plant sap pH 6.4

ADVANCING ECO-AGRICULTURE
Connecting the Missing Links for Full Potential Agriculture

News From... October, 2011

Our vision and mission is to help farmers produce healthy crops that are insect and disease resistant and greatly reduce or eliminate the need for toxic insecticides and fungicides. We can accomplish this by providing farmers with knowledge of how diseases and insects interact with plants, information about tools to monitor crop health in the field, and agricultural inputs that can be used to increase and enhance plant health.

A plant’s health and immunity is based on its ability to form structurally complete compounds such as carbohydrates and proteins. Complete carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids are formed by healthy plants with a fully functional enzyme system, which is dependent on trace mineral enzyme cofactors.

Plant pathogens, bacterial and fungal diseases, and insects have less complex digestive systems than higher animals and lack the needed enzymes to digest complete plant compounds. In his book titled, “Healthy Crops”, Francis Chaboussou has documented a fair amount of research on the plant-pathogen relationship, protein formation in plants, and the plant immunity connection. Francis’ theory of plant health, which he terms “taophobiosis”, has its foundation on the premise that insect and disease pests cannot utilize complete proteins and carbohydrates as a food source.

We work with a broad variety of fruit and vegetable and broad acre crops in many regions with different soils and climates. We have successfully grown insect-and disease-resistant crops on many farms. On many of the farms, we have noticed some interesting transitional stages of plant health (see Plant Hierarchy of health, next page) and energy levels as soil and plant health improve over time; frequently, over a period of a few months to several years, depending on the crop and previous soil conditions. These stages of improving plant health have been based on our own experiences and from field observations. Over time and with experience on many farms, a succession pattern of plant health stages is becoming clearer.

As charted in the graph on page 2, efficient photosynthesis and the formation of complete carbohydrates is the foundation of plant health and immunity.

Without efficient photosynthesis, plants will not achieve any level of immunity or performance.

With functional photosynthesis and adequate levels of minerals and trace minerals to serve as enzyme cofactors, formation of complete proteins is initiated. As photosynthetic capacity and plant energy increase, plants begin to store surplus energy in lipids - plant oils.

These lipids are the building blocks used to build plant protection compounds, called plant secondary metabolites (PSM5) or plant essential oils.

As soils and crops transition from commercial to biological production practices, these crops seem to progress through several stages of overall health. These several stages of plant health tend to overlap and blend together in the field rather than being sharply defined.



Varying Degrees of Plant Vitality

Phase I

In this foundational phase of plant growth and health, a plant’s needs for adequate sunlight, air, water, and minerals are all being met; an efficient photosynthetic process is absorbing carbon dioxide from the air, water from the soil, and with the energy input from the sun, begins producing plant sugars and carbohydrates. Initially, the sugars formed during this process will be monosaccharides -simple sugars such as fructose, sucrose, and dextrose. As the process evolves, more complex sugars, called polysaccharides begin to develop. Cellulose, lignin, pectins, and starches are structural and store carbohydrates produced in greater quantities as plants become healthier.

In our experience, as long as plants are photosynthesizing properly and producing pectins and other complex carbohydrates, these plants do not seem to be susceptible to soil borne fungi – styled as “pathogens”. Saprophytic fungi (fungi which decompose dead plant residue) such as alternaria, fusarium, and verticillium only become a problem when plants are unhealthy to the point where they no longer develop complete carbohydrates. As long as we have active photosynthesis and energy transfer, these “pathogens” cease to be a problem.

Phase II

As photosynthetic energy increases, plants begin to transfer greater quantities of sugars to the root system and the microbial community in the rhizosphere. This increase in energy and a food source for the soil microbes will stimulate them to mineralize and release minerals and trace minerals from the soil matrix, and provide them in a plant available form. Plants then utilize these essential minerals as enzyme cofactors which are needed to form complete carbohydrates and especially proteins. Soluble sugars, monosaccharides, when partnered with nitrogen, are the base materials used to form amino acids. Through the action of enzyme catalysts these amino acids are bonded together to form peptides from which complete proteins are formed.

