How can growers repeat the fall-practice interviews?

Ask each grower the same three questions: how preparations were used in fall, how compost was handled, and what stood out during the season. Record dates, rates, weather, fields, and crop observations so answers can be compared across farms and years.

What questions were growers asked about fall practice?

Each of the 11 interviewees was asked how they used the biodynamic preparations during fall, how they handled fall composting, and whether anything about the preparations had stood out during the year.

How does the issue recommend evaluating excavated BD 500?

Check odor, color, texture, and pit location: an earthy smell and deep black or earthy-brown color are preferred. Keep batches identified by maker or pit, photograph them, and compare storage and field performance over time.

How can growers test the reported frost, pest, soil, and crop observations?

Use a matched untreated or standard-practice area, apply the preparation on a recorded schedule, and measure temperature, damage, soil condition, yield, and photographs. Repeating the comparison across several weather events and seasons makes the experience more useful.

Applied Biodynamics archive

Applied Biodynamics — Issue 009 (Fall 1994)

Issue 009 (Fall 1994) records fall practices from grower interviews, debates biodynamic compost, and gives practical BD 500 inspection criteria.

December 30, 2025 Published by The Josephine Porter Institute Download PDF

Applied Biodynamics Issue 009 (Fall 1994) is organized around fall fieldwork, composting, and the evaluation of horn manure (BD 500). Its largest feature records telephone interviews with biodynamic growers; companion articles explain biodynamics for newcomers, contrast ordinary and biodynamic composting, and discuss how a maker might inspect BD 500 after excavation.

Fall practice reported by growers

For “Fall in the Biodynamic Garden,” Hugh J. Courtney interviewed 11 practitioners by telephone in July and August 1994. Each was asked the same three questions: how the biodynamic preparations were used during fall; how fall composting was handled; and whether anything about the preparations had stood out during the year. Courtney emphasizes that each farm has its own rhythm and conditions. The surviving pages present the responses as shared experience, not as one universal schedule.

The available interviews show wide variation. Growers describe fall applications of BD 500 horn manure, horn silica, Barrel Compost, BD 508 horsetail, and in some cases BD 507 valerian. Some apply sprays to specific crops or before harvest; others connect them to cover crops, orchard residues, frost, drought, excessive moisture, or sequential-spray routines. Several accounts also link preparation work to ordinary farm management: manure handling, tillage, compost maturity, cover cropping, irrigation, crop timing, and the condition of the soil.

The strongest value of the survey is its operational detail and its record of uncertainty. One discussion attributes severe flea-beetle pressure partly to manure management rather than expecting preparations alone to solve it. Another considers whether immature compost contributed to cutworms and dying brassicas. Compost descriptions range from smaller garden piles to operations handling dozens or hundreds of tons, with different ratios of manure, straw, hay, weeds, crop residue, and bedding. Jennifer Erickson reports compost temperatures of 140–145°F; others describe pile covering, turning, the insertion of the BD 502–507 compost preparations, and the use of BD 508 on beds or piles.

The interviews turn practical experience into testable questions. Growers can repeat the comparisons by recording preparation timing, untreated or standard-practice areas, weather, soil conditions, crop damage, yield, and photographs before drawing conclusions across seasons.

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