Applied Biodynamics — Issue 070 (Autumn 2010)
Issue 070 (Autumn 2010) proposes eight farmer-centered research projects and documents JPI’s preparation capacity, backyard field records, Prepared 500, and compost protocols.
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Applied Biodynamics Issue 070 (Autumn 2010) proposes a farmer-centered research program for testing preparation practices through comparisons, repeated measurements, transparent records, and multi-site participation.
Support for JPI makes this work possible. The proposed research model directs funds toward participating farms, preparation quality, graduate-student sampling, field advisors, and protocols that growers can repeat.
JPI’s Eight Key Research Projects
- Compare BD 500 Horn Manure and Barrel Compound stirred and applied separately with a combined stir in which Barrel Compound is added for the final 20 minutes.
- Use biodynamic preparations and Pfeiffer Compost Starter in poultry houses, hog lagoons, and cattle-manure systems while tracking ammonia, mortality, leachate, soil, water, and carbon.
- Build farm-specific protocols for converting chemically treated soil to biodynamically alive soil, comparing nutrients, microorganisms, nitrogen, tissue, yield, input cost, photographs, and chromatography.
- Study the Sequential Spray Technique and BD 508 for beneficial moisture conditions through coordinated regional applications.
- Develop seed-bath protocols for germination, plant quality, yield, and corn-earworm response, including the promising BD 501 and BD 506 sweet-corn combination.
- Create a four-year pest-pepper program for major weeds, insects, and animal pests, with consistent ashing, potentization, and multi-site application records. JPI’s Pest Pepper Video is a practical companion.
- Compare planting-calendar results when seven, eight, or all nine preparations are used, following Maria Thun’s comprehensive method. The Stella Natura Planting Calendar supports current planning.
- Compare forms of BD 501 Horn Silica, including fifth-decimal rhythmic potentization, for plant response and practical stirring time.
Twenty-Five Years of Preparation Capacity
The issue shows the operational foundation behind the research. In 1985 JPI distributed fewer than 600 units of BD 500, more than 200 compost-preparation sets, and nearly 200 cow horns. By 1996 it served more than 1,500 practitioners, distributed nearly 4,000 spray units for more than 3,900 acres, and supplied materials capable of treating 17,000–25,000 tons of compost. By 2008 annual distribution exceeded 16,000 spray units, 8,400 compost units, and 5,500 cow horns, equipping more than 2,500 practitioners to work across more than 30,000 acres and 35,000–52,000 tons of compost.
Research in the Backyard
Cindi Courter’s response to herbicide-damaged trees provides a complete small-site protocol. She mixed Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray with potting soil and several ounces of BD 508 Horsetail to form a paste, pressed it into trunk wounds, and molded it around nine trees. She then stirred more Field and Garden Spray in water and treated the soil. The following afternoon she stirred Barrel Compound for 20 minutes and applied it by whisk and small pours around each drip line. The sequence documents treatment, location, timing, and follow-up observation, but the account does not by itself establish efficacy without a comparison and fixed outcome measures. See JPI’s Pfeiffer Spray Instructions and Barrel Compound Instructions.
Prepared 500 and Compost Starter Updates
Hugh Courtney records an important update from Alex Podolinsky: Prepared 500 can be introduced from the first year of biodynamic conversion in most cases, reserving regular BD 500 alone for the most severely poisoned soils. The update brings the practitioner protocol into line with later reported farm experience; it should be evaluated with matched comparisons and fixed soil and crop measures.
For Pfeiffer Compost Starter, use one unit per 1–1½ tons of material in roughly 3–10 gallons of water per ton. Adjust water to feedstock and climate, hold pile moisture near 50–60%, and aim for a carbon-to-nitrogen ratio of 11:1 to 20:1. Turn only when moisture correction requires it; if turned, add about one unit of Starter per 10 tons. The issue reports that finished compost may be ready in three weeks and should mature within three months with attentive management; actual readiness should be judged with temperature, moisture, stability, and maturity measures. JPI’s Pfeiffer Compost Starter overview connects the protocol to current use.
Research Leadership
The issue welcomes Cindi Courter as East Coast Editor and Ruth Kempf, PhD, as JPI Research Director. Kempf brought physical chemistry, large-scale technical oversight, biodynamic practice on a 38-acre farm, and direct community application experience. Her appointment strengthens the bridge between preparation knowledge, measurable field work, and farmer participation.
Key Topics Covered
Eight proposed preparation-based research projects
BD 500 and Barrel Compound comparison design
Animal-waste treatment and watershed measurements
Conversion of chemically treated soils
Sequential spraying, seed baths, pest peppers, and planting calendars
BD 501 variants and rhythmic potentization
JPI’s preparation-distribution capacity
Backyard tree-wound and soil-treatment records
Prepared 500 guidance and Pfeiffer Compost Starter protocols
Research leadership connecting farmers and measurement
Repeatable Practice
- Write a protocol and analysis plan before treatment, including the question, hypothesis, controls, randomization or matching, replication, sampling schedule, and stopping rules.
- Record preparation batch, dose, stir, equipment, date, weather, plot, farm operations, labor, costs, and every co-intervention.
- Measure fixed outcomes such as soil and water tests, disease or pest counts, crop growth, yield, tissue quality, compost temperature and moisture, photographs, and blinded laboratory or sensory results.
- Repeat across farms and seasons, preserve raw records, report null and adverse results, and revise recommendations only after reproducible evidence accumulates.
Explore Related Resources
- BD 500 Horn Manure, guide, and instructions
- Barrel Compound, guide, and instructions
- Pfeiffer Compost Starter, guide, and instructions
- Sequential Spray Kit and instructions
- Biodynamic Pest Pepper Video
- Stella Natura Planting Calendar and calendar guide
- BD 501 Horn Silica, guide, and instructions
- Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray, guide, and instructions
- BD 508 Horsetail, guide, and instructions
Articles
- Looking to the Future for JPI (H. J. Courtney)
- Social and Environmental Importance of Biodynamic Preparations-Based Research (C. Courter)
- Positioned for Research: JPI’s Accomplishments During the Past Twenty-Five Years
- Bringing Biodynamic Research to My Own Backyard (C. Courter)
- Urgent Update on “Prepared” 500 (H. J. Courtney)
- Anecdotes and Antidotes — Biodynamics at Work (H. J. Courtney)
- Ruth Kempf, PhD, Professional Researcher and Biodynamic Practitioner, Joins JPI Board of Directors (H. J. Courtney)
Citation
Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 70, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Autumn 2010.
