# Applied Biodynamics — Issue 075 (Winter 2011–2012) **By JPI Admin** · 2025-12-31 **Applied Biodynamics 075** is one of the archive’s richest issues on method and evidence. Philippe Coderey explains how to reproduce Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s sensitive-crystallization process and how repeated images make formative organization visible. John Bradshaw then traces biodynamics from inspired hypothesis through preparation trials, soil measurement, paired-farm studies, and long-term Australian results. ## Sensitive crystallization as a repeatable method Hunter Francis’s interview with Coderey presents sensitive crystallization as disciplined qualitative science. Copper chloride and the substance under study evaporate together in a controlled chamber, leaving a crystal field characteristic of the sample. Coderey uses matched materials, controls, robust sampling, and several parallel dishes so differences can be read across a replicated series rather than from a single image. His chamber is approximately two feet by two feet by one and a half feet, with two glass shelves, ventilation holes above, gentle lights below, and three sets of shock absorbers—one beneath the chamber and one beneath each shelf. The temperature is held at **90°F / 30°C**, and movement is excluded. Flat Pyrex dishes receive a total of **5 milliliters**: 1 mL of wine or other sample, 2 mL purified water, and 2 mL of a 10% copper-chloride solution. The solution is made by dissolving 25 grams of dry, 98%-pure copper chloride in 250 mL purified water. Three or four dishes are prepared together and remain in the chamber for 8–10 hours, usually overnight. For soil, Coderey soaks 10 grams of sample in 40 mL of HPLC-grade filtered water for one hour, mixes it to homogeneity, filters it through the same grade of paper each time, and uses 1 mL of that extract in the standard 5 mL recipe. The same chamber, glassware, temperature, ratios, filter, and incubation period make successive comparisons meaningful. ## Reading the crystallization In wine images, Coderey reads three principal zones. The center expresses the fruit character and can carry a grape variety’s distinctive position; the periphery expresses mineral character and terroir; the region between them expresses vegetal and floral qualities. Primary needles radiating outward show life-force expression, while secondary branching and cross-hatching show organization and complexity. He built this interpretive skill by crystallizing and tasting thousands of wines together, joining the visual pattern to direct sensory experience. The illustrated comparisons make preparation quality equally tangible. A [BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) sample made in dry, shallow soil with about ten inches of winter rain produced a strongly mineral image; a sample from deeper, water-retentive soil with about fifty inches of winter rain filled the dish with a fuller expression of forces. The pair gives preparation makers observable relationships among rainfall, soil moisture, burial environment, and finished quality. A before-and-after compost pair is especially clear. Before receiving the [BD 502–507 Compost Preparations](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502-507-set), five separate centers remained visible from the pile’s five ingredients. After treatment, the centers merged into an organized whole—an image of the preparations’ capacity to vivify and integrate compost materials. Coderey also worked with a 35-by-35-foot California garden. The five solid compost preparations were buried equidistant around a circle about 25 feet in diameter, while [BD 507 Valerian](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-507) was stirred and sprayed over the area. A new soil crystallization just two hours later showed renewed organization. Over repeated years of preparation use, he likewise observed progressively stronger soil crystallizations. These images turn “organization” into a characteristic practitioners can compare through time. ## The scientific basis of biodynamics John Bradshaw’s article presents a clear scientific sequence: insight generates a hypothesis; exact practice, comparison, measurement, and repetition establish its value. Steiner asked that his agricultural indications be tested. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer refined preparation making, storage, and application rates; Lilly and Eugen Kolisko compared preparation methods and used capillary dynamolysis, dilution trials, and plant-growth studies to examine formative activity. The early sheath comparisons were direct. Cow manure buried in a cow horn became sweet-smelling colloidal humus, while manure buried beside it in an earthenware pot or wooden box did not undergo the same transformation. These trials connected the specified sheath to the finished [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) quality and established careful fidelity to the method as a scientific requirement. ## Stirring trials and broad-acre application At Australia’s Bio-Dynamic Research Institute, Alex Podolinsky and colleagues spent six years comparing stirring-machine designs. BD 500 placement was controlled closely, stirred liquids were compared chromatographically, plants and soils were examined, and field development was followed through time. Expert hand stirring was slightly stronger below 12 gallons; above 12 gallons, the tested machines produced the better activation. A vessel limit of 60 gallons—enough for 20 acres at the issue’s three-gallon-per-acre rate—maintained the required deep vortex and vigorous chaos. Linked systems of six vessels