Thanks to their rapid metabolism, insects need large amounts of protein for growth and reproduction. They can source their protein requirements from plants that have elevated levels of soluble amino acids in the plant sap. Many insects have a simple digestive system that lacks the digestive enzymes needed to digest complex proteins. In our experience, plants which are forming complete proteins and have low levels of soluble amino acids, are not susceptible to insects with a simple digestive system. This would include insects such as aphids and white flies and especially larval insects such cabbage earworm, alfalfa weevil, tomato hornworm, and many others.

Phase III

As photosynthetic energy and efficiency increases, plants develop a surplus of energy beyond that needed for basic growth and reproduction. Initially, large quantities of this surplus energy, in the form of sugars, are translocated to the root system, as high as 70% of the total sugar production. Later, the plant begins to store this surplus energy in the form of lipids – plant fats – in both vegetative and reproduction tissue. In vegetative tissue, these fats are primarily in the form of omega 3s, whereas omega 6s and 9s are mostly found in the storage organs or the fruit.

Plants always maintain a minimum baseline of lipid levels since they need these compounds to help form the phospho lipid cell membranes. As energy and lipid levels increase, this cell membrane becomes much stronger and more resilient enabling it to better resist fungal pathogens. It appears as though once plants achieve higher lipid levels and stronger cell membranes, they become more resistant to the airborne fungal pathogens such as downy and powdery mildew, late blight and others, as well as some bacterial invaders, notably fire blight, scab, rust, bacterial speck, bacterial spot, and others.

It should be noted that plants must have a functional digestive system (the microbial community in the rhizosphere) before they will develop to this stage of plant health, otherwise, they will lack the energy needed to develop higher levels of lipids.

Phase IV

The elevated lipid levels developed in Phase III are then used to build complex plant protectant compounds styled plant secondary metabolites. The plant builds these plant secondary metabolites (PSM5), or essential oils, to protect itself from would-be parasites, UV radiation, or overgrazing by insects or herbivores. Many of these compounds, which include terpenoids, bioflavonoids, carotenoids, tannins, and many others, contain anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties, as well as digestion (enzyme) inhibitors.

Once plants achieve this level of performance they become immune to insect attack from insects that have a better developed digestive system, primarily the beetle family such as cucumber beetles, Colorado potato beetles, and Japanese beetles. At this point, plants have a tremendous level of stress tolerance and can cope with weather extremes reasonably well.

Again, these phases of plant health are based on our observations and experiences in the field. Transitions in the field are not always clearly delineated as in this chart, however, over time a clearer picture begins to emerge as crops and soils become healthier and healthier and “pathogens’ become less and less of a problem. Farming can quickly become a most enjoyable occupation.

-John Kempf

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c-ray said:

where do we find the plant health pyramid? is it near Sedona?

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c-ray said:

Neo, what kinds of things are you foliar feeding with?

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healthy plants –> healthy soils

Last Thursday I was lucky to be able to attend the Soil and Nutrition conference, sponsored by the Bionutrient Food Association and NOFA/Mass. During the lunch break, I sat down with the presenter John Kempf to ask him some questions and talk with him about some of the issues we struggle with in our pasture and hayfields. We are challenged by having forage that is very high in protein (which is great!) but too low in sugars and starches. Before John Kempf became a soil consultant, he worked as a forage consultant for grass-based dairies and helped those dairies build the soils and forage that was necessary to support their cows.

He said that he knew the key was to help with the immediate energy needs in the plant, which would in turn help the soil over time. 70% of the sugars in a plant are exuded through the roots to feed soil biology, this is part of the plant-soil relationship. Therefore, plants must be incredibly sugar-rich (highly photosynthetic) in order to be able to give up 70% of its sugar and still have enough in order to feed animals (in the case of forage) or grow a fruit (in the case of veggies/fruit).

