Insects, diseases and weeds are indicators of an underlying malnutrition.
Weeds only germinate under very specific soil conditions. Change (optimise) the
mineral profile and we can change and eventually eliminate the weeds.
There is a book called ‘Weeds and Why They Grow’ by Jay McCamman which
is basically 60 pages of spread sheet listing the different conditions that a particular
weed will germinate in. It’s an amazing work if we are into that kind of thing.
Weeds thrive in a low energy soil. By optimising the mineral profile the energy
levels in the soil increase appreciably. Two important minerals to begin with are
calcium and phosphorus. As the available levels of these two minerals come
close to optimum, the weeds decline or become very weak.
Weeds are actually our perfect cover crop. The purpose of weeds is to adjust and
remineralize the soil. Many weeds will test higher than alfalfa for available minerals.
I told Tim he should make a tea with his weeds and spray it on his plants and water
his seedlings with it. It has tremendous amounts of available nutrients and phyto
nutrients in available form and gentle quantities. Mix with molasses and he would have
very few insects, especially cucumber beetles and aphids.
Robin, how is the new zucchini?? The flavor should be very good because it is nutrient
dense. We can know this by testing the brix which is the measurement of
sugars and minerals in the sap.
I tested the brix of different plants when I was there and his zucchini tested very good!
It was 17 at 5 in the afternoon on a cloudy day and before a rain. In the middle of the
day and in full sun it is probably over 20. Very nice!
The zucchini is growing in a bed mulched heavily with leaves which are high in phosphorus.
The fastest way to raise brix is to apply phosphorus. I pointed this out to him and
mentioned he should heavily mulch all his new beds with the leaves even if the leaves
are not all decomposed. He is mulching his potatoes with leaves which will be excellent
for them as well. (I didnt check the brix of the potatoes).
When I pulled on a weed in the zucchini bed (there weren’t many) it lifted right out.
When weeds lift right out, they don’t really need to be there. They are just preventing
erosion. If a weed is really cemented in the soil then it *needs* to be there because it
is doing some corrective work.
Erewhon has a fair amount of crab grass and fox tail grass which is an indicator
for low available calcium and Tim said he had some gypsum (calcium sulfate) he
could apply which would be a help. Our soils are high in calcium but the availability
can be a problem.
The brix on his sun gold cherry tomatoes was’ 8′ at 5pm on a cloudy day which
is probably a 10 on a sunny day at noon. Pretty good for tomatoes.
Thanks for passing the note along!
Bill
–
Why not go out on a limb… that’s where the fruit is. — Mark Twain