The C:N or Carbon:Nitrogen ratio can be a little confusing, but it’s very important to overall soil health. More than anything else, the C:N ratio is all about microbial activity in your soils. It’s important to first understand that soil microorganisms’ bodies have a...
News
Chitin for Post-Harvest and a Whole Lot More
My past couple of newsletters have focused on the importance of post-harvest applications, given our perennial crops’ need to recover and store nutrients in their woody parts after harvest so they can then access them during early spring growth. The practice of...
Re-evaluating Our Approach to Post Harvest and Dormancy
For nature to remain stable, it must constantly change. Our world is changing. Our world has always been changing. Today, we’re witnessing changes in technology, weather, farming practices, and countless other areas. Nature is always changing and adapting. For...
Our Exhausted Crops – Post-Harvest Recovery
How do we prepare our “exhausted” crops for next season? It’s important to do all that you can to continue photosynthesis, as this allows perennial crops to store carbohydrates and increase nutrient reserves for use in the next season. This requires maintaining the...
Nitrogen Reality Check
It has become very clear to me that the amount of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) we put on our crops isn’t indicative of what the plants need or can even begin to utilize. We know that nitrogen is key to production of new cells, new enzymes and green pigments...
What the Coastal Redwoods Can Teach Us
So, how do Coastal Redwoods get so big? Well it’s not the N-P-K that you’re putting on! First of all, these monsters are so big that they need a ton of water. Water is the medium for photosynthesis, nutrient transfer, germination (redwoods are conifers – they produce...
The HEAT is ON!
There are many abiotic stressors which impede the growth and development of crops, but heat stress can have the greatest impact in reducing crop yields and the total biomass of the plant. Heat stress is especially detrimental when high temperatures disrupt the...
Playing Catch-Up – Stimulating Plant Growth and Fruit Development
The current warmer temperatures will help growers in the catch up game we’re playing this season to accelerate plant growth and fruit ripening, but are there other options that can help? A few of the factors that control plant growth rate, in addition to its genetic...
The Benefits of Greater Brix Levels in Plants
The sugar levels in a plant are like a gauge of photosynthetic activity. They are also a gauge of the health of the plant; the higher the sugar levels, the healthier the plant. Plants are every bit as complex as animals. Just like us, they have specialized cells and...
It’s About the Microbes First, Nutrients Second
Even though our soils are composed of almost 50% minerals, many of these minerals are not in a form that a plant can use. Plants need to be able to process nutrients to grow, photosynthesize, flower, pollinate and produce fruit. But nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus and...