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Rootwise Soil Dynamics  |  SKU: RBE101

Rootwise Bio-Catalyst Enzyme Elixer

Rated 5.0 out of 5
Based on 282 ratings
Regular price $36.00
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Description

Bio-Catalyst is not an inoculant, and that is the point. You are not buying it for a population of organisms. You are buying it for the enzymes: ten of them, exuded by non-GMO beneficial bacteria, yeast, and fungi cultures, then concentrated into a liquid.

Microbes cannot eat organic matter directly. They secrete enzymes that break it apart outside the cell, then absorb what comes loose. The enzyme is the tool that does the actual work. This bottle hands your soil the tools ready made instead of making the biology build them from scratch.

The enzymes in here are cultured specifically to work with the organisms in Mycrobe Complete, and it is the one Rootwise product that runs the entire cycle, veg through flower.

The short version
Mix

3 to 5 ml per gallon of water. A shot glass with ml markings is the easy way. If you would rather use a spoon, a level teaspoon is 4.9 ml, which lands at the top of the range.

How often

Label says every 2 weeks, in any growing system. We run it with every Rootwise powder application, which means weekly through early flower.

Also

Pour it over your mulch and chop-and-drop layer. This is where growers notice it most.

Which size

Depends entirely on your watering volume, not your plant count. See the sizing section. This one carries a 6 month freshness window, so buy what you will use in that time.

Store

Cool and dark, below 100°F. The fridge is a good home for it.

All three

The Rootwise Combo Pack bundles this with Mycrobe Complete and Bio-Phos at a discount.

3-5 mlof product
1 galof solution
16plants treated

How much you go through depends on how much water you put down, not how many plants you have. Unlike the powders, this one is worth spreading through your full watering volume rather than targeting the root zone, so a grower watering 10 gallons at a time uses ten times what a small tent does.

How to use itRates, timing, and the mulch layer trick

The simple version

  1. Mix it into the same water as your powder. Whatever you are running that week, Mycrobe Complete or Bio-Phos, add the enzymes to that same bucket. One mix, one watering.
  2. 3 to 5 ml per gallon. Most growers keep a shot glass with ml markings on the bench for this. A level teaspoon works too, since it comes out to 4.9 ml.
  3. Every two weeks at minimum, all the way through. Unlike the powders, this one does not stop or hand off. Veg, transition, flower, right up to your last application before harvest.

Rates

Use Rate Notes
Standard drench 3 to 5 ml per galabout 1 tsp per gal Mixed into the same water as your Rootwise powder
Mulch and top dress 3 to 5 ml per gal Same rate, poured over the layer instead of into the root zone
Field and acreage 1 pint per acre Of soil
2.5 gallon concentrate 1 ml per gal Four times the strength. Makes 10 gallons of standard.

On frequency

The label calls for every two weeks in any cultivation system. That is the floor, and it works.

What we recommend is simpler to remember and gets more out of it: put the enzymes in every time you mix a Rootwise powder. Through veg that lands on the same every-two-weeks rhythm anyway. Through early flower, when Bio-Phos goes weekly, the enzymes come along with it.

On the mulch layer

This is the use case growers write to us about unprompted. If you are running no-till, top dressing, or doing a chop and drop, you have a pile of organic matter sitting on the surface that has to be taken apart before any of it becomes food.

That teardown is enzymatic, and two of the ten enzymes in here, cellulase and hemicellulase, exist specifically to dismantle plant cell walls. Watering them directly over that layer puts the right tools exactly where the work is.

Two ways to apply it, and both are right

Targeted, mixed with your powder drench. Water first, then put your Rootwise powder and the enzymes into one small batch and drench the root zone. This is the efficient version and it is how the powders should always be applied.

Through your full watering volume. Mix the enzymes into everything you are putting down that day. This uses more product, and it is a completely legitimate way to run it.

Why the enzymes are different from the powders

The powders should be targeted because they contain organisms that need to reach roots and colonize them. Concentrating them at the root zone is what makes a small bag last years.

Enzymes have no colonization step. They act on organic matter wherever they touch it, and a lot of your organic matter is nowhere near the root zone. It is your mulch layer, your top dress, spent roots, and material spread through the whole container. Putting enzymes across your full watering volume puts them where that work actually is.

So spreading these broadly is not waste the way it would be with an inoculant. It is a different job being done properly. Just size your bottle for it.

