Supporting the Arboreal Food Web
Inspired Brews for Green Vibrancy
Biological growers are learning to honor and work with the soil food web in all its amazing complexity. Yet few have penetrated the mysteries of the arboreal food web. As below so above, one might say in carrying ancient wisdom to a next level of understanding. Diverse microbial populations on plant surfaces occupy the very niche that disease pathogens seek. Nutrient mobilization carries forward in deeper ways than our limited grasp of foliar feeding suggests. Agrarians become homegrown cooks extraordinaire when utilizing fatty acids, core nutrients, and fermented herbs to reinforce biological connections on the frontlines of photosynthesis. Add a practical edge to your growing game with commonly available resources that take into account this arboreal realm.
1 As Below, So Above The arboreal food web consists of many the same organisms as in the soil food web. Fungi within green plant tissues play a similar role to root fungi. Even protozoa and nematodes come onto the surface scene.
2 The Soil Food Web
Microbe “feeding frenzy” keeps the immobilization / mineralization balance humming right along.
Arboreal Team
• Aboveground plant parts are colonized by internally living bacteria and fungi (endophytes) and by microbes on the plant surface (epiphytes). • The presence of microorganisms in and on plants must be considered to be the rule, rather than the exception.
3 Onto the Next Generation
Fungal spores and bacterial endospores carry forward in the seed.
4 Endophytic Diversity
Fungal and bacterial communities within have a characteristic structure:
High dominance by a few species coupled with a high number of rare species leading to high total species richness.
Plant Benefits
• Endophytes have the capacity to biosynthesize plant hormones including IAA, cytokinins, auxins and gibberellins, which are essential for promoting growth. • Trigger resistance to plant pathogens and insect herbivores by inducing an array of systemic resistance responses. • Assist with the translocation of nutrients
5 The Beat Goes On
Endophytes have been shown to increase tolerance of hosts to high temperatures, drought, salt stress, and even heavy metal concentrations in soil.
Meanwhile on the Surface
• The leaf surfaces of plants (with a total surface area estimated at 6 x 10⁸ km2) represent one of the largest and most significant microbial habitats. • Epicuticular colonists, including yeasts, filamentous fungi and protists, live on nutrients that are either deposited as fallout from the atmosphere or exuded from within the leaf.
6 Sharing the Commons
Bacteria taxa that are frequently reported in both contexts belong to the genera: • Pseudomonas (commonly P. fluorescens) • Bradyrhizobium • Azorhizobium • Azospirillum • Bacillus (commonly B. thuringiensis) • Lactobacillus
Nutrient Transfer Teamwork
The mucous layer surrounding fungal hyphae is all bacteria need to be able to move around in soils— and they take full advantage of it. The same pathway exists within plant tissues.
7 Mutualism–Antagonism Continuum
The net effects of infection on the host are highly conditional and can shift from mutualism to antagonism for virtually any type of plant–microbe interaction.
“For many plants there is absolutely no hard and fast line between the life within the plant and the life of the surrounding soil in which it is living.”
Rudolf Steiner speaking on earth forces arising with respect to tree bark as a soil medium
8 Conceptualizing Foliar Feeding
Soluble Nutrients Brought into close proximity of roots by capillary action. Root hairs act like “short straws” to suck up the NPK
9 How is selectivity of nutrient uptake achieved? Mineral nutrients are absorbed by plants from the soil solution as ions. An ion is the charged particle formed by the removal or addition of electrons to any particular atom or molecule. The ions have two possible pathways for root uptake: through the cell walls and intercellular spaces and movement cell-to-cell in the symplasm. The pathway is blocked at the endodermis by casparian bands in the cell walls. These barriers force the water and ions to move through cellular membranes if they are to be absorbed by the root.
10 Microbial Nutrient Uptake
• Partially built nutrition allots reserve energy for healthy plant metabolism to reach the apex • Fungal exudates and bacterial metabolites
Shared Protoplasm
Plants and microbes share nutrients in balanced form by means of the “cellular juice” known as protoplasm. Fungal mycelium serves as a system of “much longer straws” for healthy plants!
11 Pore Prospects Respiratory openings on the undersides of leaves are flanked by guard cells that regulate transpiration by opening and closing the stomata. Micropores in the cuticle between guard cells and neighboring cells are more permeable than transcuticular pores elsewhere on the leaf surface. Stomate micropores allow the passage of metal chelates and other larger molecules, whereas transcuticular pores can only take in smaller ions. Furthermore, these nanometer-sized pores are lined with negative charges, so they are attractive to cations (ammonium, calcium, potassium, magnesium) but tend to repel anions (nitrate, phosphate, sulfate). Nutrient uptake into leaf cell cytoplasm works much the same as nutrient uptake by root cells once this passage through the cuticle has been accomplished.
