Messenger, Plant Health Activator

I just ordered some and can't wait to try it on the plants that I brought in from outside for the winter. Sure hope it will work on my Hibiscus, and my new EE plant. Has any one tried it on there new plants that have been started from seeds? I am planning of starting some new flowers the first of Jan. for this summers gardens, and was wondering if it would hurt them or help them.

I used it on my hoyas and cacti and in my opinion, it made them all look greener and perkier. The Hoya Obscura immediately put out 3 bloom spurs and bloomed on all of them, then 2 of them fell off. It probably needed more fertilizer for it's rapid growth, so that's something to keep in mind.

I've not ever tried this on seedlings, but it seems to help a lot of the other plants I spray it with. Each species seems to be affected a different way, whether just looking perkier and healthier or bursting into active growth. My plants *do* seem to need more fertilizer after being sprayed, so please don't starve them if you plan on using this product.

Thanks for the information, I can't wait to get Messenger in the mail. I'm hoping it will perk up my plants, especially the ones I just moved in from outside, it seems it always takes them a while to adjust. I have a couple of hibiscus cuttings that I put some FastRoot on and stuck into some soil, one isn't looking to good hopefully the Messenger will help it.

One small thing, though... I don't believe this product really helps plants that are already stressed out or suffering from disease, etc. For the product to truly work, you need to start with a healthy plant. That way, when the immune system is boosted by Messenger but there is actually nothing to fight off, it puts all of its energy into plant growth and blossoming. Just my observation.

can you post where to get it again_TY

notmartha web site for the Messenger.
http://edenbio.com/index.html

Ispahab the hibiscus I want to use it on don't have any bugs or disease but they are a little stressed. I will wait before I use it make sure they are healthly. Thanks for you information.

I have two beautiful gardenia plants that are slow to bloom I want to use it on them. I was told to use blood meal but you need to transplant them. I just did that about a month ago and hate to do it again.

This message was edited Oct 15, 2004 11:27 PM

Any more input about Messenger?

Over the weekend, I treated my plants to the third application of messenger at two week intervals. I applied it to about 100 trees & shrubs in training for bonsai, about 30 containers I have scattered about the garden, and another 50 or so smaller individual potted plantings. At each application, I included a foliar feeding of 5-1-1 fish emulsion and a Daconil treatment. I cannot say with any certainty that my plants look better than in past years, but I think they do. I can say that I think bloom time is extended & I have 2 plantings of containerized pansies that are still blooming strongly & looking good. In past years, they had faded by this time.

I'm usually very careful about drawing conclusions from what would surely be considered anecdotal observations, so I have to say "The jury's still out", but I'll continue to observe for the rest of the summer.

Al

I just found this forum question and would like some info on Messenger..Ive been using super thrive and somebody told me Messenger works better...well ive got one packet of it from a friend and she says to spritze it on the leaves instead of watering with it..any comments or thoughts?...judy

A search using "eden messenger" (without the quotes) will bring up lots of info from both company websites and anecdotal sources. I have been using it all summer & will be applying another dose this weekend (see my post above).

I have also done as close to a controlled experiment on SuperThrive (ST) as I have seen described. I participate on another forum where its value (ST) often comes up. I saved one of my responses with my conclusions. You might find it interesting (or not) ;o)

Superthrive or Superjive

The question of the value of Superthrive as a miracle tonic for plants is often bandied about in horticultural circles. Several years ago, after reading claims that range from “I put it on and my plant, which had never bloomed, was in full bloom the next day” to “It was dead - I put Superthrive on it and the next day it was alive and beautiful, growing better than it ever had before”, I decided to find out for myself. If you look for information on the net, you’ll find the manufacturer’s claims and anecdotal observations, totally lacking in anything that resembles anything like a control. Though my experiments were far from scientific, I tried to keep some loose controls in place so that I could make a fair judgment of its value, based my own observations. Here is what I did, what I found, and the conclusions I made about my use of Superthrive.

