Rebuilding Your Soil Health
From backyard gardeners to corporate farming there is increasing interest in Soil biology and it’s role in production systems. This rise in interest has come about from the realisation that farming cannot continue in it’s current practices as we face the need for increasing production and amid increasing environmental constraints. There are also a wider range of targeted biological products entering the market. These products will all be beneficial in some way when used in their proper application. Just how to make sense of it all is the problem.
Current basic concepts are outlined below.
Plant / Soil Biology association
All plants growing in soil obviously have an intimate association with the soil where they are growing and have to derive all of their nourishment from it (They can’t Head off to Maccas). Mostly they cannot derive nutrients from the soil directly and rely on soil biology to make them available. There is a symbiotic association developed – The plant provides energy to the biology in the form of root exudates and in return receive solubilised nutrients. Plants can control what nutrients they receive by varying the exudates to suit different biology which provide different nutrients.
There is constant signalling between plants, plants and biology and between biology both in the soil and aerially.
In a natural system the biology is dominated by fungi which provide a low growth, low disease environment for the plant to grow in. Modern farmed systems tend to be biology deficient or bacterial dominated as the addition of mineral fertiliser means the plants do not need biology to take up the nutrient we have supplied and so don’t produce the exudates to support biological populations.
We have degraded the plant/biology interaction.
It is now believed that although there will be some interaction between plants and biology in modern farming systems a robust co-existance will never be re established without developing a substantial soil biology population which can stimulate the plants to support it.
The concept is termed QUORUM SENSING – you need enough biology for the plant to sense it’s presence and start producing exudates to support it.
Better, more productive plant growth results.
The role of Bactivate products
The Bactivate product range fits the requirements outlined above
1. Bioboost apart from Carbon contains two enzymes which trick plants into thinking there is enhanced biological activity – the plants produce more exudates to support that and so grow the soil biological populations
2. Bactivate prill and liquid biology products introduce extra biology (exceed Quorum) into the soil which the plants sense and produce more exudates to support growing and sustaining it.
3. Seaweed helps feed and support the system.
We have demonstrated this many times in many crops in varied growing
conditions.
