mangosnapper
Well-Known Member
1) CEC — Understanding Soil Storage
CEC or Cation Exchange Capacity, is a measurement on your soil test that indicates the amount of clay present in your soil. Clay is negatively charged and it attracts minerals that are positively charged, called cations. Over 70% of the minerals in the soil are cations, so clay is an important storage mechanism that retains these minerals in your soil to sustain plant growth and vitality. The higher the clay component of your soil, the greater the cation retention and the bigger the fuel tank (if we think of plant growth as a mineral fueled, energy system). The CEC of your soil should also be a major determinant of how much and how often to fertilize. A light sandy soil, for example, has a small fuel tank and this low clay component means this soil can store only small amounts of cations. It is pointless applying any more fertilizer than what can be stored at any one time or you are simply wasting money. These soils really require spoon feeding to achieve their best and they are ideally suited to fertigation where you can easily apply a little, often. situations where the starter cannot be stored in light soils. Leaf testing is important to allow informed decisions but if you have not leaf tested, it is a simple rule of thumb to feed the crop immediately before flowering. This is the business end of the season.
Pre-Flowering Foliar Recipe
0.5 kg of solubor- is manufactured to combine the highest concentration of boron with the maximum possible dispersion and solubility in water
500 grams of zinc sulfate
500 grams of copper sulfate
10-15 kg of urea
150 grams of Soluble Fulvic Acid Powder
200 grams Soluble Kelp Powder
150 mL Cloak Spray Oil - An organic blend of emulsified, cold-pressed canola.
The term, "cation exchange capacity", also refers to the fact that an exchange occurs in the root zone whenever a plant root accesses a cation from the clay colloid. The plant may take some calcium, for example, but when it does so, an electrical balancing act is performed. If the plant takes in a positively charged mineral, like calcium, it must release a positively charged mineral to maintain electrical balance.where we try to achieve a cation balance involving 68% calcium, 12% magnesium, 3% to 5% potassium and less that 1.5% sodium on the clay colloid. The original soil balancing research conducted by Dr William Albrecht applied specifically to these types of soil.
A zinc deficiency can be the most costly of all mineral shortages because zinc is needed for the plant to produce auxins and these are the hormones that govern leaf size. The leaf is the solar panel that drives photosynthesis. The larger the leaf, the greater the surface area for sunlight, water and CO2 to work their magic and produce the glucose building blocks that fire the plant. Conversely, a zinc deficiency compromises the most important process on the planet.Zinc is also important as an activating synergist for phosphorus. There is a big benefit in trying to achieve the ratio between these two minerals that has proven most productive. The ideal phosphorus to zinc ratio is 10:1 in favor of phosphorus. If you can achieve this ratio then both minerals will deliver their best.
30 ppm of phosphorus and 3 ppm of zinc then you have the perfect 10:1 ratio.
Another key mineral relationship in the soil is the potassium to magnesium ratio. Potassium (K) is a big player in sugar movement and hence it has a big impact upon both the size and flavor of all produce. A potassium shortage in the latter half of the season can be particularly costly, as it will have such a negative impact upon yield. A deficit of potash at this time can sneak up on the unprepared because there is such a draw-down of this mineral during the business-end of the season. If you are monitoring with an Horiba Potassium Meter, you will see K levels plunge from the onset of flowering. If the potassium in the top leaves is substantially higher than that in the lower leaves, then immediate action is required to preserve yield potential. In this instance, the best strategy is to combine the fertigation of potassium sulfate with a foliar involving a pH neutralized, high analysis liquid potassium carbonate.
