Get a Vitamin B1 shot — for Your Plant!

With the change of season and some early heat waves, I began to notice the leaves of the Mandevilleas that curtain my front gate beginning to turn yellow.  Now, since I had been making sure to monitor the moisture level of the surrounding soil between watering’s.  And having already applied a slow release fertilizer a couple of months earlier when the leaves began to appear, I didn’t know what else to do.  However, I did remember a friend telling me once that like us plants also benefit from the occasional boost of vitamin B.  And with this brilliant yet simple reminder I kept in mind that though plants do produce vitamin B1 Thiamine, (which we humans of course do not) like us they too can experience deficiencies due to varying stresses; be it for them due to heat or say too much salinity.  These affects in plants of course will lead to a stunting of new root growth thereby limiting nutrient uptake and the porosity of the soil surrounding the root ball.

With a new found motivation I ransacked the shed in search of a bottle of B1, yet to no avail while at the same time wondering if I had even purchased a bottle of vitamin B1 for plants in the last year.  So leaving the cleanup to the spiders I decided to instead use some liquid Hormex.  The benefit of utilizing a product which though having only a small amount of B1 as opposed to just a straight B1 supplement, is that you have the combined mutual benefit of the added synthetic hormones IBA (Indole-3-butiric acid) and NAA (1-Naphthaleneacetic acid) which aide in quickly promoting new growth.

So, promptly on the next watering I added 1 tbsp per gallon of water.   And after repeating this same feeding two weeks later, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  Not only were the leaves a brilliant green hue but there were also numerous new shoots sprouting everywhere!  I will definitely be adding this new input to my seasonal feedings from now on.  Give it a ‘shot’ for your plants too.

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