12 Fungal Nexus
Endophytic hyphal tips emerging into cuticle act as a “nutrient bridge” between arboreal food web on leaf surface and protoplasm within.
13 Exchangeable Nutrient Sites Positively charged elements (called cations) can be held for transfer to the soil solution for uptake by plants and/or utilized by microbes and then transferred to plants in the form of bacterial metabolites and fungal exudates.
Lactobacilli Assist
LAB decompose and ferment organic fraction of the soil system converting it into humus containing nutrients while releasing hormones that facilitate plant growth. They are responsible for providing hormones, nutrients and minerals in a useable form to the plants through the root system.
14 Multiple Mechanisms
• Bacteria produce short chain fatty acids which increase mineral absorption via solubilization by same. • Lactobacilli are known to produce lactic acid from sugars and carbohydrates the photosynthetic bacteria and yeasts in EM produce.
HO footnote
• Calcium is ushered • A similar pathway to the growing is assisted by lactic point of leaves and acid bacteria the fruit itself when tending to foliar bonded with dynamics on the phosphate. leaf surface. • Phosphate of calcium does not get integrated into cellular structure.
15 Phosphate’s Role
Phosphorous is more often than not the “missing link” with respect to calcium uptake and nutrient density. Higher Brix indicated in soils where P:K ratio runs closer to two to one. A functioning biology is very adept at delivering P.
Not to be Overlooked
Phosphorous plays a role in calcium translocation within plant tissues. Higher Brix indicated in soils where P:K ratio runs closer to two to one. A functioning biology is very adept at delivering P.
16 “Plants in touch with balanced, exchangeable nutrients provide their own protection against bacterial, fungal, and insect attack.”
Charles Walters, Acres USA speaking on the work of Dr. Albrecht and others before “toxic rescue chemistry” became the norm
Chelation
Chelate complexes enable humic acids to regulate the bioavailability of metal ions present in a plant’s grow environment. Humic acids are water-soluble in water with a pH higher than two. Chelation makes otherwise insoluble nutrients soluble, increasing their bioavailability to crops.
17 18 Holistic Paradigm
Induced Systemic Resistance We can stimulate tree immune phytochemistry to “adapt” for coming infection periods. All the subtleties of a living soil must be in place!
19 • Non-pathogenic bacteria Inducing (such as Bacillus spp.) Elicitors • Chemicals produced by infected plants (such as resveratrol in knotweed) • Terpenes, phenols, and alkaloids found in herbs • Compost teas and EM • Ionic minerals (Sea Crop) • Kelp extracts • Humic acid extracts
ISR Mechanisms Activating multiple mechanisms with an assortment of foliar inducers is key.
20 The Arboreal Food Web
• Introducing biological allies to boost surface populations. • Colonization on the order of 70% outcompetes disease-causing organisms. • Maintaining “natural advantage” requires that we play a stewardship role.
Biological Reinforcement
Arboreal colonization of friendly organisms on the order of 70% outcompetes disease-causing organisms.
21 Ecological Stresses Working Against Canopy Colonization
• Extreme heat • Deep cold • Ultraviolet radiation • Ozone depletion • Acid rain • Dry spells • Use of fungicides • Nitrate fertilization • Limited food resources on the leaf surface
Cellular view of leaf x-section
22 Microbes on leaf surface
Microbes Unleashed
“Do we have to know the names of each of these bacterial and fungal species in order to get them to work for us? No... Let the plants select the active organisms to do the work Nature designed them to do.” Elaine Ingham
23 Cuticle Defense
• keys to Ca and S • Or just wait to introduce below
Holistic Core Recipe
24 backpack sprayer photo
A “fungal curve” coincides with understory actions …
fungal curve 1
25 … that can considerably add to our understanding of why we do what we do when we do it.
fungal curve 2
Using Holistic Sprays to Further Boost Good Fungal Dynamics
Trace Minerals Fatty Acids Microbe Diversity
Holistic “core recipe” consists of pure neem oil, fish hydrolysate, seaweed, and some version of microbial inoculant.
26 Distinguishing between whole plant medicine and Pure Neem Oil standardized extracts. Quality control means cold- pressed oil with azadirachtin content >1800 ppm. Neem terpenoids induce systemic acquired resistance (SAR). Polyunsaturated fatty acids contribute to tree health and arboreal microbe colonization. www.neemresource.com
Working with Unadulterated Neem Planning ahead is a must to spray neem oil: – Unadulterated neem is “thick as butter” <59°F. – Place container in warm, dark room to homogenize . – Mix emulsifying agent into oil (1 Tbs. per 6 oz.) – Pour warm water into mix in large bucket, stir vigorously, then add last to spray tank. Use immediately. Growing season rate of 0.5%, with applications made 7 to 14 days apart.
