Lou: If you google the term triacontanol there have been countless scientific studies on this long-chain alcohol. There are studies on tomato, corn, rice, and multiple other plants. It has shown to increase the level of photosynthesis in many but not all plants. It is not water soluable so needs to be broken down to become available. It is found in the waxy cuticle of certain plants.
I know I have heard of and seen on GW of several folks that ferment and make alfalfa tea but I just apply the to my potting media when mixing it for use at about 1 cup per cubic foot by volume with all my other ingredients. It has some amazing results for many plants and has seemed to had no harmful effects on the 100's if not thousands of plants I have used it on over the years. I do apply on the ground over much of my property each year mainly in mid spring just before growth begins and early fall so as to take advantage of nature's natural growth cycles for here in the Hill Country of Texas. I do try to lay it out just before heavy rains so I don't have to water it in myself.
I have on and off over the years put small amounts in containers over the top (small handful in a 5 gallon container for example). Mostly ailing plants not doing well and have seen again remarkable results after a few weeks to a month. I see lots of companies selling the pure form of TRIAA triacontanol but I have never used it. I also read some more today about foliar applications of which I have never tried but might just need to do some experiements this year to see for myself the direct application potential. I mostly just use the KISS method and it has worked well for me in ground and in containers over the last several years. I have used it on roses and yes that worked well too but I don't do much with roses these days. I always use it for my container tomatoes tho!
Good Luck and let us know if you find anything out that you want to share.
Happy Planting David

Yes, I'm well aware of triacontanol in alfalfa. I've used it many times on my plants growing in the ground. I have seen impressive growth that I did not expect to see. I just have never used it for the containers and Al has talked about using dry organic fertilizer for the container and he did not see much benefit from it for various reason he listed in other threads. I just mainly wanted to see if anyone has seen significant improvement from using a straight alfalfa tea for plants in the container. I did a search for it on this forum but I did not see it unless it was explained in those super long thread that would take a while to dig through.

I started experimenting using alfalfa tea on a live oak at the small park across the street from my house last year. I had planted live oak in January 2007 and I have seen remarkable growth from it past year. Tyically, you do not really see much growth during the first year as they establish root system but it sure seemed like alfalfa tea(and pellets) did something. The trunk fattened up, a lot of new foilage, must have grown a foot all around, etc. Some neighbors have said it looked very healthy. Funny, I thought it was dead when I planted it. It had lost all of leaves after a hard freeze. I decided I didn't want it to be in the yard on the west side because I needed sun during the winter for warmth and it would have blocked too much sun driving up energy bill so I moved it to the park (the very first tree at the park!).

I have spent countless of hours looking for some info regarding triacontanol effect on root growth of the trees but I came up with nothing. There doesn't seem to be any studies done on that. I'll keep looking for it though.

I made my first batch of Alfalfa tea last Sunday and I plan on using it this weekend. Im going to use it for my all my tropical landscape plants and palms. I also plan on using it in my container herb garden. I would be happy to let you know the results. Although I don't know of a way to document or measure the results and relay them to you. If you have any suggestions or ideas on how to do this, I would be happy to share the results

Skoot Cat-

You could do a before and after pictures with some being control and some being experimental on both container forum and organic gardening in a new thread. You can always fertilize control plants in a few weeks. I finally got some rain this morning and I have my 30g trash can full of rainwater that I put underneath the roof. The problem is that I forgot it can be too heavy to move so I have to leave it there and deal with the smell...

Lou: I use it all the time and it is good stuff IMHO. Been using alfalfa pellets powdered up and also soaked in water to make a tea for years.

Btw, Al's soil recipe works WAY better than Al says it will with organic teas, feeds, etc.

I think Al is being a little too modest when he says organic feeds in his soil recipe are "tricky". That's the only time I've found Al to be wrong!! LOL!!

From my experience this winter (i.e., repotted the wife's houseplants), organic feeds and teas work VERY well in Al's recipe. And this is in plants repotted during the winter!! Not exactly the best time to try this new "recipe".

I've used all sorts of teas Lou and couldn't find one that hurt the plants in Al's soil recipe. In fact, they all worked and the plants are all VERY healthy.

Thanks rdak.

I can only think of one reason why you had good success is because of your climate? What is the weather like in the summer up there? I have to deal with 95+ F* every day in the summer all the way though september. As you know, the hotter it gets, the quicker it works. Maybe that's what Al meant by it being tricky but it may be fine to use alfalfa tea as it is very mild compared to spreading pellets on the top of the mix?

