South African farms face a looming crisis, that is that due to continued use of chemical and synthetic fertilisers, the natural nutrients in the soil have been depleted to a drastic level, that is seeing many farms experience decreasing yields, despite putting more and more chemicals on their soil each year.
In order to increase nutrient availability in soil, produce healthy crops, and maintain soil health the Farming Industry needs to change how it is farming. Since the introduction of Chemical Fertilisers, we have been putting more and more toxins on our soil, to the point where many of our farm’s soils contain almost no nutrients, microorganisms, or earthworms.
Conventional fertilisers might have a high percentage of NPK elements, but most of these remain unavailable to plants and crops until broken down & they kill essential microorganisms in the soil.
Once the microorganisms have been killed, the soil’s natural nutrients and microorganisms become locked into the soil and unavailable to the plants. So, to get the same yields, year after year, farmers have to put more and more chemical fertilisers onto the soil. That starts a vicious cycle, where the soil becomes more and more depleted.
The solution is to practice Regenerative Farming by using Organic Fertilisers as part of your fertilising strategy. This is all about giving the soil back what it needs to survive and thrive over many years.
If we start putting organic matter and organic fertilisers in our soil as part of an integrated fertiliser strategy, not only can we revitalise the soil, we can get the microbiology thriving again. Many people ask, can I replace my chemical fertilisers with 100% Organic fertiliser.
The short answer is no, it takes time to build up your soil to have sufficient nutrient levels together with microbiology, so we advocate starting with a % of organic fertiliser as part of your fertiliser mix, which will revitalise the soil. Generally, clients of GuanoBoost who see the best initial results add at a ratio of 80/20, with 20% being organic fertiliser, specifically in this case, 100% organic GuanoBoost.
GuanoBoost contains 3.5% natural fulvic acid. Fulvic acid can be seen as the train cars of the soil, that will transport available nutrients in the soil and in GuanoBoost into the plant for increased absorption. Because of the high levels of fulvic acid in GuanoBoost, it helps the 80% chemical fertilisers perform more effectively.
Over time you can increase the ratio of organic to chemical fertilisers.
The necessity to maintain and increase earthwork life in your soil.
Earthworms are essential for healthy, sustainable soil. Earthworms also need a constant supply of organic matter to live. Farmers should increase the earthworm population of their soil as much as possible to increase soil fertility and keep nitrogen levels up.
A good mixed fertiliser plan provides crops with the essential nutrients they need throughout the growing season. By adding organic fertiliser to your overall fertiliser strategy you can boost both nutrient efficiency and organic matter content in the soil. It will keep on regenerating your soil, making high yields over time much more possible and sustainable.
GuanoBoost ensures that the plants are quickly given essential micro and macro elements and nitrogen that can be quickly absorbed by the plant due to the special fermentation production process used in manufacturing GuanoBoost.
Every element that plants need exist in the soil in many different forms and connections. The majority of these forms are unavailable to the plant and microorganisms need to break them down before the plant can absorb them. For example, Urea has been shown to decrease the earthworm population. Therefore, Nitrogen in Urea form needs to be broken down to ammoniak and then nitrate before the plants can absorb the Nitrogen.
All the elements in GuanoBoost exist in the specific form that plants require. It does not have to go through any process of breakdown and is immediately available to the plant.
What this means is that the plant goes into a state of Homeostasis because it has all the elements in the right quantities and ratios absorbed.
In addition to this GuanoBoost feeds the microorganisms in the soil which stimulates the microorganism population, which in turn breaks down the unavailable forms in the soil to make them available to plants.
With organic principles like 100% organic GuanoBoost, you’re building and enriching the soil. Any measure that increases the amount of organic material in the soil is positive for the earthworm population.
Here are 3 benefits that earthworms offer to help improve your farm’s productivity:
As the soil/organic matter passes through the worm, the levels of nitrogen, potassium phosphate, and calcium in it increase greatly. This means that many trace minerals become available to the plants.
By incorporating organic materials, like 100% organic GuanoBoost, into the soil and by unlocking the nutrients held within dead organisms and plant matter. Nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen become more readily available to plants after digestion by earthworms and being excreted in earthworm casts.
This suggests that earthworms stimulate plant growth predominantly through N mineralisation from soil organic matter or crop residue. Earthworms are most likely to stimulate N uptake in organic farming systems and tropical subsistence farming, which largely rely on nutrient mineralisation. Additional benefits of earthworms might be expected in conventional farming systems with low levels of available P.
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Earthworms also break down the structure of soil; without them, the soil would consist of clods of impacted, infertile matter worth nothing to anyone. The earthworm’s burrowing activity greatly influences the composition of the soil. It moves microbes such as bacteria around and takes nutrients from the surface level deeper into the soil. The worm also breaks down clumps of soil into smaller particles, and its tunneling helps with water absorption, preventing runoff and aerating the soil. The tunnels also create micro-habitats for other arthropods. Earthworms are therefore a good indicator of soil fertility.
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Growers need to consider likely productivity gains from increased earthworm activity. Soil can be improved and moisture managed to better support earthworm numbers, but growers on loams, well-structured clays, neutral to alkaline soils, and in higher rainfall and more temperate climates have more opportunity to use earthworms to boost productivity.
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Here is a short success story of farmer Stean who mixed GuanoBoost with chemical fertilisers and got great results, as well as earthworms, return to his soil:
Stean Grobler is a farmer in the Limpopo province. He has been using GuanoBoost for 2 years in his pepper and cucumber tunnels.
“I have always been pro-organic and I have used and tried all organic products. I could never get really good results until I started using GuanoBoost. I firstly started off with a GuanoBoost trial and in 2020 I decided to use 80% GuanoBoost in my pepper tunnels with an application of 3L per week per tunnel. I used very little chemical poison because the plants were so healthy and strong with very good root development which helped with nutrient uptake and therefore, I was able to cut many costs – I believe GuanoBoost is the best organic product available. I am very happy with the product. It gives me good yields, good soil health and the earthworms returned to our soil. The GuanoBoost is definitely doing its job.”
Why does 100% GuanoBoost work so well? Simple, GuanoBoost causes Nutrient Loading to the plants AND soil. All the elements in GuanoBoost exist in the specific form that plants require. It does not have to go through any process of breakdown and is immediately available to the plant.
GuanoBoost unlocks nutrients in the soil + GuanoBoost gives immediate nutrients to the plant. What results does this give? A healthier plant. Higher yields. Helps plants survive cold, heat. Quality produce. Prolonged production cycle. We call this… Nutrient Loading!
Where earthworms are thriving, crops will also thrive.