The technologically based tools/systems designed for observation and related data management that we humans have developed over more recent years in our evolution, have and is, continuing to bridge some of our innate biological limitations. These tools, alongside human partnership, are enabling a widescale up-regulation of us as beings and as a species.
As an example, standing down here on the surface, its hard for us to see the earth on a truly macro scale, to see its entire state, witness the connectivity of earths systems and beyond. Equally, our biological inability to rise up above the earth and take an overall view of our planet is matched by our lack of a set of biological tools to see the earth at a cellular/micro level.
Of course now we have instruments that bypass such limitation, enhancing our biological selves. These new tools have accelerated our ability to understand things in ever expanding ways. To connect the macro to the micro in ways Justus Von Liebig would only have dreamed about back during the conception of synthetic manures.
Indeed, data acquisition is accelerating rapidly and nowhere is this more acutely seen than in our understanding of our plants, specifically regarding plant nutrient acquisition and the subtle interactions between plants and micro organisms, in living soil food web systems. Over the years, many growers have spoken to us here at BOX, citing their experienced improvements in plant health after applications of K+AMINO.
The number one question we receive is: How is K+AMINO able to deliver such obvious improvements in plant structure? After all, if we consider the NPK numbers alone, (1-0-6) we are left scratching our heads for potential answers. Sure, the product has good and obvious levels of potassium, and the effects of this essential nutrient on plants is pretty well documented however when we have such a low
nitrogen number and no reported compound phosphorous to speak of (0.8%+/-), how is it can we see such explosive growth responses across such a wide range of plant types?
As growers, we have learned about the critical importance of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, as the essential macronutrients supporting plant growth, We also have knowledge of surrounding secondary (calcium & sulfur etc) micro nutrients; including boron, manganese, copper, often called trace elements. As our understanding of life deepens thanks to increased study, observation & opportunity, we are beginning to unlock previously undiscovered, or little published, relationships between our plants & partnering symbiotic organisms and earths elements.
This presents new opportunities for agriculture and anyone growing plants. Not set in NPK, rather in connecting this still useful tool to CHNOPS; by capitalising on the mechanisms of earths natural cycles we can gain access to those elements that make up 98% of all living things. By tapping into existing systems of life, we can reduce the clear risks associated with excess nitrogen and phosphorous based fertilisers, as well as the need to apply fossil fuel based synthetic manures followed by treatments of toxic herbicides and pesticides, most likely as a direct result of over fertilisation and a tip in local balance.
We now know many common pesticides & herbicides are devastating our bees and other pollinators. Neonicotinoids, for example, are seen causing us untold harm both in cost to personal health , and in long term sustainability through the degradation of soil fertility, reduction of biological diversity and water table damage.
So what is CHNOPS?
We won’t go into great detail as this has already been covered elsewhere. Essentially it refers to, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous and sulfur.
Bozeman Science cover this clearly on YouTube for those wanting to see more
It is from within this connectivity knowledge boost, that Better Organix K+AMINO was developed and tested. K+AMINO is essentially a biological fermentation of green waste, otherwise known as an FPJ (fermented plant juice). The magic is born from the characters of a select recipe of hand selected plants, grown in customised soil profiles, which we carefully harvested at critical periods across the year. Next we ferment under ambient room temperature, using specialist bacteria. The exact details of inclusions are of course an in house secret, but what we can do, is to cover the benefits by discussing the actions and fundamentals behind K+AMINO, and where appropriate, point to third party analysis regarding the impacts of a component. This just means we will tell you what’s working in it, in regards to plant growth and response, though not which set of plants/biology we used to achieve the magic.
Generally, the knowledge base of what and how plants use elements from the surrounding soil and environment has expanded. Again we have tools and practices which allow us to see the mechanisms of plant life with ever greater detail and surety. Previously, in order to test the significance of any element, we would simply look to create conditions which then allow us to deny or inflate the presence of any element, and thus observe what happens in states of deficiency or over exposure. However while this model has provided us with a vast amount of knowledge on how particular elements impact plant growth and health, some elements and events are such that, exclusion or over production are near impossible. Nowhere is this more true than in the debate surrounding the relationships between plants and silicon (Si).
Being such an abundant element, it has been near impossible to perform standard denial testing for Si and in it being so abundant, we felt there had to be a role. According to Dr. Maria Greger of the Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Svante Arrhenius väg 20A, Stockholm University, Sweden – “Silicon has not yet been decided to be an essential element to plants, mostly due to the problem of testing its essentiality. Since Si is very hard to completely remove from the nutrient substrate of plants, it has been impossible to show that plants cannot complete its life cycle in their absence, however, plants benefit from the presence of Si and it is found that Si can increase biomass production and increase the tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses and it helps the plant with stability and protection”.
