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Home , Mineral, Potash, Soil chemistry, Soil pH

The Great Debate

Can alone provide what degraded need?

This would be crafted to explore the divide between “biology provides” and “depleted soils need something.” See the section on Mineral Investment on pages 81-87 in Mycorrhizal Planet. It’s always fun when I unleash a presentation in a new direction. There will be a examination of what’s worth spending money on to regenerate soils. • Elaine and the Web • Soil testing ad finitum • Farmer intuition and the budget

1 A Healthy Ecosystem

• • Populations balanced between consumer and producer species • High recycling • Long term stability

Agricultural Reckoning • Soil disturbance • Harvest takeaway • Fertility investment • Impact on biology • Diversity through polycultures • Perennial systems • Grower mindset • Mutual discovery

2 Healthy Metabolism Does this flow from paying heed to soil ratios? Or is it the biology that delivers plant in balanced form? And what about the concept of “foliar feeding”?

3 Nurture the soil-dwelling , and your crops look after themselves.

4 The Soil

Microbe “feeding frenzy” keeps the immobilization / mineralization balance humming right along.

5 As most of us have realised, soil is not merely a prop for or 'terra firma' for the ; it is an infinitely complex underworld and inter-dependent web of micro- organisms such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and micro-arthropods to name a few. It is this hidden world that allows our planet and our society to thrive. It is every bit as important to our health as breath itself. But far from nurturing the soil that feeds us, agriculture often destroys it. Every time the soil is disturbed, or artificial fertilisers and pesticides are applied, soil is killed and compromised.

But Ingham also goes further. She has no time for wasting money on soil tests, pointing out that during her lifetime the number of plant considered to be essential has increased from 3 to more than 40. Who can say what a plant needs, except the plant itself?

6 Disdain for Inputs Applying this mineral or that fertiliser, Ingham says, is also a waste of money. Assays of plant tissues reveal that the nutrients present bear no relationship whatsoever to any soluble artificial nutrients applied. A plant requires all nutrients to a greater or lesser extent, and only it knows what it needs and when - the trick is having all those nutrients in a bio-available form in the soil at all times.

Rethinking pH

She also blows away the myth of pH, the measure of soil acidity or . Since when, she asks, has nature said a pH 6.5 is ideal for crops, when they grow successfully in ranges from 5.5-11? Soil pH varies so widely even along a root hair that an average value is meaningless. It isn't the soil pH that needs analysing, it's the soil's microbial life.

7 Availability of Relative to pH

Strongly Strongly Without biology, Acid Acid Acid Alkaline Slightly Slightly Medium Medium Alkaline Alkaline Alkaline

Very Slightly Very Slightly Very you are stuck with

NITROGEN pH as the sole

PHOSPHORUS arbiter of what is available to plant roots, as indicated to the left. But add organisms, and

MANGANESE is no

BORON longer ruled by and ZINK chemistry alone.

MOLYBDENIUM

4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.08.5 9.0 9.5 10.0 pH

Mineral Banking

Even more controversially, Ingham points out that all soils on the planet have enough (inorganic) nutrients locked up in their mineral particles (that is, particles derived from rocks) to feed plants for the next 10,000 billion years. What?!

8 is the Answer

The only reason the Revolution worked is that it fed dirt, not soil. Sustainable intensification? Forget it. It won't work because it can't: it still relies on the chemical inputs that destroy soil life. Get your right, and you don't need to spread , rotate crops or till soil. (At this point, even the organic farmers at the Oxford conference winced.)

Plants use to make sugars; they then send most of these to their roots as exudates (substances that ooze out from plant tissue) - or, as Ingham puts it, they deliver 'cakes and cookies' to the soil for aerobic bacteria and fungi to feed on, encouraging them to amass around the roots and prosper.

9 aerated tea

6 weeks after sod was laid with compost tea below and on the sod. Roots were less than ½ inch, now 6 inches deep into the soil. No , no weeds, no disease

10 Three Important Functions

• Organisms form a protective army to fight off anaerobic micro-organisms responsible for soil diseases. • Organisms contain the necessary enzymes and to break down and transform inorganic nutrients in soil particles into organic nutrients suitable for plants. • Organisms play a critical role in the formation of soils' structure, which is necessary for retention, preventing the of nutrients.

Why, then, do you need an armoury of chemicals when nature has already provided a ready-made ?

