It is not just about reclaiming tired soils, releasing locked up phosphorus, fixing nitrogen or creating a disease resistant soil. Soil structure, water management, plant health and productivity are all part of the potential gift package when you refurbish your biological workforce.

The Seven Essentials

1) Hygeine is essential if you want to avoid contamination of your brew. Microbes are everywhere but they accumulate wherever there is a food source. Any residual liquid from your last brew, left in the bottom of the tank or within the pipes attached to the pump, is food for other organisms. It consists of microbe food and huge numbers of the bodies of those creatures you last brewed. Pathogens can breed up in these residues and some of them can be inadvertently brewed up, along with the good guys during multiplication. To avoid the introduction of undesirables, your brewing system should be cleaned and sanitised immediately after each brew and before beginning a new brew. NTS has developed a high-powered agricultural disinfectant, Path-X™, which is an ideal tool to sanitise the system before and after brewing. It simply involves the addition of 20 to 50 litres of water containing ten mL of Path-X™ per litre (a dilution of 1:100). Alternatively, you can just use household bleach or hydrogen peroxide as a sanitiser but make sure that the disinfectant has been completely flushed from the system or you may kill or compromise the beneficial workforce you are trying to multiply.

2) The microbe food source must be sterile. Microbes need the same things that we do. They require, protein, carbohydrates and fatty acids and these could theoretically be sourced from something as simple as dog food or, perhaps, soya bean meal. The problem is that these potential foods are invariably contaminated with a multitude of organisms, many of which can multiply during the brewing process. It is much better to start with a food that is completely sterile. You may be concerned that if a biocide was used to sanitise the food source then it may have a negative effect on the beneficial microbes in the brew, but this is not the case. Concentrated liquid food sources are generally used at one litre per 100 litres and this level of dilution ensures that the biocide has no ongoing negative effect. NTS has developed an exceptional liquid food concentrate for brewing microbes, LMF™ (Liquid Microbe Food). This food contains a wide range of nutrients to nurture the multiplying organisms and to ensure good microbe counts in the end brew.

3) Contaminated brewing water can be an issue if the only available water for brewing comes from a dubious farm dam. In this case the water can be easily sterilised with pool chlorine but the chlorine should be gassed off before adding the microbes. This process is simple to monitor. Just bubble the treated water with your aerator until there are no further emissions of chlorine gas (this process usually takes around 60 minutes) and then add the food and microbes.

4) Use your nose to monitor your progress. If the end brew has an unpleasant smell, then it may be contaminated and not safe to apply to your crop. I have seen anaerobic brews that have actually done crop damage, so this is an important consideration. An unpleasant smell usually heralds either contamination or poor aeration. Poor aeration can sometimes be linked to overheating during the brewing process. Heat is generated during the free-for-all, breeding party that unfolds during microbe brewing. The heat should be monitored throughout the brewing process and ideally should not exceed 30 degrees centigrade. You will need to throw cold water on the proceedings if overheating occurs.

5) Choose a brewing inoculum that best suits your requirements. For example, if you have used a multitude of chemicals in your farming operation over the years, it is a safe bet to assume that you will benefit from building biodiversity. The best choice here is compost tea, as you are multiplying many thousands of different species and re-introducing this diverse workforce to your soils. If your farm has a history of applied phosphate and you are seeking to access the locked up reserves that are part and parcel of the use of acid phosphate (up to 70% of everything you have applied in the past), then you will get a more pronounced response if you select a task-specific inoculum to release this frozen reserve. We have had tremendous results for the past 15 years in over forty countries with our task-specific inoculum, Nutri-Life 4/20™. Unlike compost tea, this blend contains huge numbers of a couple of dozen specialist species that excel in the release of locked-up phosphate and the fixing of nitrogen from the atmosphere. You will always see a more pronounced and obvious response with a task specific inoculum, like 4/20™, due to the nitrogen and phosphate response, but this should not detract from the importance of building biodiversity with compost tea. There are also cellulose digesting fungi in the 4/20™ blend and it is now possible to select for either bacterial or fungal dominance when brewing.

6) Don’t use molasses or sugar as bio-stimulants during microbe brewing. These simple sugars tend to select for a limited number of bacterial species and these species then completely dominate during the brewing process. The end result is less biodiversity and an increased likelihood of brewing undesirable organisms. For example, E-coli runs rampant in the presence of these simple sugars during brewing. It is a far better option to use fulvic acid to encourage bacteria. This natural acid boosts the full spectrum of bacteria.

7) Create your compost tea inoculum from several different compost sources for maximum response. There are quite different mixes of species in different compost sources. A compost made from cow manure contains different organisms to a compost made from chook manure, pig manure or no manure. The ideal inoculum would involve  a little of each. The compost should be stored separately before use rather than blending the mix in advance to avoid a likely loss of biodiversity that can occur over time in the warfare world of the soil foodweb. Seek the very best sources of these different composts and the cost is immaterial. Even if you pay an exorbitant price for a great compost, shipped from thousands of kilometres away it does not matter. There are only very small amounts of actual compost required to make compost tea. For example, one kilogram of compost makes one hundred litres of compost tea and that amount is applied to a hectare. If the compost costs as much as $400 per tonne, this still only equates to 40 cents per hectare, so you might as well source the very best inoculum.

If you have not yet discovered the multiple benefits of microbe brewing then it is time for a pleasant surprise. It may sound like some strange, foreign process but it is really quite simple and incredibly cost effective. You can source a 1000 litre shuttle for around $300 or a 200 litre drum for $50 and these serve as microbe brewing tanks (depending upon the scale of your operation). A small submersible pump can be used in the 200 litre drum or a spa pump can be utilised in the shuttle. You can make your own venturis to deliver oxygen or you can source venturi kits from NTS. We will offer advice to help a D.I.Y setup or we can supply a range of accessories for microbe brewing. The bottom line is that many soils have been biologically compromised with extractive agriculture and microbe brewing offers a unique opportunity to re-charge soil life at minimal cost.

The Eighth Essential

We’ve discussed the seven essentials for successful microbe brewing but there is an additional requirement that is at least as important. This eighth essential relates to your capacity to control the microbe brewing process to achieve a desired species mix. Herein lies a major problem experienced by most people who have embraced bug brewing. It is really difficult to achieve fungal domination when brewing microorganisms. This is a constant frustration because it is beneficial fungi that are the creatures most lacking in most soils, when a soil life count is conducted. Bacteria subdivide at a much more rapid rate than fungi, so, in a brewing situation, it is inevitable that the bacteria take command and unfortunately this creates undesirable conditions for fungal proliferation. Bacteria release alkaline exudates but fungi prefer acidic conditions so this simple biochemical ploy magnifies the bacterial dominance. You can start a compost tea with a compost, rich in visible fungi, but the bacteria that are still present exert their dominance within hours. One trick that helps slow down the bacteria is to add an acid material to the brewing tank. The pH of the brewing solution must be maintained below 5 throughout the process to encourage fungal domination. Vinegar or citric acid are popular choices but unfortunately it is not as simple as it sounds. The bacteria don’t give up without a fight. They continue to release their alkaline exudates knowing that if they can spike pH above 5 then they can resume control. The pH of the brew solution must be monitored throughout the 24 hour brewing process and more acid material is often required. This does not bode well for those who like their sleep!

It was an important step forward in brewing technology and user friendliness when NTS developed Dominate™ (fungi), a liquid that can maintain the ideal pH for fungi, throughout the brewing process, with the simple addition of just one litre per 100 litres of brew.  Dominate is the eighth essential and it is not just limited to success when brewing fungi. There is also a Dominate™ product that ensures huge numbers of bacteria.

Dominate™ (bacteria) sponsors a brew that is jam-packed with beneficial bacteria to the extent that it has often reached saturation point. Typically, a microbial brew needs to be applied the moment that it is completed – after the aeration ceases beneficial (aerobic) bacterial cells and fungal hyphae quickly decline. However with the use of Dominate™ Bacteria or Dominate™ Fungi the conditions of the brew encourage the formation of either fungal or bacterial spores. These spores are bacteria and fungi in their protected state – they are far more robust and stable than vegetative cells. This gives the final brew additional shelf life. This is a tremendous move forward in terms of user friendliness! If it rains when the brew is due it no longer matters. Microbes can now be brewed at a central location and transported to where they are required without the normal loss of efficacy. Applying a microbes in spore form also means they have a higher chance of surviving the application process.