Do not overthink the measurement

The rate is a range because it does not need to be precise. Anywhere in the 3 to 5 ml window works, and so does a teaspoon, and so does a slightly heavy one. This is not a nutrient and there is no burn risk, so if you are eyeballing it, err generous and move on with your day.

The ten enzymes and what each one doesThe whole label, and why the mix is built this way

Most enzyme products in this category tell you there are enzymes in the bottle and stop there. Rootwise names all ten, so here is what each of them actually takes apart.

Job Enzyme What it breaks down
Dismantling plant material Cellulase Cellulose, the main structural fiber in mulch, straw, leaves, and spent roots
Hemicellulase Hemicellulose, the other half of plant cell wall structure
Starches and sugars Amylase Starch, the stored carbohydrate in roots, seeds, and grains
Invertase / Sucrase Sucrose, the sugar plants move around in sap
Galactosidase Complex galactose sugars bound up in plant residue
Protein into nitrogen Protease Whole proteins, broken into peptides
Peptidase Those peptides, broken the rest of the way into amino acids
Freeing phosphorus Phosphatase Organic phosphorus compounds, releasing phosphate a root can take up
Phytase Phytate, which is the single largest locked organic phosphorus pool in most soils
Fats and oils Lipase Lipids from seed meals, oil cakes, and plant residue

Two things worth noticing

Protease and peptidase are a relay. Protease cuts proteins into peptides, peptidase finishes them into amino acids. One without the other stalls halfway. That is the kind of pairing you only get when the blend is designed rather than assembled.

Two of the ten are phosphorus specific. Phosphatase and phytase both exist to release phosphate that is chemically locked in organic matter, and phytate in particular is a pool most growers never touch. That is a direct mechanical reason these enzymes pair so well with Bio-Phos through flower, when phosphorus demand peaks.

Where they come from

These are exuded by non-GMO beneficial bacteria, yeast, and fungi cultures, then concentrated into the liquid you are buying. The organisms do not come with it. What ends up in the bottle is the output, not the producers.

The label is direct about the intent: these enzymes are cultured to function symbiotically with the biology in Mycrobe Complete. You are not hoping two products from two companies happen to be compatible.

What enzymes actually doThe part almost nobody explains properly

Microbes do not eat. They dissolve.

A bacterium has no mouth. It cannot engulf a piece of leaf litter or a chunk of compost. What it does instead is secrete enzymes out through its cell wall into the surrounding soil. Those enzymes are proteins built to break one specific kind of chemical bond, and they go to work on whatever organic matter is nearby, taking it apart into pieces small enough to absorb.

So the microbe is the factory and the enzyme is the tool. Every bit of nutrient cycling happening in your soil, every gram of organic matter turning into something a root can use, is happening because an enzyme broke a bond.

So why add enzymes if the microbes make their own?

Because building them costs the organism time and energy it could be spending on growing and colonizing instead. A freshly applied inoculant lands in your soil and has to tool up before it can do anything useful.

Handing the system a supply of ready made enzymes shortens that gap. The biology gets to work sooner and spends its own energy on establishing rather than on manufacturing.

Why this matters more the longer you run your soil

In a no-till bed you keep adding organic matter on top, season after season. Top dress, mulch, chop and drop, spent root mass. All of it has to be dismantled before any of it counts as fertility.

If the enzymatic side of your system is weak, that material just sits there. You have the nutrition, it is right on the surface, and none of it is reaching the plant. A soil that cycles well is one where that breakdown never stops.

What to expect

The clearest signal is decomposition. Your mulch layer darkens and thins faster. Top dress disappears into the soil instead of sitting there as a crust. Spent roots break down between runs instead of persisting as a mat.

The second signal is that your other inputs go further. Amendments you already added get taken apart and released rather than sitting locked in the organic fraction. That is the same story the whole Rootwise system tells: get more out of what you already own instead of buying more.

How far a bottle goes, and which one to buySized by your watering volume, not your plant count

Read this before you pick a size

The label states 6 months from purchase date. Enzymes are proteins and they lose activity over time, so unlike the dry powders, this one is on a clock. Buy what you will use inside that window rather than stockpiling.

It comes down to how much water you put down

This is the part that trips people up. Your plant count barely matters here. What matters is the volume of water you are treating, because the rate is per gallon and because this is a product worth spreading through your whole watering rather than concentrating in the root zone.