However, sometimes the potassium deficiency is not just related to a K shortage. Magnesium (Mg) is a potassium antagonist when it is oversupplied and this excess can negatively affect potassium uptake. The key is to try to achieve the ideal ratio between these two minerals to sponsor maximum performance of both. In the process of analyzing thousands of soil and leaf tests over the past couple of decades we have discovered that if we aim for equal parts per million in the soil of both magnesium and potassium, then we achieve optimum plant uptake of both minerals. This is obvious in leaf test data, but we discovered another fascinating relationship when comparing soil tests to leaf tests in this context. We found that achieving equal ppm of K and Mg in the soil also increased the plant uptake of phosphate. In fact, in some cases it had more impact upon phosphorus uptake than the actual application of phosphorus. You may be wondering about the mechanics of this relationship. Here's how it works. Magnesium is a phosphate synergist that supports the uptake of P while potassium is a phosphate antagonist when oversupplied. When we achieve the perfect 1:1 K to Mg ratio, we see perfect uptake of both, and phosphorus uptake is also maximized. It's a neat trick and it can be very productive.
The one other issue we should address here relates to the best way to address a shortage of magnesium when trying to improve your K:Mg ratio. Many people mistakenly apply magnesium sulfate to the soil to correct a magnesium deficiency and wonder at their lack of long term response from this practice. The reality is that magnesium sulfate is the most leach-able form of magnesium. It is what you are trying to create when applying gypsum to improve soil structure. The sulfate component of the gypsum bonds with magnesium and forms magnesium sulfate. The soil tightening effect of excess magnesium subsides as this mineral leaches from the root zone. Why would you apply a mineral to your soil in a form that is certain to leach? Magnesium carbonate is a much better option. Minerals in the carbonate form are stable and do not leach.
Molybdenum is an essential ingredient in the enzyme, nitrogenase, which is manufactured by nitrogen-fixing organisms to convert gaseous nitrogen in the atmosphere into ammonium nitrogen in the soil. If you maximize your access to free nitrogen you not only reduce production costs and enhance profitability, but you also improve plant health and reduce the need for chemical intervention. However, there is a second way that molybdenum can reduce chemical use, which is even more exciting. In intensive horticulture, nitrogen is very often over-supplied and usually in the nitrate form. Nitrates always enter the plant with water and this can have a nutrient diluting effect. In fact, it is a rule of thumb that high nitrate levels mean low brix levels (brix is a direct measure of nutrient density) which, in turn, increases the likelihood of insect attack.
Nitrate nitrogen is stored in the leaf until it is converted to protein. This conversion requires another enzyme called the nitrate reductase enzyme. If the plant lacks the building blocks to manufacture this enzyme, then nitrates do not convert to proteins and the pest pressure builds in line with the nitrate accumulation. The chief building block for the nitrate reductase enzyme is molybdenum.
"calcium is the trucker of all minerals but boron is the steering wheel", in reference to boron as a calcium synergist. There is no doubt about the validity of the claim. I have seen large areas limed to no avail, but for the want of a few kilos of boron. In fact, you have often wasted your hard-earned money if you apply calcium to boron-deficient soils without addressing the boron shortage.
However, boron is a major mineral player in its own right and a shortage can also have a serious impact upon soil life. Boron is critical when a plant is entering the reproductive stage and, as this is the business end of the crop cycle.There are very few crops that do not benefit from an inexpensive foliar spray of boron before flowering.
humic acid increases the uptake of boron by over 30%
Boron can also impact soil life. Sugars accumulate in the chloroplasts (the sugar factories) before half of them are trans-located down to the roots each day. 60% of this half is exuded from the roots to feed and promote beneficial microorganisms (30% of total glucose production). Both the plant and the microbes understand this "give and you will receive" deal and there are multiple benefits on both sides. The trans-location of the sugars from the leaves to the roots is controlled by a trapdoor that opens in the late afternoon to facilitate the transfer. This optimum functioning of this trapdoor is determined by boron. An advanced boron deficiency can lock the gates and as a result the soil life goes hungry.
Trace Minerals in Bio-Dynamic agriculture.
A trace mineral deficiency can affect yield, disease protection, weed pressure, nodulation, reproduction or chlorophyll density and any of these will impact upon your profitability.