Nutri-Life 4/20™ and Dominate™ – Perfect Partners

Most of the developmental work with Dominate™ involved working with the popular NTS microbe inoculum, Nutri-Life 4/20™. This freeze-dried blend involves both fungi and bacteria. Dominate™ (fungi) allowed us to produce a large numbers of beneficial fungi, when brewing 4/20™, the most abundant of which is a remarkable species called Trichoderma. Trichoderma is a multifunction species that can improve fertiliser efficiency and contribute to the creation of a disease suppressive soil but it is also a voracious cellulose digester that can build humus very effectively. A tank full ofTrichoderma could now be produced for a very low cost and we were justifiably excited.

If, however, the goal is to access free nitrogen from the atmosphere or to unlock some of your frozen phosphate reserves then you may prefer to use Dominate™ (bacteria) in conjunction with Nutri-Life 4/20™. With this inexpensive addition, you can now achieve huge numbers of desired species in a stable brew that will last for up to two weeks.

The Top Five Reasons to Brew

1) To boost humus building capacity – when carbon is stored in the soil as humus it is not creating havoc in terms of greenhouse gases and global heating. The key creatures (cellulose digesting fungi) required to build stable soil humus have been decimated in most conventionally farmed soils. Brewing offers an inexpensive option to get back in the game by replenishing these missing workers.

2) To reclaim your phosphate investments – soluble phosphate turns out to be a pretty ordinary investment as it is openly acknowledged that you lose on average 73% of applied phosphate to lockups in the soil. This raw deal is destined to get worse as Peak Phosphate arrives. When the first half of a non-renewable resource has been used, the second half rises and rises in price, until supplies are eventually exhausted. There has never been an exception to this trend in the history of economics. Many commentators now believe that the planet reached Peak Phosphate in 2001 and, if so, the price will continue upward. There is a massive frozen reserve of phosphate in Australian agricultural soils (in areas with a history of phosphate fertilising) and it is a great strategy to reclaim this frozen reserve by brewing and applying phosphate solubilising organisms.

3) To reduce nitrogen expenditure – the atmosphere contains the equivalent of 5000 truckloads of urea (as nitrogen gas) per hectare, and that is where we were supposed to access much of our nitrogen. Free-living nitrogen fixing organisms can be easily brewed and for minimal cost you can receive a significant percentage of your crop’s nitrogen requirements from the atmosphere.

4) To build a disease-suppressive soil – a fungal disease does not reflect a lack of a fungicide, it heralds a soil food web imbalance, where the creatures who would normally feed upon the pathogen, are no longer present in your soil. The chemical sledgehammer is often not the best solution. In this era of greater soil life awareness and research we now know that chemical control creates collateral damage. The chemicals can affect species other than the intended pathogen, and that can create a whole new range of problems. If you can build your biodiversity with compost tea and specialist inoculums you can reclaim both soil-life balance and your peace of mind.

5) To reduce the crop’s water requirements – humus can hold almost its own weight in water but there is another way in which introduced biology can minimise water usage. Bacteria release a sticky, gel-like substance that serves as a protective bio-film to slow down their predators. A single protozoa, for example, consumes 10,000 bacteria each day so it is a handy survival mechanism to become  like “the boy in the bubble”, to escape their ravenous attention. The good news about this sticky jelly is that it works almost like water crystals in terms of moisture retention in the root zone. It is common for growers to report significant reductions in irrigation requirements following the introduction of a regular brewing program.

To speak with an NTS Agronomist about the use of the Dominate options please phone +61 7 5472 9900.

Disclaimer: Prices quoted are estimates only and may vary without notice. Prices quoted are in Australian dollars.

The Beauty of Compost

Water is rapidly becoming our most precious resource. Countries will wage war to secure supply (if that is not already happening). The use of compost is a premium water saving strategy. It contains around 25% humus and it also promotes the humus-building organisms in the soil (many of whom are desperately in need of some help). Humus can store more than its weight in water (Podolinski (1985) and Kay (1997)) and the building of organic matter levels on your farm, or even in your garden, can make a tremendous difference to your soil’s utilisation of irrigation water or a rainfall event. In fact, the difference is staggering! If you can build your soil humus levels by just 1% then your soil can store 170,000 litres per hectare that it could not previously store. That equates to 17 litres per square meter! Remember that this is water that the plant can access at will. There is no energy required to deliver that water and there is no evaporation factor involved (like dam storage). It really is the ultimate in water storage and efficient water delivery system.  In addition, any carbon that we store in the soil, as humus, is not returned to the atmosphere (as part of the carbon cycle), where it is causing so many problems. Building 1% humus in the soil actually binds up 50 tonnes of CO₂ per hectare that would otherwise be thickening the greenhouse blanket. Growers will soon be paid for this stored carbon and this will prove a remarkable win/win situation. In fact, there are so many benefits associated with humus building, it is a shining example of a bountiful universe that responds in kind – it is a thing of true beauty.

The Compost Bounty

Humus does not just store moisture more efficiently than any other technology; it is also the best tool to retain nutrients in your soil and to deliver those nutrients to the plant. Humus is the only soil colloid that is equipped with sites to store both negatively charged minerals (anions) and positively charged minerals (cations). This is particularly important in relation to the storage of highly leachable anions like nitrate nitrogen, sulfates and boron, because the humus colloid is the only storage mechanism in the soil for these minerals. Notoriously unstable minerals like phosphorus, which lock up in the soil at an astounding rate (an estimated 73% of your soluble phosphate fertiliser investment becomes insoluble) can be stabilised with the formation of a phosphate/ humus bond.

The delivery of minerals to the plant is largely a biological process and the higher your humus levels, the more active your soil biology and the more nutrient-dense your produce. Food can become a feast of forgotten flavours and these flavours are directly related to the medicinal value of the food.

Improved soil structure is a well-researched benefit of compost application. Soil aeration, porosity and crumb structure are all enhanced. Compost is food for soil life. Earthworms return to composted soils, as do the less visible creatures. I recently applied a healthy dose of compost to just one half of a large flowerbed at my home acreage. Six months later the difference is outstanding. Plant growth is more vibrant, the soil is more friable and there is double the number of earthworms in the treated half!

Microbes and Minerals from Compost

Compost also serves as a microbial inoculum to restore your workforce. A teaspoon of good compost can contain as many as 5 billion organisms and thousands of different species. These beneficial microbes restore biodiversity and the balance that comes with it. This balance can create a disease-suppressive soil. These beneficials neutralise pathogens through competition for nutrients and space, the consumption of competitors, the production of inhibitory compounds and induced disease resistance (via a plant immune boosting phenomenon called systemic acquired resistance). Compost has also been shown to promote the development of mycorrhizal fungi (AMF).

Minerals complexed with humus in compost will not leach like water-soluble fertilisers. African research has demonstrated that when minerals are included with compost they were much more efficient than the uncomposted fertiliser (up to ten times more efficient). Microbe exudates can also prompt the plant to uptake minerals. There is an additional benefit when combining compost with fertilisers. The stable, slow release minerals in compost can help to avoid the plant overloads that sponsor pest pressure (nitrate-packed, low brix plants are a good example).

Raw Materials – What To Embrace

The recipe for successful composting always involves one critical factor. The balance between carbon and nitrogen (the carbon to nitrogen ratio) determines the speed and efficiency of the composting process. The best form of nitrogen is animal manure as it also offers a rich microbial inoculum. Each form of animal manure offers a different range of organisms but it is generally considered that cow manure is the best. The rumen is something of a biological masterpiece in itself and the poo contains a comprehensive representation of this remarkable internal workforce. Rudolf Steiner, the founder of biodynamic agriculture, believed that a farm was not a farm without the presence of cattle. The most famous of the biodynamic preparations involves cow manure deposited in a cow’s horn and buried until it is composted (and infused with other energies).

The carbon component of the compost recipe can be sourced from whatever is closest to hand and least expensive. This may involve spoiled hay, orchard litter, feathers, stable straw, sawdust, municipal mulch or spoiled fruit and vegetables.

There are two other components that have proven particularly productive if they can be readily sourced. Soft rock adds calcium, phosphorus, silica and clay. The clay component greatly extends the life of the compost. Basalt crusher dust can contribute broad-spectrum minerals, if it is finely crushed, but more importantly it supplies paramagnetic stimulation to the compost.

What is Paramagnetism?

