Alpha BioSystems Thrive

[amideutch]

This particular bacteria is not plant specific. I'm sure it deals with most food crops as that is what this particular handbook deals with. The below link is what I was referring to concerning the MycoGrow/Biota Max head to head done by Ray. Ami

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ight=Biota+Max

[RayR]

OK, now I'm confused, I reread MycoGrow™ Soluble's contents on their website and it also contains Paenibacillus polymyxa.

I always use a Pea/Bean Innoculant when I plant legumes, Nitrogen fixing bacteria really help growth and yield. I have a new package of Guard-N that I will be inoculating my container Peas when I plant in a few weeks.

Raybo,
Did you check the roots for nodules when you pulled up those peas? That's the tell tale sign of of how healthy a population of Nitrogen fixing bacteria are present on legume roots.

It would be interesting to see the same trial done on non-leguminous plants.

[amideutch]

OK, now I'm confused, I reread MycoGrow™ Soluble's contents on their website and it also contains Paenibacillus polymyxa.

The concentration of Paenibacillus polymyxa in Biota Max is most likely higher than that of MycoGrow Soluable. Ami

[Heather Greiving]

Hello,

My name is Heather Greiving and I work for Alpha BioSystems who manufactures the THRIVE line of products.

Thank you all for your interest in Tomato THRIVE! We are very excited to have our new web site up and running! (Ray - thank you for helping us spread the word!).

As Ray stated, we do not list all of our ingredients on our labels, as we do consider them proprietary. But, if you should have specific questions and would like to speak to one of our biologists on-site, please give us a call at 1.888.265.7929 and we will help in any way we can.

Howard Garrett, a well-known organic and THRIVE enthusiast, has done testing on all of our THRIVE products. You can learn more about them on his Dirt Doctor website or from his radio show.

We have received many requests for samples from Tomatoville over the past couple of days and will get these out right away! If anyone is doing a controlled test, in which you use a control plant that receives the same amount of light and water as a THRIVE test plant, with the THRIVE test plant receiving a dosage of THRIVE, we would love to see your pictures and hear from you!

Please take a moment to browse our new site and let us know what you think! We are continually looking for ideas for improvement. Also - look for our new FaceBook page coming soon!

Thank you!
Heather Greiving

Originally Posted by RayR

Alpha BioSystems has a new website for their Thrive product line.
They are also offering a free sample of your choice. Free is good!

I've never used a bacterial/myco innoculant before, but this season I've will be giving some a try, including Thrive. I first heard of Thrive when Howard Garrett started promoting it, then I saw there was a thread here at TV last year discussing Tomato Thrive. (with some confusion it seems)

[Heather Greiving]

Click on the below to hear about Mycorrhizal Fungi and it's importance - look forward to your comments!

Link disabled - M.

[RayR]

Thanks Heather, I love that anti-stress tomato toy that came in my sample package.

[amideutch]

The ingredients used in Tomato Thrive appear to be unremarkable when compared to other Myco products.
2 strains of Bacillus
2 strains of Pseudomonas
4 strains of Glomus (Endomycorrhizae)
For a total of 0.4% Fungus/Bacteria
Inert Ingredients
Water for a total of 99.6%

And I see no reason to treat plants weekly as the directions indicate. Just another company getting on the Myco bandwagon. The only difference is they are paying "The Dirt Doctor" to plug there product. Ami

[rnewste]

Ami,

I am sure ANY product of this type will produce improved results - - the REAL question is: which one is most effective in getting the desired result. At my son's Store where he carries Oregonism XL, Biota Max, and other myco products, he tells me his customers far prefer a product by Plant Success called "Great White":



Description:

"""Great White® is the most complete mycorrhizal product on the market. The cutting edge formula contains 15 different species of mycorrhizal fungi, 19 different species of beneficial bacteria, 2 species of trichoderma, plant vitamins and glycine all in one product. Research shows that this powerful formula will ignite plant and root growth giving plants the tools they need to maximize yields. Great White's concentrated formula ensures optimum colonization of root systems by the fungi for less money. The water soluble powder makes application a snap and delivers the spores directly to the roots for immediate germination. Users should look for explosive root growth, increased yields, increased fruiting and flowering, increased nutrient and water absorption and improved transplant success. The key to healthy and vital plants starts with a vigorous root system and a vigorous root system starts with Great White!"""

