[compost_tea] Fw: BD Now! Silicon
I received permission from Hugh to post this article here. I found i=
t very
interesting...
Lynton
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Hugh Lovel <hugh.lovel9_at_bigpond.com>
> To: Biodynamic Food and Farming Discussion <bdnow_at_envirolink.org>=
;
> Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 2:10 AM
> Subject: BD Now! Silicon
>
>
> Silicon
>
> The Aristocrat
>
>
> By Hugh Lovel
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Recently I received a classic description of silica deficiency from a<=
BR>
> biodynamic grower in the UK:
>
>
> "I grow for my own use and generally have enough garlic to last m=
e through
> to the next crop, although near the end some bulbs were sprouting and<=
BR>
others
> were obviously 'going off'. Last year, I suffered a bad case of rust,<=
BR>
which
> was apparently cured by a 501/local clay spray. However, as early as a=
> couple of months ago I found that pretty well all my stored garlic had=
> crumbled to a mildewy dust. This year's plants also suffered rust
(although
> planted in another bed from fresh stock) which responded less well to =
the
> spraying and those which I've already lifted are rather disappointing =
in
> size. "
>
>
> Even though rust is an infectious disease, let's take the viewpoint of=
> nineteenth century French microbiologist, Antoine Beauchamp, rather th=
an
his
> contemporary, Louis Pasteur. In the process of killing off pathogens
Pasteur
> killed practically everything, beneficial or benign. Beauchamp decried=
this
> approach, pointing out the extreme difficulty of completely sterilisin=
g
any
> environment. He argued that pathogens only proliferate when conditions=
are
> right. Sterilisation at best masks conditions that favour pathogens, a=
nd
> frequently it makes conditions more favourable.
>
> Fighting a pathogen is the path of the lady who swallowed the fly. Ins=
tead
> of keeping her gob zipped, she swallowed a spider to catch the fly, a<=
BR>
mouse
> to catch the spider, a rat to catch the mouse and so on. This was fata=
l
when
> at last she swallowed a horse-a brief, though spectacular, career.
>
> So we should ask, what underlying cause made this grower's conditions<=
BR>
right
> for rust?
>
>
> The Big Picture
>
>
> Late in the nineteenth century rusts began to present problems with hi=
ghly
> siliceous crops, particularly cereal grains. Garlic, which is also a
highly
> siliceous plant, grows best during the same seasons and conditions as<=
BR>
cereal
> grains. The chief difference between grains and garlic is garlic prefe=
rs
> sandier soils because its bulbs grow below ground, so to understand ru=
st
in
> garlic, let's look at grains.
>
> In order to limit rust, grain breeding trended away from longer-stemme=
d,
> more silica dependent cultivars. Probably the most affected grain is
wheat,
> which now is short and unbearded. It used to be tall with its antennas=
> waving in the wind as it ripened to a glorious gold rather than an ang=
ry
> red.
>
> Modern wheats contain far less silicon than once was the case. Not onl=
y is
> there less stem and beard, even less leaf, but the silicon content of<=
BR>
> individual cells is less. And since calcium depends on the capillary
action
> of silica to rise up the elevator shaft into leaf and grain, modern wh=
eats
> are shorter with lower calcium and protein levels. Hard winter wheats =
in
the
> U.S. average somewhere around 12% protein while wheats grown in the
Palouse
> country of Washington and Idaho at the turn of the 20th century were a=
s
high
> as 18%.
>
> A similar story has unfolded in the Orient where modern hybrid rice is=
a
> short, stocky crop with hardly any straw, much lower in silicon and th=
us
> lower in calcium and protein than older, traditional varieties. In Jap=
an,
> where many traditional varieties are still grown, there are firms sell=
ing
> silica supplements for soils.
>
>
> Historical Background
>
>
> At the turn of the 20th century the idea of selling silica as a fertil=
iser
> was scoffed at, even though analytical chemists as far back as Justus =
von
> Liebig in the 1860s identified silicon as one of the two most abundant=
> constituents of plants after carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and
sulphur.
> After all silicon is abundant in soils. Clay is, by definition, alumin=
ium
> silicate, and in various degrees of purity, sand is simply silica. Thu=
s
> silicon fertilisation was dismissed in the nineteenth and twentieth
> centuries, and almost no attention was paid to the fact that clays oft=
en
> delivered more silica than sands where silicon was most abundant. Nor =
was
it
> noted that fungal dominated soils with good carbon and boron levels
commonly
> delivered silicon best. Silicon content of soils and crops was not oft=
en
> analysed and differences were not considered significant. It was ignor=
ed
> that the total silicon requirement per plant for a tall, bearded wheat=
was
> far greater than that of a short, beardless wheat.