Professor Phil Callahan is a highly accomplished scientist and writer responsible for multiple published papers and books covering diverse subject matter. He was able to identify paramagnetism as the reason that volcanic soils always outperform non-volcanic soils. These soils can attract store and convert atmospheric energy (Extra Long Frequency (ELF) radio waves originally created from lightning) into tiny light particles called photons. Photons effectively deliver a light source to the roots and the creatures living around the roots (the rhizosphere). Paramagnetic stimulation can treble the activity of beneficial microbes (hence the enhanced performance of volcanic soils). There is a proven synergy between compost and paramagnetic crusher dust. During my original interview with Prof. Callahan in ‘Nutrition Rules!”, he cited a visit to the German laboratories of Professor Fritz Popp, a leader in the field of light energy research. He arrived from the US with a sample of basalt and asked that it be tested using the cutting-edge equipment available at the lab. To the amazement of Prof. Popp the sample had a reading of 4000, demonstrating that the rock was steadily releasing light particles. However, the next day Prof. Callahan returned to the lab with a sample that involved a combination of the same crushed rock combined with compost. The photon reading had increased 100 fold to 400,000! You can really get your compost cooking and increase the efficacy of the end product with the simple addition of crusher dust and it need not involve a great expense. You will need between 6% and 10% crusher dust in the mix for optimal results and this can be sourced locally, if the paramagnetic reading is high enough. NTS offers a free service where you can send us a 100 gram sample of your local crusher dust and we can test it using a PCSM meter designed by Professor Callahan. The dust should have a minimum reading of 1600 CGS to justify its use. There is a trap for young players here. The PCSM meter can not differentiate between ferro-magnetism and paramagnetism and this means that if your local crusher dust features a particularly high iron content, then you have no way of knowing if the sample is actually paramagnetic. The solution here is to take a couple of buckets of the dust home and apply it to a section of your home garden. You will see an obvious response if it is truly paramagnetic but there will be very little response if the iron content was confusing the reading.

Raw Materials – What to Avoid

There are several raw ingredients that can reduce compost quality and/or contaminate the end product. Chemically treated wood products cannot be used, as the arsenic involved can be a serious pollutant. Meat, bones and fatty foods tend to attract pests (like rats) and they can also stink during their breakdown. Weeds should be avoided. The seeds can be killed with the heat of composting but it is not worth taking the risk. Similarly, it is not a good idea to try to compost diseased plants in case some of the disease organisms escape sterilisation during the heating phase. Cooch and nut grass should be avoided, as the rhizomes will often survive the composting process. Pet litter can harbour human parasites and disease (particularly used kitty litter) and large quantities of pine needles can have an inhibitory effect due to the extreme acidity of this material.

Composting Techniques – What works Best?

There are several popular composting strategies and each of them has merits. Your choice will depend upon your access to raw materials and the maturation speed you are seeking. The level of management involved is a key differentiation between approaches. The maturation time can vary from eight weeks to two years depending on how much time you choose to invest. Here is a brief overview of the most popular composting techniques:

Static Pile Composting

This technique, popularised by US compost guru, Malcolm Beck (The Secret Life of Compost), takes twice the time to produce (compared to windrowing) but there are several pronounced benefits. Here, the all-important aeration comes from air spaces in the mixture determined by particle size. This technique will not be an option for you if you only have access to cow manure as a standalone input because there will be no air spaces and undesirable anaerobic conditions will prevail. However, if you also had access to orchard prunings or Council green waste you would have the perfect material to layer the manure with, producing a well functioning static pile. These large, three-meter high piles are only disturbed three or four times during the 6 month composting process and this non-disruptive approach has several advantages. There are much lower energy, machinery and fuel costs involved and there is also less labour required. One wonders whether more actively managed piles actually result in a net carbon gain, when so much energy is involved in their production. Static pile composting can produce excellent compost with more humus, more nutritional value and higher counts of beneficial fungi. This quality improvement is related to reduced fungal disruption and a lower loss of CO₂ (from turning). There is also less leaching of minerals (due to a lower water requirement).

There is still an option for you to use the static pile technique if you have a mountain of cow manure and no material available to produce air spaces. Static piles can be aerated by either blowing or sucking air through the stack. It has been found that alternating air movement can promote a similar temperature and moisture throughout the pile. A caged blower fan can be used to push air through a perforated, 4 inch, plastic drain pipe. The pile height should always be less than three meters to maintain uniform aeration.

Small-Scale Static Piles for the Home Gardener

The compost experts often sell the concept that there is no likelihood of producing a good compost unless some level of active management is involved. This is not the case. Non-energetic home gardeners can pile up their lawn clippings and fallen leaves and recycle these organics without the effort of regular turning. The key here is to avoid the addition of a nitrogen-based accelerant. The materials can sit undisturbed and decompose for up to two years and can still result in an acceptable compost. The piles should be covered by black plastic, sacking, or an old carpet and they may still need watering if they begin to dry out.

Actively Managed Compost

This technique involves commitment and considerable energy to achieve a high quality compost. For example, the pile may require turning every day, during the first ten to fourteen days. The pre-sourced green and brown materials are usually pre-shredded and added in layers to form long narrow windrows between 1 to 2 meters high and 2 to 3 meters wide. Large, compost-turning machines are typically used in windrow composting. CO₂ is the gas released as the microbes breathe, so it is a good strategy to monitor this gas with a meter as an indication of microbial activity. These windrows are bacterial dominated because the fungi are repeatedly sliced and diced during the turning process. Moisture must also be monitored and there is much more applied water involved due to the reduced insulation in smaller piles. The compost is produced in just 10 to 12 weeks and this has become the favoured approach amongst commercial compost producers looking for rapid turnaround.

Vermi-Composting – Worms Do the Work

The worms involved in vermi-composting are not the same earthworms found on your farm. They are special, purpose-bred composting worms. Here, the worms do the turning and the aerating and the worm poo is loaded with minerals and unique micro-organisms that make this a truly champagne compost. There is always a downside, however, and here it relates to the lack of a heating stage during composting. Weed seeds and stable pathogenic spores can become an issue depending upon the feedstock that is utilised. Raw feedstock can be pre-composted to overcome this problem, if it cannot be eliminated with the choice of raw materials. The “worm juice” (residual liquid from watering the pile) can be collected and used as a potent liquid fertiliser/bio-inoculum.

Vermi compost is the most effective compost available. It can be highly productive at just two tonnes per hectare. In fact, comparative research at the now defunct, Gatton Field Days, revealed that vermi-compost was around twenty times more potent than composted cow manure (one tonne of vermi-compost was equivalent in performance to twenty tonnes of composted cow manure). Part of this enhanced performance is linked to the inoculum effect when using this product. The micro-organisms incubated in the worms gut are unique to these creatures and they offer an invaluable contribution to a soil lacking earthworms (most conventionally farmed soils).

If you can’t access vermicast or it is not a cost-effective alternative, it is always beneficial to build the number of native earthworms on your farm and there is a good strategy to achieve this goal.

Expanding Earthworms on Your Farm

Earthworms are little fertiliser machines that also aerate and improve soil structure. Earthworm counts in your soil are intimately linked to productivity and profitability and so there is great benefit in building their numbers. A great on-farm strategy involves allocating a paddock to earthworm production. This area should ideally contain a combination of legumes, grasses and cereals that should be slashed regularly to feed the worms. Ideally it should be irrigated and treated with humates and fish on a regular basis along with protozoa tea made from lucerne (protozoa are a favourite food for earthworms and Lucerne is jam-packed with these creatures). Earthworms can be easily transported from this haven to any areas on your farm that need rehabilitation.

The Work of the Masters

Beyond the broad definition of “active” and “passive”, there are several popular and proven composting techniques that warrant mention. Each of them originates from the work of some of the founding fathers of biological agriculture and they include:

1. CMC composting – Controlled Microbial Composting is based upon Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s work but was developed by Austrian, Ziegfried Luebke.
2. Biodynamic composting – based upon Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy.
3. Howard/Higgins composting – based on Sir Albert Howard’s work last century, which has recently been re-invented by UK consultant, Richard Higgins.

Guided Decomposition – CMC Success

Controlled Microbial Composting has become the industry standard for windrow composting in Europe and much of the US. This compost is heavily managed and monitored throughout the eight-week decomposition process and it has some unique features including the following:

• Clay or a clay-based soil is added at 5% to 10% to encourage the formation of a clay/humus crumb during the composting process. This is one of Luebke’s greatest contributions to the art and science of compost making, as it generates humus with a much greater longevity. A clay/humus crumb has a potential life of more than thirty years in the soil.

• The compost is inoculated with a special microbe blend on the second day and a previous compost is used as a starter, at a rate of 10%.

• Daily monitoring of moisture, temperature and CO₂ is involved.

• When temperature is higher than 65 degrees celsius or CO₂ exceeds 10%, the compost is turned to reduce both temperature and CO₂.

• A moisture level of 50% to 55% is maintained throughout.

Steiner’s Master Work

Biodynamic composting is a centerpiece of the BD approach and, as with most of Steiner’s concepts, it has several unique features. The most unusual of these is the required shape of the heap. The pile must be trapezoidal when constructed, which means it should have four unequal sides. The compost is activated with special biodynamic presentations made from herbs, including chamomile, stinging nettle, yarrow, dandelion and horsetail. Dung slurry is watered onto the carbon layer (the brown material) during the layering process. Hydrated lime is dusted on each protein layer (the layer of green vegetation).