John explained that there are three ways to build soil organic matter. The first is to import it (in the case of applying minerals, purchasing compost, etc). The second is to produce it yourself (by using cover crops, fresh manure, or making your own composted manure). The third is through carbon induction. Carbon induction is the process by which healthy plants send out root exudates. This is by far the most efficient method, it is also the least expensive and can be the fastest as well, if the plants are well fed.

He explained that plants have low sugar production when they are not photosynthesizing at a high level. Nutrients are necessary for optimum photosynthesis. “If photosynthesis is an engine, nutrients are the key”. It is extremely common for less-than-optimum photosynthesis because most soils today are nutritionally depleted, due to heavy tillage, herbicides, continual harvesting of hay, etc. and other conventional management tools over the past several decades.

He suggests using Photo Mag as a foliar spray – apply to hay fields immediately after they are cut and to pastures the night before (or a few nights before) the cows enter that paddock. In the 24-hour photosynthetic cycle, the production peak is during the day, transport peak is in the evening, and growth peak is between 3 and 8am (when most growth happens). He suggested we experiment with it – do it during one pass through in our rotation, or some hay fields and not others so we can compare. He seemed very confident that it would help, said that he has seen it make the difference for many farmers. It would be necessary to do this foliar spray for a few seasons, until the soils are healthy again and the plants’ brix reading is high, but says that of all the nutrient applications that we could do, this would be the fastest and most effective. The magnesium in the spray will “jump start photosynthesis”. He said, “it’s a trigger to enhance the efficiency of the entire system”.

We also discussed spraying raw milk on fields. Spraying milk is good because of the enzymes, probiotics, but most of all because of the fat that can all be used to feed and enhance soil life. If you can apply milk with good fat content, the plants can absorb it and it will boost plant energy. However, you can overdo it with raw milk spraying because you can throw the bacterial species out of whack in the soil. The probiotics in raw milk are so powerful, that they can actually outcompete soil microorganisms!

The major take home message that I got from the workshop was: healthy soils –> healthy crops, but ALSO healthy crops –> healthy soils. It goes both ways.

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VortexPower420 said:

Congratulations you are at the top of the pyramid, complex terpenes and pest/dis-ease resistance for you. I bet you herb is outstanding cause of it and you constantly building you soil carbon to.


Timbuktu

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Carbon Building, Carbon Cycling
by John Kempf

Adequate levels of functional organic matter and a robust soil digestive system are sorely lacking in most all agricultural soils. This lack of humic substances and biology significantly reduces a soil’s water-holding capacity and the ability to release nutrients, all of which leads to large losses in crop
quality and yield.

Meanwhile, increasingly higher levels of atmospheric carbon or CO2 are being produced by the burning of fossil fuels and land desertification. Carbon sequestration — the term has been thrown around like a rubber ball. What does it really mean for agriculture? How can carbon be stabilized in soils most effectively?

In this article we hope to provide some ideas concerning the carbon cycle and how to effectively build soil carbonic organic matter. There seem to be three primary means by which we can increase a soil’s carbon content: carbon imports, carbon generation and carbon induction. Each of these possible methods can also offer other strengths to a soil-building program, compost can provide a biological inoculum, humates can provide a biological stimulant.

IMPORTING CARBON

There are three primary carbon imports. Humates or leonardite, and their derivatives such as fulvic and humic acids. The humic substances present in these materials generally provide very good nutrient exchange. Biochar is also a stable carbon import but not as active as leonardite seems to be. Compost can also be a viable carbon import with the added benefit of a strong biological component. Compost, however, tends to have a lower level of stable humic substances when compared with other materials. A fair proportion of compost can degrade over a period of a few years.

CARBON GENERATION

We have several opportunities to generate or capture carbon on the farm that would otherwise be lost. Managing crop residues, composting crop waste and animal manure, and cover cropping all provide us with a chance to capture more carbon and store it in our soils. Any of the practices will also help build a robust digestive system in the soil.