11 At this stage, the nutrients that plants need are still locked up in the microorganisms, and are only released when the latter die. To enable this, nature has evolved predators - creatures that eat other creatures for their food - to create food chains and thus ensure constant nutrient recycling. In this case, the predators are protozoa, which eat bacteria, nematodes and micro-arthropods, which eat fungi. These predators then excrete the excess nutrients - now bio- available - into the surrounding soil, creating a constantly replenishing supply of food around the plant roots, where they are needed. Clever, isn't it?

“Mother Nature doesn't need human beings, but we need Mother Nature.” ̶ Elaine Ingham

12 farm composting

It follows that what grows where is a good indicator of your soil biology; and it provides clues to where the imbalances might be in the soil, which are preventing you from growing the best crops you can. Again, the simple, quick and easy way to fix this is to 'inoculate' the soil with the correct compost. This is why compost is the nearest farming gets to a cure- all: it holds the key to sustaining life. It's cheap and easy, and as soils become self-sustaining, the problems go away and crops are more productive - they become stronger, healthier and more nutritionally dense.

13 Soil Life Testing

• reveal who’s who in a broad species sense, allowing us to assay things like fungal to bacterial biomass. • Percent of root colonization by mycorrhizal fungi. • DNA testing can reveal specific species

14 Soil biological causes plant succession

Bacteria …A few Fungi……Balanced ……..More Fungi…… Fungi

Bacteria: 10 µg 100 µg 500 600 µg 500 µg 700 µg Fungi: 0 µg 10 µg 250 600 µg 800 µg 7000 µg

Forms of nutrients: Critical to understand

NO3………..…...balanced………………..NH4

NO3 and NH4 Protozoa.....B-f…..F-f…..Predatory…..Microarthropods Nematodes

15 Others are convinced good mineral nutrition requires a human touch.

Mineral Investment

Rock and blended organic bring requisite nutrients into the picture. Trace mineral deficiencies can be addressed as needed.

16 Mineral Investment

Proper sampling Soil Testing procedure Different labs emphasize different strengths acids to extract nutrients: • Mehlich results given in ppm • Modified Morgan given in lbs/acre

17 : Nutrient Pools

• Total Nutrients – not normally reported – Grind, complete digestion and combustion • Exchangeable Nutrients (Melick 3, Acetate 1N) – Strong extracting agents, but not ALL nutrients • Soluble Nutrients – Extracts soil solution or water soluble nutrients – Available nutrients – made available how? • Plant Tissue Tests – Total chemical components….. Balanced?

• Organic matter fuels the biology. Basic Soil Get OM to 3% at a bare minimum. Values • Get that pH in the 6.3–6.7 range. • Do this in the context of cation balance based on the CEC number for your soil.

18 Organic Matter once upon a time Ahem. It’s important that we recognize pre-sapiens potential when it comes to organic matter. Measurements from in the 1840’s tallied in at 11 to 37 percent OM.

about that pH thing

• Measure of the acidity/ alkalinity of soil • Ties to range of exchangeable nutrients • Moving target even in the best of times

19 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.

Cation Exchange Capacity

• Exchangeable cations include calcium, magnesium, and potassium. • Exchange potential is rated numerically. • Sandy soils which are nutrient-porous have a lower CEC than heavy soils.

20 Albrecht Fertility Ratios

• saturation ratios ideally fall along the lines of 70:10:3+ for a loamy soil with a midrange cation exchange capacity. • Calcium levels from an ecological ag perspective start at 2000 lbs/acre … and pushing 3000 lbs/acre if not more can be a worthy investment over time.

Calcium Baseline

Calcium levels from an ecological ag perspective start at Conversion formula 2000 lbs/acre … for Ca looks like this: and pushing 3000 2 x ppm = lbs/acre lbs/acre if not more can be a worthy investment over time.

21 Consideration of fertility ratios Cation Balance begins with knowing CEC Sandy and clay soils require wriggle room here: Mg pulls soil particles closer whereas Ca spreads soil particles apart

Cation Fertility Ratios

• Those blessed with will find that 70:10:3+ helps solve calcium deficiency issues (ie., bitter pit in pome fruits) • Sandy soils (with a low CEC) need extra Mg thereby shifting this to 68:16:3-4 • Heavy clay soils (with a high CEC) benefit from extra Ca along the lines of 76:10:4-5

22 The Art of ² Incorporation Maintenance Phase • moves down • Lower rates as now into the soil a mere working with active inch a year. biological systems • Incorporation cued to (200-400 lbs/acre) cover crop prep is an • Serve up surface lime important opportunity. with and • Split applications humates to facilitate preferred when recs food web uptake. given in terms of • Only if confirmed by tons/acre. subsequent testing.

