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GLB Organic

Liquid Organic Matter

Plant Potentiality

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To understand what Liquid Organic Matter does, you must first understand the concept of Plant Potentiality. Plant potentiality is based on the first true principle of growing, that all inputs affect the final product. The moment a seed is started in propagation, it has an optimal potential, but only in the optimal growing conditions, which is almost impossible to obtain. The same goes for a clone, but the initial potential is based on the mother it came from. As a farmer, gardener, or grower, every specific input from each moment of the day has an effect and will give different results no matter how small. This includes the specific phenotype of the genetics, air temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, light, nutrients, trace minerals, organic matter, biology, environmental toxins, etc. The idea of Pheno hunting in reality is the differences in how each specific plant uptakes nutrients and is shown through its variance in quality. 

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GreenLife Biotics does not market our nutrients as growing “bigger” plants, like other companies. We look in terms of each plant on day one having an optimal potential and with each passing day stresses from all inputs limit the potential growth of those plants. GLB cannot control most of the inputs above, but we can create products that reduce biotic and abiotic stresses that are caused by any number of inputs, environmental or otherwise. The more stress we remove or mitigate, the closer to the optimal potential. This is of course separate from the specific manual applied stress techniques to bring about higher quality secondary metabolites at the end of cannabis cycles.

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We can show results from all our products, including Liquid Organic Matter, that others would say create growth or quality, but the reality is it removes stresses and feeds trace elements, many less than 20 parts per million, which are cofactors in enzymes for secondary metabolites, but are not part of the core micronutrients. Our field farmers will see visible changes in their plants' growth within 24-72 hours as it is not used in constant applications like indoor settings.

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**The pictures below are from a farmer that did not have lights in their greenhouse when they picked up their clones, and the clones stopped receiving 18 hours of light 16 days before this picture was taken. The transplants had been in the ground for 10 days and were given Enhance MC microbial and Liquid Organic Matter (LOM) at transplant to help reduce shock as the farmers did not feed any GLB nutrients in the cloning stage. LOM helped to create trichomes in a deficient clone within 17 days of flipping to the flower cycle. **

LOM 3 pics .jpg
Liquid Organic Matter
12% Humic acid

To qualify, all humic acids are nothing close to the same. The distinction between humic acid created from a compost pile of leaves, manure, or humates that took thousands of years to form creates a drastically different quality. Liquid Organic Matter (LOM) is the latter, from the natural oxidation of lignite mined from compressed animal and plant matter formed over thousands of years. Humic acids can be qualified as all organic compounds within humates, which include many different acids, as well as “humin”. Humin incorporates organic acids as well as trace elements and insoluble properties that some have equated to a salve on a plant's problems when used as a soil amendment, at least with our LOM product. The amount and quality of humin as an aspect can be seen in darker black colors rather than a lighter shade of brown humic acid.

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So why do we mention this? It matters.

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Not only do we start with the highest quality base material, but our organic chemist separates and pulls out the aspects we don’t want in a soil amendment including salts, heavy metals, and non-humate particles. Within mines, there are varying degrees of humates found from less than 30% to over 90%. 

 

Humate substances contain several acids including humic and fulvic. One of the main functions of humic acid helps to increase the permeability of the cell walls to allow for easier nutrient uptake. Where fulvic acid, as we have 6% in Enhance MC, can act more as a chelator to grab hold of the minerals, and help uptake into the plants.

 

What do we see by using Liquid Organic Matter in the field as well as indoors? 

 

The best way to describe it would be it compartmentalizes what is in your soil and pulls up what is needed. It helps with both biotic and abiotic stresses. Biotic stresses are anything living and abiotic stresses include nonliving (salts, wind, temperature, etc.) as in the environment. Every input affects potential growth and affects the nature of the plant’s health. Liquid Organic Matter helps to create a higher quality with less plant stress. 

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Less stress is an interesting point of contention with regard to growing cannabis. There are manufactured stresses that elicit secondary metabolite responses, which can raise the terpenes and other aspects, and then there is plant potential, which raises the quality to a higher degree naturally prior to manufactured stress being implemented by growers. This will raise the ultimate potential even higher. We speak in terms of reducing stresses, but so many growers only have known how to manufacture stresses to create higher secondary metabolites. The reality is there is a balance between removing stresses and manufacturing targeted stresses.

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The less a plant stresses, the closer it can get to its optimal potential. Like black oil, LOM coats the roots to help protect and aid in both soil and soilless mediums. Ours is different as it has had most of the salts removed as well so it has a much higher bioavailability. 

 

Some of its other functions include:

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  • Soil becomes rich in organic substances essential to plant growth.

  • Soil medium retains water-soluble inorganic and mineral fertilizers in the root zones and reduces leaching.

  • Improves the biological structure of the soil, neutralizing both acid and alkaline soils.

  • Improves and optimizes the uptake of nutrients and water by plants.