CARBON INDUCTION

Induction seems to best describe the possibility of generating higher levels of soil carbon by optimizing the carbon cycle and plant performance. Carbon induction has the greatest potential of any source to build large amounts of stable humic substances, stimulate biology, and improve soil and plant health.

Carbon cycling — how does it really work? As plants are growing in the field they absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Through the process of photosynthesis this carbon dioxide and water are used to form simple sugars which are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. These sugar compounds are the foundational building blocks to build all the rest of the plant compounds, such as complex carbohydrates and polysaccharides, proteins and amino acids, and plant lipids. All of these compounds contain an average of roughly 40 percent carbon.

In exchange for nutrients supplied by the soil system, plants release large amounts of these substances into the soil to feed the soil biology. These root exudates contain a variety of organic and amino acids and lipids. The healthier a plant becomes, the greater the amount of root exudates and the higher the quality. According to Horst Marschner, in his book Mineral Nutrition and Higher Plants, healthy plants can release as much as 60 to 70 percent of their total sugar production back into the soil as root exudates. This can only occur, however, if we have truly healthy and energy-positive plants, in other words, they have an energy surplus. If we think about this for a moment we can realize the tremendous amount of carbon induction this can create. A healthy plant will have at least as much root biomass below ground as there is plant biomass above ground. So if we have 100 pounds of plant biomass above ground, and an additional 100 pounds below ground, this still represents only 30 to 40 percent of this plant’s total energy production. This is the real secret to building soil carbon effectively and efficiently. We can readily see why forage-based livestock agriculture and perennial polycultures are the most efficient method of building soil organic matter and stable humic substances. Carbon induction is the answer.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATS

As plants become healthier and have greater photosynthetic efficiency and higher levels of sugars and energy, they will begin to form high levels of lipids (fats and oils). The lipids are energy storage compounds in the plant, just the same as fats are the energy storage in animals. Once a plant has surplus energy it is stored as fat.

All plants have a minimum baseline level of lipids needed to form the phospho-lipid soul membranes. As their energy increases, however, they will form higher levels of lipids which will be stored inside the cells and utilized in building stronger cell membranes and stronger reproductive tissue. Many of these lipids will also be exuded from the roots into the rhizosphere, where they will be used as an energy source by soil microbes.

These lipids in the rhizosphere are an important piece of the puzzle in building stable humic substances, all of which have a fairly high content of both aliphatic and aromatic compounds which are based on theses plant lipids.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOIL FUNGI

When these sugars, amino acids, and lipids are released as root exudates, they become a ready food source for the soil’s microbial system. How these compoundsare digested will determine whether stable humic substances are formed or not.

There are several types of digestion in the rhizosphere. If we have a bacterially dominated digestive system, the bacteria will utilize these plant exudates as a food and energy source. The bacteria are then in turn used as a primary food source by other microbes such as nematodes and actinomycetes. These microbial metabolites are then quite stable and can be utilized by plants as an energy source. This digestive cycle is termed mineralization, and is set in motion by bacterial dominance.

If a soil has a fungal dominated digestive system, the fungi will be the primary digesters of the plant root exudates. Fungi will absorb these compounds and digest them slowly over a period of time and combine them into complex long-chain compounds which are referred to as humic substances. This digestive cycle is called humification, and is a critical piece of carbon sequestration.

As can be seen, carbon induction can be the best method of building soil organic matter. However, several important pieces need to be in place. Healthy plants with high levels of energy coupled with soils which have a strong fungal dominated digestive system will get the best results. A good example of such a system would be the perennial grasslands of the Great Plains which build up 10 percent organic matter soil over a long period of time.

John Kempf is the owner of Advancing Eco-Agriculture, Middlefield, Ohio, an eco-agriculture consulting and solutions company.

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Fat in the Grass – the Key to Gourmet Grass-fed Beef?