Water per application Per full run Runs from a pint Runs from a quart
1 gallontargeted root zone drench ~48 ml4 ml per app ~10 ~20
3 gallons ~144 ml12 ml per app ~3 ~7
5 gallons ~240 ml20 ml per app ~2 ~4
10 gallons ~480 ml40 ml per app ~1 ~2
25 gallons ~1,200 ml100 ml per app under 1 under 1

A full run assumes about twelve applications, since this one goes in every time rather than trading off at the flip.

Matching a bottle to your grow

Size Volume Right for
Pint 473 ml Targeted root zone application, or full volume watering up to about 5 gallons at a time
Quart 946 ml Full volume watering in the 5 to 10 gallon range, or anyone treating a mulch layer across real square footage
Gallon 3,785 ml Large gardens, greenhouses, outdoor acreage, light commercial
2.5 gal concentrate 9,464 ml Commercial only. Ships direct from Rootwise.

The honest rule: figure out roughly what you will use in six months, then buy the bottle that covers it without a lot left over. If you are running targeted drenches on a tent or two, that is the pint. If you are dosing your full watering volume, which many of us do, the quart is often the better call.

About the concentrate

The 2.5 gallon runs at four times the strength of the standard elixir, so it goes in at 1 ml per gallon instead of 3 to 5, and those 2.5 gallons make 10 gallons of standard product. It ships directly from the Rootwise facility rather than from our warehouse. If you need more than the site shows in stock, email support@buildasoil.com.

Where it fits with Mycrobe Complete and Bio-PhosHow to sequence all three across a run

Rootwise makes three products. The two powders trade off at the flip. This one never stops.

Stage Mycrobe Complete Bio-Phos Bio-Catalyst
Transplant Every transplant Not yet Yes
Root development and veg Every 2 weeks Not yet Every 2 weeks
About 1 week before the flip One last dose First dose Yes
Early flower
first few weeks
Done for the run Weekly Weekly
Mid to late flower Done for the run Every 2 weeks Every 2 weeks
About 2 weeks before harvest Done for the run Final application Final application

Look down the right hand column. There is no stage where the answer is no. That is what makes this the one to add first if you are building the system up a piece at a time.

Full guide

The complete stage-by-stage breakdown, including why the timing works the way it does and how to avoid wasting product, is in the Rootwise Deep Dive: How to Use It and When to Apply It in Living Soil.

Product Form What it brings
Mycrobe Complete Dry powder The foundation. Twenty species including four endomycorrhizae that build the root network during veg.
Bio-Phos Dry powder Sixteen bacteria weighted hard toward phosphorus mobilization, for flower.
Bio-Catalyst Enzyme Elixir
You are here
Liquid Ten digestive enzymes produced by beneficial cultures, concentrated. Runs the entire cycle.
Storage and freshnessThis one is different from the powders

The powders are dry, dormant, and forgiving. This is a liquid protein concentrate with a stated freshness window, so it wants more care and it wants to get used.

Below 100°F

Straight off the label. Enzymes are proteins and heat is what damages proteins. That is a lower ceiling than the 120°F on the powders.

Cool and dark

Out of direct sun. A cabinet works. The refrigerator is better, especially for a bottle you will be working through slowly.

6 months

The label states 6 months from purchase date. Buy what you will use inside that window rather than stockpiling.

Do not leave mixed solution sitting either. Mix what you will use that day and apply it.

Caution, straight off the label: keep away from children and animals. Not for human consumption.

Buy all three

Rootwise Combo Pack

All three products in matched sizes at a discount over buying them separately. If you already know you want the full veg-through-flower system, this is the cheaper way to get it.

See the Combo Pack and save

Common questions

Is this an inoculant?

No. It is an enzyme product, and the enzymes are what it is sold and rated for. There is no CFU count on the label and no microbial population it is meant to deliver. If what you want is to add biology to your soil, that is what Mycrobe Complete and Bio-Phos are for.

That is also why it behaves differently from the powders. Enzymes go to work on contact rather than needing to establish and colonize first.

It expires in 6 months. Which size should I really buy?

Work out what you will actually use in six months and buy that, rather than buying the biggest bottle that seems like a deal.