  • Increases buffering properties of soil.

  • Increases the water-holding capacity of soil and thus helps resist drought or stress from lack of watering.

  • Darkens the color of the soil and thus helps the absorption of the sun’s or indoor light’s energy.

  • Enhances the uptake of nitrogen by plants.

  • Promotes the conversion of nutrient elements into forms available to plants.

  • Reduces the availability of toxic heavy metals substances in soils.

 

One of the most important features of humates is their ability to chelate or bind insoluble metal ions, oxides, and hydroxides, which promote their uptake by the roots, and then release them to the plants when required. 

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Our GLB Clean mineral-based Potassium in several of our products is a clean potassium hydroxide. So as mentioned above, Liquid Organic Matter coats the roots, it holds our potassium, other nutrients & trace minerals at the root zone and releases as needed. LOM also reduces the leaching of mineral-based nutrients out of pots and soil.

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In addition, Liquid Organic Matter contains extremely high cation-exchange capacities (CEC) as well as anion exchange capacities (AEC). You will see you can change the amount of watering based on varying the LOM application rates. As well as it helps to reduce the reaction of phosphorus with Ca, Fe, and Mg and makes it more available. As a food source for the soil food web, microorganisms use it as a long-chain carbon food source, which creates healthier microbes rather than just a medium or short-chain carbon. It can help to stimulate plant enzymes and enhance the plant’s natural resistance against disease and pests with higher-quality humate substances.

Sun Grown
T2 Hemp
Outdoor WI T2
All images were organically grown in sandy soil in Wisconsin and needed additional Liquid Organic Matter to hold the nutrients at the rootzone. A small application was fed at each nutrient feeding with to coat roots & keep near the rhizosphere.

Visible Field Results

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When applied at transplant, limited to no transplant shock has been recorded when given proper food in the cloning stage. Some of the organic acids found in LOM are also included in our Roots2Shoots 2-1-2 root accelerant, amino acid, and secondary metabolite product. This product is an upgrade for transplant shock over the base Liquid Organic Matter.

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If applied after a transplant shock, rather than at the time of transplant, it can reduce stresses within a few days with visible changes in as little as 24-48 hours, which is relative to the harshness of the shock.

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LOM holds nutrients in sandy soils for a longer amount of time allowing for nutrients to be held at the rootzone within proximity to the rhizosphere.

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In field use, growers can smell the reaction of LOM with plants in flower within 6 hours after application as there is an opening of the stomata and a heightened aromatic sense within the field, specifically related to Hemp and cannabis acreage.

 

LOM has shown it helps to create trichomes seen within 2 weeks of flowering. (See pictures above)

 

In the end, we have found Liquid Organic Matter helps in all crops but concerning hemp/cannabis we see a higher rate of secondary metabolites in the vegetative and flower phases. 

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Field Application Rates

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Any amount of LOM is a benefit, but for all crops including Hemp, optimal levels are 3-5 gallons per acre per season but recommend at least 1 gallon per month through a 4-month season per acre.

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Outdoors, LOM can be used in micro drip emitters if at the end of nutrient application drip lines have fresh water run through to clear the lines during the same application.

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Outdoor Transplant - 1 mL per gallon of water as the last feed before transplanting and/or in the water wheel during transplant. Recommend 1 mL Roots2Shoots with or over LOM due to root accelerant action. If extremely hot and dry, apply both.

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Indoor Application Rates

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Though LOM is an excellent product, we recommend it only be used in non-drip line applications or a mix and feed by hand. Over time due to the coating action, LOM will start to clog. There are workarounds, and in certain circumstances, the use of Dry Organic Matter to replace the quality benefits seen through its use.

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Transplanting

We recommend Roots2Shoots but depending on if transplanting indoors or outdoors, it can be used at different rates.

If no Roots2Shoots

Indoor - 0.25-0.5 mL per gallon of water

​​Outdoor - 1 mL per gallon of water or 1 gallon per acre

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Propagation

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Indoors/Outdoors - see Roots2Shoots 

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Small Home Garden 

1-3 mL per gallon of water - the dryer the season, use higher doses.

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Pre-plant application 

1 mL per gallon – can be used as a food source, if used with 1 mL per gallon of Enhanced MC as a pre-plant application.

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Outdoor Pots 

2-5 mL per gallon of water as needed, daily, or every other day. If you live in a dry area, growers may need to use 5 mL per gallon depending on the water holding capacity of the soil or medium. They may need to reduce if the soil takes longer to dry up than expected.

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Indoor Pots 

​0.5-3 mL per gallon of water during every nutrient application, depending on the water holding capacity of the pot. Do Not use it early in veg as roots will not be established enough, and it will hold too much water in the pot taking 3 plus days to dry. 

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For quality, GLB recommends 1-5 mL per gallon of water at least 1 time a week if not following a GLB program.

 

Speak with a GLB Representative for more information or see the feed chart.

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