1) It is much more effective to apply trace minerals as foliar sprays, in comparison to soil applications. In fact, it is up to fifteen times more effective. The stomata on the underside of the leaf serve as direct entry points for foliar nutrition. Uptake efficiency can be further improved if the trace mineral is combined with fulvic acid. Fulvic acid is also a chelating agent that is compatible with everything so it is an invaluable foliar additive.A phenomenon called thermal vibration creates tiny openings into the plant. When the shuttle ligand has slotted its mineral lode into the plant it is drawn back to the nano-cluster and the process is repeated until the mineral delivery is complete (hence, the "shuttle concept). The Shuttle trace minerals are considerably more effective than EDTA chelates and much less expensive.
2) Seed treatment is one of the most cost effective ways to provide some trace mineral nutrition, particularly if you have a tight budget. the most important trace mineral component of a good seed treatment is manganese. This mineral is a seed energizer and it is often called the element of life. It is more important to have manganese available at the onset of vegetative growth than at any other time of the season.
3) European researchers have shown that if leaf levels of selenium could be maintained above 10 ppm, there was an associated 50% reduction in aphid populations.
4)Calcium is the most sluggish of all minerals when it comes to trans-location from the soil to the plant. However, the enhanced nutrient highways sponsored by soluble silica help facilitate easy uptake of calcium where it is so desperately needed for cell division during rapid spring growth. Silica can be applied as potassium silicate.Micro nutrients are as important for micro-organisms as they are for plant life. The free living nitrogen fixing organisms, Azotobacter, need zinc to thrive. All nitrogen fixing organisms need molybdenum and cobalt to perform their important role. Calcium and soluble silica are also required to promote cell strength and associated resilience in microbes. Manganese reducing organisms and iron reducing organisms.
There is more information of course... And we'll save that for later. ( Mind overload ) But I just wanted to share some of this information, because it is so important in Hi-Brix (BD-AG) and it get's over looked, And I like everyone else... " Want's the very best High Value Crop." Happy Growing My Peeps."
Mangosnapper...
CEC or Cation Exchange Capacity, is a measurement on your soil test that indicates the amount of clay present in your soil. Clay is negatively charged and it attracts minerals that are positively charged, called cations. Over 70% of the minerals in the soil are cations, so clay is an important storage mechanism that retains these minerals in your soil to sustain plant growth and vitality. The higher the clay component of your soil, the greater the cation retention and the bigger the fuel tank (if we think of plant growth as a mineral fueled, energy system). The CEC of your soil should also be a major determinant of how much and how often to fertilize. A light sandy soil, for example, has a small fuel tank and this low clay component means this soil can store only small amounts of cations. It is pointless applying any more fertilizer than what can be stored at any one time or you are simply wasting money. These soils really require spoon feeding to achieve their best and they are ideally suited to fertigation where you can easily apply a little, often. situations where the starter cannot be stored in light soils. Leaf testing is important to allow informed decisions but if you have not leaf tested, it is a simple rule of thumb to feed the crop immediately before flowering. This is the business end of the season.
Pre-Flowering Foliar Recipe
0.5 kg of solubor- is manufactured to combine the highest concentration of boron with the maximum possible dispersion and solubility in water
500 grams of zinc sulfate
500 grams of copper sulfate
10-15 kg of urea
150 grams of Soluble Fulvic Acid Powder
200 grams Soluble Kelp Powder
150 mL Cloak Spray Oil - An organic blend of emulsified, cold-pressed canola.
The term, "cation exchange capacity", also refers to the fact that an exchange occurs in the root zone whenever a plant root accesses a cation from the clay colloid. The plant may take some calcium, for example, but when it does so, an electrical balancing act is performed. If the plant takes in a positively charged mineral, like calcium, it must release a positively charged mineral to maintain electrical balance.where we try to achieve a cation balance involving 68% calcium, 12% magnesium, 3% to 5% potassium and less that 1.5% sodium on the clay colloid. The original soil balancing research conducted by Dr William Albrecht applied specifically to these types of soil.
