It is a cold, gray February and all gardeners worth their trowels are ordering and starting their seeds for this year’s crop of vegetables and flowers. Those lucky enough to have a greenhouse are ahead of the game and can dream of May’s warming rays a little more realistically than most. It is a time to plan and get ready for the new growing season.  Part of planning for healthy seedling is being aware that greenhouses make great places for all sorts of critters to hang out including the “bugs”. If there is a sickly plant in the greenhouse off in the corner and ignored there is a good chance that this plant has become a breeding ground for some little pest. These guys are a part of nature and show up everywhere. They are a part of life kind of like the common cold and keeping nature in balance.

Plants that are healthy resist disease or recover more quickly than ones that are stressed or ailing. So what are some of the things that can keep plants healthy to begin with? Well, many of the same things that keep people healthy; food, water vitamins, mineral sunshine and fresh air, hence different types of “vitamin” teas to produce healthy plants.

These type of amendments are relatively new in terms of scientific knowledge and use, however traditional farmers the world over, through the centuries have always used many different amendments such a fish, sea weeds, composts and other mineral amendments. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that Japanese scientists really started to study the many types of seaweeds, as they are an important component of the Japanese diet and essential to a dinner with sushi.   These are also known as sea vegetables. An amazing fact is that seaweeds (algae) are the most abundant natural source of minerals; rare earth elements and trace minerals are found in them. This is because they grow in seawater, which contains 77 different elements! Foods containing these algae are great sources of Iodine, Calcium, Silicon Iron, copper, Zinc and Selenium.  When these algae are applied to plant crops as teas and foliar sprays, they supply the 77 different minerals to the plants to which they are applied.

Two blue-green micro-algae Spirulina, Chlorella and others contain more chlorophyll than any green food. They are the “green slime” or single-celled plants that live in water everywhere. Chlorella has the highest known levels of chlorophyll and among its many benefits is the ability to inhibit free radical damage. It could be possible that chlorella does the same for plants when applied as an amendment. Chlorella also contains CGF or Chlorella Growth Factor, which are composed of nucleic acid proteins. Accordingly they are thought to reduce transplant shock in seedlings. These algae are both human food and a natural fertilizer (a plant food).

I recently took a side trip to a professional gardener’s yard and discovered the micronutrient world. The Permaculture type garden is located in Arizona north of Phoenix. The owner showed us (I was with a friend) his bubbling bucket of chlorella and nutrient tea. He explained that it was water from the small creek that ran trough his property and was a “48 hour” compost tea that was oxygenated with large fish tank bubbler stones in three five and ten gallon recycled plastic buckets. He explained that it was like making yeast for a bread starter. Inoculate the water with chlorella algae, enzymes, and 1% by batch with seawater. He even told us about driving to the Pacific to get the real thing but said that you could substitute seawater that people use to make seawater for salt-water aquariums. Then add oxygen. After looking at his highly productive organic garden and hearing about some of his crop yields I started to pay attention; 300 pounds of green beans in one season from a 15 foot long trellis! Another way of making a similar brew is to add 2 tablespoons of dried chlorella in a1/4 cup of water then dilute in a bucket of water then adding 1 tablespoon of quicklime, and then dilute to feed plants. Many people are really excited about the results from chlorella sprays. Gardeners say they see major differences in the health of the plants and even how dark and glossy green the leaves become. These same plants also seem to be more immune to insect infestation.

Another organic fertilizer that many people really get excited about is Kelp or more seaweed which is sold as a powder or liquid.  It also has chlorophyll, potash, nitrogen, and potassium.

Other ingredients in these teas are EM or effective microorganisms. Soils contain beneficial bacteria (like a good yogurt). It is important to maintain a balance of these in the soil as it is in one’s intestines. There are good bugs, (regenerators) bad bugs, (decomposers) and opportunists.  This is based on the work of a Japanese agronomist, Dr. Teruo Higa.  His observations are that soils come in 4 different types:

1)      Disease inducers (most of the agricultural land on planet earth)

2)      Disease suppressive soils (soils that contain antibiotic organisms) Compost tea can contain these types of organisms.

3)      Soils that ferment as in healthy anaerobic bacteria and break the organic material to nutrients.

4)      Soils that have heavy populations of microorganisms that fix nitrogen and carbon dioxide. A healthy prairie would contain this Rhizobium. Blue green algae can fix nitrogen as well.

Other Organic Goodies

Moving on from the micro nutrient teas to things we are more familiar with, compost and compost teas. Anyone that has a “hot” compost pile can make a tea and end up with what is known as the “aerobic micro-herd” as well as natural source NPK. Compost tea is a good foliar feed. There have been papers and stories that plants can improve their health and repel pests from being sprayed and watered with compost tea alone.

Fish Tails

Fish emulsion has been the fertilizer of choice for thousands of years. Squanto of First Thanksgiving fame saved the Pilgrims with fish fertilizer. This is made from ground fish and is sold in liquid or powdered form. The first organic fertilizer that I ever used was fish emulsion. It is my favorite still but the smell can be repellent to humans however, it has the advantage of repelling some critters as well. Another fish tale is that our family has kept goldfish in a large tank for many years.  As many of you may know, fish tanks have algae and nitrogen in the water and need to be cleaned on a regular basis.  When cleaning the tank, a gallon or two of water needs removed and replaced with fresh, nitrogen-free water to keep the fish healthy. I have been watering my houseplants with waste fish water and compost teas for many years. Some of my houseplants are 25 years old, have never had bugs and very happy.

A greenhouse environment is perfect place to practice and use the many micronutrient and beneficial bacteria fertilizers. The help keep the plants healthy in an artificial place. Many large commercial greenhouses use integrated pest management or IMP but are always looking for better ways to grow healthy plants without ever having to use a pesticide. Very healthy plants may be the answer. 

Sources:

Maxicrop USA Inc. suppliers of Kelp and Liquid Fish http://www.maxicrop.com/

Tainio Technology & Technique for enzymes, and EM bacterial stimulants http://www.tainio.com/

Chlorella algae are available in bulk from heath food suppliers.

Effective Microorganisms, Singh, Av, The Canadian Organic Grower, Summer 2007 http://www.cog.ca/

Nourishing Herb Teas for your Garden, Belsinger, Susan and Wilcox, Tina Marie, The Herb Companion, July 2004

Caron Wenzel is the owner of Blazing Star Inc. a small native plant nursery specializing in environmental consulting and education. It is based in Woodstock, Illinois. You can visit her website at http://www.blazing-star.com/.