27 More Practical • Seed oil stored at 40°F Insights remains stable with regard to azadirachtin activity. • Pour into “batch size” containers when first warming a larger container. Keeping neem oil cool until needed as opposed to constantly thawing a carboy or barrel will preserve constituents better. • Clean pump, hoses, and fittings after every spray. CitraSolve works well to “degrease” spray equipment.
Karanja Synergy
• Pressed from seeds of pongam tree • Lighter weight, slightly less cost • Flavanoid immune action • Different insect impact • Substitute 1/3 neem portion
28 CBD for Plants
Hemp seed oil has been dubbed "Nature's most perfectly balanced oil", due to the fact that it contains the perfectly balanced 3:1 ratio of Omega 6 to Omega 3 essential fatty acids. It also contains smaller amounts of 3 other polyunsaturated fatty acids in gamma-linolenic acid, oleic acid and stearidonic acid. The EFA combination is unique among edible oil seeds.
29 Liquid Fish
• Unpasteurized hydrolysate contains the biologically-rich omega fats of whole fish. • This is NOT fish emulsion! • Foliar rate of 1-2 gallons per acre; ground rate of 4 gallons per acre.
Product Nuance
True “liquid fish” is not heat treated but rather cold processed with phosphoric acid added to stabilize odor potential. The NPK analysis reflects this aspect of a true hydrolysate product.
30 Product Nuance
True “liquid fish” is not heat treated but rather cold processed with phosphoric acid added to stabilize odor potential. The NPK analysis reflects this aspect of a true hydrolysate product.
• Both forms retain naturally chelated Seaweed Extract nutrients, amino acids, and Liquid Kelp hormones. • Polysaccahrides, however, are lost unless the kelp is cold-processed. Consider this to be “plant antifreeze” when frost threatens tender blossoms in spring.
31 Cytokinins Prolong Resistance
Researchers have noted that cytokinin hormones in kelp grant the fruit tree more time to increase its resistance response to disease-causing organisms. This is accomplished by stimulating the production of flavonoids and abetting the synthesis of protein.
Biological Reinforcement
Options are three: • Purchased inoculum • Compost-derived • Indigenous cultures
The life component of the holistic spray plan cannot be overlooked!
32 Coming to a Theater Near You
The EPA has approved two new bacteriophage products, AgriPhage™- Fire Blight and AgriPhage™-Citrus Canker, for the control of their namesake diseases. Certis USA, OmniLytics’ marketing partner in the U.S., will launch these products in 2019 for use by growers of apple, pear and citrus crops.
Disease Progression
33 Facing Our Fungal Fears
Bordeaux Beginnings
The very first sprays of copper sulfate were to deter roadside grazers . . . And thus was born the Bordeaux spray that exhibited effectiveness against fungal disease.
34 Clean Slate Mentality
Modern people hold an unquestioning belief that sterility is akin to disease control. FINE AND DANDY. That said we still have to face both the ubiquity and brilliance of the fungal and bacterial worlds.
Fungal Disease Progression
Apple Scab Venturia inaequalis
35 Key Aspects of Every Disease • Spore potential overwinters somewhere, and certain pathogens have more than one launching pad. • The timing of infection susceptibility determines when to act … in accord with the approach chosen to thwart disease.
Fungal Groupings
• Mycorrhizal fungi • Saprotrophic fungi • Arboreal fungi (yeasts, shelf mushrooms, endophytic fungi) • Parasitic and pathogenic fungi
36 Enzymes and the Hyphal Shuffle
Biotrophic organisms rely on penetrating enzymes and effector proteins to gain access into plant cell to feed on soluble amino acids.
Primary Infection Window
We start with a ground/ trunk catalyst spray and extend this biological thrust to straddle the primary infection period of assorted fungal pathogens.
37 Fruit Sizing Window
The month following fruit set is when flower bud initiation for next year takes place in apples and pears.
Fruit Ripening Window
The crop being grown, disease relevance at a particular site, and market appeal decide whether a fruit grower continues with holistic sprays deep into summer.
38 “There is no control for late blight, but early Late Blight symptomatic plants may be saved through Vendetta use of fungicides containing Chlorothalonil (non- organic) or copper (organic). Gardeners who want to try and control late blight by spraying should use repeat applications.”
