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Is Your Soil Battery fully Charged?
cracked soilIf you think of soil like a battery with plus and minus poles, you will find calcium and potassiumare the major components of the positive side and phosphorous and sulfur are the major negatively charged nutrients. Now imagine trying to start an engine with a battery low in any of the four major components…no one would expect much! It only makes sense that we wantcalcium, potassium, phosphorous andsulfur in balanced proportions in our soils, supplying a steady charge and maximizing growth. In truth our soil battery is much more complex with no less than 17 elements (look at the CSI soil test) involved in plant growth and development, to say nothing of the biological system’s role in producing a more stable, continuous supply of energy. The bottom line is, ‘Do you or don’t you have each of the crucial minerals? Are they balanced? And if not now, When?’
The sequence: Boron, Silica, Calcium, Nitrogen/Sulfur, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Carbon & Potassium.
Boronis the beginning of the life process that is going to turn a seed into a healthy plant. We have to assume that the seed has enough manganese in it to begin the magnetic process of drawing in water, germinating and starting to produce roots and shoots. As the nutrients in the seed are being used up, the new roots are searching for silica that is bound up in the clay aspects of soil that are made from aluminum silicates. We expect the basic clay structure to remain intact, but we need to steal some silica off the clay to give the plant a structure that will become the sugar factory it’s supposed to be as soon as photosynthesis begins. A trace amount of boron is needed to get that silica off the clay and accessible. [In crops like rice and sugar cane, the draw down of the silica is so heavy that applications of calcium silicate give dramatic yield increases. Application to other crops may not give as dramatic yield increases, but will certainly improve outer tissue strength, leading to a better physical barrier against insect and disease.]
Your soil gets the silica off the clay (or from the calcium silicate) with boron and that leads to the production of the sap tubes, xylem and phloem, that give the plant the ability to transportcalcium. Calcium is associated with nitrogen fixation and amino acid formation. Calcium is also the second messenger in all living cells, meaning it crosses cell membranes to tell each cell what is going on. One of the amino acids formed is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll has a magnesium atom at the very center of the vortex shaped molecule. When sunlight strikes the magnesium atom, it is spiraled down through the chlorophyll vortex, resulting in an upgraded energy state. That energy combines with phosphorous to break the water molecule, combine it with carbon from carbon dioxide and form simple sugars. Potassium then helps to carry the sugars to where they are needed. Remember, everything else the plant needs will be made from those sugars and even the microbes in the root zone will use them to make byproducts that provide nutrients for the plant.
The only major element we didn’t include in the above paragraph was sulfur. You could placesulfur along with the nitrogen as the higher weight proteins(amino acids) will contain S as well as N and sugar. So here is the sequence: Boron, Silica, Calcium, Nitrogen/Sulfur, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Carbon and Potassium. Boron also is associated with sap pressure needed to transport water and nutrients up and down the plant. Now do you understand why I want you to bring your boron up to par? Each of the other common and not so common trace minerals also plays a critical role in producing a component of the whole system. For instance, if you are growing fruits and veggies you need to know that sodium helps make the delicious tastes your customers want. Zinc is important for growth energy and other enzymatic functions. Also, you should note all six of the major elements are included in the sequence: Ca, N, P, K, Mg, and S.
This certainly speaks to the need for replacing/balancing minerals in soils, but it also speaks to the use of foliar feeding. Calcium becomes somewhat immobile after fruit set in some plants, the best example being “Blossom End Rot” in tomatoes, a condition caused by calcium deficiency. N and K can be drawn out of lower leaves when the upper growth out strips the ability of the plant to bring it up through the roots. Foliar feeding is an easy way to correct nutrient deficiencies and it works best in a mineral-balanced and biologically-active soil; foliar feeding stimulates the entire system. Note: Although I stressed Boron in these paragraphs, over 90% of the soil tests coming through our lab are, like Boron, also very deficient in Sulfur, Zinc and Sodium. Please try to get all the major and regular trace minerals up to par so your soil is running on a fully charged battery, not on a weakened battery that doesn’t have the power to start, sustain and finish your crops, grass, etc.
ARGUING THE OTHER SIDE: Aren’t there huge amounts of minerals in the soil that the root mass doesn’t reach? Doesn’t plant response to GreenYields prove that when this product stimulates major root growth the plant picks up more mineralsand quickly produces higher Brix? What about the great root structure and plant vigor and immunity you get when using Blooming Blossom or Tainio products and methods? You can’t make high Brix plants without good mineralization, can you? What about intensive or Mob graziers who claim that their soil productivity and good plant species increase dramatically without the use of any additives, including lime? All these are valid observations, but there is no such thing as a free lunch. Even pastures need testing as problems can sneak up on you and cost you money. Hydroponic vegetables may look great, but often they are very low brix. Good “looks; doesn’t necessarily translate into nutrient dense (health giving) food!
Remember the 1930’s scientific reports to Congress about the demineralization of US soils, the decline in nutrition in crops and the resulting livestock health problems? Steiner had already addressed the same issue in Austria in the 20’s. Our beloved medical system didn’t begin to recognize that food had anything to do with health until the 80’s. In today’s world, we know that US soils are de-mineralized under conventional farming and therefore many US foods are de-mineralized as well. When you add in processing, you end up with foods that are energy robbing instead of life giving and disease causing instead of nutrition giving in the typical diet.
Any standing plant is an antenna for picking up nutrients from the air. Trees continue to absorb K all winter in frozen climates to transport and use energy, otherwise they would freeze and split. So both the plant antenna concept and the larger root mass and depth concept do allow a grower to pick up more minerals than the typical conventional farmer who doesn’t use the cover crops, residue management and usually has a lesser root mass.
Regardless of whether you pick up more minerals from cover crops, grazed crops, increased root mass and depth or increased microbial activity, research shows that balancing/replacing major and minor minerals and broadcasting multi trace mineral products like TN Brown, KS+, Greensand, Florastim, Pakanite, etc. increases the health of your soil, crops and their consumers (human & livestock). The concept of nutrient dense foods over the long term depends on mineral replacement and bio-activation and not just increased efficiency at picking up minerals from the current soil supply known to be inadequate in most soils.