It's much cooler up here.

We average about 15 days of 90 degrees or hotter. Most of the time it is in the mid-80's and humid.

What you might try is letting one tablespoon of alfalfa powder soak in a gallon of water for a few minutes, shake it up and pour the whole concoction, powder and all, into the pots. That's what I do most of the time. It's kind of a mix of tea and solids if you get what I mean.

I've used this concoction mostly over the years. In fact, I powder soybeans in a grinder and this homemade (foilage plant) fertilizer is half alfalfa and half soybean powders. Every second or third watering I'll add a little molasses to the water. (I use other stuff now and then but the alfalfa/soybean powder, soaked in water is the main one over the years.)

For containers outside, with flowers or fruit, etc., I add some bonemeal to the mix. During the hot weather, the bonemeal does very well up here in Michigan. (I assume your potting soil is a little on the acid side?)

I do the soybean/alfalfa mixed powders throughout the year in the wife's potted plants. Not as much in the winter. You get what I mean.

I've never lived in a hot climate so I can't help people with stuff like that. I know it's different for you and I just can't suggest what to do with any authority because I've never experienced that kind of weather.

With your hot weather would you think you should dilute the stuff a little more than I do or make it stronger?

Do you have other suggestions that might be helpful? Thanks for any info.

Do you repot the plants every year? What exactly are you growing? I'm mostly growing trees and a couple roses. I'm growing trees from seeds and they will eventually be planted out once they achieve certain size. It could be 2-4 years and I need somewhat light mix that won't break down too much over the period of time. I am going to tinker with soilless mix and find out what works best for me in my climate. it can get really hot so the watering them during can be an issue esp when I go away for a few days. I don't know if neighbors can be trusted to water them as instructed if needed.

The problem with using dry organic is that they are fine particles and can clog up the porous mix creating parched water table. That's why I'm looking at alfalfa tea although not as main fertilizer but the plant hormone growth and loads of soluble nutrients made available from brewing alfalfa tea. I'm mainly interested in the plant hormone growth to promote root growth. You know, more root growth, more nutrients being taken up helping plants grow more...

Before using Al's recipe, I repotted every 2, sometimes 3 years. Always adding the organic stuff to my water (and sometimes directly on the soil) kept the mix from shrinking. I did this out of habit and usually to go to a larger pot.

With Al's recipe, I don't know, it's only been 4.5 months.

The houseplants are your typical green foliage plants you can get at any nursery. However, there is one tree type plant (I'm terrible with names) that has been growing in the same previous "old style" mix for 4 years. I add crushed leaves to that along with the alfalfa/soybean water and some compost now and then.

I have to prune that treelike plant twice a year and it is very healthy even though the old soil recipe is 4 years old. (You know, potting soil, perlite, bonemeal, alfalfa meal, handful of compost for microbes and more perlite - LOL!)

I can only guess that Al's mix will last much longer but I don't know for sure. It will take a couple more years to tell but the very nature of his recipe seems like it would last MUCH longer than my old typical organic recipe. I'll say this, I will use Al's stuff from now on.

With your more permanent plantings I can understand your worry about shrinking, compaction and perched water tables. This hasn't happened with my treelike plant indoors and has never happened with the large containers I have outside in wooden boxes, that get organic amendments every year to replenish old stuff. (These are large, 18"x14"x12" deep and drainage is very good.)

In fact, every couple of years I have to remove some soil because the amendments pile up too high. These containers are large enough that I can add wood chip mulch to them. These containers almost mimic in the ground growing IMHO.

Overall, my organic soils are replenished enough so they really stay "fresh" but I really can't say what would happen with outside trees and roses. (My wife grows annuals in our outside boxes.) Sorry.

However, if my old style organic mixes are sustainable in large containers I'm just about POSITIVE they would do better with Al's recipe. I see absolutely no reason why Al's stuff wouldn't perform better over the long run. Possibly MUCH better IMHO.

As you know, drainage is "king" and Al's stuff excels in that area better than any mix I have EVER tried. I mean it! It ain't even close IMHO.

I'd guess (and this only a guess) that with Al's recipe you could easily get 4-6 years out of his stuff using organic feeds in a large container.

Al is discounting his stuff relative to organic practices IMHO. I mean that in a nice way! In fact he's WAY underestimating his stuff when it comes to common sense, "ordinary" organics IMHO.