The Howard/Higgins System

Sir Albert Howard is widely regarded as the father of organic agriculture. While working in India early last century he developed the Indore approach. This approach, which is also appears to have inspired Steiner’s BD compost, involves a five foot (1.6 meter) layered stack, alternating greens, browns and animal manure. Soil and lime were sprinkled between each layer. Sometimes the pile was started inside a one-meter deep pit. The compost was only turned twice.

U.K consultant, Richard Higgins, is popularising the addition of wood ash, urine soil and clay to the original Howard recipe. Wood ash is a great source of potassium and the composting process stabilises this highly leachable nutrient. Potassium is so easily leached that a single rainfall event can remove the potassium from bonfire ash and return it to the soil. The key here is to keep your ash covered until it is added to the compost heap.

Urine soil involves adding urine to a pile of soil beside the compost heap and adding that to the compost. Urine contains more nitrogen than poo and it would be a great resource for dairy farmers if they could utilise it in composting.

The All-Important Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio

The single most important factor in the composting process is to try to achieve the ideal balance between carbon and nitrogen within the pile. If this balance is not addressed, decomposition will be compromised because the organisms involved require a certain, minimum amount of nitrogen to enable the breakdown of carbon. The ideal carbon to nitrogen ratio for your compost heap is 30:1 and a nitrogen source may often be required to achieve this goal. A very simple starting point is to try to achieve two parts brown (carbon) to one part green (nitrogen). The raw ingredients you can source will determine your need for extra nitrogen. For example, sawdust has a C: N ratio of 500:1, so considerable nitrogen will be required to compost this material. Easy to use C: N calculators are available on the web to simplify your decision making. Grass clippings and animal manure have a similar C: N ratio of around 20:1, so they will help in the decomposition of inputs higher in carbon.

The Two Heat Stages and Getting Them Right

The first stage of composting (the first one to two weeks) is called the thermophilic stage. This is where high temperatures are reached and organic matter is broken down by heat loving organisms producing gums, waxes, lignins, sugars and amino acids. Temperature should be monitored during this stage to ensure best results. The temperature must exceed 57 degrees C for at least three days to kill weed seeds and pathogens. The temperature should not, however, rise beyond 65 degrees C as carbon can be ashed and beneficial microbes will die.

The second phase is called the mesophilic stage and here we see temperatures reduce and oxygen increase. New groups of micro-organisms now move in and colonise the compost and bind the lignins, sugars and aminos into stable humic substances.

Bacterial or Fungal Dominance

Some crops are fungal dominated and they will prefer a fungi-dense compost. Orchards, vines and timber plantations are examples of these fungi-loving crops, and berries (including strawberries) also fall into this category. A simple recipe for a fungal compost involves 5% manure, 50% green and 45% brown.

Pastures, vegetables and most other crops prefer bacterial domination. This involves 25% manure, 50% green and 25% brown. If you compare these recipes you will recognise the fact that bacteria love nitrogen. This is because their bodies have the lowest C: N ratios of any creature on the planet. Bacteria have a C: N ratio of just 5:1 (their bodies comprise 17% N) while fungi have a C: N ratio of 20:1.

Moisture Content

Moisture content is critical to microbial action. Moisture can be added when the pile or windrow is being built or during turning. It is essential to monitor moisture levels. Ensure that handfuls are taken from around and within the piles to identify and avoid wet or dry spots. A lack of consistent moisture throughout the heap can often be related to how the water was applied and how well the compost was mixed. The goal is to achieve a mix that, when squeezed, will only drip a couple of drops (like a wrung sponge). This represents less than 60% moisture. It is a good strategy to test the moisture content of any compost product before purchase to avoid the additional transport charges involved in carting wet compost.

Enriching Your Compost

There are several ingredients that will boost the fertilising and supportive power of your compost and they include the following:

• Zeolite – This natural mineral has a remarkable honeycomb structure which can serve to store minerals and moisture while housing beneficial microbes. It lasts indefinitely in your soil and effectively provides a third storage system (beyond humus and clay). Zeolite is typically added to compost at a rate of 6%.

• Raw humates – Brown coal is a tremendous compost additive as the composting process can release the humic and fulvic acids so densely present within this natural material. Do not exceed 20% brown coal or you may encounter problems with achieving the ideal C: N ratio in your compost (brown coal can contain as much as 60% organic carbon).

• Soft rock – If P is required in your soils this can be a good option. Some of the phosphate, calcium and silica in this product can be released during composting and the clay component of this material is ideal to encourage the complexing of clay with humus. This complex greatly extends the longevity of the compost.

• Seaweed – This sea plant is brilliant if you can access the material, as it provides a wealth of trace minerals and some powerful growth promoters.

• Bone meal and cottonseed meal – These materials can be a good source of nitrogen to balance out your C: N ratio.

• Wood ash – This is a good source of potassium but, as mentioned earlier, it must be collected and stored (or covered) to prevent K losses through leaching.

Problems of Poor Compost

If you get it wrong or buy product from someone who got it wrong, there is a risk of introducing a number of problems onto your property. For example, if pathogens or weed seeds were not effectively killed off during the thermophilic stage, you may be introducing some unwanted intruders. If the C: N ratio of the end product is unbalanced, then there is a risk of nutrient tie-ups or drawdowns. Nitrogen drawdown can be an expensive oversight. Depending upon the choice of raw materials and the efficiency of the composting there may also be issues with nuisance odours, toxic leachates and heavy metal contamination. These are not common problems and they are all overcome with good management. However, it is a good idea to ask for a full analysis of any compost product you are considering to ensure that heavy metals, antibiotics and herbicides are not present. This is sometimes a problem with composts made from municipal waste. There are also some simple tools you can use to help determine compost quality.

Compost Quality

Your nose and eyes are handy tools when deciding if a pile is fully mature. Financial considerations can sometimes drive commercial producers to market compost that is not fully completed. If you are producing your own compost there are no hard fast rules for maturation time. The length of composting can vary based on water, microbes, oxygen, temperature and composition. Here is what you can do to help you decide if your compost is ready:

• Take a sample from deep within the pile with one hand only.

• The material should be dark brown in colour rather than black (a black colour can suggest that the compost was overcooked).

• If the compost stinks, it is not ready and may require turning or you may need to modify your recipe for improved aeration.

• A slight ammonia smell may still be evident in finished compost but this may also indicate the need for more browns (carbon). It is always a good idea to check the temperature as a final guide if there is still a question mark concerning completion.

• The compost is ready when temperatures inside the pile are steadily dropping (less than 40 degrees C) and plant matter is mostly humified (amorphous). The compost should exude a strong, earthy, forest floor smell.

How Much Is Enough?

500 kg to 5 tonnes of compost per hectare serves as a powerful inoculum and promotant, but you can apply as much as 30 tonnes of compost if it is cost-effective to use it for nutrient replacement and fertilising.  If possible, the compost should be banded to maximise the response in the root zone and cost effectiveness.

Compost tea is one way to get maximum bang for your buck but this only supplies microbes rather than stable nutrients and humus.

In Conclusion

Composting, and the associated building of humus, is arguably the most important thing that any of us can do to help reverse climate change. Storing carbon in the soil is simply the most effective way to keep CO₂ out of the atmosphere. Building humus levels with compost is also the single, most effective way to build fertility and profitability and farmers may soon be paid to provide this service (via carbon credits). This is the ultimate win/win situation and I believe that we may be at the dawn of a golden era of agriculture.

Liquid fertilisers, injected directly into the root zone, have proven to offer the best value in cereals, legumes and cotton crops in recent years. However, their salt/acid base is harsh and their N and P component too overwhelming to be supportive to mycorrhizal fungi struggling to gain a foothold on the growing root. Liquid organic fertilisers are a softer, more supportive option to kick-start this fledgling relationship, but they have proven too expensive to be viable in large scale crop production.

NTS has spent a year developing a new fusion fertiliser, Springboard™, that cost-effectively solves this problem by boosting fungi, soil fertility and crop production. We are very excited with the results achieved with this new product.

Why Are AMF So Important?

Earlier this year we launched Platform™, a hardy mycorrhizal inoculum with massive spore counts and a Trichoderma tag-on. Platform™ contains so many organisms it can be used to successfully colonise cereal crops for as little as $5 /ha and pastures for just $10/ha.

AMF are the planet’s most powerful humus builders and it is this sequestered carbon that will become a farmer’s second income stream in the very near future. Glomalin, the sticky substance they produce, is recognised as the platform building block for over 30% of the world’s soil carbon. The decline in humus in our agricultural soils directly parallels the loss of AMF through extractive agriculture and there is an urgency to replenish our soils with these remarkably productive creatures.