Holistic Overlap
The basic holistic spray used in the fruit orchard applied to potato and tomato crops prevents late blight. Of course it would!
39 Inspired Brewing
Enter the Generalist Cook
Trace Minerals can be considered individually by means of soil test numbers . . . or we can simply grease the wheels for collective biological uptake through the “compost food web” or foliar- applied nutrition.
40 Everyday Fare • Kelp meal fed to farm animals. • Azomite clay dusted on planting beds and compost piles. • Humates and/or biochar energize compost food web
Enzyme Cofactors
Metal ions are the common cofactors required by enzymes to keep things humming.
The principal minerals involved are iron, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, and molybdenum.
41 Metabolic Points of Influence
• The bloom period through fruit set are especially important time for trace mineral availability. • Foliar options include MicroPak and SeaCrop
Sea Minerals SeaCrop contains 89 elements, many as compound minerals. It has been estimated that seawater contains over 50,000 different organic substances in the form of fulvic acid.
42 Micronutrient Formulations
Lower concentrations in full- spectrum products allow multiple timed applications: • 1% Sulfur (S) • 0.6% Boron (B) • 0.2% Cobalt (Co) • 0.5% Copper (Cu) • 0.8%Manganese (Mn) • 0.3% Molybdenum (Mo) • 0.7% Zinc (Zn)
Trace Mineral Contributions to Stellar Immunity
Boron helps synthesize amino acids like tryptophane needed to resist fungal entry. Copper increases plant tissue levels of ascorbic acid and beta-carotene. Tree bark is more “flexible” as well. Molybdenum required by nitrate-reductase enzyme, without which we see increase in fruit rots. And so it goes for Iron, Cobalt, Manganese, Zinc as well . . .
43 Photosynthesis Primes Plant Metabolism
Summer Rot Dynamics Necrotrophic organisms kill host cells immediately to obtain nutrients. The strategy employed is blunt penetration. Brown rot on stone fruits and assorted rots on pome fruits are a NO GO once this far.
44 Waxy exudates are the front lines The Cuticle which rots must Defense first penetrate. Nutritional support here keys on bioavailable silica and calcium to build up the epidermal cell wall under the cuticle.
The Phytolith Factor
45 Show Me the Whey
Calcium has been shown to inhibit fungal spore germination. Foliar sprays of milk, diluted 1:10 with water, reduce powdery mildew on grapes. Whey can be used instead if more economical. A protein in whey (ferroglobulin) produces an oxygen radical in the presence of sunlight that is extraordinarily toxic to fungal spores. Stone fruit growers can add milk to the core holistic recipe to prevent brown rot establishing on sizing fruit.
Foliar Calcium
• Fruit quality is most often determined by adequate calcium. • Calcium is difficult to transpose from leaf to fruit. • Fermented comfrey tea offers bioavailable calcium and more.
46 Stinging Nettle
• Silica levels in nettle rise considerably when this herb reaches its seed stage. • Again, summer applications fall right in line when boosting the cuticle defense matters most.
stinging nettle photo
47 Horsetail Tea
Rudolf Steiner suggested use of fermented horsetail tea to combat fungal attacks.
The Overlooked Role of Silica
Essential element for cuticle strength on both leaf and fruit. Fresh horsetail has high silica content by early summer. The timing here is right for both summer diseases and fruit rots. Equisetum arvense
48 Silicon
• Essential for efficient photosynthesis • Enhances cell wall strength thereby deterring pathoegns • Improves drought resistance • Finely milled volcanic basalt as soil amendment
Brewing Basics • Fresh herb is ideally infused with hot water to initiate constituent extraction. • Ferment for 7 to 14 days, keeping covered. This process makes minerals bioavailable. • Garlic scapes increase stomata absorption.
49 Use of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in medicine dates to 1963, when it was Garlic’s Role in discovered this compound could penetrate the skin Fruit Production membrane without damage and subsequently carry other compounds into a biological system. Unpasteurized garlic extracts contain compounds similar to DMSO. The best use of garlic in the holistic orchard is as a synergist carrier of spray nutrients into the leaf cuticle and cells beyond.
