Soil biology is all about breakdown and UP-cycling of carbon and other nutrients. Fungi is essential for the breakdown of complex organic materials like cellulose and boosting availability of nutrients like phosphorous. Worms help with aeration and drainage of the soil, and the digestion and transportation of organic material. This allows the efficient utilisation of the organic material by soil microbes, that fix N and provide other nutrients in plant available forms, supporting photosynthesis.
If the process is efficient, more nutrients are stored than lost. This is where UP-cycling begins and resilience is built.
Diversity creates stability. Plants growing in diverse soils, naturally resist diseases much better than those in soils with low biodiversity. One of the things we look at then, when gauging the health of soil, is the fungal and bacterial balance. Sugars from root exudates are a form of organic carbon which feed soil biology and increase fungal and microbiological populations like mycoriza and rhizobium, which in turn will increase biodiversity in your soil and resilience against disease. We can manipulate this by stimulating organic carbon- and nitrogen cycling.
This process is fully reliant on the sun as carbohydrates are built by photosynthesis and the beauty is - the sun shines for free!
The goal of a general farming enterprise is to create a positive number on the bottom of the P&L, propelled by the power of the sun. Solar energy is the kick-off in a cascade of events that makes your farm work. The major one is that the leaves of your crops convert carbon into biomass, complex proteins and sugars. Biomass can turn into food for animals or human consumption, or even a nice glass of wine.
But we of course want to give the sun a helping hand where we can!
External factors such as the weather can have a significant impact on nutrient availability. When a crop is missing out on nutrients because a solid soil fertiliser cannot be utilised fast enough, we recommend an array of water-soluble powders or NZ liquid fertilisers to provide nutrients in more directly available forms.
Waikaitu plant care products and NZ seaweed fertilisers use the power and abundance of the ocean to feed beneficial soil biology and improve the health of the entire plant from the roots up!
Improves soil biology to help your farming practice become less reliant on chemicals. The BioSea NZ range of biologicals offer cost effective and innovative solutions, with a range of NZ seaweed fertilisers and fish fertilisers.
Effective Microorganisms (EM) is a unique combination of bacteria, yeasts and fungi that activates and balances living organisms in soil to boost performance.
A natural biological soil boosting fish fertiliser, suitable for all soil types using the sustainable resource of fish liquids from Southland’s clean coastal waters.
Biological solutions products come from using fish proteins, Omega 3 & 6 fish oil, humates, fulvic acid and strains of bacteria to make biological fertilisers and sprays for plant protection to control fungal and insect disease.
For soil testing enquiries or other questions call us, send us an email or use our contact form via the button, below.