Carbon building is just one of the many functions of AMF. They effectively increase the root surface area by 1000% when they colonise a plant. This gives the plant much greater access to moisture and nutrients.  AMF produce natural acids that release locked up phosphorus in the soil, (usually in the form of insoluble tri-calcium phosphate) providing a constant trickle feed of plant-available phosphorus and all-important calcium, directly to the roots. These root extensions also access immobile minerals like zinc and deliver them to the plant. Potassium often becomes trapped within clay platelets in the soil and these fine fungal strands can mine this trapped mineral.

There is also a powerful link between nitrogen-fixing organisms and AMF fungi. Research has revealed a potent synergy between these organisms. The AMF solubilise phosphate, a mineral that is required to fuel the enzymic process that fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil. In return, the nitrogen-fixers provide a constant source of nitrogen that builds the protein needed to sustain this massive fungal root extension.

These creatures are like little fertiliser machines and they can make a tremendous difference to the bottom line of any crop. Some of NTS’s large strawberry growers have just enjoyed their most problem-free season ever, following inoculation with Platform™ at planting.

Why Do AMF Need Their Own Fertiliser?

There is an intimate relationship between soil organisms and plants and it is important to understand this relationship to avoid the traps that can sometimes be a part of embracing biological principles. The plant feeds the organisms around its roots according to its nutrient requirements. If the plant needs nitrogen and phosphorus, then it will lace its sugar exudates with specific nutrients to encourage the creatures that will supply these minerals. If the crop has been supplied with an abundant source of water-soluble N and P at planting, there is no motivation to sacrifice glucose building blocks to feed the N-fixers and P-solubilisers. In this same manner, root colonisation of AMF can be compromised in the presence of water soluble P and N. This is why there has been a drastic need for a cost-effective liquid fertiliser that can, whilst feeding the plant, ensure production and also nurture AMF colonisation. We realised that we needed such a fertiliser to maximise the performance of our AMF inoculum, Platform™. Springboard™ is our solution. It costs less than $3 per litre and it is effective at just 8 litres per hectare.

The Springboard™ Secret

Springboard™ delivers a broad spectrum of nutrition that includes a healthy dose of NPK and a heavy trace element loading. We also placed special emphasis on calcium (over 9%) and forgotten minerals like silica, sulfur and molybdenum. The phosphorus (3.8%) in Springboard™ is available, but not water soluble, and this is part of the key to promoting rather than shutting down AMF. Similarly, the calcium is not based on calcium nitrate so the plant does not feel swamped in soluble calcium and it continues to support the creatures that will ensure calcium delivery throughout the season.

AMF benefit from trace minerals just as plants do. Springboard™ is loaded with trace minerals. Zinc, for example, is present at 3100 ppm, copper at 2200 ppm and boron at 1500ppm. Manganese, the mineral most required for germination and to kick-start seedlings, is well supplied at 4400 ppm. There is also 200ppm of molybdenum in the formula to ensure that nitrogen-fixing organisms can make the molybdenum-based, nitrogen-fixing enzyme, nitrogenase. Silicon is present in a plant-available form at 3.9% and Springboard™ also contains 1.65% sulfur.

For further information on Springboard™ and Platform™ or any other NTS product contact us on +61 7 5472 9900 or info@nutri-tech.com.au.

Disclaimer: Prices quoted are as at 24-10-11 and are in Australian dollars.  Prices may change without notice.  Prices exclude GST and delivery charges.

How is Soil Health Linked to Human Health?

We are what we eat and what we eat comes from the soil. If our food producing soils are minerally depleted, biologically inactive and chemically contaminated, then so is our food! Unfortunately the tale of extractive agriculture over the past few decades involves all three of these limiting factors and our food has suffered as a result. There have been several studies that have highlighted this decline. In fact, there are nutritionists now claiming that the food we currently consume has just thirty percent of the nutrition found in the food consumed by our Grandparents when they were children, This dramatic decline is not solely related to a decline in soil fertility, It is also linked to food processing, preparation and transport, but the soil is a major player.

How Has Our Food Been Affected By Conventional Farming?

Conventional, acid, salt fertilisers seemed like a good idea at the time. There seemed no longer a need for the high maintenance, soil restorative practices of the past, when you could just throw on some nutrition from a bag each season. However, “easy”, is not necessarily best, and in this case the new approach proved unsustainable. The acid salt fertilisers decimated some of the key creatures in the soil, responsible for soil rebuilding and nutrient delivery. The most visible of these creatures is the humble earthworm which has disappeared from many conventionally farmed soils. However, the fungal organisms that build humus were similarly affected. Humus is the storehouse for all minerals and the home base for the soil organisms that deliver these minerals to the plant. Humus levels have declined by 70% during the decades of extractive agriculture and we are all paying the price. Nutrient deficient plants always require more chemical intervention. The use of farm chemicals is now astronomical and our food, our children and our planet are suffering from this toxic deluge!

How Does Soil Health Improvement Affect Our Fruit, Vegetables and Meat?

When we remineralise our soils and invigorate the soil biology, we reclaim, forgotten flavours, nutrient density and medicinal qualities in our food.

Animals grown on nutrient dense pasture supply meat, rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA – a powerful anti-cancer compound) and that meat features much lower levels of saturated fat than meat from grain-fed animals (5 times less!)

Vegetables grown in these soils contain much higher levels of antioxidants. We now know that compounds like lycopene and sulphurafane are incredibly protective but the levels of these compounds in vegetables depends upon soil life activity and the mineralisation of the soil.

Fruit quality is similarly dependant upon soil fertility. Several years ago in the UK researchers found conventionally grown oranges that contained zero vitamin C. It appears that if you ignore the nutrient delivery mechanisms in the soil (biology and mineral balance) for long enough you produce substandard food. This compromised produce is invariably chemically contaminated because nutrient density and inherent pest and disease protection are directly linked.

How Do I Take the first Steps To Change The Way I Farm?

The first thing to realise is that there is no sacrifice required to become more sustainable in your farming operation. In our popular, four day, Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture Course, you will learn that this change can be the best thing that ever happened in your farming operation. You will see that what is best for the environment is actually best for you!  Your productivity and profitability is expected to improve from the first season, not five years down the track!

Attendance at an NTS course is a good starting point but you may simply choose to call an NTS Agronomist for free advice on any problem you are experiencing at any time. You may decide to soil test your property or leaf test your crop, to improve nutrition precision. You may also opt to trial some of our breakthrough products. Platform™, for example, is a unique mycorrhizal fungi inoculum that can be remarkably productive from just $5 (AUS) per hectare.

Graeme: It’s great to see you both again after meeting you at our last four day course. It is pleasing to see that you are progressing down this path. What inspired your paradigm change?

Col: Well, I attended a course held locally by Professor Elaine Ingham and it really opened my eyes to the whole idea of life in the soil and how it could impact our farming operations.  My interest was sparked so I attended a series of seminars around the country by people like Dr Arden Andersen, Bart Davidson, Hugh Lovel and Hamish Mackay. Bev also attended the biodynamic workshop by Hamish and when we got home we decided to get started.

Graeme: What was the condition of your soils when you decided to play with biodynamics? Did you have any earthworms for example?

Col:  No the soil was pretty dead after years of simozine. We also had a major problem with herbicide resistance which is a big issue in a no till situation.

Bev:  I applied one of the BD preps to the house gardens and the difference was obvious so we thought we would apply it to the farm. We actually made our own 500 prep with cow horns. We also made a cow poo pit.

Graeme: It’s amazing what the NZ biodynamics consultant, Peter Proctor, has done in India with pit composting. I was speaking at a large organic conference in India a few years ago and Peter had a stall at the trade show linked to the conference. I called in to see him and had to fight through a massive crowd to get to him. He had such an impact they were almost treating him like Ghandi. Biodynamics has battled to gain a large foothold on this side of the globe because it is so esoteric. The Indians had no hesitation in accepting it. Their belief system allows for the spiritual and energetic realms that are involved in BD. They just said “That sounds pretty right. Let’s get started!” Sir Albert Howard, the Father of modern composting, actually began the idea of cow manure compost pits while working in India last century. How did your compost work out?

Bev: It was magic stuff and we then bought some flow forms and decided to apply 500 to the whole farm.

Graeme:  Were you happy with the result?

Col:  No, we did not see anything obvious so it was back to the drawing board.

