I have notebooks full of information I have gleaned from different resources over the years. I also have index cards with information I consider pretty important to remember from year to year. I do this for different areas of our lives. For example, I write information on recipes and nutrition information, animal keeping and feeding, herbal information, and gardening information which is what I am going to write about today. I hope it will be of use to you all. It has helped us to have healthier crops and I like the fact that I am adding more nutrients and sugars into the plants we grow. Hopefully this is helping to improve the health of our animals and ourselves. I am still learning in all these areas so know what you are reading is a work in progress for me and is not intended to be complete or authoritative but maybe just helpful........ Oh, and a lot of this information has been taken from a great book called Mainline Farming for Century 21 by Dan Skow D.V.M & Charles Walters. Love, love, love this book.
~Nitrogen is the catalyst for all of the plants cell growth, without nitrogen there will be no growth.
~All energy comes from the sun, without the sun there is no growth both for plants and for animals. This is where photosynthesis comes into play, this sun-energy is made into sugar for the plant. The cells use this to grow by using sugar, water, and earth minerals as building blocks and produce oxygen and carbon dioxide.
~Enzymes (small proteins) are in plants. They take raw materials (earth minerals) and make sure they are transported where the plant needs them. By the way, protein contains nitrogen so you can see how nitrogen is essential to plant growth.
~Low nitrogen leads to inability of the plant (at the cell level) to grow and be strong thus low nitrogen leads to disease and low yields.
But there is more to it than just Nitrogen!!!!
Plants and microbes synthesize amino acids that make up proteins and Calcium, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus (as well as a long list of trace elements). These are required to synthesize amino acids, acids, etc. for construction of plant life. So Calcium, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus are very important.
Water
Number one essential is water. No matter how much plant food is in the soil, if you don't have water it can't be transported to where it needs to go.
Carbon
Number two is carbon which plants get out of the air. You also have to have a good amount of carbon content in the soil. So always be asking yourself where to add more carbon to your garden. Carbon is important because it holds water (4 times it's weight) and helps your plants with transporting those valuable nutrients in the soil. If you have a garden high in carbon, you won't have to water as often and your plants aren't as stressed by dry periods. The way this works is that moisture moves up and down in the soil in a 24 hour period (moon creates magnetic pull, think tides) if water moves up into a carbon rich soil which holds 4 time it's weight in water, it stays in the soil better than a non-carbon rich soil. Carbon also helps with the depth/quality of the magnetic field which helps with plant growth. The bigger the magnetic field the better plant growth. Carbon controls the release of energy in the soil. If carbon content is low in your soil your need to fertilize during the growing season increases.
We add carbon in the form of leaves in the fall and barn litter in the spring.
Calcium
Number three essential is Calcium. Calcium is the "king" of nutrients but you have to have biologically alive (full of organic) soil for it to be utilized by the plants. Since calcium doesn't come from the air, it has to come from the soil. Calcium feeds the micro-organisms in your soil and help it come alive with the addition of water. To feed soil you need to have water and calcium in the top 6 inches of soil. Calcium is needed for plant health and energy creation potential in your soil. Thus energy releases other element that cause plants to grow. The ratio of calcium to magnesium in soil should be 7:1 if 5:1 or less,you have problems. By weight and volume, calcium is needed more that any other element.
We dump extra milk on our garden to increase the calcium content and to help create an environment that is food for microorganisms to flouish. We also add calcium in the form of aragonite or gypsum. I prefer the aragonite.
Phosphate
Number four essential is Phosphate. Phosphate is a catalyst for photosynthesis. It takes phosphate to combine carbon dioxide and water to from sugars in plants.... sugars are carbon, hydrogen, and water. Good sugar and nutrient levels in a plant are produced by adequate phosphate. Do not use acid treated phosphate but use soft or hard rock phosphate for your gardens. Soft is better unless you know you have a super-alive bacterial system in your soil. However, you must have some type of alive soil in place for the phosphate to work whether it is soft or hard.
We are using soft rock phosphate on garden beds that are alive
Potassium
Number five essential is potassium. There is a fine balance with potassium because if you get too much in the soil it takes the place of calcium and will produce crops but they won't be as nutrient/sugar rich and will launch disease. This can be seen as brown/black spots on the leaves and stems. As a matter of fact most crops bought from our stores have an imbalance of potassium, kind of explains some of our mineral deficits and disease. Potassium is important because it determines three basic thing in plant growth. Thickness of the leaf, the stem and the caliber of the stalk or stem. It also determines the number of fruit that sets on a plant and helps hold the fruit to the stem as well as determining the size of the fruit. Phosphate to potassium has to be a 2:1 ratio.
Sources of potassium (potash): nitrate of potash, hardwood ashes, sawdust, chicken manure, wheat or oatstraw...... sawdust being the best source but may take up to 90 days to be available in the soil. We use the ashes from our wood burner and sawdust or wood chips.
Nitrogen
Lets talk about Nitrogen now. Nitrogen is important but too much just gives the idea you are getting a healthy vegetable. Too much nitrogen adds water but not nutrients and minerals to a plant especially if the soil is depleted of calcium and phosphate. Remember everything in balance? Have you ever heard of shrinkage in hay production? The more shrinkage in hay production, the more Nitrogen was out of balance with calcium and phosphate. You get more water but not more cell growth and nutrients. A good source of Nitrogen for foliar spray is household ammonia.