A zinc deficiency can be the most costly of all mineral shortages because zinc is needed for the plant to produce auxins and these are the hormones that govern leaf size. The leaf is the solar panel that drives photosynthesis. The larger the leaf, the greater the surface area for sunlight, water and CO2 to work their magic and produce the glucose building blocks that fire the plant. Conversely, a zinc deficiency compromises the most important process on the planet.Zinc is also important as an activating synergist for phosphorus. There is a big benefit in trying to achieve the ratio between these two minerals that has proven most productive. The ideal phosphorus to zinc ratio is 10:1 in favor of phosphorus. If you can achieve this ratio then both minerals will deliver their best.
30 ppm of phosphorus and 3 ppm of zinc then you have the perfect 10:1 ratio.
Another key mineral relationship in the soil is the potassium to magnesium ratio. Potassium (K) is a big player in sugar movement and hence it has a big impact upon both the size and flavor of all produce. A potassium shortage in the latter half of the season can be particularly costly, as it will have such a negative impact upon yield. A deficit of potash at this time can sneak up on the unprepared because there is such a draw-down of this mineral during the business-end of the season. If you are monitoring with an Horiba Potassium Meter, you will see K levels plunge from the onset of flowering. If the potassium in the top leaves is substantially higher than that in the lower leaves, then immediate action is required to preserve yield potential. In this instance, the best strategy is to combine the fertigation of potassium sulfate with a foliar involving a pH neutralized, high analysis liquid potassium carbonate.
However, sometimes the potassium deficiency is not just related to a K shortage. Magnesium (Mg) is a potassium antagonist when it is oversupplied and this excess can negatively affect potassium uptake. The key is to try to achieve the ideal ratio between these two minerals to sponsor maximum performance of both. In the process of analyzing thousands of soil and leaf tests over the past couple of decades we have discovered that if we aim for equal parts per million in the soil of both magnesium and potassium, then we achieve optimum plant uptake of both minerals. This is obvious in leaf test data, but we discovered another fascinating relationship when comparing soil tests to leaf tests in this context. We found that achieving equal ppm of K and Mg in the soil also increased the plant uptake of phosphate. In fact, in some cases it had more impact upon phosphorus uptake than the actual application of phosphorus. You may be wondering about the mechanics of this relationship. Here's how it works. Magnesium is a phosphate synergist that supports the uptake of P while potassium is a phosphate antagonist when oversupplied. When we achieve the perfect 1:1 K to Mg ratio, we see perfect uptake of both, and phosphorus uptake is also maximized. It's a neat trick and it can be very productive.
The one other issue we should address here relates to the best way to address a shortage of magnesium when trying to improve your K:Mg ratio. Many people mistakenly apply magnesium sulfate to the soil to correct a magnesium deficiency and wonder at their lack of long term response from this practice. The reality is that magnesium sulfate is the most leach-able form of magnesium. It is what you are trying to create when applying gypsum to improve soil structure. The sulfate component of the gypsum bonds with magnesium and forms magnesium sulfate. The soil tightening effect of excess magnesium subsides as this mineral leaches from the root zone. Why would you apply a mineral to your soil in a form that is certain to leach? Magnesium carbonate is a much better option. Minerals in the carbonate form are stable and do not leach.
Molybdenum is an essential ingredient in the enzyme, nitrogenase, which is manufactured by nitrogen-fixing organisms to convert gaseous nitrogen in the atmosphere into ammonium nitrogen in the soil. If you maximize your access to free nitrogen you not only reduce production costs and enhance profitability, but you also improve plant health and reduce the need for chemical intervention. However, there is a second way that molybdenum can reduce chemical use, which is even more exciting. In intensive horticulture, nitrogen is very often over-supplied and usually in the nitrate form. Nitrates always enter the plant with water and this can have a nutrient diluting effect. In fact, it is a rule of thumb that high nitrate levels mean low brix levels (brix is a direct measure of nutrient density) which, in turn, increases the likelihood of insect attack.
