Biodynamic Tree Paste Protocols
Related: Shop Biodynamic Tree Paste · Read the mixing and application instructions
Feeding the Cosmos
The cambium is the tree’s boundary between inner and outer worlds—a sheath of transformation where new tissue forms. It connects the tiniest roots with the highest leaves, forming a continuous, living membrane. Within the tree, the cambium is like space itself: subtle, enveloping, and communicative. Just as cosmic space conveys air, light, warmth, and moisture to all beings, the cambium conveys those same forces inward to the tree’s metabolism. Painting the bark, then, is not cosmetic—it is nutritive and ritualistic.
"The ‘life sap’ penetrates the tree enlivening the bark and the cambium. The combination of the warmth element and the cambium forms the basis for the effect of the starry forces being responsible for the tree’s shape, and stimulates new fruiting." — Maria Thun, Results from the Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar (Floris Books, 2003), 189.
Just as BD 500 enlivens soil life through the root zone, tree paste addresses the aerial sheath. When roots cannot be accessed—especially in orchards or mature trees—the trunk becomes the site of cosmic exchange.
"Fertilizing should be done via the bark... Horn Manure Preparation establishes a good relationship between the Earth sap and the wood sap... Applying Horn Silica at suitable times helps the trees to turn towards the periphery helping new starry forces to act in the cambium." — Ibid., 190.
Michael Phillips offers this agronomic perspective:
"Biodynamic tree paste isn't bull but I can understand your asking. The manure introduces beneficial organisms and the clay has long been noted as a skin rejuvenator. The sand acts as a binder... Tree paste should help deter perennial canker... A manure pack on bacteria-laden bark crevices will check some fire blight before it spreads." — Michael Phillips, The Holistic Orchard (Chelsea Green, 2011), 201.
As one JPI writer reflects:
"Tree paste is protective like a plaster, invigorating like a pack, and nourishing like a compost tea... I think of it as gesture, ointment, skin, and sacrament—all in one." — JPI Substack Article: Tree Paste, 2025.
In this light, tree paste serves as a conscious act of care, offering both physical repair and etheric alignment. It is a gesture of responsibility toward the tree’s upright form—its incarnated expression of celestial order.
Bibliography
Applied Biodynamics, no. 46 (Spring 2004): 6–7.
Applied Biodynamics, no. 69 (Summer 2002): 6–8.
Applied Biodynamics, no. 86 (Winter 2012–2013): 10.
Applied Biodynamics, no. 98 (Fall 2019): 4.
Applied Biodynamics, no. 101 (Fall 2020): 5–7.
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, Soil Fertility, Preservation, and Renewal (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1970), 143–145.
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and M. Maltas, The Biodynamic Treatment of Fruit Trees, Berries, and Shrubs (Spring Valley, NY: Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, 1981).
Maria Thun, Results from the Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar, trans. Anne and Malcolm Gardner (Edinburgh: Floris Books, 2003), 189–196.
Michael Phillips, The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2011), 201.
Hugh Lovel, Quantum Agriculture: Biodynamics and Beyond (Georgia: Quantum Agriculture Press, 2010), 183–185.
JPI Handout, Winter Application: Tree Paste Instructions, Josephine Porter Institute, 2025.
JPI Editorial, Tree Paste: Gesture and Sacrament, JPI Substack, 2025.