 13, 2012	#1
Siberian Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: NJ Posts: 49	Actinovate/Mycgrow/BiotaMax Dip Solution Hi All, I have used Actinovate, Mycogrow soluble, and BiotaMax for the past 2 seasons with good success; however I have seen others on this forum (i believe it was Amideutch & possible others) that use a dip method at plant out combining all three products. I am very interested but not finding great info on concentrations of each product in the solution. My best guess per gallon of solution would be: 1/12th of an ounce MycoGrow 1/2 teaspoon Actinovate A bit of a guess here but perhaps an 1/8th of a tablet BiotaMax Ami and others, may I ask what concentrations you have used?

May 19, 2012	#8
amideutch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E Posts: 5,041	Actinovate is used primarily for disease control of soil borne disease and airborne as well. Mycogrow and Biota Max have beneficial Bacteria and Fungi that can increase a plants drought resistance and water retention which might aid in retarding or preventing BER. We know one of the reasons for BER is that during the time of heat stress little calcium is getting to the fruit because most of it is going along with the water to the leaves and evaporating. So in this respect the Beneficial Fungi and Bacteria can help. This is one reason we want to inoculate the seedlings on plant out so the bacteria and fungi can get to work setting up their symbiotic relationship with the plant roots and get the process started. If you feel your growing medium is lacking calcium go ahead and give it a drench of calcium nitrate at a rate if 1 Tbls per gallon of water. Shading your plants can definitely help and if you havn't added any Myco's yet go ahead and do so. Do not let your plants get to the point that they start wilting due to lack of water as this will stress the plant as well which is another cause of BER. Ami __________________ Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'

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May 13, 2012	#2
eltex Guest Posts: n/a	http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?p=199882 Ami said: For my preplant dip solution I get a small bucket 1 1/2 to 2 gallon in size. Add I gallon of water and dissolve 1/4 tablet Biota Max in the water. Then add 2 teaspoons of Actinovate and 2 Teaspoons of Mycogrow soluable to the solution and mix well. Now submerge the pot of the seedling just below the surface of the water to fill the pot with the solution, remove and allow the pot to drain back into the bucket. Then remove the seedling from the pot if plastic type was used or plant the pot w/seedling if Dot Pot Or Cow Pots were used. Just be careful when dipping the pot in the solution as you want to retain as much aggregate in the pot as possible rather than have it float out of the pot and into the dip bucket. During the dipping operation periodically agitate the water to keep the ingredients mixed in the solution. When your done apply the left over dip to the plants you have just planted. The above instructions are assuming you are using 4" pots or less in size. Ami

May 16, 2012	#3
Siberian Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: NJ Posts: 49	Thanks eltex. I used the search function but obviously missed that! My apologies.

May 16, 2012	#4
janezee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5 Posts: 931	Siberian, the search function is spotty at best. Not to worry. Welcome to the forum. Ask when you need to. I love that you tried to search beforehand, though. jane

May 18, 2012	#5
Siberian Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: NJ Posts: 49	Thanks janezee!! Truly incredible forum. I already have a ton of stuff bookmarked for this season I am a novice by this forum's standards but I will chime in with whatever I have found successful whenever I can to add to the ever-growing body of knowledge for current and future gardeners!

May 19, 2012	#7
Tracydr Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2011 Location: Laurinburg, North Carolina, zone 7 Posts: 3,207	Ami, will actinovate, my grow or biota max help with blossom end rot and heat stress?I did one soil drench early on with Actinvate w Iron but my Striped Romans are having BER. A few of my San Marzanos have had it as well. I'm also starting to see a hot of leaf curl this week, our first week of 105 temperatures. I know paste tomatoes are very susceptible but I did have a good year last year with the SR, only having trouble when it got extremely hot. I didn't use anything special last year but I was growing in pure, composted horse manure last year. My soil is heavier this year, stays more evenly moist and I would have thought this would be a good thing? ( a mix of my clay and composted manure, some peat moss and composted kitchen scraps) I'm trying to find something that I can add as a soil drench, since I know conditions will only get worse, now that we are up at 105 almost daily. I do have the bed shaded and we are still getting fairly cool nights, so this isn't the same 105 as what we get in June/July/August, when nights stay in the 90s. ( actually, we get up as high as 120 during the worst of it) Would it help to add calcium nitrate or perhaps some fish, crab, shrimp meal? I scratched some gypsum and azomite into the surface this week but don't have much hope of this helping, since I'm sure it should have been mixed into the soil, rather than on top.

May 21, 2012	#9
Siberian Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: NJ Posts: 49	Okay, another question. To what extent will rain have an effect on the efficacy of the Actinovate/MycoGrow/Biotamax dip? I planted out my toms, peppers, and zucchini yesterday around 4PM after doing the dip and now this morning it is raining pretty hard here in the northeast. I covered some of my plants with 1 gallon milk jugs with the bottoms cut off to help prevent so much rain from getting to them but only had enough to cover about half my plants.