Chelated Iron Dosing - Is there such a thing as a preventive dosing?

[Roger Pilon]

Is there a specific dosing of chelated iron that one can add to his system as a preventive dosing!

I know that when you see yellow leaf appearing it is normally time to add chelated iron. This said, I would like to know if there a specific dose that you can add weekly, monthly to keep your AP system in a happy iron level?

Not too much, not too high... just enough to avoid a lack of iron!

Some specs:

1. I have a chelated iron EDDHSA 6% (Fe)
2. Using a IBC tote with 1000 liters water +/-
3. 2 x (4x8x12inches) Deep Floating Raft 
4. PH is at 6.8 / 7 range

Any advices would be welcome!

Roger Pilon

Costa Rica

[Jesse Hull]

Nowadays, Tobacco Mosaic Virus is a much worse threat than pests.  

Research what it takes to get rid of TMV.

Vlad Jovanovic said:

Old timers here used to save their hand rolled buts for the same reasons. Had no idea it would work on mites and aphids though. Very very cool. (unless its the just all the pesticides that they sprayed the tobacco with working hehe...kidding)

Chip Pilkington said:

It worked well with no adverse effects. I would imagine it would be rediculously expensive to use in the States or Australia.

The concept is sound - the smell and taste of tobacco would certainly discourage me... 

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Thanks Jesse, this past spring after using a tobacco brew on some of my Quince trees and a few plants, and then reading up on TMV...I decided that it wasn't worth the risk. Even though it seems like I got lucky that time, it isn't something that I would do again.

It did have the effect of getting rid of the pests I was after, but the whole TMV thing freaks me out too much.

[TCLynx]

I've heard some people recommend boiling the buts to kill off the diseases.  Any ideas if that would protect plants against TMV or if it's still just risky business?

[Vlad Jovanovic]

There are many .edu sites that suggest boiling your tools for 5 minutes as a protective measure and so forth (soapy water/detergents), while industry uses acid extractions and tri-sodium phosphate to treat seeds against TMV.

Boiling the butts may very well work, but until I come across something a little more concrete, I'm not gonna risk it. Again, I'm not saying it doesn't work...just that it freaks me out a bit because I don't have any solid info on the matter myself...

[Jesse Hull]

TC & Vlad, 

I'm not sure what it would take.  I learned in a survival skills course years back that if you want to sterilize water, fill non-UV-resistant glass jars (e.g., mason jars) and put then in the open sun for a few days.

If you soaked the butts in water to make a 'tea', then strained it so that all you were left with was water, and then did the above sun sterilizing method, I wonder if it would this be enough to kill TMV.

We grew Nicotiana persica under artificial lights 5 years back specifically to use as a pesticide.  If you treated the seeds, I would assume that you would have no issues, and the dried matter would last for many seasons if stored properly.

Nicotiana persica is a powerfully potent plant, not like the 'schwag' tobacco grown by Phillip Morris and the like.

So the nicotine content is really high, which I was reminded of when I absent-mindedly did some routine clipping and maintenance on the crop.  I wore gloves because it was so sticky, but It went right through the skin on my wrists.  I was buzzing like crazy within several minutes  -ended up restocking three days worth of the store's inventory in a single afternoon, and then crashed hard. 

I don't smoke tobacco, but my co-worker did.  It was really harsh, but he cut it with standard shelf tobacco and claimed it was the "best smoke ever". 

Oh, and yes  -the spray we made did a real number on any insects unfortunate enough to be tested on.

Vlad Jovanovic said:

There are many .edu sites that suggest boiling your tools for 5 minutes as a protective measure and so forth (soapy water/detergents), while industry uses acid extractions and tri-sodium phosphate to treat seeds against TMV.

Boiling the butts may very well work, but until I come across something a little more concrete, I'm not gonna risk it. Again, I'm not saying it doesn't work...just that it freaks me out a bit because I don't have any solid info on the matter myself...

[Bob Campbell]

I found this and thought you might be interested in the process of extracting DTPA.

DTPA Extraction for Micronutrients

This university site is full of interesting research.  Go to http://www.clemson.edu/search/index.htm and enter words like 'micronutrient' or DTPA.  

[Vlad Jovanovic]

Cool find Bob! Thanks a bunch...