Spring Calcium makes for more rigid cell walls, leading to strength against intrusion of fungal hyphae. Sulfur is essential for protein synthesis, which, when leached enables water- soluble sugars to buildup and fuel fungal pathogens.

23 More Secrets of the Soil

A few quick and dirty tips to understanding the rest of the story.

Sulfur Revisited

• Inadequate sulfur leads to accumulation of sugar, starches and nitrates. • S pulls sticky Mg from bonding sites in soil • levels are a minimum of 25 ppm or 50 pounds of elemental S. • Sulfate forms utilized in cation balancing. • Helps increase heat tolerance of crops.

24 Phosphate’s Role

Phosphorous is more often than not the “missing link” with respect to calcium uptake and nutrient . Higher Brix indicated in soils where P:K ratio runs closer to two to one. A functioning biology is very adept at delivering P.

Ongoing Phosphate Availability

• Some aim for total phosphate (P2O5) and potash (KO2) readings of at least 200 lbs/acre. • Colloidal (soft ) phosphate averages about 18 percent P, of which a fifth part becomes available each season.

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• Essential for efficient photosynthesis • Enhances strength thereby deterring pathogens • Improves drought resistance • Finely milled volcanic as soil amendment

Protein Synthesis

Plant metabolism guided by deep nutrition results in a very different food environment for disease pathogens.

26 Theory of Trophobiosis

> Deficiency of balanced nutrition > inhibition of protein synthesis > accumulation of soluble substances >improved nutrition for pests >rapid multiplication and virulence of bacterial and fungal pathogens

Feed a Fever?

• French research points to a Ca:K ratio nearer to 20:1 to achieve optimal protein synthesis. • Asparagine levels go up in plant sap otherwise. . .

27 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. required by nitrate-reductase enzyme, without which we see increase in fruit rots. And so it goes for Iron, , , Zinc as well . . .

• Kelp meal fed to Everyday Fare farm animals. • Azomite clay dusted on planting beds and compost piles. • Humates and/or energize compost food web

28 Remineralize the

• Long-term renewal of soil occurs through the crushing of rocks by and volcanic eruptions. • Rock Local specializes in local sourcing and delivery of the BEST (Broad Elemental Spectrum Tectonic) rock dusts for remineralization.

Fruit • Elongation of pollen tubes • Regulation of fruiting thru cell division Matters • Essential role in protein synthesis

29 Admittedly, some of us derive tremendous satisfaction from the seeming precision of looking at numbers.

Nutrient Pools in Soil Total – Without organisms to everything retain the soluble nutrients that a plant does not take up, or to Exchangeable - Bacteria, Fungi, change plant-not- easily pulled off Protozoa, available forms in plant- surfaces; easy to Nematodes available forms, no new make soluble Microarthropods soluble nutrients will occur. Plants will suffer.

Soluble – What biomass of each dissolved in soil organism is needed so solution; the plant gets the potentially nutrients it needs? available to plants

30 Minerals in soil (Sparks 2003)

Element Soils (mg/kg) In the Earth’s In Median Range crust (mean) (mean)

O 490,000 - 474,000 486,000 Si 330,000 250,000-410,000 277,000 245,000 Al 71,000 10,000-300,000 82,000 72,000 Fe 40,000 2,000-550,000 41,000 41,000 C (total) 20,000 7,000-500,000 480 29,400 Ca 15,000 700-500,000 41,000 66,000 Mg 5,000 400-9,000 23,000 14,000 K 14,000 80-37,000 21,000 20,000 Na 5,000 150-25,000 23,000 5,700 Mn 1,000 20-10,000 950 770 Zn 90 1-900 75 95 Mo 1.2 0.1-40 1.5 2 Ni 50 2-750 80 52 Cu 30 2-250 50 33 N 2,000 200-5,000 25 470 P 800 35-5,300 1,000 670 S (total) 700 30-1,600 260 2,200

Biological Parameters

The overstocked pantry approach of “soil chemistry” would be better considered from the perspective of nutrient density and crop resistance.

31 Plants in touch with balanced, exchangeable nutrients provide their own protection against bacterial, fungal, and insect attack.

32 handful of tilth

Biology and Soil Structure

• The glomalin coating that gives mycorrhizal hyphae rigidity stays in place after each feeder root flush. • Any soil becomes capable of hosting a greater diversity of beneficial microbes, holding more water, and resisting crusting on the surface as glomalin levels build.

