In this issue

Greetings to All,

Here at GrowingWISE the winters snowy blanket is gently covering all of the living soil microbes that are patiently resting in anticipation of the next growing season.  We are continually blessed by the many benefits that nature bountifully provides here in Alaska.  Our learning opportunities seem to be limitless. 

As each day passes and our understanding toward the natural environment increases, we see how the soil that we live with has a multitude of benefits to the environment we live in. As human population increases, the demands on the natural environment are a critical issue that the entire world will need to take into account.  In the simplest terms, we need to understand that our thin mantle of soil on this planet, along with the oceans, drives much of our atmospheric conditions and critical nutrient balance for plants and animals of all types.

In this issue we want to share with our friends the value of the predator-prey relationships.  The balances in the populations of these carnivorous and herbivorous micro-creatures play such a huge role in the health of your soil.  Not to mention the process they perform in making nutrients available to our plants.  For a refresher on making plant available nutrients see our past feature article ”The Value of Health in Balanced Soil”.

As another growing season gets started, we want to remind all of our Alaska Bountea friends to get their refills ordered so they’ll be ready to start the season with that sweet smell of “earthly wine”.  I just finished my first brew for the season and was again amazed at the dramatic improvement it made within just a couple of days to the growth of our onions.

So grab a cup of your favorite beverage and join us for another great growing season of gardening knowledge and fun through the use of a truly extraordinary soil health product ---- Alaska Bountea.  We hope you enjoy this edition of GrowingWISE.

Sincerely,
Sid Richards &
The GrowingWISE Team

A Balance of Predator and Prey

While traveling back to port after a deer hunting trip, I had a chance to reflect back on the fall season.  The analogies I’ve observed between the above and underground biological worlds have been very educational.  Although they’ve been there in the past, I’ve not looked close enough to see the similarities and how the interaction effects the environment we all live in.

The analogy that dominates my thoughts is the predator-prey relationships that exist in abundance in the wilderness of Alaska.  This concept was brought into vivid perspective one peaceful afternoon as I sat overlooking a small park filled with grasses and low growing bushes waiting for a deer to emerge into site.  As I waited patiently, much to my surprise what emerged only a short distance away was a brown bear sow and two cubs.  This situation is considered by many to be one of the most dangerous in the Alaskan wilderness if you get positioned between them or make the sow feel threatened.  I could feel a heightened sense of awareness as I watched them meander through the open area.  At one point, the sow lifted her nose into the air for a brief moment before playfully swatting at one of the cubs to move it along.  Fortunately, I was downwind of the group and went undetected before they reached the edge of the clearing and then out of sight as they moved into the denser brush and trees.  I thought about how beautiful they were as they moved with such effortless motion.  Their long brown and blond hairs flowed in the wind across their backs. As they each stood up on their hind legs, they projected a powerful image of being at the top of the food chain.

The bear prey on the deer, other small animals, salmon, and various berries in the area.  Every once in a while I’ll come across a deer kill where the meat has been stripped away leaving the bones and small meat scraps in a pile.  Often other carnivores like foxes, hawks, owls and other scavenger birds will clean up the meat scraps left on the bones.  When the fox and birds have finished eating, the shrews come in to feed on the bones.  The bears and foxes will feed on the shrews when given the chance as will the scavenger birds when they can catch them.

A similar situation is true in the soil-plant system.  Just as the predatory bears and foxes are carnivores and keep a diet of other animals, the predators in the soil-plant system include centipedes, spiders, ground beetles, scorpions, ants and some mites that keep a diet of other arthropods (an invertebrate animal with jointed legs and a segmented body).  Many of the predators consume crop pests and therefore have been developed for use as natural pest controls.  As we look deeper into the soil we find predatory nematodes that feed on other nematodes and protozoa.  They can be quite ravenous in how they feed in ways that are similar to the bear.  The predatory nematode might eat the smaller organism whole or just attach itself to its prey and scrape away at the body part its attached to until it can access and extract the internal organs.  The Protozoa on the other hand help to suppress disease by feeding on pathogens that live in the soil.

Whereas similar to the deer, a herbivore which keep a diet of plants, the soil-plant system has many root feeding insects and arthropods that feed on fungus and bacteria that grow in the soil and near the root systems of the plants. As has been mentioned in previous newsletters, mycorrhizia fungi have a symbiotic relationship with the roots of plants.  The insects and arthropods that consume the fungi and bacteria from the root surfaces excrete a large amount of the nutrients that are then near the roots in a plant available form.  This is one of the key activities that create the processing of the nutrients into a plant available form.

Many times too much of a good thing can cause an imbalance.  The fungi and bacteria consuming arthropods can become pests when found in large populations, but most of them provide beneficial elements to their environment.  The benefits they provide include the exposure of more surface area of organic matter by shredding and burrowing into it to eat the fungi and bacteria that thrive near the decaying surface.  If the consumption rate is intermittent, the growth of fungi is stimulated and the decomposition of the organic matter is accelerated.  It’s when the large populations steadily consume it, that it doesn’t have a chance to be revived and therefore the populations of fungi and bacteria will decrease.  This is an important reason to keep the predatory arthropods healthy and this is where the introduction of Alaska Bountea into your soil is so beneficial.  It invigorates the bacteria and fungal populations to maintain the recycling balance.

The interaction of all the small animals, single celled animals, fungus and bacteria is somewhat complex and to a great degree still being defined.  You can see from the examples I have given what the comparisons are between the above and below ground biological worlds.  It's really all one world in which nature provides the perfect process that recycles itself with great efficiency.  A little help from Alaska Bountea shifts the benefits toward more nutrients available for your plants.

Oven Germination

As we all get started with the seedlings again this season, I thought this tip might come in handy.  When germinating those plant types that require a little more heat than just room temperature you can place them in the electric oven with the door cracked and the oven light on.  The light in our oven keeps the temperature around 80 degrees F.  Stick a thermometer in the oven with the light on for a while and see what the temperature of your oven is.  Place the cooler temperature germinators at the bottom and the warmer ones on the top rack.  We hope this helps you get those warmer soil temperature germination varieties off to a good start.

Caution:  Turning the oven on will severely affect the survival rate of the seedlings.

Hello John,

The blooms on my avocado trees are just starting to come out and they are going to be loaded for next year.  I made about six or seven brews distributed through my drip lines to all my trees and the trees have never looked better.  The leaves are a deep rich green with no signs of insect infestation.  The trees are exploding with new growth.  I purchased the 50 gallon brewer last year, brew in my garage, deliver to my holding tank and inject into my drip system.  It’s real simple.

Thanks John for all your help and advice in making my orchard purely organic, beautiful and hopefully very profitable.

Sincerely,
Dr. Mark W. Brisby
Santa Barbara, California