He is sending me an 8 oz. jar to trial this Season, and I will evaluate it against the other myco products to see if his customers are correct (regarding tomato plants).

Retail price is about $33.00 for a 4 oz. jar.

Raybo

[amideutch]

Great White comes from the folks at Plant Success who have been around for awhile. I believe their company is out of Santa Ana Calif. Most of the reviews I've seen, especially the cannabis forums think very highly of the product. Looking forward to your trial of the product. Ami

[RayR]

Ami,
I agree with Raybo , all that matters is the results. If we don't try the different bacterial/myco products we won't know the real world similarities and differences.

Though the THRIVE product is relatively new, AlphaBio has been around a long time also, but their specialty seems to have been in developing bacterial solutions for the agricultural and industrial market as you can see from their main corporate website.
A lot of companies have jumped on the "Myco bandwagon", bet were gonna see more too. The free trial sample is a nice touch on their part to get gardeners to try
THRIVE.
Both Plant Success and Alpha Bio are partnered with Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc., so their Mycorrhizal inoculum comes from the same supplier, one that has a good reputation for quality.

[dice]

What (if anything) prevents these liquid suspensions of
mycorhizzal spores and beneficial bacteria spores from
sprouting prematurely in the bottle, where there is no
rhizosphere and no roots to exchange nutrients with?

[RayR]

I don't know the science behind it, but they obviously must treat the mycorhizzal spores somehow to keep them in a dormant state. I read somewhere about cold stratification as a technique. How do they keep them dormant in a powdered suspension?
I've seen bacteria in a liquid suspension before in a bottle of BT.

[dice]

One other thing:

I have always wondered about whether the streptomyces
lydicus in Actinovate and trichoderma harzianum (antagonist
to some pathogenic fungi in the soil) were symbiotic with
or antagonistic to mycorrhizal fungi.

So far we only have Natural Industries assurance that Actinovate
will not kill off your endomycorrhizal fungi, and I have no
other information one way or the other.

I did find mention of interaction between trichoderma and endomycorrhizal fungi in another mycorrhizal product
vendor's faq, though:

http://www.mycosym.com/EN/FAQEN.html#P15

So my approach (this year, anyway) is going to be to inoculate
the seedlings at the potting up stage with Mycogrow for
Vegetables, which only contains 4 strains of endomycorrhizal
fungi inoculum, and not add anything with trichoderma and/or
streptomyces lydicus in it until transplanting into the garden
or containers. (By then the symbiosis between the roots of the
seedling and the endomycorrhizal fungi in Mycogrow for
Vegetables should be well established, and the other fungi,
bacteria, oomycetes, and so on in more broad-spectrum
soil microbiotic products and in the garden soil itself can
have their access to the rhizosphere without interfering
with the initial establishment of that endomycorrhizal
symbiosis.)

[amideutch]

dice, good read.To add to the mix here is another article and good read on Trichoderma which also addresses the compatability issue with Mycorrhiza. Ami

http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2011/...ponic-systems/

Here is another interesting article.

http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.or.../2004/amfungi/

[dice]

Those are good articles.

I notice in the second the authors do mention "liquid inoculum"
without going into any detail. It makes sense to me that freeze
dried spores would keep until they are introduced to soil or
potting mix and moistened. (It is interesting that the shelf life
of mycorrhizal inoculant seems to be based on spores going
dormant rather than simply dieing, and that refrigerating them
may make them viable again.)

It is possible that something similar provides a shelf life for
inoculant in a liquid suspension. I would simply like to know
what that is, what keeps the spores from germinating in a
liquid sitting on a shelf somewhere at room temperature.