Dave Stark, molecular biologist and CEO with Holganix says microbes boost plant nutrition four ways by making plant available nitrogen (N), by unlocking soil fertility, helping plants create robust roots, and by breaking down nutrients in plant residue. Soil biology is a real asset to farmers which should be enhanced.  Microbes have many soil functions. A healthy diverse microbial system improves soil structure, improves water drainage, stores more soil water, and consumes parasites and pathogens; releasing soil nutrients. Generally, about 50% of applied fertilizer gets into the plant, as it is first recycled through soil microbes. Microbes process nutrients to make them plant available.  Nutrient efficiency on N is only 40-65%, on phosphorus (P) 15-25%, and on potassium (K) around 30-50%. Farmers operating cost for fertilizer is around 36% for growing corn and only about half or less of applied fertilizer is efficiently used. Soil biology and soil microbes improve nutr...

  New research from Virginia Tech University shows that small insects called springtails (Collembola species) help farmers fight herbicide resistant weed species in the soil. These tiny wingless insects are about the size of small rice kernel. They live in soil residue and feed on weed seed. There are more than 6,500 species of springtail (Collembola species) world-wide. Results vary by weed seed species depending upon the thickness of the seed coat.  Two Virginia Tech researchers (Jernigan & Sonoskie) found that in a 4-week greenhouse study, springtails reduced weed biomass by 23%. Unfortunately, at first the springtail affected weed seed seemed to increase weed germination for the first two weeks followed by a dramatic reduction in the last two weeks. The researchers think the springtails increased weed seed germination initially by breaking open the seed coat so that the weed seed could germinate faster. In the last two weeks, the germination was drastically reduced, pr...

Spring is a time for new growth by plants, animals, and microbes. As temperatures warm, microbial populations double with every ten degrees Fahrenheit increase in soil temperature. As days get longer, the sun’s energy is captured by plants and that energy feeds microbes and almost all living organisms on earth. Keeping ourselves well fed depends not only on the sun’s energy but also having healthy microbes, healthy plants, and healthy soils recycling soil nutrients. When plants are healthy, they transmit more energy into the soil in the form of root exudates and sugars to feed the microbes. Unhealthy plants do the opposite which means soils become unhealthy. In a typical unhealthy soil, plants are operating at about 15-20% of optimum photosynthesis efficiency so they are putting less energy in the form of sugars into the soil, the microbial population is lower and less diverse, which results in inefficient mineral uptake. Unhealthy plants and soils then tend to have more insect problem...