At BOX, silicon has been something we have used for soil and plant heath management from the beginning. When we began to make K+AMINO, we considered the importance of Si to plant health, which was our first major success. Initially we set about this with the specific intention of producing a Si rich product that might offer us an organic way of mitigating both biotic and abiotic stress and to help us recover deficiencies faster across many of our food and medical crops. At that time, much new research was being completed with regards to plant nutrition, aided by ever newer and more sensitive machines and measuring devices that allow plant biologists and organic chemists to peer deeper into the essence of biology. Si, in plants was a target for study with the majority of its focus surrounding its ability to assist plants
in mitigating stressors.
Examples of this ongoing work from the wonderful world of open source education are here:
https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/7/2/33
https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/7/2/29
Over time, with ongoing testing and informed comment, following its release for sale, K+AMINO has had a dramatic impact on the quality of our crops. Not only does K+AMINO have a direct impact on the plant itself, via deliverable organic AAC, N, K, Ca, Mg and Fe, straight from the bottle, the high rates of Silicon (20,000+ppms) have improved responses to adverse conditions as well. Two examples: soil acidification and water salinity, decreasing losses from phosphorous inputs, allows us here at BOX, to cut back amendments of this element, among many others, across all soil types. This saves us many of the direct costs of nutrients and those associated with labour. Studies have shown Si can improve the availability of phosphorus in soil by 50% K+AMINO, with its active silicon, forms silicate bonds with many of those elements found in soil which are often seen bonding to the volatile phosphorous, so locking it away from a plant available state. With those elements forming silicates instead of being ready to form phosphate compounds, we are lowering the number of potential bonding options our phosphorous inputs have. Thus, we are increasing the pool of active phosphorous across our systems, leading to a reduction in the need to over apply it, through a boost in its stability and so sustainability.
Anyone following the dangers of over use of nutrients, will know only too well the negative impacts of excess phosphorous in our systems
At Better Organix we are proud to offer a more sustainable model for nutrient application by simply offering a system that allows growers of all levels, to make the most of every nutrient coin they spend.
To put some numbers on the impacts of Si – Treatment with 1000kg Si ha−1 increased the availability of P 10–40%, S 0–51%, Ca 0–33%, Cu 10–40%, Mo 0–54%, Mn 9–41%, Zn 3–90%, Fe ≈ 10%, and Cl 0–15%. Today, research is ongoing regarding the positive impacts of Si on other valuable growth elements.You can find more information here.
Better Organix offers you all the Si your schedule will ever need and it can be applied while also taking advantage of biological inoculation and delivery of fast acting amino acid chelates. Many of you will know, BOX is all about farming with nature and K+AMINO is an exceptional bio stimulant, which itself enables us all to begin to take advantage of existing biogeochemical cycles to achieve healthier food and harmonious practice Not only is K+AMINO loaded with mind bending numbers of critically useful soil heath microbes, it also contains microflora essential for CHNOPS and microbes capable of delivering on demand K, Ca, Fe Mg, Mn Zn, B & Cu, all essential for photosynthesis. These combine with an army of bio control organisms, helping to defeat many common crop pathogens without risking the wider environment K+AMINO is alive, it is not a regular stand on the shelf nutrient. It is crammed full of beneficial microbes, each acting on their own and collectively as a symphony; directed by the plant you grow, in order to:
- Maintain oxygen rates for healthy roots
- Boost soil nutrient holding capacity
- Reduce soil compaction
- Reduce soil, water or air borne pathogens harmful to many food crops
- Increase access to critical growth and defense compounds
- Increase nutrient efficiency
- Reduce water and fossil fuel inputs
- Help to mitigate acidification
- Help to mitigate saline conditions
- Be part of a system to combat wider climate change.
It’s no joke! Growing with any living soil system enables us to sequester higher rates of carbon, locking it up in the soil and thus preventing it from disturbing the balance of atmospheric gases, along with preventing the leaching caused by excessive nitrogen and so on, keeping the earth far safer than when using alternative synthetic options.
The Soil Carbon Sponge, Climate Solutions and Healthy Water Cycles
K+AMINO is loaded with AMINO ACIDS and all nutritive elements contained are thus AAC, amino acid chelates. This makes them familiar, fast acting and stable.
It is packed with beneficial volatile organic compounds, natures communication network, with mVOCs (microbial volatile organic compounds) a fundamental mechanism in combating plant pathogens, alongside these VOCs there is a large volumes of superoxide dismutase, an enzyme pivotal in managing the accumulations of free radicals. K+AMINO has a wide range of antioxidants, organic acids and protective compounds, offering relief from excessive environmental stress whilst helping mitigate high heat, drought and excess UV stress. K+AMINO is how nature feeds itself. We haven’t so much invented K+AMINO as simply mimicked the natural mechanisms for plant nutrient acquisition and made it easy for everyone to do the same. K+AMINO is the total representation of how we see the future of farming, less reliant on the chemical industry, working with nature not against it, amending with knowledge and justification, leaving the land in a fertile state today, for tomorrow, forever!
Happy growing
Team BOX
Many thanks to MDPI whose work we have presented