Nitrate nitrogen is stored in the leaf until it is converted to protein. This conversion requires another enzyme called the nitrate reductase enzyme. If the plant lacks the building blocks to manufacture this enzyme, then nitrates do not convert to proteins and the pest pressure builds in line with the nitrate accumulation. The chief building block for the nitrate reductase enzyme is molybdenum.
"calcium is the trucker of all minerals but boron is the steering wheel", in reference to boron as a calcium synergist. There is no doubt about the validity of the claim. I have seen large areas limed to no avail, but for the want of a few kilos of boron. In fact, you have often wasted your hard-earned money if you apply calcium to boron-deficient soils without addressing the boron shortage.
However, boron is a major mineral player in its own right and a shortage can also have a serious impact upon soil life. Boron is critical when a plant is entering the reproductive stage and, as this is the business end of the crop cycle.There are very few crops that do not benefit from an inexpensive foliar spray of boron before flowering.
humic acid increases the uptake of boron by over 30%
Boron can also impact soil life. Sugars accumulate in the chloroplasts (the sugar factories) before half of them are trans-located down to the roots each day. 60% of this half is exuded from the roots to feed and promote beneficial microorganisms (30% of total glucose production). Both the plant and the microbes understand this "give and you will receive" deal and there are multiple benefits on both sides. The trans-location of the sugars from the leaves to the roots is controlled by a trapdoor that opens in the late afternoon to facilitate the transfer. This optimum functioning of this trapdoor is determined by boron. An advanced boron deficiency can lock the gates and as a result the soil life goes hungry.
Trace Minerals in Bio-Dynamic agriculture.
A trace mineral deficiency can affect yield, disease protection, weed pressure, nodulation, reproduction or chlorophyll density and any of these will impact upon your profitability.
1) It is much more effective to apply trace minerals as foliar sprays, in comparison to soil applications. In fact, it is up to fifteen times more effective. The stomata on the underside of the leaf serve as direct entry points for foliar nutrition. Uptake efficiency can be further improved if the trace mineral is combined with fulvic acid. Fulvic acid is also a chelating agent that is compatible with everything so it is an invaluable foliar additive.A phenomenon called thermal vibration creates tiny openings into the plant. When the shuttle ligand has slotted its mineral lode into the plant it is drawn back to the nano-cluster and the process is repeated until the mineral delivery is complete (hence, the "shuttle concept). The Shuttle trace minerals are considerably more effective than EDTA chelates and much less expensive.
2) Seed treatment is one of the most cost effective ways to provide some trace mineral nutrition, particularly if you have a tight budget. the most important trace mineral component of a good seed treatment is manganese. This mineral is a seed energizer and it is often called the element of life. It is more important to have manganese available at the onset of vegetative growth than at any other time of the season.
3) European researchers have shown that if leaf levels of selenium could be maintained above 10 ppm, there was an associated 50% reduction in aphid populations.
4)Calcium is the most sluggish of all minerals when it comes to trans-location from the soil to the plant. However, the enhanced nutrient highways sponsored by soluble silica help facilitate easy uptake of calcium where it is so desperately needed for cell division during rapid spring growth. Silica can be applied as potassium silicate.Micro nutrients are as important for micro-organisms as they are for plant life. The free living nitrogen fixing organisms, Azotobacter, need zinc to thrive. All nitrogen fixing organisms need molybdenum and cobalt to perform their important role. Calcium and soluble silica are also required to promote cell strength and associated resilience in microbes. Manganese reducing organisms and iron reducing organisms.
There is more information of course... And we'll save that for later. ( Mind overload ) But I just wanted to share some of this information, because it is so important in Hi-Brix (BD-AG) and it get's over looked, And I like everyone else... " Want's the very best High Value Crop." Happy Growing My Peeps."
Mangosnapper...