We’re trying to fix our soil so we can accomplish our goal of producing very high-quality grass that will make gourmet, super tasty grass-fed steaks. We want steaks that offer the prime nutrition that comes with grass-fed AND steaks that turn out juicy and tender with very satisfying flavor on the grill. Gourmet-quality 100% grass-fed beef is very difficult to produce if the soil and grass aren’t right, so we have our work cut out for us for sure. This post describes grass fat – one helpful quality indicator – and steps we’ll take to increase its presence in our pastures.

The Problem: Some Grass-fed Steaks Taste Really Bad

Mark Schatzker, author of Steak: One Man’s Search for the World’s Tastiest Piece of Beef, states that both the best and worst steaks he’s ever had were grass-fed. We tried local grass-fed steaks and eventually gave up. Roasts tasted okay (cooked on low heat), but the steaks were unfortunately pretty awful. McDonald’s aside, we all intuitively know that taste and nutrition are intertwined. Just as bitter and mealy vegetables tell us they’re substandard and lacking in nutrition, tough and gamey off-flavored grass-fed beef tells us the same thing – DON’T EAT IT! We did find great grass-fed beef through U.S. Wellness Meats. These are the best steaks we’ve ever had. They give us hope that producing quality beef on grass alone is possible. The question is, how do we grow grass that’s so good, it results in gourmet-quality grass-fed steak?

The Solution?

We attended the 2011 Acres USA conference’s two-day seminar with John Kempf, Jerry Brunetti, and Lawrence Mayhew. This fantastic seminar was where we learned about fat in the grass.

John Kempf, Amish farmer and owner of Advancing Eco Agriculture, said he had noticed something peculiar with grass quality and animal feed preferences. He consults on dairy farms where they tissue test often to discern the quality of pasture forages. With all other factors such as fiber and protein at good levels, he has noticed that once the grasses reach at least 6% fat content on the tissue test, the cows turn up their noses at grain. They strongly prefer pasture over grain! Amazing! He said some grasses are getting even higher than 6%, but this seems to be the cutoff. Wow, this would be like American kids strongly preferring kale over ice cream. That’s some good, super high-quality kale!

Cows know nutrition. They aren’t dumb! They prefer grain when their other feed (pasture forage) is lacking. But with 6% fat grass, the cows are telling us that the grass is tasty, it provides everything they need, and it’s better than the grain. Grain provides high-energy feed to cows, so grass with at least 6% fat is probably an indicator of very high energy (high quality) forage. Sounds good, so how do we get 6% fat grass?

Plant Fat Details

At the two-day Acres seminar, we learned:

• When plants reach an energy surplus, they start to store the extra energy as fat. Common plant fats are Omega-3 (stored in growing, vegetative tissues) and Omega-6 and -9 (stored in fruits and seeds).
• High energy plants are grown in soils that enable their roots to be a fully functional digestive system. High quality soils have abundant, balanced minerals and very healthy biological activity that provides full amino acids to the plant, not just simple ions like calcium, magnesium, etc. Plants that receive complete amino acids from the root zone biology save a lot of energy by not having to assemble the amino acids themselves.
• Fats form the structural components of cell walls and the waxy cuticles on leaf surfaces. These functions protect the plant from disease and pest invaders.
• Fats are the precursors of plant essential oils.
• The average fat content as seen on U.S. forage tissue tests is about 2.5%.

How Plants Get Fat

We also learned that plant health seems to go through transition steps. Fat content isn’t one of the early steps; it’s one of the last. Several things need to be satisfied before plants have an energy excess and store it as fat. The following is taken from John Kempf’s Plant Health Transitions and is based on his observations in the field.

Stage 1: Successful Photosynthesis. Using adequate sunlight, water, and air, plants photosynthesize successfully. They make simple sugars such as glucose and fructose, and combine them with enzymes to form complex carbs such as pectins, cellulose, and lignins. These build resistance to soil pathogens like fusarium, and altemaria. At this stage of basic health, plants are still susceptible to insects and air-borne pathogens.