The number that decides it is your watering volume, not your plant count. Running targeted root zone drenches on a tent or two, a pint lasts a long time. Mixing the enzymes into your full watering volume, which is a perfectly good way to run this product, a quart is often the better fit. Anyone treating a mulch layer across real square footage should be looking at the quart or gallon.

Keep it cool and dark, use it on schedule, and buy fresh when you run out.

Can I use it by itself, without the powders?

You can, and you will get something out of it, particularly on a mulch or top dress layer where there is a lot of raw material to break down.

But understand what you are and are not doing. Enzymes get used up as they work. Without a healthy microbial population continuing to produce more, you are topping up a system rather than building one. The enzymes make your biology more effective. They are not a replacement for having biology.

If microbes make their own enzymes, why buy them?

Because producing them costs the organism time and energy. A fresh inoculant has to tool up before it accomplishes anything, and every bit of energy spent building enzymes is energy not spent growing and colonizing.

Supplying them ready made shortens that gap. It matters most right after you apply an inoculant, and in soils carrying a lot of undigested organic matter where demand outruns what the population can produce on its own.

Can I mix it in the same water as Mycrobe Complete or Bio-Phos?

Yes, and that is exactly how it is meant to be used. One bucket, one watering. Whichever powder you are on that week, add the enzymes to the same mix.

Can I tank mix it with my nutrients?

Keep it separate from concentrated mineral salts. Enzymes are proteins and harsh chemistry damages them.

Apply your Rootwise dose as its own watering rather than adding it to a full strength feed. Use clean equipment too.

Does it work in coco, hydro, or other systems?

Yes, and the label is explicit about it, calling for 3 to 5 ml per gallon in all cultivation systems. That is more permissive than the powders, whose rates are written for soil.

It makes sense when you think about what it is. You are not asking an organism to find a home and colonize. Enzymes go to work on whatever organic matter they meet, in whatever medium you are running.

Can I pour it on my mulch layer instead of the root zone?

Yes, and a lot of growers say this is where they notice it most. Chop and drop material, straw, spent leaves and top dress all have to be broken down before any of it becomes fertility, and that teardown is enzymatic.

Cellulase and hemicellulase, two of the ten enzymes in here, exist specifically to take apart plant cell walls. Same rate, just water it over the surface layer. You can do both in the same watering.

Can I use it in compost tea?

Yes, and this one is more forgiving than the powders. There is no carefully balanced ratio of organisms here for a brew cycle to distort, so you can add it whenever you like.

If anything, enzymes early in a brew can help break down your food source so the organisms multiplying in there have an easier time of it.

Still not sure which size or which product you need? Our whole staff grows, so reach out by chat, email, or phone and we will point you at the right thing even if it is the cheaper one.

Specifications

  • Length (in)
    6
  • Width (in)
    4
  • Height (in)
    1.75

Questions?

We are here to help and our entire staff knows how to grow. Just reach out via chat, email or even phone. We are passionate about growing and want you to succeed.

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average rating 5.0 out of 5
Based on 282 ratings
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95% of reviewers would recommend this product to a friend
282 Reviews
Reviewed by Michael C.
Verified Buyer
I recommend this product
Rated 5 out of 5
Review posted

Good stuff

This stuff is great. Just like I said in my other review. This stuff does wonders for your roots. It creates a greater connection between your roots and the biology in your soil to better the uptake in nutrients. This stuff rocksssssss…..

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Reviewed by Greg P.
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I recommend this product
Rated 5 out of 5
Review posted

Enzyme catalyst

Great product

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Reviewed by Melissa
I recommend this product
Rated 5 out of 5
Review posted

Got to BUY!

We bought the Rootwise Complete so of course we picked up the Elixir --- unreal. From the moment I saw the two fizzing in the gallon jug--- I knew! ✌️

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Reviewed by Ryan
I recommend this product
Rated 5 out of 5
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5 Stars

Looks good

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Reviewed by Carmella
Verified Buyer
I recommend this product
Rated 5 out of 5
Review posted

PURE MAGIC!

I never knew anything about enzymes until I found BAS. My garden has always done fairly well, but after adding this enzyme along with mygrobe, everything has perked up, looks so happy and my flowers seem to be full of buds that are ready to burst! I’m so happy I found this company. The selection of products are amazing and customer service is excellent. Highly recommend!

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Rated 5.0 out of 5
Based on 282 ratings