Graeme:  It’s a big ask to expect subtle energies and homeopathic preparations to rapidly recover years of unwitting soil abuse. The best idea here would have been to clear out the chemical contaminants in the soil using three kilos of fulvic acid powder per hectare. That is the way to fast track the removal of toxins but it may not be as viable in broadacre as it is in horticulture, due to the cost. A slower clean-up option involves improving the conditions for the biology that will ultimately clean up the chemicals. We have found that biodynamics works particularly well in conjunction with biological agriculture but it is more like the cream on top rather than the starting point of meaningful change. French wine growers, for example, have done really well with a fusion of both approaches. What was your next move?

Col:  It was around this time that we heard about the NTS Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture and decided to attend. This course pulled all of the information together and the human health focus was tremendous.

Bev:  We still make our Bio-Bubble muesli every morning and we have adopted many of your suggestions.

Graeme:  That’s great to hear. It is amazing to witness the difference that food makes, even in the short term. When I am giving interstate seminars the food often involves white bread sandwiches and sweet biscuits. The difference in alertness and knowledge retention is obvious. When farmers attend our course at Yandina they receive wonderful whole foods that are nutrient dense and tasty. There is an obvious behavioural effect and it is quite an eye opener for some of them to recognise the link between food and how they feel.

Col:  We certainly enjoyed that food. It was one of the highlights of the four days.

Graeme:  Did you put anything into practice when you got back home from the course?

Col:  Yes we used the combination of your mycorrhizal fungi product, Platform and Seed Start, on the seed before planting this current crop. I had actually bought Seed Start before from your distributors, Ylad, and there was an obvious response. Seed treatment seems to offer the biggest bang for the buck.

Graeme:  You are right there. Seed Start has proven such a good product. It can offer such a kick start for just a couple of dollars per hectare. Now you can add Platform and get your crop colonised with mycorrhizal fungi for just $5 per hectare. Platform has generated some of the best feedback we have ever seen with any product in the past seventeen years. It is new but there have been some great photos of vastly superior root structure on treated wheat crops.

One thing I would like to ask you about relates to your weed management plans for this season because I think a large number of growers will be interested in your pioneering approach. One of the key issues regarding minimum and no-till farming is the fact that it involves blanket herbiciding with contact weed killers like glyphosate. Even though there is no doubt that no-till farming is a better way to build soil carbon, there is a big question about the sustainability of the herbicides. This has become an even bigger question in light of the recent findings from Professor Don Huber. He has linked Glyphosate to problems with forty different soil diseases because it compromises the plant’s immune system and kills some of the creatures that protect against these diseases. You have made the courageous decision this year to grow without herbicides. How do you intend to do that?

Col:  Twelve months ago we were considering going organic but it was too difficult when we were bringing in new livestock that didn’t come from an organic background. The hardest part, though, seemed to be the idea of farming without herbicides, so we looked more deeply into this. We learnt from you and others that weeds are often a signpost of a nutritional deficiency and as they can accumulate these nutrients from deep in the soil, they are actually serving a purpose. When they are turned back in they can help return those nutrients to the topsoil. This year we are growing completely without herbicides.

Graeme:  Wow!  What does the crop look like at the moment?

Col:  It’s a huge change of mindset to have to accept weeds in your crop.

Bev:  This is an ex-irrigation block that has always been kept as clean as a whistle.

Graeme:  One way to manage weeds when you are using some cultivation is to use something called blind cultivation. This involves stirring the surface just after planting, just before germination. This is designed to take out the weed seedlings which are smaller and on the surface. It doesn’t affect the crop seeds as they are planted deeper. The idea here is to allow the crop to stake its zone with the emission of an inhibitory auxin hormone that reduces the vitality of weed seedlings. All plants use this biochemical trick to give themselves an advantage over competitors. By the time the second flush arrives the crop has a considerable advantage over the weed. The weeds are moved mechanically with a finger weeder or some other surface scuffling implement, twice more before the crop shades them out completely. However, you can’t use this strategy in no-till situations so how do you get rid of the weeds to even plant the crop in the first place.

Col:  Well, we use a crimp roller like they have been using in Brazil for some time to pack down their green manure crops in no till situations. It has a helix pattern underneath.

Graeme:  I see. You just roll and crimp the residues to make a sort of organic matter crust which you can plant directly in to?

Col:  That idea worked really well where we had used a green manure crop. In fact, we now have earthworms back in that block for the first time in years. However, it was a little harder where we used the crimp roller to handle the large amount of stubble that remained from a wet year. We used a stubble digesting blend to break down the stubble a bit before rolling it down. It sort of worked because we were able to plant directly into the mat but we could probably have got our timing better. We did nothing with the weeds that grew through.

Graeme:  It’s a big deal to have the earthworms return. Good on you! You are on your way back!

Col:  First we got the dung beetles back and now some earthworms, so we know we are on the right track.

Graeme:  So you direct drill into the mat after crimping. Do you put anything under the crop or liquid inject at planting?

Col:  We have planted with guano the past two seasons and are happy with the results. There was no added N but with the crop didn’t seem to suffer.

Graeme:  I would have thought that there would have been some nitrogen draw down with all of that organic matter present.

Col:  We are using a legume rotation so there was some residual nitrogen in the soil but having just returned from Europe I realise that I should be using clover in the crop.

Graeme:  Interplanting with a legume is a great concept. There is a misconception that the legume will steal nutrition from the cash crop but this doesn’t seem to be the case. On our research farm we have tried interplanting soybean with table corn and it was a great idea. There was no obvious competition and that crop received a lot more nitrogen. Legumes offer more than nitrogen. They also release acids which break the bond between locked up calcium and phosphate in the soil and release both of these minerals right next to the corn roots. Leaf analyses revealed significant increases in nitrogen, calcium and phosphate in the corn which was planted with soybean.

Col:  At this point the crops grown amongst the so-called weeds look pretty good so we will see what happens later in the season.

Graeme:  Are you intending to foliar spray with urea and humic acid to give the crop a bit of a boost?

Col:  Yes that is the plan. The few weeds in the crop won’t contaminate the grain harvest so that’s not an issue. There aren’t that many of them but they look a bit messy and it’s pretty hard to get used to.

Graeme:  My friend, Vic Camilleri, grows 1000 acres of organic soybeans and he achieves exceptional control at this time in the crop cycle with something called a rod weeder. It is essentially a revolving rod about thirty meters long which revolves in the opposite direction to which you are moving and rips the weeds up from the ground without disturbing the soil. You should visit him at Gunnedah sometime. He would be happy to show you how it works.

Col:  That’s good we will check that out.

Graeme:  You are basically saying that the weeds are there for a purpose so you are leaving them there. It’s a pretty gutsy decision!

Col:  We will have to see the end result but so far so good.

Graeme: It is a new mindset alright. We have a client who is a very successful orchardist and he lets the weeds grow in the orchard and slashes them before they seed. He sees them as an asset now, a source of nutrition and mulch, and his yields have certainly not suffered. Maybe we have all been conditioned to think that weeds are evil invaders that must be removed and this may not be the case.

Col:  When we have used glyphosate in the past we have used your idea of combining fulvic acid and citric acid with the herbicide and we have at least been able to use less and know that it is rapidly biodegraded in the soil.

Graeme:  I’ve been thinking that with all of the damning evidence about glyphosate that has surfaced recently we should probably all be thinking about using one of the other contact herbicides. We all used to think that glyphosate was the safest herbicide option but that is definitely not the case. The compound that it breaks down to is actually worse than the original material.

Col:  One of the reasons we decided to drop the glyphosate was because the herbicide resistance is getting ridiculous and you just keep having to use nastier herbicides to try to control the resistant weeds. It’s obviously not sustainable.

Graeme:  Herbicide resistance is a horror show everywhere. There are fifteen new herbicide resistant weeds each year. We do need to look at other ways and I applaud your efforts at trying to get off the herbicide treadmill. Thanks so much for agreeing to this chat.

Col:  It was a pleasure.

5)    Earthworms and Soil Food

Reclaiming large numbers of earthworms in the soil is the Holy Grail of the biological approach. These creatures are little fertiliser machines that can reduce input costs as their numbers grow. Food is the key to earthworm expansion. Provide food and they will arrive like bees to a honey pot, but what is the favoured food of these dynamic soil conditioners?

Earthworms love organic matter so they will arrive when you provide green manure crops and cover crops. They also love compost, but in this case it is not the digested organic matter that is the key attraction but rather the creatures the compost contains. Earthworms feast on fungi, so fungi-dominated compost will prove most productive. Their most favourite fare, however, is protozoa, so a simple tea made from lucerne can provide a rapid boost. Liquid fish with oil intact (Nutri-Sea Liquid Fish™) boosts both fungi and protozoa, so it becomes an earthworm essential. Similarly, humic acid is a powerful fungi promotant, so it can also serve to call in the earthworms via the fungi bait.

