I started using Messenger late in the growing season last year - - too late to really form a strong opinion.
However, I will be spraying regularly this year and watching more closely. I will tell you that I planted out most of my large brugs on April 9 & 10, and I sprayed with Messenger 2 weeks ago. Since that time, temperatures have been significantly cooler than normal. Even though we've had numerous nights in the 30's, 2 light frosts and days on end with little sun and tons of rain, many of my brugs are covered in little buds. None of the brugs were covered and most are not in sheltered areas.
I have been expecting to have bud drop, especially after the frosts (cold enough to freeze the water in the birdbath), but so far the brugs are doing fine. Is it Messenger or are brugs tougher than I realized? Maybe some of the cooler zone growers can tell me what they think.
Edited for grammar!
This message was edited May 4, 2005 5:37 PM
Has anyone started to use Messenger yet?
Where I live it is always cooler and they seem to love the temps and I get lots of buds.
When you all are using it, will you watch to see if you get a sore throat after? I get one every time. Not bad, just feels like it is scratchy. I need to wear a mask. I always end up spraying it on some tall brug and it comes right back on me. Hey maybe that is why I have gained 30 pounds!!!
LOL Kell.....I gained that same 30 pounds, but I haven't started using my Messengers yet. Wonder what will happen when I do?
Kristi, did you find it yet? I found mine...now I hope I can remember to use it.
Heck no I didn't find it Shirley! I actually put off looking for it. I'm trying to find the girls birth certificates so I can get them passports for our vacation in July. If I was only a TINY bit organized I'm sure my suffering would come to a end. GRRRRRR
Datdog and all -
I started using Messenger in late winter on my houseplants and they all took off like rockets. I guess everybody's experience is different, but I LOVE the stuff. Pirl - Ralph's Snodsmith's Garden Hotline radio show is where I first learned of Messenger last summer and introduced it here to Dave Members (I NEVER miss his show on Sundays).
Anyway...I have already given 2 applications to my plants in the greenhouse and all my outdoor plants breaking dormancy. My peonies are incredble - already up about 3 feet and forming buds. Also, we have had a abnormally cold and rainy Spring here in CT for the 3rd year in a row. For the last 2 years I did not get a single bloom on my Phlox because they got botrytis and mildew that ruined them. This year I started spraying Messenger as soon as they peeked out of the ground - they are now 2 ft high and beautiful - not a sign of mildew.
The Messenger folks never claimed it is a miracle cure for all that can ail your plants. It can't prevent disease totally or cure it - but it DOES make your plants more resistant and better able to make use of the fertilizer and nutrients you provide. Don't expect miracles from any product -- but there is enough benefit to it (at least for me) - that I don't intend to be without it.
Diane Krny
Wow, I'm glad to find this thread again. I have a hefty stash of M, but I keep forgetting to use it. I remembered today, and I sprayed my roses (just leafing out) and brug seedlings. I don't have many plants, so my supply will last a while.
I just checked edenbio's site, and they now offer M's in single dose packets.
What messenger have in it, to make it good for plants?,,,,,,,Thanks hoss
Here is the information link: http://www.edenbio.com/hg/hgmain.html
This message was edited Jun 21, 2005 10:49 PM
hi, hoss. not off my head, but from epa. about harpin protein.
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_006477.htm
annapet
Moonglow...great link. thanks.
I don't consider Messenger a cureall, but just another (expensive) aide. I keep my supply in the fridge, tightly sealed.
Aloha to all,
Carol
I am so glad I found this thread. I just used my first few packets this morning. I tried it on several roses and one half of one of my beds. The other half is a mirror to the first and both are about even in development. I'll post in a few weeks with the results. Anyone else have an update?
Kristi I think your Messenger is with my favorite sprinkler. Never to be seen again. Sigh.