>
> We should ask, if soils already had silicon in abundance why wasn't it=
> available for crops? Why is the silicon added today in siliceous rock<=
BR>
> powders more available? Why isn't silicon sufficient without adding
freshly
> pulverised siliceous materials? In fact, why was silicon sufficient fo=
r
> thousands of years? Why did silicon dependent varieties such, as long<=
BR>
straw
> wheats and rices, develop over the ages only to turn up in the twentie=
th
> century overwhelmed by rusts and similar diseases?
>
> Pasteur's view that rust infections are caused by micro-organisms seem=
s
way
> wide of the mark. Seemingly rusts have been present since antiquity, b=
ut
> modern conditions gave them the chance to proliferate. Prior to the
> twentieth century these problems doubtless occurred, but were far more=
rare
> and isolated. Why did that change?
>
>
> Identifying Cause
>
>
> It didn't change all at once, of course. Around the end of the 18th
century
> the steel plowshare came into widespread use. As plowing intensified, =
a
big
> increase in oxidation occurred. Gradually the organic matter levels of=
soils
> decreased, and microbial activity, especially symbiotic soil fungi,
> declined. As this occurred, biological silica and calcium supplies
> mineralised and boron leached. Soils then lost their ability to fix th=
eir
> own nitrogen. By the end of the 19th century boron, silicon and calciu=
m
> depletion was so extensive that composts made from silica rich straws<=
BR>
became
> insufficient for maintaining fertility, no matter that fertility had b=
een
> built and maintained by such manuring for centuries.
>
> Farmers knew their fertility was declining, but increased cultivation =
was
> not seen as cause. In the search for what was lacking, analytical
chemistry
> identified the most obvious shortage as nitrogen. Thus artificial nitr=
ogen
> inputs came into use. This addressed the symptoms, but not the cause. =
It
> further increased oxidation of organic matter, mineralisation and leac=
hing
> of nutrients while it suppressed microbial nitrogen fixation even furt=
her.
>
> Worst, as soil fungi were lost, nitrate leaching carried any free boro=
n
> away, de-activating silica. Then calcium leached along with nitrificat=
ion
> while nitrogen fixation suffered from the loss of biological calcium.<=
BR>
> Moreover, as soil fungi declined, phosphorus and potassium became
> increasingly unavailable because fungi no longer unlocked them in the<=
BR>
> process of making silicon and calcium biological.
>
> Ever another fix was tacked on as a supposed cure. Phosphoric acid and=
> muriate of potash were used to supply phosphorus and potassium, but in=
the
> process the phosphoric acid burned up even more soil fungi, and the
chloride
> in muriate further sterilised the soil. Soil biology crashed as more a=
nd
> more NPK fertilisers were used. As calcium leached, soils had to be li=
med
to
> restore their calcium levels. Somehow the most important mineral of th=
em
> all, the up-lifting, free-handed silicon, was ignored. It was present,=
but
> without boron to stir it up it remained aloof, the aristocrat of miner=
als.
>
> Without silicon crops no longer had the cellular strength to avoid
infection
> by opportunistic fungi. Their protoplasm became weak and watery from
taking
> up their nutrients as soluble salts. Insect plagues occurred as insect=
> populations responded to weak, easy to chew and digest crops. Weeds mo=
ved
in
> to fill the ecological niches created by massive biological haemorrhag=
ing
in
> crop environments. This led to a toxic chemical boom about mid twentie=
th
> century in an effort to combat diseases and insects.
>
> Of course, this too proved unsatisfactory and by the end of the 20th
century
> genetic modification was the big buzz with several hundred billion dol=
lars
> invested on world stock exchanges in speculative genetic ventures. The=
se
> investments are so large today that investors may subvert governments =
or
> resort to assassination and murder to realise returns. Presently if th=
e
real
> causes of our agricultural malaise are revealed as obvious, cheap and =
easy
> to implement they will be vigorously fought by vested interests.
>
>
> Silica Fertilisers?
>
>
> Maybe it is fortunate that selling silica fertilisers is not cheap or<=
BR>
easy.
> Siliceous rock powders are at least as dear as lime. Investors with a<=
BR>
little
> foresight can jump on this and divest themselves of genetic technology=
> stocks as they see silica fertilisers become the up and coming trend.<=
BR>
> However, as the readers of this essay may suspect, the remedy for sili=
ca
> deficiency really is rather cheap and easy, even if not as obvious as =
the
> bull's balls.
>
> Let's recapitulate. Due to increased cultivation soil organic matter
burned
> up. Particularly symbiotic fungi and nitrogen fixing bacteria were los=
t.
