I purchased Espoma's Palm-tone this afternoon in South Florida.
Although Palm-tone is made from organic material, the company adds genetically engineered microbes to the product.
Below, I've listed the organisms that Espoma adds to Palm-tone (as listed on the package).
The package contains the word "Organic" in large letters. Nursery owners understand that organic standard in the U.S. does NOT include genetically engineered organisms.
I did some searches in the PubMed database and found the following studies. The first one is very disturbing.
Bacillus lichenformis
Bacillus licheniformis is recognized as a human pathogen causing infections, mainly in immunocompromised patients.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3326966/
Bacillus megaterium
Biotechnology. 1992;22:251-310.
Development of genetic engineering in Bacillus megaterium.
The opportunities for industrial genetic engineering in several species of Bacillus other than B. subtilis and B. thuringiensis are now becoming a reality.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1504589
Bacillus pumilus
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 8408000758
Biochemical and molecular characterization of a detergent-stable serine alkaline protease from Bacillus pumilus CBS with high catalytic efficiency
Mary Jo Fahey
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Interesting info. So, what is your own conclusion about using the product?
Palm-tone isn't readily available here -- is it meant to be used for outside in-ground plants or for potted indoor palms as well? For the most part, I find organic fertilizers malodorous for using openly on indoor plants, though I mix up a small amount of xxx-tone when uppotting seedlings. I sometimes make fertilizer 'tea' and significantly dilute for watering indoor container plants. I wonder if the fact that this organism is in a mixed combination with other organisms would make all of them less of a concern than if in a single, concentrated population/sample?
I wonder if the bacteria you listed are also in the other -tone lines? Palm is a tree and not always grown for food but I will certainly pay more attention to the content list with garden-tone, tomato-tone, citrus-tone, etc.
Most organic fertilizers recommend wearing gloves. Maybe I should also wear a mask or at least a bandanna, though I am careful not to breath in the dust. Change clothes on entering the house, etc.
...I did find this general description of the first one, though this is from 2005 and the article you linked to is more recent from 2012.
https://web.mst.edu/~microbio/BIO221_200 ... formis.htm
...ok... I'm wondering about the gmo thing. Even if scientists are starting to or are already experimenting with these particular bacteria, that doesn't necessarily mean Espoma is putting gmo'd bacteria in their products,... or does it? How can it be verified except with DNA testing? If only a % is gmo, at what % does it make it not OK? Is it like the wind-blown gmo corn pollen contamination and not entirely controllable?
Palm-tone isn't readily available here -- is it meant to be used for outside in-ground plants or for potted indoor palms as well? For the most part, I find organic fertilizers malodorous for using openly on indoor plants, though I mix up a small amount of xxx-tone when uppotting seedlings. I sometimes make fertilizer 'tea' and significantly dilute for watering indoor container plants. I wonder if the fact that this organism is in a mixed combination with other organisms would make all of them less of a concern than if in a single, concentrated population/sample?
I wonder if the bacteria you listed are also in the other -tone lines? Palm is a tree and not always grown for food but I will certainly pay more attention to the content list with garden-tone, tomato-tone, citrus-tone, etc.
Most organic fertilizers recommend wearing gloves. Maybe I should also wear a mask or at least a bandanna, though I am careful not to breath in the dust. Change clothes on entering the house, etc.
...I did find this general description of the first one, though this is from 2005 and the article you linked to is more recent from 2012.
https://web.mst.edu/~microbio/BIO221_200 ... formis.htm
...ok... I'm wondering about the gmo thing. Even if scientists are starting to or are already experimenting with these particular bacteria, that doesn't necessarily mean Espoma is putting gmo'd bacteria in their products,... or does it? How can it be verified except with DNA testing? If only a % is gmo, at what % does it make it not OK? Is it like the wind-blown gmo corn pollen contamination and not entirely controllable?
Espoma biotone fertilizers are certified by NOFA and carry and "organic" label which must meet certain standards to be called organic. Biotone contains beneficial bacteria but it does not say any of the bacteria in the package are engineered. These species exist naturally and may be their natural forms. Realize organic is a marketing term and there are standards for its' use. OMRI certification on the label is a good way to tell if a product meets OMRI standards. Since NOFA certified the espoma products with biotone, I am guessing that they found the ingredients to be acceptable enough to carry the organic label. Anything GMO would not qualify.
https://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfIma ... c09c52.pdf
https://www.espoma.com/wp-content/upload ... m-tone.pdf
This food is good for palms and hibiscus. It is relatively high in potassium and has alkaline ingredients like poultry manure.
https://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfIma ... c09c52.pdf
https://www.espoma.com/wp-content/upload ... m-tone.pdf
This food is good for palms and hibiscus. It is relatively high in potassium and has alkaline ingredients like poultry manure.