Plant Deficiency and Soil Biology Relationship

Over the weekend Juan from Ges Montes visited us. He works as a solutions provider for improving farm management and increasing results whilst making the process financially viable. Some may call him a Pedologist wizard - someone who studies soils in their natural environment. When everyone is looking at the trees, he is looking at the soil.

The underlying factor when taking into account the health of your plants, according to Juan, is that it all begins in the soil. A lack of microbiology (living micro-bacteria/fungi) means that the organic layer of mulch (natural plant fertiliser) on the surface of the land won't be accessible, unless you have fungi and bacteria that are break it down into an available form for your plant roots.

How does this relate to plant nutrient deficiencies?

Where I am currently, there are 800 olive trees, of which the land they reside is compact and lacks in microbiology. This can be seen on the trees as yellowing leaves, lack of new growth on branches and tuberculosis. All of which is a reflection of the soil quality. Whenever Juan gets asked to visit a farm and give advice on how to improve someone crop, he looks into the soil.

Conventional industries look at the plants and say "Yes that tree has a potassium deficiency, you will need to feed the tree our potassium solution", so the farmer sprays the tree with the feed and it resolves the problem for a few months. Then the symptoms arise again and the solution gets sprayed again. Nothing has changed, the soil environment has not been improved by this method and so the problem will continue to occur. A simple solution by improving the microbiology in the soil resolves nutrient deficiencies.

How to improve soil micro-biology?

You can create your own micro-organisms to inoculate your soil and apply it once or twice a year. What this does is increases the micro-organisms in the soil, more micro-organisms means faster break down of organic mulch on the surface which then feeds the plant roots with the necessary nutrients. Of course, the more you apply this solution, the more mulch (food for the micro-organisms) you will need to apply.

How?
Dig up soil that contains white fungi and fill a plastic carrier bag half way. You will normally find this under the woody mulch of a forest, or parts of your untouched farm. Either way, take a carry bag with you and gather some (as local as possible) and in a barrel 250 litres add 1 part molasses (sugar to feed the bacteria for their growth) and 1 parts flour (any starchy white flour). Close the lid and leave for 30 days.

Short version

• 250 litre barrel
• 1/2 carrier bag of woody organic material with white fungi
• 1 part molasses sugar
• 1 part white flour

Inoculation
After 30 days then fill up the barrel with water. Now you can spray your soil with it and even tree leaves and the living micro-organism will get busy converting that organic mulch into nutrition for your plants. The mix will last for up to 3 months.

So, I hope this was an information post and has given some practical information on how you can help your plants if they are showing signs of nutrient deficiencies. If you have had any experience with this topic please share your experience in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

Remember, its not the plant that is the problem, it's in the soil!