Improve the soil, say goodbye to pests?
This is a really great post, which brings up numerous questions. I have been asking this same question and doing what I can to understand this whole idea of nutrient density. There are so many books that elaborate on this subject, how, if you get the nutrients built up in your plants that you can stop pest and disease. If you look back at some of the authors of the 30’s and 40’s like Fukuoka, Howard, Albrecht, and Reams you see many of these questions being asked back then. We all have different challenges in our growing regions so we will all have different approaches. In the Pacific Northwest (PNW) we have the maritime climate that gives us cold wet soils till June most years, and light conditions in the spring that are less than optimal.
So the question I asked was “How can I grow nutrient dense food in the PNW?” I decided to head back to school during the winter months to get a couple of answers and to get access to a library. Because I don’t want to get to long winded on this one post I want to toss out a couple of thoughts just to get the ball rolling. The reason I look at nutrient density is because of what I heard at a bio-ag conference last year where Dr. Jill Clapperton talked about the relationships in the soil and how they are so important to nutrient cycling. We need those predator-prey relationships that occur in undisturbed soils to release the nutrients that the microbes are collecting. This was followed by a fella named John Kempf that did a great job of explaining how nutrient cycling is so important to healthy crops. His main point was that disease and pest is a result of inadequate nutrition at the proper time. Plants produce the simple carbohydrates during photosynthesis that then combine with the other nutrients to form the enzymes and amino acids that make the proteins needed in the plants. He used the example of a chain; if any link was defective then the chain was weak and allowed for pest and disease.
I have always found Albrecht’s ideas on balancing the soil minerals interesting but wondered how can I apply mineral balancing to fruit trees in the PNW compared to the research he did on row crops in mid-west? That is where I decided that for my orchard I was going to put my energies into building the soil flora and fauna to “manage my soils” I know it is unpopular not to go for instant results these days but many of the papers I have read suggest that moving to no-till systems can take three to five years before you see results. I’m hoping that since I am starting with undisturbed forest soils that I might see results earlier.
So my game-plan is
1. Get a soil test and Balance the minerals
2. Build soil life with mulches and living mulches
3. Add the understory plants to heal the soils
I know that I am just touching the very tip of some big ice-bergs but I find this whole idea interesting. David as a doctor I would like to get your thoughts on Dr. Arden Andersen’s book Science in Agriculture If you have seen it. And Todd I agree with you that there are no magic bullets. It is going to take something that our forefathers took for granted, Observation. I am amazed at how many products have popped up in the last twenty years to “FIX” problems.
One of the meta studies I found had this to say about nutrient density “The three elements that influence nutritional value the most, and that scientist do agree on is; Environment (to include, soil type and structure, fertilizer type and application method, climate-light, temperature, rainfall, humidity, soil microbial populations, management practices), Genetics (i.e., Plant crop and cultivar),Post-harvest practice (harvest time, handling and storage, processing methods and conditions).”(Bourn 2002)
Bourn, Diane and John Prescott. “A Comparison of the Nutritional Value, Sensory Qualities, and Food Safety of Organically And Conventionally Produced Foods” Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition,(2002) 42(1):1–34 print