Soil Ecology

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

This article at the Weston A. Price would certainly be worth reading to
see what it had to offer.

http://www.westonaprice.org/farm-a-ranch/nutrient-dense-food-high-brix-farming-gardening 


The Quest for Nutrient-Dense Food: High-Brix Farming and Gardening
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Written by Suze Fisher
March 17 2005 16:45

Rex Harrill of Keedysville, Maryland has been farming and gardening for
the better part of thirty years. Seventeen years ago he moved to a
16-acre farm and started a new garden.

I am posting a very interesting part of the interview for the benefit of
those interested:

"Suze: Do you follow Reams’ Biological farming approach?

Rex: I certainly do. Dr. Andersen is an open disciple of the Reams
approach as am I. The Reams program leads to outstanding fruit and
vegetable quality at the same time that it creates significantly
increased yield. I simply cannot imagine trying to grow produce any
other way. The Reams program, as furthered by Andersen, lays a
well-marked path toward higher quantities of higher quality food and
feedstuffs for both man and animal.

Suze: Can you explain what the Reams approach is? What does it entail?

Rex: Many years ago I approached Jay McCaman, a mid-west consultant with
that same question. Today, people come to me for simplified explanations
of the Reams approach to farming. As I’ve had to spend 15 years trying
to master even a few of the fundamentals, I do feel sorely inadequate to
provide a decent response to your question in "25 words or less."
However, I will try as long as we can keep one Reams mandate in sight:
higher Brix points to higher quality.

Although Reams viewed agriculture entirely as an energetic process, the
basic Reams program requires that cropland have the following
water-soluble available mineral elements per acre in place for a
starting point. This is if you are truly looking for high quality (high
Brix) and very high yield.

4000 pounds calcium
400 pounds magnesium
400 pounds phosphate
200 pounds potassium
40 pounds nitrate nitrogen
40 pounds ammonia nitrogen

The best system he found for many farmers involved putting down a
copious supply of high-calcium lime, soft rock phosphate, and chicken
manure. The reader must understand that although it has similar
overtones, this "formula" is not the same as the quality improvement
methods suggested by Professor Albrecht, who merely wanted the calcium,
magnesium, phosphate, potassium, etc. in a certain ratio of "cation
exchange capacity" or CEC.

Suze: What makes the minerals available to the plant?

Rex: Many factors. First is the fineness of the mineral supplements
added. A limestone boulder is unavailable whereas the same boulder
pulverized is available. In the old days, local farmers built kilns to
burn the boulders until they turned to dust. Today the job of
pulverizing is done by machinery.
Another key factor that makes minerals available is micro-organisms in
the soil. These are what make the minerals available to the plant.
Plants can assimilate very few minerals directly. Plowed in cover crops,
compost, molasses, other organic matter or even raw garbage dug in will
all support microbial life in the soil. As Professor Albrecht said over
and over, "The microbes feast first at the table." Dr. Reams suggested
that you wait at least two weeks to plant seeds after plowing in food
for the microbes.

The pH of the soil has a lot to do with mineral availability. Many
minerals are available only in a narrow pH range, which for most plants
is around 6.4.

The Brix of the plant is also important. Low-Brix plants can’t develop
the strong extraction fluids to pull minerals from the soil.

As a plant matures, it requires more and more soil energy to extract
nutrients from the soil. Reams continually stressed the fact that while
a baby seedling had minimal daily nutrient needs from the soil, a mature
plant drawing down heavily was an entirely different story. He taught
that for a plant to bear a full crop of high quality produce it must
have adequate soil energy (called "ERGS" or Energy Released per Gram per
Second) available to "set" the high-quality crop and then "bring it
home." ERGS is merely a measurement of the ionic conductivity of the
soil expressed as microSiemens and directly measured with an ordinary
conductivity meter. The point is that only healthy soils with teeming
bacterial life and full mineral availability can "keep up" when the
plant roots are most demanding.

This is where foliar feeding comes in. Most farmers shifting to the
Reams methods report for the first few years that they either cannot
raise the Brix to the high quality levels needed or, if they do get
there, they report it is tough to keep the Brix high. For most people,
foliar feeding serves as a crutch until they get their soil in tip-top
shape. A few, particularly those growing in such areas as Florida sand,
must forever rely quite heavily on foliar feeding because their sandy
soil simply cannot hold the full ration of minerals required. An
important point here is the fact that foliar feeds are formulated as
both general tonics for use by the novice and as very specialized
mixtures for use by the expert who wishes to compensate for identified
plant or soil deficiencies.

Reams insisted that his students had to master wet chemistry test
methods so that they could run tests if, when, and as needed. For
instance, he pointed out that if the farmer couldn’t be sure they had
the 40 pounds nitrate and 40 pounds ammonium at each moment required by
the plant, the farmer stood a good chance of a severely limited harvest.
He also reiterated thousands of times that the plant did not care
whether the needed nitrogen or other substance came from "organic"
sources or from a chemical such as calcium nitrate. His reasoning was
simple: if the applied fertility agent raised Brix, it was what the
plant needed. On the other hand, if the Brix stayed the same or fell,
the material was either not needed, detrimental or in a form the plant
could not use.

This system works and works well. Reams was always quick to calculate
the future harvest, at whatever quality level desired, and he did this
mostly by knowing how much available phosphate was in the soil.

Bob Pike, a Reams protégé, later developed a system that used high-grade
electronic meters which was much faster than the original wet chemistry
analysis. At its core, Pike’s system first evaluates the Brix level of
the growing plant and, should that not be high enough, then measures the
pH and conductivity of the plant sap. Then, by applying a chart
developed by Bruce Tainio, a West Coast researcher and consultant, the
farmer can program a foliar feed that will help the crop get back on
track toward the highest Brix and the highest yield.

There is more to it of course. For instance, Pike found that he had to
monitor the soil ERGS both before planting and during the growth phases.
His method also requires that the soil pH be adjusted to the optimum 6.4
(acknowledged by almost all consultants as the best). Finally, Pike
teaches that the old-farmer nemesis of hardpan will not occur if the
farmer keeps his calcium and magnesium in his soil in the proper ratio.
This can be readily determined at any season by probing with a soil
penetrometer.

So, the Pike methods that I follow, and which I consider so true to the
Reams call for high Brix along with good yield, are as follows:

Conduct an Albrecht-style soil evaluation in the fall and apply
amendments as needed.
Couple this with a broad-spectrum trace element application.
Plant a thick winter cover crop, such as annual rye for pasture or
compost on your home garden, to protect the soil and build organic matter.
Monitor and adjust the soil ERGS before planting and during crop growth.
Monitor and adjust the soil pH before planting and during crop growth.
Track the Brix, sap pH, and sap conductivity of the growing crop so as
to apply just the right foliar feed if the Brix does not stay in the
desired range.

One important point: I have learned by bitter experience that if I and
1000 other consultants calculate that the plant needs precisely thus as
a foliar feed, but the Brix does not rise, then we were all wrong.
Obviously, our calculations would not be for naught because we would at
that point at least know one foliar combination that is wrong. There
could not be a clearer case of "the proof is in the pudding" than the
situation where one labors mightily to devise exactly the right foliar
spray and the plant softly says, by way of not gaining Brix, "Sorry, but
that is not the right mixture I need at this time." And, as in all of
science, this is the point where art must take its turn. The experienced
consultant starts reaching for a few tricks of his trade and finally
makes the connection that shoots that Brix up where it should be."