“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…
Category: Soil
Compost Explained
Composting Explained© By Hugh Lovel On a recent trip to Japan where I visited several organic farms as well as a golf course I noted that no matter how good their other practices none were composting well enough. All omitted clay from their compost mixtures. The same is commonly true on organic farms…
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…
Homemade Fertilizers
Home Made Fertiliser: Part Two Author: Hugh Lovel Category: Biodynamics, Farming, Soil Humified Compost and Compost Extract Misunderstandings about compost abound. Many imagine that composts are simply broken down organic matter that is ready to be taken up by plants. All too often composters seek to simply digest a mix of wood wastes, plant matter, manures and…
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…
Drought and the Importance of Soil Cover
Drought and the Importance of Soil Cover Hugh Lovel It’s dire days when so many Australian farmers along the Murray/Darling have burned up the carbon in their soils and turned their paddocks into salt flats resembling some of the dry salt pans of Arizona. It is puzzling, having viewed Channel 9’s special (28/5/2006)…
Boron, Overgrazing and Soil Building
Boron, Overgrazing and Soil Building Hugh Lovel All too often I find paddocks which once yielded excellent growth now have declined to the point the grasses, clovers and other plants look like bonsai miniatures. I just did a soil test for someone who had enough of every other nutrient except boron, which…
Soil: The need for Total Testing
The Need for Total Testing Hugh Lovel reprinted from Acres USA What many farmers probably don’t know is that most soil tests only tell us what is soluble in the soil. They do not tell us what is actually there in the soil, no matter what fertiliser salesmen might like to imply. To find…
Field Broadcasters and Soil Chemistry
Field Broadcasters and Soil Chemistry Hugh Lovel Dear Eddie, I’ll try to respond to your long letter in as much detail as I can. I want to let Shabari in on the discussion as she will learn more about the chemical/mineral side of things that way. I had your problem with the disappearing…
Boron’s Role in Silica Uptake
Dear Andrew, To the best of my knowledge, chemists and ag scientists doing research on the mechanism of boron’s working in plants has been few. It has been widely observed, discussed and research that boron is necessary for the uptake of calcium. I myself spent 30 years figuring out how boron worked, and I…
Quantum Agriculture 