On four separate occasions, I took multiple cuttings from the same plant. The plant materials I used were: Ficus benjamina, (a tropical weeping fig) Luna apiculata (Peruvian myrtle), Chaenorrhinum minus (a dwarf snapdragon), and an unknown variety of Coleus. In each instance, I prepared cuttings from the same plant and inserted them in a very fast, sterile soil. Half of the cuttings were soaked in a Superthrive solution of approximately 1/2 tsp per gallon of water. The other half of the cuttings were watered in with water. In subsequent waterings, I would water the “Superthrive batch” of cuttings with a solution of 10 drops per gallon and the others with water. The same fertilizer regimen was followed on both groups of cuttings. In all four instances, the cuttings that I used Superthrive on rooted first. For this reason, it follows that they would naturally exhibit better development, though I could see no difference in vitality, once rooted. I can also say that a slightly higher percentage f cuttings rooted that were treated to the Superthrive treatment. I suspect that is directly related to the effects of the auxin in Superthrive hastening root initiation before potential vascular connections were destroyed by rot causing organisms.

In particular, something I looked for because of my affinity for compact branching in plants was branch (stem) extension. Though the cuttings treated with Superthrive rooted sooner, they exhibited the same amount of branch extension. In other words, internode length was approximately equal.

As a second part to each of my “experiments”, I divided the group of cuttings that had not been treated with Superthrive into two groups. One of the groups remained on the water only program, while the other group was treated to a 10 drop per gallon solution of Superthrive. Again, the fertilizer regimen was the same for both groups. By summer’s end, I could detect no difference in bio-mass or vitality between the two groups of plants.

Since I replicated the above in four different trials, using four different plant materials, I’m confident in drawing some conclusions as they apply to me and my growing habits or abilities. First, based on my observations, I have concluded that Superthrive holds value for me as a rooting aid, or stimulant if you prefer. I regularly soak the soil, usually overnight, of my newly root-pruned and usually bare-rooted repots in a solution of 1/2 tsp Superthrive per gallon of water. Second, and also based on my observations, I don’t bother with its use at any time other than at repotting. No evidence was accumulated through the 4 trials to convince me that Superthrive was of any value as a “tonic” for plants with roots that were beyond the initiation or recovery stage.

The first ingredient listed as beneficial on the Superthrive label is vitamin B-1 (or thiamine). Growing plants are able to synthesize their own vitamin B-1 as do many of the fungi and bacteria having relationships with plant roots, so it's extremely doubtful that vitamin B-1 could be deficient in soils or that a growing plant could exhibit a vitamin B-1 deficiency.

Some will note that I used more of the product than suggested on the container. I wanted to see if any unwanted effects surfaced as well as trying to be sure there was ample opportunity for clear delineation between the groups. I suspect that if a more dilute solution was used, the difference between groups would have been less clear.

It might be worth noting that since the product contains the growth regulator (hormone) auxin, its overuse can cause defoliation, at least in dicots. The broad-leaf weed killer Weed-B-Gone and the infamous Agent Orange, a defoliant that saw widespread use in Viet Nam, are little more than synthetic auxin.

Bored yet? ;o)

Al

Very good information, Al. I wish I had known ST would aid rooting, having lost a couple cuttings in water that might have rooted under better conditions. If you want to throw more information out to us re: Messenger or ST, go right ahead. Not boring at all!

Eileen

This might not be too important to you, but here's some info I wrote & posted on another forum about rooting in water:

Though roots form readily and often seemingly more quickly on many plants propagated in water, the roots produced are quite different from those produced in a soil-like or highly aerated medium (perlite - vermiculite - seed starting mix, e.g.). Physiologically, you will find these roots to be much more brittle than normal roots due to a much higher % of aerenchyma (a tissue with a greater percentage of intercellular air spaces than normal parenchyma). If you want to eventually plant your rooted cuttings in soil, it is probably not best to root them in water because of the frequent difficulty in transplanting them to soil. The "water roots" often break during transplant & those that don't break are very poor at water absorption and often die. The effect is equivalent to starting the cutting process over again.
If you do a side by side comparison of cuttings rooted in water & cuttings rooted in soil, the cuttings in soil will always (for an extremely high % of plants) have a leg up in development on those moved from water to a soil medium for the reasons outlined above.

Al

Hope somebody reads this..Ive been trying to ask if being around messenger while you are spraying is hazordous....I dont know how this stuff works so I want to be cautious....I sprayed last night and things look pretty good this morning....I think I will need a case of it..lol...judy

Messenger is absolutely harmless! According to the label it is virtually non-toxic. Messenger also won the 2001 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award from the EPA for reducing or eliminating negative impacts to humans and the environment. In fact you can spray Messenger on a plant, harvest its fruit, and eat the fruit - all in the same day! Can you tell that I work for the company :)