extended one stir to 120 acres. [Prepared 500](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500), which brings BD 502–507 into the Horn Manure application, was tested through the same comparative approach and produced stronger results than BD 500 alone. JPI’s current [BD 500 instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-500) and [preparation-use guide](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-preparations) provide today’s practical sequence. ## Measured soil and farm results Bradshaw gathers striking Australian results. On Podolinsky’s farm, managed for 40 years without external inputs, organic matter in the top 100 mm rose from 0.9% to 11.4%; at 1,000 mm it rose from 0% to 2.4% during the first six years of preparation application. Victorian Agriculture Department scientists calculated that the soil had stored **1,614 metric tons of carbon dioxide per hectare** over that six-year period. A study of adjacent biodynamic and conventional Victorian dairy pastures found greater macroporosity, better structure, more air-filled pore space, and more surface organic matter in the biodynamic soil. The practical expression was faster infiltration, less runoff and waterlogging, deeper root exploration, and a summer irrigation interval nearly twice as long. A government-supported project compared seven, later ten, matched pairs of biodynamic and conventional dairy farms. Biodynamic farms showed better soil structure, much less frequent irrigation, longer productive cow life, stronger fertility, fewer metabolic disorders, and far lower grain feeding, while maintaining similar pasture composition. The paired-farm design connected soil condition, animal performance, inputs, and economics. Eric Frescher’s comparison of biodynamic and neighboring conventional soils added another precise set of measurements. Initial water infiltration was four times higher for the first ten minutes and two and a half times higher thereafter; the biodynamic soil held twice the moisture and twice the carbon, was five times less acidic, showed richer aggregation, and maintained far stronger biological activity when wet. Together, these studies present biodynamics through observable soil function: structure, water movement, carbon, biology, roots, and animal health. ## Preparation makers and foundational reading The 2012 Fellowship of Preparation Makers conference focused on the polarity and harmony of [BD 500](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500) and [BD 501](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501). Grinding quartz, comparing horn manures, and observing texture, aroma, and transformation joined sensory training to preparation quality. The issue closes with reviews of Christian Marcel’s _Sensitive Crystallization—Visualizing the Qualities of Wines_ and Ehrenfried Pfeiffer’s _Introduction to Biodynamics_. Marcel’s illustrated volume teaches equipment, materials, interpretation, and comparisons among biodynamic, organic, and conventional soils. Pfeiffer’s collected essays provide preparation analysis, practical questions and answers, and an accessible scientific introduction to biodynamics. The [_Agriculture Course_](https://go.jpibd.org/book-agriculture-course) remains the primary foundation behind both lines of work. ## Articles - Sensitive Crystallization: Revealing the Life-Forces Behind Biodynamics (Hunter Francis interviews Philippe Coderey) - The Scientific Basis of Biodynamics (John Bradshaw) - The Fellowship of Preparation Makers 2012 Annual Conference - Book Reviews—Newly Received Titles (Hugh Courtney) ## Key Topics Covered - Replicated sensitive crystallization with controlled materials and temperature - Five-milliliter copper-chloride sample recipe - One-to-four soil extraction and consistent filtration - Visual criteria for fruit, mineral, vegetal, and organizational forces - BD 500 quality under contrasting burial environments - Compost integration after BD 502–507 application - Rapid and multi-year soil response visible in crystallizations - Six-year machine- and hand-stirring comparisons - Broad-acre Prepared 500 and linked-vessel systems - Long-term organic-matter and soil-carbon development - Paired-farm water, structure, animal, and economic results - BD 500 and BD 501 polarity in preparation making ## Related JPI resources - [BD 500 Horn Manure](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-500), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-500), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-500) - [BD 502–507 Compost Preparation Set](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-502-507-set) and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-502-507) - [BD 507 Valerian](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-507) and [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-507) - [BD 501 Horn Silica](https://go.jpibd.org/product-bd-501), [guide](https://go.jpibd.org/guide-bd-501), and [instructions](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-bd-501) - [Making and Using the Biodynamic Preparations](https://go.jpibd.org/instructions-preparations) - [Rudolf Steiner’s Agriculture Course](https://go.jpibd.org/book-agriculture-course) ## Citation _Applied Biodynamics_, Issue 075, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Biodynamics, Winter 2011–2012. 16 pages. [**Download Issue 075 PDF**](https://go.jpibd.org/ab-075) **Tags:** Applied Biodynamics Archive, BD 500, Compost, Livestock, Research Methods, Soil Health, Water --- > Source: [The Josephine Porter Institute](https://www.jpibiodynamics.org/blogs/applied-biodynamics/applied-biodynamics-issue-075-winter-2011-2012)