Synthetic Hostplant

[Bill Cornelius]

Dear People:

A few years ago I posted a request in the Yale Leps list for the
ingredients of Wessons salts, and Tony Thomas was good enough to reply,
but I can't reach him anymore at that email address.

I've been looking around for alternate sources for the ingredients,
because like Wessons salts, they either need a permit or a large minimum
order to buy large amounts. These are some sources I've found for most
of the ingredients,

Calcium carbonate . . 21% Oystershell, pet store.
Copper sulfate (5H20) . . 0.039% Root killer. hardware store
ferric phosphate . . . 1.47% Homeopathic remedy
mangamous sulfate (anhydrous) 0.02% **
magnesium sulfate (anhydrous) 9% Homeopathic remedy
potassium aluminum sulfate . 0.009% **
potassium chloride . . 12% Morton's ÒliteÓ salt
potassium dihydrogen phospate  31% Homeopathic remedy
potassium iodide . . . 0.005% comes with table salt
sodium chloride . . . 10.5% Table salt
sodium floride . . . 0.057% **
tricalcium phosphate . . 14.9% Paint remover, hardware store

These are the questions:

Those marked ones (**) all have vanishingly small amounts in the
quantities used in a recipe for a quart or less of synthetic hostplant.
I'm curious to know how critical their effect might be if they were
deleted. What are they for?

The Morton's ÒLiteÓ source for Potassium chloride also contains Calcium
Silicate, Magnesium Carbonate, and Dextrose. Their quantities aren't
listed, but I think their percent is more than the potassium iodide
because it was listed last. Will the ones beside dextrose do anything
adverse?

Food grade Root Killer and Paint Remover are hard to find. Are there any
impurities these might contain, that would pose a problem?

Does anyone know a source or replacement for pure white casein?


 
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