[compost_tea] Fw: BD Now! Silicon

From: L Blair <rlbct_at_clear.net.nz>
Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 11:34:16 +1200
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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