Stage 2: Complete Proteins. Plants transfer simple sugars to their roots and to soil microbes. In return, microbes release soil nutrients in plant-available form. The simple sugars are combined with nitrogen to form amino acids. Amino acids bond to form peptides. Peptides bond to form complete proteins. Plants’ complete, high quality proteins increase resistance to insects with simple digestive systems such as aphids and larval insects. Enzymes and enzyme co-factors are necessary in order to bond amino acids and peptides. More than 50 trace minerals are needed to form complete compounds. Some of these are zinc, molybdenum, iodine, cobalt, and nickel.

Stage 3: Fat! Plants store surplus energy in the form of lipids, fats, and oils. Lipids build strong cell membranes for increased resistance to all airborne pathogens, parasites, disease, and UV radiation. Plants at this stage are now resistant to mildews, late blight, and bacterial invaders such as scab.

Stage 4: Essential Oils. Very healthy plants have energy to build plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) out of lipids. PSMs are aromatic “essential oil” compounds such as terpenes, phenolics, and bioflavonoids. These are natural plant protection compounds that convey “food as medicine” benefits to the eater. Plants are now resistant to insects with advanced digestive systems such as cucumber beetles and Colorado potato beetles.

How to Get Our Grass to Stages 3 and 4?

I would guess our grass content is below 2% and its health is barely making it out of Stage 1. With very weak soil biology and low amounts of organic matter, nitrogen, sulfur, and important micro nutrients in the soil, I can say with confidence that our grass is not forming complete proteins. I would imagine that eating complete proteins is very important for animal health and meat/milk quality. At the conference, we also learned that the bad off-flavors in meat are caused by nitrates. Maybe this is related to incomplete proteins in the grass.

The method for reaching our goals is to get the grass to an energy surplus state. Soil biology is ever so important here. If Stage 1 photosynthesis is successful, plants can donate some of the solar energy they collected, in the form of simple sugar photosynthesis products, to soil microbes. If soil nitrogen exists and soil biology is healthy enough to make amino acids for the plants, then plants have saved energy, and the soil, biology, and plant are working as a healthy, symbiotic team.

Our plan is designed to repair our soil to get these symbiotic relationships going. We plan to increase our soil nutrients, especially sulfur, nitrogen, and micro nutrients that are important building blocks of complete proteins. With our very sandy soil, good foliar fertilizers will probably play a big role in helping our forages reach the energy surplus state. In an effort to coax diverse and beneficial soil biology back to our farm, we plan to plant a massive cover crop cocktail this spring and lightly incorporate it at maturity with microbe inoculants. This will hopefully start the humification process in the soil for making humus and giving the beneficial soil microbes a permanent home. More to come on that this spring!

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We also discussed spraying raw milk on fields. Spraying milk is good because of the enzymes, probiotics, but most of all because of the fat that can all be used to feed and enhance soil life. If you can apply milk with good fat content, the plants can absorb it and it will boost plant energy. However, you can overdo it with raw milk spraying because you can throw the bacterial species out of whack in the soil. The probiotics in raw milk are so powerful, that they can actually outcompete soil microorganisms!

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VortexPower420 said:

I Have earth tonic as well Good stuff for foliar. I actually hung out with Steve Storch at last years conference where John spoke. Far out guy form Long Island NY like myself. Anyway I like His products, you can go to his farm and help him stuff horns, just don't like the marketing or Storch Oil. Progress Earth are cowboy salesman with no back. BD compost Great stuff ET great to. I built a vortex brewer off of his design.
I used to work at a Hydro shop years ago in Ny and he would come in with his proto types and compost before anyone new what it was but him and my boss. Back when ET was called Thelessa mix.
He claims the brewer is not for microbial growth but more so you didn't have to stir for 1 hour every time you apply a prep and to energize the water.

Timbuktu

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