A great repopulating strategy involves setting aside part of a paddock specifically to grow earthworms. The new workforce can then be transported around the farm to areas that require rehabilitation. Your small earthworm farm will prosper if you grow a combination of cereals, grasses and legumes and slash them regularly. Feed up the worms with liquid fish, humates and protozoa tea and watch your valuable investment grow.

6)  Compost and Fertility

Composting is the accelerated conversion of organic matter into humus with a little human help. This practice is set to become the single most important strategy in our battle to neutralise global warming, as the mantra for the next decade may well become “fix carbon or fall”. This intervention in the carbon cycle stores carbon in the soil and keeps CO₂ from entering the atmosphere. The concerted, planetary effort to slow climate change will involve composting anything that can be composted and this imperative is as important for homeowners as it is for farmers.

Farmers, of course, are destined to be paid for their carbon building efforts and this will prove to be the ultimate win/win. Compost builds fertility and soil life more effectively than any other input and its humus component can hold its own weight in water. If you can build your organic matter levels by just one percent then your soil can hold 170,000 L of water per hectare that it would not otherwise have stored. This water is retained right beside the roots and water storage doesn’t get more efficient than this!

Compost is an inoculum of soil life that builds biodiversity and increases the resilience of soils and plants. It is a primary earthworm promotant and it can be used as a major tool to stabilise and magnify applied fertilisers. We have found that minerals can be applied at rates as low as 10% of what is required (according to a soil test) when these fertilisers are combined with compost. We have coined the term “MEND” (Microbially Enhanced Nutrient Delivery) to describe this phenomenon. There can be tremendous benefits in putting the microbes behind the minerals. This principle also applies to microbial inoculums like compost tea or Nutri-Life 4/20™. If small amounts of foliar fertilisers are combined with these microbial inputs they will be utilised much more efficiently.

7)  Soluble Fertilisers and Humates

This is probably the greatest example of synergy as it involves the combination of chemical agriculture and natural inputs that is the essence of the “best of both worlds” fusion farming approach. The performance of soluble fertilisers is dramatically enhanced when they are combined with small amounts of soluble humates. Acid phosphates become phosphate humates with the potential to deliver phosphate throughout the crop cycle. Urea becomes a urea humate with greatly enhanced stability and longevity. Highly leachable boron becomes a boron humate which is now stabilised and absorbed much more effectively. Even nitrate based fertilisers like calcium nitrate can be chelated with humates and foliar sprayed to great effect.

The addition of humates does not just serve to stabilise and magnify all fertiliser inputs, it also boosts the organisms that deliver minerals to the plant and can help protect some of these organisms from the harsh effects of acids and salts. When soluble humate granules are combined with DAP/MAP, for example, the carbon dense humic acid can help reduce the damage to mycorrhizal fungi that is now known to be associated with these acids.

Even the harshest of all fertilisers, anhydrous ammonia, can be softened using humates. In this case the gas is first passed through water to create aqua ammonia. Then, humic acid can be added to create an ammonium humate which is a sustainable form of nitrogen.

Potassium is expensive and easily leached but the addition of humic acid to potassium nitrate creates a potassium humate with a much longer soil life.

In Conclusion

Productive synergies create a result which is greater than the sum of their parts. Biological agriculture becomes a creative, problem solving enterprise when we seek out these synergies. The aim is to create a functional hybrid which outperforms all other forms of agriculture in terms of both sustainability and profitability.

1) AMF and Natural Phosphate

Mycorrhizal fungi and most crop plants enjoy a symbiotic relationship of tremendous benefit to both life forms. The fungi tap into the plant roots to receive a steady flow of glucose laced with nutrients that sponsor the development of a maze of hyphal filaments beneath the plant. These fine, pipe-like attachments provide the equivalent of a secondary root system that actually features up to ten times the surface area of the original roots. It would seem a no-brainer that we should nurture and protect a creature that improves root function by 1000% but that is unfortunately not the case. Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) have been decimated in our soils through a combination of acid fertilisers that sizzle these fragile filaments, salt fertilisers that dehydrate the fungi, fungicides that kill both good and bad, faulty tillage practices, and herbicides that can kill these beneficial fungi more efficiently than they kill weeds. It would also seem obvious that reintroducing these root boosters via inoculums would be a very productive strategy. This has certainly proved the case for many growers using Platform™, the new AMF inoculum from NTS. In fact, the positive feedback about this cost-effective blend has been flooding in from growers involved in both broadacre and horticulture. We have, however seen some variation in the performance of this product. There are times when colonisation is delayed and on most occasions this is related to the amount and type of phosphate applied at planting.

Maximising P Response

AMF offer a host of benefits but perhaps the best known of these relates to improved phosphate delivery. Phosphate in the soil does not remain soluble in soil solution like some minerals. Instead, it tends to stay where it is put and this immobility is further complicated by the fact that applied phosphate tends to complex with positively charged minerals (cations) like calcium and iron, forming an insoluble compound. This results in a shocking inefficiency of acid phosphate fertilisers where growers usually receive just 27% of their phosphate fertiliser investment before it becomes part of a massive, inaccessible bank of locked up P in our soils. The key to reclaiming this frozen reserve is mycorrhizal fungi, which reach out into ten times more soil volume to recover immobile phosphate while releasing acidic compounds that unlock these reserves. Inoculating with these creatures can result in greatly improved phosphate delivery to the plant with substantial reductions in the need for increasingly expensive, soluble phosphate fertilisers. However, as with all things, there are some secrets to gaining an optimal response from a mycorrhizal inoculum. The key here is to be aware of the biochemical communication between the host plant and the fungi symbiont. The plant attracts and supports this fungal partner only when it requires soluble phosphate. If you have supplied an ocean of water soluble P at the same time that you are inoculating AMF, there can be problems. The plant is aware that it is amply supplied with all of the P it needs at that time, so it shuts off the supply of food and biochemicals that are specific to AMF colonisation. Why waste your precious resources to secure a mineral you don’t need. This is the reason that we have seen a more immediate mycorrhizal response when the inoculums are introduced in conjunction with natural phosphate fertilisers like guano and soft rock phosphate. A small amount of DAP/MAP can be combined with the inoculums but it appears that it is best not to exceed 150 kg per hectare. A combination of Guano granules and DAP with a few kilos of NTS Soluble Humate Granules™ works particularly well in conjunction with AMF inoculums. The humic acid buffers the destructive heat of the acid phosphate, thereby protecting the AMF, while stabilising phosphate at the same time. This prevents phosphate from locking up with cations in the soil, effectively making it more plant available for longer.

2) Calcium and Boron

Calcium is the most important mineral in the soil, plant and animal so it is critically important to get your calcium nutrition right. Part of this process involves an understanding of the importance of the trace mineral, boron, in the equation. Boron is to calcium, just what sunlight is to plant growth. It is the partner without which the system struggles. It is common to see growers disappointed in a lack of liming response who could turn their frowns upside down with the addition of a little boron. When boron levels in the soil are low (below 0.5 ppm), you can expect a substandard calcium response. You can also expect a reduction in soil life activity because boron is responsible for opening the trapdoor that allows the flow of glucose from the chloroplast sugar factories down to the roots and the microbes surrounding the roots. If you shut off the food supply to your workforce you can expect diminishing returns.

Boron should always be combined with humic acid to promote the formation of a boron humate that is much more stable in the soil. Boron is the most leachable of the trace elements and it can only be stored in humus. If your humus levels are low then your boron storage is compromised and it becomes even more important to stabilise this mineral with humates.

3)  Precision Nutrition and Profitability

For the past fifteen years, NTS has been offering prescription blends based on soil test data and designed by our agronomy team. This form of paddock-specific, precision nutrition has proven very productive. We have seen growers double and triple yields using prescription blends over the years and it has really confirmed the importance of mineral balance backed by biology. However, if the soil is really out of balance it can be a little daunting to receive a quote for a blend that addresses all of the problems at one time. Many growers choose the more wallet-friendly option of split applications of a corrective blend over a couple of seasons. The bottom line here is that the applied fertiliser features the exact correctives for your soil so it will tend to perform even when applied at half rates.

4)   Nitrogen and Sulfur

Both nitrate and ammonium forms of nitrogen must be converted to protein in the plant and sulfur is an essential driver of this conversion. In the case of nitrate nitrogen, sulfur is required to fire the nitrate reductase enzyme which initiates the conversion of nitrates to protein. Sulfur is also needed to form protein because two of the amino acids, cysteine and methionine, are made from sulfur. A lack of sulfur in your program can contribute to nitrate-packed, watery plants that are susceptible to insect attack and offer poor sustenance to both livestock and people.