BTW, My Rosamond seedlings I got from you are super sturdy little guys. Real hefty. How do you like that for a discription? Also, I have some Yellow seedling x Kyles Pink that are really strong growers too. I don't remember if I got them from you or someone else. Will have to look in my notes. I sure wish they would bloom this summer.
Thanks for the seeds, and when you find your Messenger please send me my spsrinkler. LOL
Jeanette
Too funny Jeanette- Can you send me my felco pruners if you come across them? I'm on pair number 2 this year. GRRRRR
Great news about the seeds... The yellow seedling is aka: trash can seedling- long story. :)
Youa re so right.!! I remember that now. You didn't tell the story though.
Yes, when I find my sprinkler, and your messenger there should be your Felco pruners and my pruner's also. I have since taken to painting my tools with a florescent red paint on the handles, buckets with no holes etc.
Now if your Felco pruners and my Felco pruners are the same style, I will take the sharper ones thankyou.
Jeanette
Here is a link to a site that sells a product that is similar if not the same as Messinger. It is less money. I haven't used it, I do use messenger and have noticed a difference in my plants. I do not use a large amount the website says you are wasting the product if you put more than a mist on the leaves. So I go throught real fast with 1 gallon of spray and lightly mist everything.
Here is the link:
http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=66484
Connie...it looks good...same as Messenger. Do you know how much 1 container is? Size is a bit vague!!! I got the price...but is 1 container a small packet or a large bottle? Do you know/
Carol
This message was edited Jun 25, 2005 7:30 PM
3 pack is one container.
each pack is 3 gallons. 9 total.
This is my second year with messenger ... I started mid summer last year and noticed great improvment in everything ... roses were greatly improved as far as desease went... and flowering was greatly improved... and everything else had a vibrancy ... like when you are inside imagning what it looks like outside... and after treatments you go out and it looks just that good..
the picture is of an Alpine Sunset.. dramaticly increased size in the flower... I haven't noticed an increase in the brugs flower size... but at 14-16 inches of trumpet length... I can't say I'm looking for bigger here... [ a 24" trumpet.. ,I'd not pass that up you understand] but things are so healthy and they are setting buds... a few have flowered and were fine...
Gordon NYC roof garden zone 4-14
Gee Gorden, if it will get my roses to grow a few 20s, I am all over it.
lol, kell. that's what i said, too, when i saw this photo in the rose forum!
Question: Has anyone seen any info on Messenger vs aspirin? Drew, of Drew_N_Corinn said there was a study done favorably comparing Messenger w/ aspirin at 1:1000. He was unsure of amts and I was hoping someone might have more info. I'm thinking of trying the aspirin, after figure amts of water to qty of aspirin. Thanks, Suzi :)
No, but aspirin sure makes me feel better. I take it every day even if I am not hurting. I call it my comfort drug. LOL
I have been using Messenger for 2 years and I have got to say this year I see no differences at all in my plants. Last year I would. So I am so disappointed. I do not know if I got a bad batch or if shouldn't be kept more than a few months. Maybe I got an old batch. Too bad too because I bought a couple dollars worth before the price was going to go up.
Here is the thing about Messengers. I forget to use it, which isn't exactly correct. Because of the cost of the darn stuff, and using it all at one time, and other instructions, etc, I keep the stuff inside, rather than outside with all my other gardening stuff. So, when I get outside and remember it, I don't want to stop what I'm doing, clean up and go back inside, where I keep it frigid, and it always freezes me when I'm hot, to find the Messengers because, I know I will NEVER get back to the yard to finish my work on time. If it could be stored like other stuff, I believe I would have used it by now, but I'm not going to schedule my time around Messenger, when I can't tell when I use it anyway...I'm going to use it all, but it will be on seedlings and occasional foliar feeding, stuff that I do think about before I go to the garden to work...
Has anyone tried storing an opened package? I thought I would be so smart and bought the larger packages because they seemed like a better deal. Now I'm asking myself how I'm going to use up 3 gallons of the stuff at once. LOL.
no the messenger people told me it is not really storable. It is a protein and once opened it starts degrading and thus effectiveness. Now if you have one of those "foodsavers" or the vaccum canisters and store in a cool dry place you can prolong life of leftover messenger.