So much more information but this post was on soil and nutrients. I have barely scratched the surface but this information has been very helpful to us.
Lets talk a bout soil and amendments, but first a little science lesson on how plants grow
~Nitrogen is the catalyst for all of the plants cell growth, without nitrogen there will be no growth.
~All energy comes from the sun, without the sun there is no growth both for plants and for animals. This is where photosynthesis comes into play, this sun-energy is made into sugar for the plant. The cells use this to grow by using sugar, water, and earth minerals as building blocks and produce oxygen and carbon dioxide.
~Enzymes (small proteins) are in plants. They take raw materials (earth minerals) and make sure they are transported where the plant needs them. By the way, protein contains nitrogen so you can see how nitrogen is essential to plant growth.
~Low nitrogen leads to inability of the plant (at the cell level) to grow and be strong thus low nitrogen leads to disease and low yields.
But there is more to it than just Nitrogen!!!!
Plants and microbes synthesize amino acids that make up proteins and Calcium, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus (as well as a long list of trace elements). These are required to synthesize amino acids, acids, etc. for construction of plant life. So Calcium, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus are very important.
Lets talk essentials........................
Water
Number one essential is water. No matter how much plant food is in the soil, if you don't have water it can't be transported to where it needs to go.
Carbon
Number two is carbon which plants get out of the air. You also have to have a good amount of carbon content in the soil. So always be asking yourself where to add more carbon to your garden. Carbon is important because it holds water (4 times it's weight) and helps your plants with transporting those valuable nutrients in the soil. If you have a garden high in carbon, you won't have to water as often and your plants aren't as stressed by dry periods. The way this works is that moisture moves up and down in the soil in a 24 hour period (moon creates magnetic pull, think tides) if water moves up into a carbon rich soil which holds 4 time it's weight in water, it stays in the soil better than a non-carbon rich soil. Carbon also helps with the depth/quality of the magnetic field which helps with plant growth. The bigger the magnetic field the better plant growth. Carbon controls the release of energy in the soil. If carbon content is low in your soil your need to fertilize during the growing season increases.
We add carbon in the form of leaves in the fall and barn litter in the spring.
Calcium
Number three essential is Calcium. Calcium is the "king" of nutrients but you have to have biologically alive (full of organic) soil for it to be utilized by the plants. Since calcium doesn't come from the air, it has to come from the soil. Calcium feeds the micro-organisms in your soil and help it come alive with the addition of water. To feed soil you need to have water and calcium in the top 6 inches of soil. Calcium is needed for plant health and energy creation potential in your soil. Thus energy releases other element that cause plants to grow. The ratio of calcium to magnesium in soil should be 7:1 if 5:1 or less,you have problems. By weight and volume, calcium is needed more that any other element.
We dump extra milk on our garden to increase the calcium content and to help create an environment that is food for microorganisms to flouish. We also add calcium in the form of aragonite or gypsum. I prefer the aragonite.
Phosphate
Number four essential is Phosphate. Phosphate is a catalyst for photosynthesis. It takes phosphate to combine carbon dioxide and water to from sugars in plants.... sugars are carbon, hydrogen, and water. Good sugar and nutrient levels in a plant are produced by adequate phosphate. Do not use acid treated phosphate but use soft or hard rock phosphate for your gardens. Soft is better unless you know you have a super-alive bacterial system in your soil. However, you must have some type of alive soil in place for the phosphate to work whether it is soft or hard.
We are using soft rock phosphate on garden beds that are alive
Potassium
Number five essential is potassium. There is a fine balance with potassium because if you get too much in the soil it takes the place of calcium and will produce crops but they won't be as nutrient/sugar rich and will launch disease. This can be seen as brown/black spots on the leaves and stems. As a matter of fact most crops bought from our stores have an imbalance of potassium, kind of explains some of our mineral deficits and disease. Potassium is important because it determines three basic thing in plant growth. Thickness of the leaf, the stem and the caliber of the stalk or stem. It also determines the number of fruit that sets on a plant and helps hold the fruit to the stem as well as determining the size of the fruit. Phosphate to potassium has to be a 2:1 ratio.
Sources of potassium (potash): nitrate of potash, hardwood ashes, sawdust, chicken manure, wheat or oatstraw...... sawdust being the best source but may take up to 90 days to be available in the soil. We use the ashes from our wood burner and sawdust or wood chips.
Nitrogen
Lets talk about Nitrogen now. Nitrogen is important but too much just gives the idea you are getting a healthy vegetable. Too much nitrogen adds water but not nutrients and minerals to a plant especially if the soil is depleted of calcium and phosphate. Remember everything in balance? Have you ever heard of shrinkage in hay production? The more shrinkage in hay production, the more Nitrogen was out of balance with calcium and phosphate. You get more water but not more cell growth and nutrients. A good source of Nitrogen for foliar spray is household ammonia.
So much more information but this post was on soil and nutrients. I have barely scratched the surface but this information has been very helpful to us.
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