Lloyd Charles wrote: >Allan wrote > >". Brix can readily be affected by foliar applications can't it? -Allan " > >Above is the most important little snippet of information thats been on this >list for ages > >I know that (but dont understand why) a lot of organic and BD certified >producers are philosophicaly opposed to foliar nutrient applications. When >farmers are in the situation where we dont have our soils in balance yet, or >something else is wrong that has put our system off the track for a while >and we are suffering insect or disease attack, or poor plant growth due to >some nutritional disorder then is when we can make a major improvement in >quality of produce by using the brix meter to monitor the crops response to a range of available foliar nutrients. SNIP! > After we get our soils properly balanced and remineralised to Albrecht >standards and get our biodynamics working right and everything else is good >then I suppose what I have written here no longer applies - in the mean time >its another tool we can all use to grow better quality produce at less >expense for the good of all - and I know at least one feller that needs to make a profit from his farm in the short term.
The prime directive of biological farming has always been 'feed the soil.' Foliar feeding, of course, has always appeared to be a simple 'feed the plant' approach and although if used with reason it can produce radiantly healthy plants, many of we BD-types have approached it with severe ambivalence. One of the legendary BD growers I know, Gabriel Howearth, has used foliars extensively (as well as using music to maximize the opening of the stomata to maximize the plants ability to take in nutrients through the leaves) and produces amazing specimen gardens in very short periods of time. What Hugh has pointed out is the amazing truth: feed the plant and the plant will feed the soil, maximizing the soil foodweb (in a healthy soil), thereby feeding the soil. (For this to really work, though, you need to balance the soils through Albrecht, keep your BD preps energies balanced and make sure you have the right soil biology for your crop through the use of compost teas.) To enter into a market garden based on foliar sprays without doing the soil steps is to create a situation in which the crop can be very suceptible to disease and pest attacks.