Sulfur is no longer found free in the raindrops like it once was. The spectre of acid rain in the 1980′s led to the restriction of sulfur emissions from industry. Even when we recognise the importance of sulfur in the protein equation, and apply this nutrient, there is no guarantee that it will stick around. This is because humus levels in our soils are just a third of what they once were and humus is the storehouse for sulfur.

Gypsum is often the most cost effective way to build your sulfur levels but you can also address nitrogen and sulfur together with the use of ammonium sulfate. This fertiliser can be stabilised with humates and is the favoured nitrogen form in many Soil Therapy™ programs.

Potassium (K) is the mineral with the greatest influence upon crop quality parameters and, in this context, foliar-applied potassium during the business end of the season (from flowering onwards), can be particularly productive. Potassium is unique amongst major minerals in that it never becomes part of functional molecules involved in plant structure. Instead, it serves as a spark plug that triggers numerous biochemical and physiological processes related to plant growth, yield and quality. Extensive research into this mineral by Lester et al in 2005 and 2006 confirmed that adequate potassium nutrition is directly linked to increased yield, fruit size, shelf life, soluble solids and higher levels of ascorbic acid in many horticultural crops. It is also related to improved fruit colour and shipping quality.

An Essential Fruiting Food

In many plant species most of the potassium uptake from the soil occurs during the vegetative stage when root growth is not inhibited by the availability of plant sugars from the above ground plant. The delivery of sugars to the roots is often compromised when this glucose is needed to fuel the reproductive process once fruiting begins. This competition between roots and fruiting organs is often linked to a reduction in root growth and activity, and an associated reduction in potassium uptake. Potassium is the second most abundant mineral in the plant and there is a substantially increased drawdown during the reproductive period. Disruption in potassium delivery can prove costly at this critical time of the season, particularly if other factors are also impacting K delivery. Uptake of potassium from the soil depends upon a variety of factors including mineral balance, soil type and plant genetics. Excesses of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorous can negatively impact the uptake of potassium but the mineral with the greatest adverse impact is nitrate nitrogen. In this context, I have always felt that there was a question mark about the popular practice of foliar spaying potassium nitrate as a K source. It seems like giving with one hand and taking with another and now some new research has confirmed my suspicions.

Potassium Nitrate Proves Counter Productive

New, published research by USDA research scientist, Dr Gene Lester and his associate, Dr John Jifon, involved analysis of the benefits of foliar potassium during fruiting and the study also compared various sources of soluble potassium including, potassium sulfate, potassium chloride, potassium nitrate and Mono Potassium Phosphate (MKP). In this comprehensive, multi year, field study (involving rock melons) the researchers analysed differences in petiole K, fruit K, brix levels and total sugars based upon different potassium inputs and a control that did not receive foliar potassium. In each of the three years of the trial, potassium nitrate performed poorly. In fact, it was the worst performer in each year on every parameter. It was even worse than the control in a couple of instances.

Next the researchers compared nutritional value and fruit firmness with the various imputs. They looked at vitamin C, beta-carotene, and fruit colour. Colour is linked to pigments, which are, in turn, antioxidants of considerable nutritional importance for humans. The more intense the colour, the greater the protective capacity of the fruit or vegetable. Again, potassium nitrate was the dismal performer, although it was edged out for the wooden spoon by potassium chloride on a few occasions during the three-year research project.

Finally, the study looked at yield, fruit size and discarded fruit. Here, the negatives associated with the K nitrate input became most pronounced. The yields on the potassium nitrate treated blocks were actually lower than the control in each of the three years of the study and the discards were substantially higher following K nitrate foliars. In fact, there was an average of three times more throwaway fruit when K nitrate was compared to potassium sulfate and twice the discards in comparison to the controls. This input proved to be seriously counterproductive and yet tens of thousands of growers around the globe religiously foliar spray potassium nitrate throughout the second half of the season. The authors of the study concluded that “potassium nitrate may not be suitable for late season foliar nutrition” and they are most certainly correct. Nitrate nitrogen is for vegetative growth. It does not provide a reproductive push and it can be antagonistic to potassium uptake. Nitrates are always absorbed with water so there is a nutrient dilution factor that inevitably reduces fruit quality. It is hard to imagine a more inappropriate choice for potassium nutrition!

The Indisputable Benefits of Late Season Foliar Potassium

This comprehensive study highlighted the importance of selecting the correct potassium input but it also demonstrated the value of late season potassium supplementation. Brix levels and total sugars increased by an average of 20% in line with increased potassium in the leaf and fruit. Fruit firmness increased by a similar percentage and key antioxidants (vitamin C and beta carotenes) increased by an average of 15%. Discards were considerably lower than the control in every block (with the exception of the K nitrate treated blocks). Yields were up to 20% higher in the blocks treated with the better potassium sources.

Potassium increases the translocation of sugars and is the major nutrient associated with fruit size and flavour. Small, acid tasting citrus fruit, for example, are a classic sign of potassium deficiency. This mineral can mean more to your bottom line than any other so it is important to get it right. We have achieved impressive potassium response with a specialist potassium foliar that can help maximize yield and quality.

K-Carb-35™ – pH Neutral, Foliar Potassium

K-Carb-35™ is a soluble, liquid potassium, based upon potassium citrate. Right back in 1959, Wittwer and Taubner carried out a study to compare plant uptake of potassium from different sources of potassium including potassium nitrate, potassium chloride, potassium sulphate and potassium citrate. They demonstrated that the uptake of K ions was higher with the citrate form of potassium. However, this high analysis concentrate (35% K) features additional agents to further boost the uptake of this important mineral.

Accomplished late American consultant, Bruce Tainio, was a strong proponent of the importance of late season foliar potassium. He believed that excess nitrates often limited potassium uptake at this critical time. He also insisted that the shortage might not be revealed on conventional leaf analysis data because the leaves are tested from the area to which potassium moves. Potassium is the most mobile of all minerals and it moves from the lower leaves to the upper leaves whenever there is a shortage.  This is the area from which leaves are selected for leaf analysis. We have found that the key here is to monitor the lower leaves with a Horiba Potassium Meter. Whenever the lower leaves reveal K levels 10% below the levels in the upper leaves, you have detected a potassium deficiency and should act immediately!

Liquid potassium fertilisers are notoriously caustic or they feature high salts or unwanted tag ons like nitrates or chlorides.  K-Carb-35™ is pH-neutral and delivers a gentle form of this mineral to the leaf, where it is rapidly absorbed with the help of cell sensitising (uptake enhancing) fulvates. This foliar fertiliser is applied at 5 litres per hectare whenever required during the last half of the season.

For more information please contact an NTS Agronomist on +61 7 5472 9900 or email us through our contact form here.

1. Young plants are more responsive to both humic and fulvic acid.Younger tissues have more active transport mechanisms to move nutrients to sites of metabolic activity. Foliar application is most successful is this context.

2. Humates are excellent brix-builders – enhanced carbohydrate production can be detected with a refractometer within 24 – 48 hours (increased quality and yield).

3. A combination of humic and fulvic acid has been shown to be most effective for promoting root growth.

4. It may take up to three applications of soluble humates to achieve sufficient concentration in the roots to allow 20 – 30% of the humic acid to be transported up to the shoots and leaves i.e. you will always see root growth before shoot growth when top dressing humates.

5. Humic acid in small amounts has been shown to “structure water”. The water molecules become more organised and arranged like fragments of ice structure. The water gains the desirable properties of “melted water” improving plant nutrition (Masaru Emoto).

6. Humates can be used to lower nitrate levels or prevent the accumulation of nitrate in plants with obvious stock health benefits. In this situation humates also increase potassium uptake which is normally inhibited by excess nitrates.

Recipe for Nitrate Reduction:
2% Magnesium sufate (2 kg per 100 L)
150 grams of Sodium Molybdate
150 grams NTS Soluble Fulvic Acid Powder™

7. If carbon sequestration is to be a new income stream in agriculture, then humates are a major tool. Humates are the most profound promotant of the creatures that build stable carbon in the soil (Cellulose digesting fungi).

8. Don’t discard the insoluble sludge (15%) when dissolving NTS Soluble Humate Granules™ as it is the sponge-like, mineral-dense humin fraction which is an excellent fertility builder.

9. Humic acid is a powerhouse tool for drought resistance. The large surface area and internal electrical charges help hold water in the root zone. Humates serve as sponges which can hold 7 times their volume in water. That stored water also facilitates nutrient transfer.

10. The combination of humic acid with liquid lime, dolomite or guano, liberates CO2 from calcium carbonate boosting photosynthesis.

11. Fulvic acid is proving a potent input to seriously stimulate clover growth in pasture to improve the legume to grass ratio.