> Biological boron, silicon and calcium were lost and became deficient. =
The
> most obvious result was nitrogen deficiency. Use of soluble nitrogen
> fertilisers, phosphoric acid and potassium chloride further accelerate=
d
this
> process. As plants became weaker because of silica deficiency, disease=
s,
> insects and weeds such as rusts, grasshoppers and bindweed reached pla=
gue
> proportions. Breeding crops away from their silica requirements result=
ed
in
> lower crop quality while pesticides masked this decline. At this point=
> genetic modification of crops for herbicide resistance and intracellul=
ar
> insecticides amounts to the lady swallowing the horse.
>
> The full biochemical sequence of what-does-what goes like this: Boron<=
BR>
primes
> the pump by activating silica. Silica buoys calcium and the uptake of =
all
> soil related nutrients. Calcium carries nitrogen into cell division wi=
th
the
> replication of DNA and the development of the protein chemistry of the=
> cells. The resulting protein chemistry engages magnesium in chlorophyl=
l
for
> photosynthesis. Magnesium then transfers energy, via the phosphorus en=
ergy
> bridge, to carbon, building sugars. These sugars move with potassium t=
o be
> stored as complex sugars, pectin, starch, cellulose, fibre, etc. Thus =
the
> sequence goes B > Si > Ca > N > Mg > P > C > K.
>
> In recent decades biological farmers have had some success in improvin=
g
crop
> resistance to rusts and insects with calcium and phosphorus, using suc=
h
> inputs as calcium nitrate, mono and di-ammonium phosphate (MAP and DAP=
),
> urea and carbon as with humates, manures or composts. However, this
ignores
> the silica step and symbiotic fungi. Boron's role is corrupted by thin=
king
> it makes calcium rather than silicon available, and thus silicon is le=
ft
out
> even though it is silicon that is responsible for moving calcium. Use =
of
> such fertilisers as calcium nitrate, MAP, DAP and sulphate of potash c=
an
> boost complex sugars and raise dissolved solid levels (brix). But it i=
s
easy
> to overdo these inputs, short circuit silicon and render it less avail=
able
> by impairing fungal activity. Such inputs should be used sparingly as =
they
> tend to let both boron and silicon fall out of the system. Then flavou=
r
> suffers, which it does whenever silicon is lost.
>
>
> Dealing with Cause
>
>
> True remedy requires restoring soil boron while rebuilding organic mat=
ter
> levels. Particular attention should be paid to restoration of symbioti=
c
soil
> fungi. Since cultivation destroys fungal networks and impairs crop/fun=
gi
> symbiosis, minimum tillage, intercropping with fungal dominated legume=
s
and
> strip crop rotations with longer-term fungal-friendly hays or pastures=
would
> be helpful to maintain reservoirs of fungi and the boron, silicon and<=
BR>
> calcium they elaborate. While revising cultivation strategies is the
> ultimate key, adding boron with a fungal food such as compost, soluble=
> humates or earthworm leachates is needed to restore silica availabilit=
y
and
> thus make calcium more available for cell division and plant growth.
>
> The worst mistake is to apply soluble boron without buffering it with<=
BR>
> carbon. Unbuffered boron overloads and kills off ants and various othe=
r
> silica dependent arthropods in the soil. Ants are important because th=
ey
are
> fungal farmers, and soil fungi are the premier agents for unlocking si=
lica
> in aerobic soils. In more anaerobic crops such as rice a different but=
> parallel set of arthropods and microbes are involved.
>
> Silicon deficiency is by far the most widespread and debilitating
deficiency
> in modern agriculture. It is responsible for all insect and disease
problems
> in crops and everything from leaky gut syndrome and auto immune diseas=
es
to
> acne in humans. Hardly anyone recognises that silicon only participate=
s
> under the influence of boron. Boron needs to be taken up by soil fungi=
in
> order to activate silicon, which it does best over the winter in the s=
oil.
> During winter fungi store up silicon for their spring burst, and then<=
BR>
> silicon buoys calcium into growing tips where cell differentiation and=
cell
> division take place. If calcium is insufficient in this early stage it=
> cannot be made up for once the DNA and protein patterns are set. Howev=
er,
> for human well-being the role of silicon is even greater.
>
>
> The Mind/Body Link
>
>
> Rudolf Steiner noted that the brain is involved in producing a stream =
of
> silicic acid that flows down our nerve fibres when we activate our
muscles.
> Of course, calcium must be present in the muscles to reverse the polar=
ity
so
> muscles can relax. If our food is silicon deficient our wills are
weakened.
> He pointed to nutritional deficiency as the reason so often we succumb=
to
> personal ambition, illusions and petty jealousies. And chief amongst
> nutritional deficiencies is the loss of silicon in modern diets.
>
>
> §§§§§
>
>
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------=
----
--
> ----
>
>
> > _______________________________________________
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Received on Wed Sep 08 2004 - 00:02:37 EDT
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