Huge Substantiation for Calcium
Since 1955, Growers Mineral, Corp. has told farmers about the importance of the use of calcium (Ca) to help soil become the best possible foundation for plant growth, resulting in plants that contain maximum levels of energy and yield the best possible economic outcome. This mindset has been met with fierce resistance by the agricultural establishment. The agricultural experts have always argued that the addition of Ca always contains a risk of over-application of the Ca which results in harm to the value of the soil test pH. The idea of excess Ca application to soil, elevating pH levels to excesses that cause significant damage to crop production, has been stated for many years. So it was with great interest that Growers Mineral, Corp. read the article by Will Brinten, Ph.D. "The Curious Case of Soil pH" in the September issue of Biodynamics.
In this article, the author examines the history of the chemical analysis of pH. According to this literature review, the pH test was founded by the Danish chemist Soren Peter Lauritz Sorensen in 1909. Sorensen was conducting studies on how body fluid enzymes are affected by soluble hydrogen ions, the cause of acidity. Then in 1912, Sorensen developed the Platinum-Hydrogen Electrode which enabled the first measurements of extremely small quantities of free hydrogen present as acidity in living systems. According to the article, the use of the pH test for the non-liquid system of soil did not occur until after Sorensen's death in 1939. The article further states that when Sorensen was quizzed about the use of the pH test for other possible systems for which the content and measurement of pH was applicable, he commented that it would be the oceans. Interesting observation: this pertains to another totally liquid system.
This article goes on in great detail about the use of the logarithm of numbers when expressing the pH number, but it also discusses the problems of making the soil into a liquid system so as to be able to use the pH test. The author contends that making the soil system liquid by only using water has been a problem that European soil scientists have recognized for many years. In fact, he says the actual pH of a physiologic fluid such as blood can be well known since it is always in solution, but the real pH of soil cannot be known, and may in fact be significantly lower than is apparent from an ordinary soil test using only water and extracting only a portion of the real amount of acidity.
Also, the author states that modern charts and tables for "pH preferences" based on the simpler but less accurate soil-water method of testing acidity is hardly an organic or biodynamic approach. There is, in fact, no proper soil-water solution and therefore no ideal soil pH to be obtained, and, in nature, there is no ecological balancing system in soil comparable to ocean-buffering or physiologic (body) fluid homeostasis. This discussion leads to the conclusion that continued emphasis in popular guides on the pH sensitivity of plants and nutrient availability based on pH is arbitrary. Popular representation of dependency of soil nutrients on pH is information that is not practical. Some chemists say the pH availability charts have no origin of literature review, and probably the pH test needs to be associated with other chemical tests to be of any practical use.
Therefore, any farmer that is interested in the Biodynamics article about the soil pH test can contact their GMS sales representative for more information about the problems with pH testing.
This is an excerpt from the Early Fall Growers Solution (2020) written by David Prater & Jim Halbeisen.
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