Teaming with Nutrients by: Jeff Lowenfels - discussion

[OrganicOzarks]

Finally read some yesterday. I can't believe that none of the author's gardening friends knew how fertilizer worked. What the hell? So far I have read about all of the shit I was to high to pay attention to in the 10th grade. The jury is out still as it seems so far he has read some text books, and rewritten what he read. Nothing ground breaking as of yet.

 

[StayBlazinDawg]

They need to regress to progress, then the sky will open creating love will rain down washing away everything.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

They need to regress to progress, then the sky will open creating love will rain down washing away everything.

You must be talking about acid rain, and you must have been looking up with your mouth wide open while it was pouring down.

 

[StayBlazinDawg]

I thought I was drinking momma earths tears of sadness falling into my pie hole. On a growing note so pumped their is a discussion out there talking minerals vs microbes, its like a tootsie pop the world may never know. I feel the plant will use either microbes or minerals to keep trucking, like we keep a going eating toxic junk but our bodies can take out enough vitamins and minerals to maintain itself and not implode. Haha

 

[VortexPower420]

I don't feel as thought this will be ground breaking for us dirt nerds, just a good summary written in laymen terms and easy for anyone with half a brain will understand.

I have only gone through 2 1/2 chapters but I like it. It have been years science biology and chemistry class so the reintroduction to the cells, its parts and basic chemistry helped me to understand things in a more in-depth way.

He has a great writing style that help break things down nicely. I fell repetition is the key to deep understanding of things. I have read many books on the same subject with the same topic discussed in different ways and I find them all helpful. If you get just one AH HA moment i fell it is worth it.

Timbuktu

 

[EclipseFour20]

Not to hijack this thread or steal any thunder from Jeff Lowenfels new book, but much of this information is not new. Below are two pdf files I found most informative (and superior to many books I have browsed at bookstores).

They are from North Carolina State University (NC Certified Crop Adviser Nutrient Management Training Manual) and Spectrum Analytic, Inc. (paper about nutrients and their interactions with disease).

If you believe as I do, "Fertilizer recommendations are developed to optimize nutrient uptake and provide the crop with adequate nutrients for normal growth and yield. In most situations, this level of nutrients will also be sufficient to enable the crop to maximize disease resistance. However, there are cases where nutrient applications higher than needed for optimum growth can result in improved disease resistance."....then the 2nd pdf file will be of great interest.

Cheers!

 

[GreenGuySF]

Got mine over the weekend and I'm very excited to be participating in this book club discussion with you guys!!!

 

[boobs]

Got mine over the weekend and I'm very excited to be participating in this book club discussion with you guys!!!

Sweet, hey, if you, or anybody else wantsta write up something about chapter. 3 to spurr a discussion that'd be cool...I'm still feeling like a retard after trying to simplify the last one...I dumbed it down too much and got my own head spun...

 

[anonymousgrow]

Just picked up a copy in Arcata yesterday. Only thumbed through it so far, but it seems worthy of discussion

 

[boobs]

not sure about this one

not sure about this one

I'm on chapter 6 right now and while the intro of the book and first several chapters were a nice review of some things you might have forgotten from high school biology and chemistry I'm starting to feel like he basically just reworded an intro to botany textbook in the sense that he hasn't said anything new. What's worse is that he continues to use jargon which is unfamiliar to what I imagine the average gardener to be, it's fine for college dropouts like me but I imagine it would be very off putting to someone like your mom, for sure my mom. Where teaming with Microbes was written for the laymen this book is steeped in scientific terms and none of anything I've read has any practical application so far.

All that being said I'm excited for the rest of the book, I know he said he was just setting the stage in the first part of the book but he was starting to lose me...Seems like the play is about to start.

The next chapter is about the movement of nutrients throughout the plant.

 

[Karmic Farmer]

It's a really great book that explains the soil web in a way that the common person can understand.
I've enjoyed and have been reccomending this book for years. Now I have to go buy a new copy as they seem to have revised it once again. I just bought the last revision a little more than a year ago...

Peace,
KF

 

[boobs]

It's a really great book that explains the soil web in a way that the common person can understand.
I've enjoyed and have been reccomending this book for years. Now I have to go buy a new copy as they seem to have revised it once again. I just bought the last revision a little more than a year ago...

Peace,
KF

You're thinking of Teaming with Microbes...we're discussing Teaming with Nutrients.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

I am 110 pages in, and it is boring as fuck. It does seem as though he has just rewritten a college text book. I have read nothing that I have not already read. A college text book would at least had some shit in there that I possibly had not read before.

He hit a home run with Teaming With Microbes, and struck out with this book.

Something positive,

The most recent Acres USA magazine had an article with questions and answers about silicon with Lawrence Datnoff. The 5 or 6 pages it spand was much better than the 110 that I have read in this book.

ACRES USA is an awesome magazine. If you don't get it you should.

I will now force myself to finish this book.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

I read some more today. I ended up flipping through to the end where he talks about what to feed plants, and well, this book sucks.

I am not going to read anymore of it as I feel like I am wasting my time.

The first 10 chapters are rewrites of college text books, and then when he actually gets to feeding your plants he changes it to kindergarten level.

This book sucks. There is no way your average Joe would read more than 10 pages of this. I consider myself, a garden science geek, and I think this book is a waste of time.

They all can't be as good as teaming with microbes.

 

[boobs]

bummer, maybe I'll do a thread on The Intelligent Gardener that I think ct-guy was talking about earlier.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

bummer, maybe I'll do a thread on The Intelligent Gardener that I think ct-guy was talking about earlier.

That book looks good. I have never heard of it before. Thank goodness for Amazon.

 

[KidKId]

I would take much of this book with a grain of salt. There are tons of good books out there dealing with Organics by actual Biological and plant molecular scientists.

I wouldn't read a book about Evolution from an English major, a book about history from someone with a Masters in marketing, or a molecular biology book from someone whose career is writing a column for the anchorage daily news (Jeff Lowenfels)

 

[FatherEarth]

Agreed, this book isnt what I had hoped. I began thumbing through and have since abandoned this one in favor of
Neal Kinsey's "Hands on Agronomy" which Im getting some good use out of. Excellent stuff coming from a student of
Dr. Albrecht. Also listening to the Bionutrient conferences with Dan Kittredge and John Kempf over and over. I will fly to where ever next years conferences are to take part in person. Best stuff Ive soaked up in a while, game changing and powerful.


Respectfully,

FE

 

[VortexPower420]

Fatherearth- I have attended both of these conferences and they are total gold. Being able to talk to these great minds is priceless.

Dan puts a big table of books out that he feels are very important. I believe it is the same list on the Bio-nutrient website.

As far as the Teaming with Nutrients - so-so I felt that the chapters on the cell, chemistry, basic plant structure, and how nutrients move in the plant are good, for anyone wanting to dive into understanding plant systems. Sure you can find all this info else where and in much more elaborate explanation but it is a good summary.

I feel if anyone who wants to dive into organic plant sciences Both of Jeffs books are a great start.

One book that has really put thing together for me was Eco Farm by Charles Walters. Great book.

Timbuktu

 

[milkyjoe]

Kinsey's book is good but he does not tell you how to calculate anything on your own...and when you send a soil sample to him prepare to wait forever and have ammonium sulfate recommended.

Good basic info but no details imo.

The Kempf stuff is dynamite. I bet I have listened to that 4 times by now.