Soapy Maintenance Solution
Top answer
From the KNF library
Drake's answer above covers the vinegar and the mist rate. The library adds where soap does get used.
Drake puts soap in pest sprays. A mint herbal solution is boiled mint, diluted about 1:100 with soap (Office Hours Ep. 134, 35:34). When herbal solution goes into a sulfur spray, he raises the soap to about 5 liters, roughly 1:100 (Office Hours Ep. 120, 59:41). His cheap-microbe pesticide uses 3 L of soap in 500 L of water (Office Hours Ep. 126, 53:07).
On the maintenance spray itself, two blocks disagree on dose. The Basic Course manual says 20 ml per gallon of water (Student's Manual, Basic Course, p. 46). An Office Hours answer says 25 ml per gallon, and calls 10 ml less than half the right amount (Office Hours Ep. 107, 31:16).
Fine mist also works for maintenance solution, though it is harder on microbes (Office Hours Ep. 50, 1:04:28).
The library says nothing about calcium or hard water.
Sources
- 35:34 Office Hours Ep. 134 (Jul 2024) — Noni Plant Juice, IMO3 Storage, DIY Water Softener · “boil mint in water down by half, then dilute about 1:100 with soap and spray”
- 59:41 Office Hours Ep. 120 (Apr 2024) — Fish Amino Acid Ratios, Maltose Seed Soak, Powdery Mildew Spray · “raise the soap to about 5 liters, roughly a 1:100 ratio, when adding herbal solution”
- 1:04:28 Office Hours Ep. 50 (Oct 2022) — IMO Bath, Hemp Hurd for IMO3, Transplanting with WCA · “Fine mist is fine for maintenance solution, but it's harder on microbes”
- 31:16 Office Hours Ep. 107 (Dec 2023) — IMO4 Tea Dosing, Water-Soluble Calcium, Pig Lactobacillus · “25 ml per gallon — he'd only used about 10 ml per gallon, less than half the right amount”
- 53:07 Office Hours Ep. 126 (May 2024) — KNF Chicken Feeder, JADAM Pesticide Recipes, Cassava Polyculture · “3L soap in 500L water, sprayed regularly for prevention”
- p. 46 Student's Manual, Basic Course · “Dilute the Maintenance Solution with 20ml per gallon of water”
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