Tolstoi's diary

They are completely different. Trichoderma are living strains of fungus the will colonise your plants roots. They live in a beneficial "symbiotic" relationship with your plant where they both live in a harmonic relationship. The fungus needs the plant to live on, and in return the plant is able to access nutrients more easily due to the fungus almost "pre-digesting" the nutrients in the substrate into a form that is more readily available for the plant. So it is a win/win situation for both the plant and the many species of living Trichoderma fungus. After experimenting with their (boosted/added) usage in my soil grown plants, I can now never see a time that I would not add them to my soil mix, so impressed was I with the perceived benefits. These include a reduced amount of frequency for fertilizer application, which was highly notable, and an over all increase in vigour and health. They may be a little expensive, but well worth every cent in my opinion. "Mykos" made by Xtreme Gardening is the one I use and can recommend highly. Enzymes are more of a refined extract, do not have any life and can be thought of more as a specialized fertilizer and are highly beneficial, but do not actually live in a harmonic relationship with the plant like Trichoderma do. I also highly recommend the use of enzymes, they too are great for plants and I use 3 separate types with notable boosted plant health at each application. Enzymes help release nutrients from the substrate to make them more easily assimilated by plants, just like Trichoderma, but in this instance, it is achieved through chemical reactions/synthesis. They can almost be thought of as natural plant steroids, or like what people use to bulk up, such as protein shakes. So, both these things work in completely different ways. The Trichoderma are like little "nano-bots" pre chewing the food for the plants and enzymes are like "super foods". Good luck with your explorations, you will find both these different products will help your plants health greatly. Hope this helps,.............. Organoman.

Yes any form of inert media(inorganic) will benefit you greatly. Perlite is also a good substitute and is white to reflect more light also reducing heat in root zone and evaporation. The perlite is cheaper as well. Happy Growing!!!

I would build a cover for them out of Corrugated Clear Polycarbonate Plastic and some 2x4’s it will at least keep the rain from beating your buds. Best of luck to you with fighting the mildew and all of that. Be sure to keep an eye on it.