33 And still others are convinced that “crop fertility” keys as well to foliar doings at critical points of influence.

Plant Sap Analysis

• Shifting nutrient needs key to crop growth cycle • aspects • The full monty of recommendations often are at odds with farm budgets

34 Enzyme Cofactors

Metal are the common cofactors required by enzymes to keep things humming.

The principal minerals involved are iron, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, and molybdenum.

Critical Points of Influence

• The bloom period through fruit set are especially important time for trace mineral availability. • Foliar options include MicroPak and SeaCrop

35 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.

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)

36 Micronutrient Formulations Full-spectrum products like MicroPak are lower rate to allow multiple 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) • Biological chelating agents

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.

37 Soil Amendments Calcium investment is paramount! Azomite clay as a source of numerous trace minerals Keep the ongoing need for rock phosphate renewal in mind Feed those compost piles in late summer before spreading your “finished ” in the orchard at fall.

Fermented Plant Extracts

• Homegrown • Living brew • One dollar per gallon cost • Pure ‘guy’ essence • Calcium and silica results on website

38 Manganese Chelate

• Foliar applications of manganese (reduced form) balance potassium absorption. • Fruitlet apps made with fermented plant extracts into summer. • This allows calcium to move into the fruit more readily. • Mn also abets fruit bud formation.

Green Immune Function

Supporting robust plant metabolism requires investment in mineralization by multiple means

39 • Cropping ground versus human managed perennial systems versus wild glory

Nutrient density in the fruit equates to Life density in the soil

40 Regenerative

• Soil aggregates are the lynchpin for nutrient delivery (fungal connection) • Providing organic matter is our number one priority as stewards • We address CARBON FLOW by three successive means . . .

Carbon Pathways

Biological farmers speak of green carbon, brown carbon, black carbon in building humus and long- term fertility.

41 Green Carbon

Cover Crop Cocktails

Seed mixes of a dozen or more cover species ensures fungal diversity and carryover.

42 Plant Quorum Sensing • Different plants have different affinities for selected beneficial soil microbial communities. • The wider you are able to establish these microbial communities the better the “production system” will work.

when diversity truly resonates ...

43 Surface Mineral Cycling

• Shallow incorporation versus deep incorporation • Surface decomposition for mycelial preservation • Taproot fertility loop in perennial systems

Taproot Fertility Loop This cycling of minerals up into leafy matter that fungi and bacteria in turn break down on the soil surface is the primary fertility loop for orchard trees.

44 compost bins Brown Carbon

• Species diversity continues to Biological increase for up to six months once compost is “mature” after which food begin to run out. • Two-year compost downgrades biologically to the extent of being little more than .

45 -Based Fertility Fertility banking over the long term invokes copious use of , along with an assortment of biological riffs, including hugelkulture.

biochar particle

Black Carbon

46 Rechargeable Carbon Battery

The porous crystalline spaces found within biochar are a long-term fertility boon for mycorrhizal fungi and therefore plant partners.

• Millennial Humates humus aids in the uptake of mineral nutrients • Biological diversity is enhanced • Deliver to the garden and orchard via the compost pile

47 Soot particulates in

updated version of above

48 Summation

Healthy Nutrient Uptake

• A fully-functional biology in the is the key to the soil digestion system of a fruit tree. • Without an abundance of allies, feeder roots absorb simple ions. • Fungal dominance abets absorbing nutrients in the form of amino acids and soluble carbohydrates. • This “partially built” advantage requires less . • Voila! This is the means a tree reaches the final stages of plant health.

49 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

BioNutrient Meter

50 There is hope…..

• We can return the soil to health in a short time, and for little cost • It will not cost billions, or even millions of dollars • It will not take years • Within one growing season, you can get the increased yields, decrease your costs and improve nutrition in the food you produce • IF you get the biology right for your plant • IF you get the WHOLE FOOD WEB back 102

51 Effective Digestion Nutrient uptake by feeder roots in a “partially built form” allows the tree to reach the apex of phytochemistry. This “predigestion” of nutrients in the rhizosphere is akin to what the rumen does for the cow.

Hyphal Lysis

The end result of fungal disintegration within the roots is the release of lipids and complex proteins directly into plant . Prepare for phantasmagoria just ahead.

52 ramial advantage

53 Symbiotic Planet

And still we continue to further our understanding of collaboration as the way to proceed in life as one species among many on this precious planet.

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.

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