What is Beneboost?
Beneboost is a blended mix of 100% Organic, Non-GMO Ingredients including: Sprouted Corn (Blue or Yellow), Sprouted Lentils, Sprouted Barley, Wheat Bran and Oatmeal. It comes either in whole grain/seed form and we also offer it milled for easy application.
These grains and seeds can be sourced seasonally and sometimes locally so we encourage everyone to try making their own mix, as the best inputs usually come from local sources.
Cost Saving Note: We like to sprout our own barley, as opposed to purchasing two-row malted barley, which is sprouted and kiln dried. Sprouting your own can save you significant money.
How To Use Beneboost
In every application of Beneboost, we recommend milling (or pulverizing) your seeds/grains prior to application. The reason is not only to avoid those seeds from sprouting, but also to break it down into small, manageable pieces for your soil organisms to easily consume.
Some prefer to go with whole-grain and seed because it gives them the opportunity to store it longer in theory.
We are happy to mill any size Beneboost container for you, so please make sure to select it as an option at checkout.
Top Dressing:
1/4cup per sqft of bed space - evenly spread
When applying Beneboost as a top dress we do like to apply a nice, even and somewhat light layer on top of the entire container or area you are trying to feed. We apply this every 2-4 weeks atop of defoliated material and topped amendments. The fungal dominance in the diet provided by the Beneboost will accelerate the breakdown of organic matter (cycle nutrients) by promoting mycelium growth on top.
Evenly applying it around your containers promotes your beneficial organisms to spread will ultimately provide you with a more comprehensive shroud of pest protection.
Worm Bin Addition:
Depends on size of bin, but about 1/4 cup topped across half the container
Using a Beneboost in your worm bin is a big advantage because it provides an excellent food source to your worms, which truly helps accelerate their reproduction.
If you want to see your Worm bin firing on all cylinders, we encourage everyone to give this a try.
Sprouted Seed Tea:
1 cup of milled Beneboost per 5 gallons of water, aerated for 36-48 hours
Using a Beneboost in an aerated tea, is as simple as: milling/pulverizing it, throwing it in a sock/paint strainer and letting it bubble for 36-48 hours.
The enzymes from the sprouted seeds provide growth-stimulating benefits when applied foliar. In addition, the oats and wheat bran in the Beneboost provide the fungal dominant microbes an excellent diet to multiply.
Interested in learning how to make your own Sprouted Seed Tea (SST)? Check out our guide here.
Why Use Beneboost?
Plant Benefits:
Our blend of sprouted barley, corn and lentil provide proteins and enzymes that promote vigorous plant growth.
Barley provides the enzymes phosphatase, chitinase, urease, and amylase which feed the microbes in your soil to improve nutrient uptake and cycling. These 4 enzymes after digestion provide high levels of chitinase, which is a compound that improves plant immunity and immune-responses to pathogens and disease.
The oats and wheat bran promote mycellial growth on and in your mulch layer as well, which helps the soil food web cycle nutrients on the surface layer. Due to its ability to promote mycellium, we recommend using it as a the last step in your top dress as it will expedite bio-availibility of nutrients to your plants.
Great for Beneficial Soil Insects:
This product is a blend of all organic seeds, grains and oats specially formulated to provide complete nutrition to your beneficial insects, encourage reproduction and promote expansion and exploration within your containers, greenhouse or grow area.
By using Beneboost as prescribed above as a top dressed amendment, it helps not only boost populations, but spread out populations. By promoting the beneficial soil insects to explore for food and spread around you containers, it allows them protect your plants, faster.
With that extra supply of fungal dominant food source, these organisms are then able to all thrive together, as opposed to feeding on one another. In a closed loop system, like a pot or container, it is easy to force excess competition within the predatory organisms as well as with the decomposing organisms when you don't provide ample food for these organisms.
Remember though, that we are looking for a balance in the soil food web in our container, so competition is normal. Having said that, overfeeding can actually be more harm than help so we recommend following the application rates we have laid out.
On the other side, Rove beetles and Hypoapsis miles are ferocious eaters and thrive in conditions where there is ample food supply, even when there is not an active soil pest issue that you are targeting. Again, for that reason we recommend following the feeding guidelines as we have found the best success in maintaining good populations through trial and error.
Great In Your Worm Bin
You can adjust your rate based on the size of your bin, but about 1/4 cup topped across half the container. We recommended reducing or eliminating your other worm food when you add Beneboost to avoid overfeeding.
Read About These Key Soil-Based Beneficial Insects
- Oribatid Mites (Oribatida)
- Rove Beetles (Dalotia coriaria)
- Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Hypoaspis miles)
- Springtails (Collembola)
- Red Wiggler Worms (Eisenia Fetida)
- Enchytraeidae (Pot Worms)
