BD Preparations and Drought By Hugh Lovel How certain notions arise and become entrenched is a bit of a mystery, especially when they are wrong. Yet they do get started and entrenched. One of these is the belief that when things dry up and little moisture is available we cannot put out biodynamic preparations—as if…
Category: Agriculture
Growing Ginger: Building the Soil Foodweb
Growing Ginger Building the Soil Foodweb Hugh Lovel Ginger roots normally contain endophytes, which are microbes living in between the plant’s cells. This means there is no problem finding the right microbial cultures that are symbiotic with ginger. The piece of ginger root you plant brings in many desirable species with it. This is…
Boron’s Role in Sap Uptake
I realize Marschner doesn’t make the role of boron very clear. I refer to Marschner’s second edition on silicon, pages 417 – 426. Marschner classifies silicon as ‘beneficial’ rather than essential. Boron he considers essential, pages 379 – 396. Although he acknowledges their close similarity, he doesn’t make the connection I do. And Marschner is,…
Establishing A Self-Sufficient System
Establishing a Self-Sufficient System Developing Basic Soil Fertility by Hugh Lovel Because soil fertility involves…
Oxygen The Activator
Oxygen the Activator by Hugh Lovel In agriculture we’re in trouble when the soil doesn’t get enough oxygen. Even with crops like rice oxygen must diffuse into the water and the soil even while the field is soaked. However, oxygen deficiency usually goes unrecognized. What are its signs? How can we look at oxygen’s functions…
Hugh’s best article ever on Biochemical Sequence and Plant Growth
The Biochemical Sequence © 2014 by Hugh Lovel What is the hierarchy or ‘biochemical sequence’ of what must function first before the next thing and the next thing works. The elements early in this sequence must be present and working well before later elements have any chance of being useful for plant growth. Nitrogen,…
RAIN, RAIN, RAIN
“A living organism has the astonishing gift of concentrating a ‘stream of order’ on itself, thus escaping the decay into atomic chaos.” –Erwin Schrödinger “It is the anomalies in nature that reveal the principles of life.” –Goethe Rain, Rain, Rain; Enriching the Atmosphere By Hugh Lovel My experience over the last…
A Dairyman’s Compost
A Dairyman’s Recipe for Making Stable, Quality Compost By Hugh Lovel Hugh on dairy farm consultation Tasmania The initial mix of materials should be about 30 to 1 carbon to nitrogen, so manures and fresh, green materials will need a fair bit of other material that is low in nitrogen. Mixing in wood…
The Biochemical Sequence
The Biochemical Sequence™ By Hugh Lovel Beyond sulphur, the minerals plants need from soils have a certain hierarchy of importance. One thing must work before anything that depends on it can. The earlier deficiencies occur in this sequence the more everything else is affected. For example, silicon provides the capillary action that allows plants…
High Brix in Vegetables
High Brix in Veggies Getting brix high in veggies is usually a challenge due to low silicon and high nitrates. This can be where biodynamics comes to the rescue with oak bark and equisetum. Add these to EM and you reverse nitrification in the soil and improve photosynthesis. We tend to think we have to feed…
Quantum Agriculture 