Fermented Plant Extracts
• Homegrown • Living brew • One dollar per gallon cost • Pure ‘guy’ essence • Calcium and silica results on website
50 Upping the Ante
Calcium Brew Silica Brew • comfrey leaf • horsetail • green nettle • seeded nettle • effective • effective microbes microbes • Azomite clay and/or • garlic scapes soft rock phosphate • whole milk • granite meal and/or • gypsum basalt dust • humic and fulvic • humic and fulvic acids acids
Compost image
51 Manganese Chelate
• Foliar applications of manganese (reduced form) balance potassium absorption. • Use with apps that include fermented plant extracts into summer. • This allows calcium to move into the fruit more readily. • Manganese also abets fruit bud formation
52 Variations on the Theme
• Willow (SAR pathway) • Knotweed principles via alcohol menstruum (commercial Regalia) • Horseradish root infusion for rot issues on russet-type apples • Schizandra principles via vinegar menstruum
Herbal Rot Remedy
Research from China indicates an extract of the leaves and vines of Schisandra chinensis prevent brown rot on peaches
53 hops extract
Tetrahydroxystilben found in the fruits of the Osage Orange tree exhibits significant antifungal activity for both plant and human use.
54 Facultative Nuance
A facultative anaerobe is an organism that makes ATP by aerobic respiration if oxygen is present, but is capable of switching to fermentation if oxygen is absent.
Lactobacilli Assist
LAB decompose and ferment organic fraction of the soil system converting it into humus containing nutrients while releasing hormones that facilitate plant growth. They are responsible for providing hormones, nutrients and minerals in a useable form to the plants through the root system.
55 Effective • Diverse mix of photosynthetic bacteria, Microbes lactic acid bacteria, and yeasts. • Brewing mother culture with molasses makes for outstanding economy. • Orchard and garden results are very promising with fungal and bacterial disease.
Diverse Roles for the Players
• Photosynthetic bacteria synthesize root and foliage secretions by using sunlight and the heat of the soil to form amino acids, nucleic acids, and sugars to help feed the masses. • Lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid from carbohydrates which suppresses disease-causing organisms. Promotes decomposition of organic matter. And most telling, improves utilization of calcium, phosphorous, and iron by the plant. • Yeasts synthesize bioactive enzymes to promote active cell division
56 • Brewing is all about getting a microbe culture to reproduce. Activating EM • The first phase launches the lactic acid bacteria with two to three days at 90 to 110°F. • Another five to seven days at 72 to 78°F will see the photosynthetic bacteria coming out of dormancy. • A solution pH below 3.8 and that sweet earthy smell means all are now hale and hearty.
And Then What Happens?
Up to ten million unicellular organisms live on every square centimeter of leaf surface.
57 DIY Effective Microorganisms
• yogurt culture • "blossom lacto" from pollen • KNF
Aerated Compost Tea
•Fungal nuance as defined by aerobically-brewed compost tea •Elaine Ingram’s Compost Tea Brewing Manual
58 The Missing Link
Maintaining a diversity of organisms on plant surfaces is a holistic goal. Aerated compost tea ups the ante so to speak, including species like this fungal feeding nematode. Using effective microbes and tea together is worthy of further investigation. Just remember to supply the “fats” necessary to sustain our troops in the field!
“If I could live my life over again, I would devote it to proving that germs seek their natural habitat—diseased tissue— rather than being the cause of the diseased tissue; e.g., mosquitoes seek the stagnant water, but do not cause the pool to become stagnant.” – Rudolph Virchow (Father of Pathology)
59 Summation
Brix Readings
This useful tool is yet another way we can compare biological methods between orchards.
BRIX 6 Poor BRIX 10 Average BRIX 14 Good BRIX 18 Excellent www.pikeagri.com
60 BioNutrient Meter
Rudolf Steiner recognized that our "current dilemma" amounted to a Meaningful Nutrition / Proper Brain peculiarly challenging Function dynamic. Essentially, humans urgently needing to make good decisions no longer had the wholesome nutrition necessary to support proper brain function and spiritual perception.
61 Farm as Organism
A core tenet of Biodynamic Agriculture highlights ongoing fertility loops within as integral to successful biological farming.
Grow the herbs. Culture the microbes. Unloose your phyllosphere.
A core tenet of Biodynamic Agriculture highlights ongoing fertility loops within as integral to successful biological farming.
Grow the herbs. Culture the microbes. Unloose your phyllosphere.
62 Bonus section
63 What to do about nectria and Canker Issues anthracnose? How about bacterial canker and cytospora? All such conditions represent another organism simply needing you to help displace it.
Biodynamic Tree Paste
• Slurry of half native clay and half cow manure • Rich compost can be used if lacking grazing animals • Applied to bark as a “facial” and specific trouble spots in early spring
64 The resins of the calendula blossom are Calendula Salve noted for strong antifungal activity. A 95% alcohol menstrum extracts these resins more so than a solar infused oil. Calendula salve is another approach to shifting perennial canker dynamics. Early vole damage can be repaired with calendula/comfrey.
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