Emilyrasmus -
The messenger can supposedly be stored for at least a few years in the unopened little packets. Once it is mixed with water it must be used within a few hours. The opened packets, however, CAN be rolled up tightly, put a rubber band around them and put them back in the plastic clamshell they came in and keep in a dry, cool environment and it will store just fine. I have sucessfully stored it like this for as much as 2-3 months with no noticebable difference at all. If you want to hear it from them go to the website and email them or call them.
Diane Krny
I've used it twice so far and I must say that I am quite disappointed.
I used it once just before planting my Brugs in the ground and again 3 weeks later and so far have not noticed any difference whatsoever.
I thought it would help green up their leaves and give the seedling a jumpstart on Y'ing a little earlier but there has been no difference in their normal growth.
I've heard so many amazing results from using it that it was quite a let down .
snowhermit, you mean the ones you sprayed with messenger are growing the same rate as your control group?
last week, for my messenger experiment i picked out same size seedlings. sprayed one with messenger. i wish i had a bigger sample to work on. the rest of the mix i used on my roses.
i thought the one treated with messenger "perked" up the following day...i was probably too hopeful.
anyhow, here they are a week later. i thought the growth of the one on the left was exponential. i'll continue the experiment.
wow moonglow that's impressive
thanks, vossner. i thought so, too. but the experiment will go on, and i'll find a bigger sample.
now i'm kicking myself for just letting this product sit in storage. i bought my big stash last january, a month after i joined dave's. argh!
Annapet -
You are fine...really - I too have a big stash that will last me the rest of this growing season. It doesn't break down that easily - only if you mix it with water or leave the packet open in a damp humid enviroment.
Diane Krny
exactly, as diane says. If not opened, no problem and will last a long time. I started using some in Jan but quickly got bored when I didn't see gigantic progress. But I will use it eventually. Gotta get rid of all the magic potions in my closet! LOL
I'd love to hear the end results of your experiment Moonglow.
My Messenger came from the coop and I had'nt opened it till I applied it to the plants.
Although I sprayed all the Brugs with it before they went outside I experimented with 12 seedlings, all the same size and same cross.
Sprayed 6 of them with Messenger and left the other 6 unsprayed. I could see no noticeable difference in their growth. Maybe the Messenger is too old or I was expecting too much.
Do you suppose that it could possibly be that because you all were buying through a coop that they might have given you an older batch?
Jeanette
I know alot of you use messenger and those who don't know what it is can benefit from this info.
Here is some info on it.
There is another product called Green Guard and Gardens Alive sells it. Some where wondering if it was as good as Messenger, it is cheaper.
Messenger is from BioScience. I was looking for something else and came across this info at PAN Pesticide data base.
It is a very interesting page, those of you interested in using Messenger or that already do use might want to check it out. There is alot of info on it. Make sure you go all the way to the bottom of the page.
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Product.jsp?REG_NR=06983400002&DIST_NR=056872
Connie
Great sleuthing Connie. Isn't that so interesting. Makes you wonder why they are using different names.
Sounds like a good marketing gimick to me. If they sell under just one product name, peo not nec hear about it. If have several, then they are kind of competing with self. Everyone recommends the one they like, etc... Long term benefit, many more hear about it and many more buy, thus more money. ~ Suzi :)
I heard from local nursery owner that Eden Bioscience licensed a few companies including Gardens Alive, to market Messenger under their own names...and yes, sure, it good marketing. This same nursery owner told me he had sold out of all he had within 2 weeks. Apparently the word is getting around and the local tomato growers were crazy about the stuff.
Diane Krny
I used messenger for the first time last night and sprayed the top and underside of all of my brug leaves. I don't think the word has gotten around here yet as the nursery still has a good-sized supply of the stuff.