Applied Biodynamics — Issue 049 (Summer 2005)

Applied Biodynamics Issue 049 (Summer 2005) is Paul Sansone's field-tested guide to commercial biodynamic cut-flower production, joining mature compost, the preparations, cover crops, raised beds, irrigation, sanitation, daily observation, and premium market quality across twenty-eight intensive acres.

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Biodynamic flower production at commercial scale

Paul Sansone and Susan Vosburg began Here & Now Garden on three acres and expanded it to thirty-two acres, with twenty-eight acres in intensive raised beds. The issue draws on twenty-seven years of growing experience. During a peak three-week harvest, the farm sometimes shipped approximately 250,000 to 300,000 stems of peonies.

They adapted Alan Chadwick's Biodynamic French Intensive Method to mechanized floriculture with specialized tractors, bed shapers, mechanical mulchers, reusable woven mulch, drip irrigation, and spray or injection systems. The result joined biological soil building and crop diversity with the consistency and quality required by premium cut-flower markets.

Compost, nutrient return, and living soil

Sansone gives a clear fertility principle: match the plant mass exported as flowers with composted organic matter returned to the soil. Established perennials receive a spring top-dressing of one-quarter to one-half inch of mature biodynamic compost.

His compost windrows are twelve to fifteen feet wide and about six feet high. Dairy manure, soil, plant trimmings, leaves, straw, and spoiled hay are layered toward an approximately 30:1 carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. Greensand, rock phosphate, oyster shell, and kelp are added at about fifty pounds each per twenty-five tons, and the pile receives the BD 502–507 compost preparations. Six to twelve months of maturation produces a stable material rich in trace elements and beneficial microflora.

Sansone also gives a banded plant-food blend of four parts seed meal, one part rock phosphate, one-half part kelp, and one part greensand, adjusted through soil analysis. The issue points readers to Paul Mäder and colleagues' published twenty-one-year biodynamic, organic, and conventional field comparison as research supporting soil fertility and biodiversity.

Cover crops that build and transform soil

Cover crops are chosen for specific work: buckwheat followed by annual rye and vetch for weed pressure, Sudan grass for abundant biomass and fibrous roots, and crimson clover, fava beans, oats, and alfalfa for rotation diversity. A year in cover crops can substantially improve soil structure and biological activity.

Before incorporation, the cover crop can receive Barrel Compound or Pfeiffer Field & Garden Spray. Sansone reports that this supports rapid transformation, with the plant material breaking down in as little as two to three weeks.

Raised beds, higher density, and efficient weed control

Here & Now Garden used ten-inch-high, three-foot-wide raised beds. Perennials were commonly planted at 1.5 plants per linear foot in a staggered matrix, giving each plant about a sixteen-inch root zone. Annuals were planted at 2.5 plants per linear foot with an approximately twelve-inch root zone.

For peonies, the matrix system increased planting density from about 7,000 plants per acre in rows to 10,000 plants per acre. Porous woven polypropylene covered paths and unplanted bed surfaces, admitting air and water while excluding light from weeds. A one-to-two-inch layer of aged horse-manure wood shavings served as top mulch, and the combined system greatly reduced hand weeding.

Biodynamic vitality and disease management

Sansone places plant health within the whole farm system. Mature compost, balanced growth, dry foliage, sanitation, and timely preparations work together. BD 500 Horn Manure supports root growth in early spring, while BD 501 Horn Silica supports leaf vitality in early summer.

For cold, wet spring weather and Botrytis pressure, the 2005 farm account describes one and a half ounces of chopped dry horsetail made into about four gallons of fermented tea, enough for two acres of dense foliage, then diluted into fifty gallons of kelp-and-fish spray. Sansone also reports fresh horsetail delivered through irrigation as equally effective, and says a Barrel Compound compost-tea foliar application proved very effective against powdery mildew and rust.

Drip irrigation kept foliage dry, daily scouting found emerging problems, affected tissue was removed promptly, and crop residues returned to compost at the end of the season. This coordinated method treated soil vitality, plant form, water management, preparations, and sanitation as one living program.

The seven essential elements

1. Fertilize primarily with biodynamic compost.
2. Use BD 500, BD 501, BD 508, and the compost preparations as a whole system.
3. Grow soil through every cultivation and cropping decision.
4. Build polyculture and crop diversity.
5. Design the farm as an individual, increasingly self-supporting organism.
6. Practice conscious stewardship through records, observation, skill, and presence.
7. Use the biodynamic calendar to connect farm, farmer, and the cosmos.

Sansone makes these principles concrete through mapped beds, scheduled preparation work, compost and cover-crop cycles, daily farm walks, detailed observation, and a close relationship between the grower and the whole farm organism.

Greetings from Woolwine

Laura Riccardi reports JPI preparation making in full summer activity: more than 8,000 horns of BD 500 processed, BD 507 Valerian made, stag bladders filled for BD 502 Yarrow, approximately a dozen brick pits of Barrel Compound renewed, BD 504 Nettle and horn silica buried, and the previous year's yarrow preparations harvested.

Key topics in Issue 049

• Twenty-seven years of biodynamic flower production and expansion to twenty-eight intensive acres
• Compost mass balance, windrow dimensions, mineral additions, preparations, and maturation
• Cover-crop transformation with Barrel Compound or Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray
• Raised-bed density, 10,000 peonies per acre, woven mulch, and efficient weed control
• BD 500, BD 501, and horsetail within a coordinated vitality and disease-management program
• The seven connected elements of the biodynamic method
• Large-scale preparation making at JPI in Woolwine

Explore related resources

• Complete Set of Biodynamic Compost Preparations
• BD 500 Horn Manure
• BD 501 Horn Silica
• BD 508 Horsetail
• Barrel Compound
• Pfeiffer Field & Garden Spray

Articles

• Biodynamic Flower Production: Demystifying the Method — Paul Sansone
• The Case for Biodynamics — Paul Sansone
• Seven Essential Elements of the Biodynamic Method — Paul Sansone
• Greetings from Woolwine, Virginia — Laura Riccardi
• Resources for Biodynamic Flower Production and 2005 JPI Notices

Citation

Source: Applied Biodynamics, Issue No. 49, Josephine Porter Institute for Applied Bio-Dynamics, Summer 2005.