Aloe vera
Aloe has a place in most homes, I remember as a kid it was usually just a house plant, except for those first couple weeks of summer when you didn’t listen to your mom about sunscreen and got really sunburnt. She would rip off a branch and then squeeze the gel out over your burn and it really soothed it… along with making you sticky and tight. This is because aloe draws moisture through the skin. So it is actually pulling moisture from deeper inside of you to the outer layers of your crispy skin. Cool right?
Well, what it can do for cannabis is even cooler. After reading this article you will definitely want a monster aloe plant.
Uses in cannabis –
Foliar spray – for this you can also buy pure organic aloe gel in a jug, and mix a gallon of water with 2 teaspoons of aloe gel for your foliar. (** you can not store this, it must be used within a couple of hours of mixing**)
Or
You can rip off a couple inches of a branch (depending on its thickness) and scrape/squeeze the gel out into a spray bottle and fill the rest with unchlorinated water. This mixture must also be used immediately
Benefits of aloe foliar –
aloe contains a bunch of micronutrients such as magnesium, calcium, zinc, and manganese. Aloe contains a number of amino acids such as lysine and glutamine, as well as other enzymes such as amylase and cellulase. These micronutrients and enzymes are immediately absorbed through the leaves and will give your plants an amazing thick, full, lush look coming the next day or 2. In our trials we have found it even more effective if you ensure to spray the bottoms of the leaves as that is where the “stomata’s” are located. These are tiny perspiration holes that allow the plant to intake and expel Co2 and water vapour.
This foliar application is especially useful if you are starting to notice signs of deficiencies because of how quickly the nutrients are absorbed.
Secondary benefit to aloe foliar –
When cannabis absorbs nutrients through the foliage this causes the plant to release a bunch of carbs into the rhizosphere. These carbohydrates act like a magnet for beneficial organisms such as mycorrhizae, and we all know how important that myco is!
Aloe as a rooting hormone –
In some instances growers who are new to cloning will start with the rooting hormone powder, which isnt the most effective way of providing rooting hormone to your clones. And since its relatively cheap if it doesn’t work most people will end up buying a much too overpriced product to help them get roots.
Aloe contains salicylic acid which is used as a rooting agent. This acid stimulates the cuttings with its nutrient dense profile which will help produce more roots as well as stimulate rooting faster.
What if we told you it was as easy as prepping your cutting normally, rip off the end of an aloe branch, then stick the end off an aloe branch and dipping your cutting into the goo, then stick the cutting into the rockwool.
You can even mix the aloe gel in a little dish of chlorine free water blend it really good but making sure its still rather thick. To stretch the aloe out more.
Aloe, disease, and pest control, soil drench –
Aloe contains very high amounts of a polysaccharide called acemannan which has antifungal, antibacterial, and antiviral properties.
Aloe contains high concentrations of saponins, which are really interesting, because they are a) toxic to pests, b) help rejuvenate the soil and allow more water to penetrate the roots, and c) protect your plant against detrimental microbes that would otherwise cause disease or infections.
Salicylic acid, which is what makes aloe such a good rooting gel, has a secondary use. This substance tricks cannabis into what is called “systemic acquired resistance” (SAR). This is essentially an immune response which actually happens in animals after they’ve been exposed to a negative pathogen. Salicylic acid is actually required by plants in order to make this reaction happen, which makes it an excellent choice to use as a soil drench.
Sources
systematic acquired resistance
phenolic constituents, antioxidant and preliminary antimycoplasmic activities of leaf skin and flowers of aloe vera
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov