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Can PlantChow Organic Plant Food Really Help?

Putting Nutrients Back into the Soil

DO YOU live in a food-growing area? If so, desert and famine conditions may seem like hundreds, even thousands, of miles distant. But that is not true.

Really, food shortage is no more than inches away from any place on earth.

It is only as far removed as the depth of the soil. Should a few vital inches of topsoil be removed from the earth, all life on it would eventually end!

Actual soil erosion is stealing much precious topsoil earth wide. For instance, African nations admit that soil erosion is a major problem. Says the Ethiopian Herald: “Tons after tons of earth are washed away every day from our highlands to neighboring countries so that our fields are gradually becoming sterile. With low fertility they can provide only low yields.” (click here for the short original article)

But soil effectiveness can be crippled in another way: Nutrients can be taken from it and not be replaced, thereby greatly diminishing its ability to grow crops. To understand how this can happen requires that we first of all understand the makeup of soil!

What Is Soil?

Soil is, according to one simple definition, where food is grown. Experts know that not all soils are the same; each has its own history and unique value.

Ordinarily, geologists assert that soil comes from rock that has been ground down through millenniums of time, producing in the process vital minerals for the soil. No human, of course, was around to witness this assumed lengthy process. It is said that rock slowly crumbles under the influence of water and weather and other conditions. Obviously such things do have an effect on even the most stubborn rock. But are the vast periods of time that geologists talk about really necessary to have produced soil?

Not all geologists seem to think so. Thus in 1963, when the island of Surtsey was born in the Atlantic Ocean, National Geographic magazine reports: “Surging surf ground jagged lava into rounded boulders with a speed that astonished geologists attending Surtsey’s birth.” A few years at most, not countless aeons of time, was all that was involved. Also, volcanic ash accounts for much of the fertile soil of Indonesia and other lands, and it, too, is deposited quickly.

Most importantly, the Bible indicates that earth’s soil was formed rather quickly. It speaks of the dry land and vegetation as all appearing within one creative “day”—a period that the Bible indicates was seven thousand years in length. (Gen. 1:9-13 ) Appropriately, The Encyclopedia Americana asks: “How long does it take to produce an inch of soil—an inch of fine rock material that supports plants? One may say a few minutes or a few million years. It all depends upon the exact spot and what stage in the cycle we reckon from.”

Of course, there is much more to soil than just ground-up rock. Otherwise it would be like sand, unable to maintain plant life of any size. To grow plants soil must have humus; humus is produced as plants and animals die and their remains decay. Valuable nutrients that will nourish later plants and animals result from this process of death and decay. Animal droppings also supply nutrients.

How Nutrients Are Produced

All together, it appears that at least sixteen elements are needed for plant life to be sustained. Three of these sixteen are taken from the air: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

But the other thirteen come from the soil: phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, iron, sulphur and traces of boron, manganese, copper, zinc, chlorine and molybdenum. The first three of these thirteen are considered “primary elements.” Where appreciable amounts of these thirteen elements are taken from the soil, they need to be replaced so that other healthy plants can appear in the future. (PlantChow Organic Plant Food contains ALL the thirteen elements contained in most healthy soils!)

How does soil naturally act on dead organic material to make it usable by plants? Living organisms convert it into forms that can be employed by plants.

A thimbleful of soil contains billions of living organisms, each of which contributes to the vitality or fertility of the soil. In the top layer of soil is where most of these organisms thrive.

Among the larger ones are earthworms, considered the most valuable of all soil invertebrates. They not only break down much of the debris on the earth’s surface, but also turn the soil over and aerate it.

Highly productive soils also generally have an abundance of microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, algae and Protozoans. When a plant or an animal dies, its sugars, starches, cellulose and similar compounds are consumed by certain of these organisms. They, in turn, produce carbon dioxide in the soil and also reduce the dead matter to a form that plants can use. When carbon dioxide combines with moisture, carbonic acid is formed; it, in turn, does some of the work of dissolving minerals in the soil.

Nitrogen is vital to the life of plants! It has been estimated by Harry A. Curtis of the Tennessee Valley Authority that there are about 34,500 tons of atmospheric nitrogen over every acre of land area; that makes up about four fifths of the atmosphere. However, plants cannot directly use this nitrogen in its free gaseous state.

Rather, it must be combined with other elements or “fixed.” One of the ways that nitrogen is fixed for use by vegetation is by means of microscopic plants living on the roots of certain plants such as legumes.

However, when men grow a large acreage of crops, a tremendous amount of nutrients is extracted from the soil. One experiment at a Maine agricultural station found that in an acre of potatoes there are about 143 pounds of nitrogen, 26 pounds of phosphoric acid, 232 pounds of potash, 56 pounds of calcium oxide, 30 pounds of magnesium oxide and 11 pounds of sulphur.

Obviously, to restore these nutrients more is necessary than just allowing matters to take care of themselves “naturally.” Otherwise the soil grows weak and, in time, actually becomes infertile! Expert care of soil will not only keep it fertile but result in maximum yields. How can nutrients be restored to farmland?

Restoring Nutrients to Farmland

The first thing that a soil expert will ask is: ‘What is the soil’s pH?’ But just what does “pH” mean?

Well, soils are put into two basic categories: acid or alkaline. On a scale of 0-14 those soils falling into the 0 through 6 category are acid, while those above 7 and through 14 are considered alkaline. Soils that are 7 are considered neutral, neither acid nor alkaline.

Some crops prefer soils that are somewhat more acid, and others, more alkaline. Lime, when added to the soil, makes it more alkaline, that is, raises its pH.

Even if all the thirteen nutrients needed by plants are in the soil, a proper acid/alkaline balance is still necessary. Only in this way will plants be able to benefit fully from the nutrients that are in the soil. (PlantChow Organic Plant Food is slightly acidic and works well in most all soils!)

Lime added to the soil does at least three things. It supplies needed calcium oxide. Secondly, it keeps some elements in check so that these will not poison the crop. Thus as the pH of acid soil is increased by adding lime, such elements as aluminum, iron, manganese, copper and zinc become less soluble. In more acidic soil the excessive presence of these elements will be harmful to crops, but as the pH of the soil is increased they become more inert. Thirdly, lime releases other elements that the plants can use to good advantage, while encouraging the growth of vital bacteria in the soil.

Since each soil is different, it is vital to consider what each one needs in the way of added nutrients. The primary ones, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), are the substances represented by the three sets of figures on a bag of commercial fertilizer. For instance, 10-12-8 stands for the percentage of nitrogen (10%), phosphorus (12%) and potassium (8%) in the bag.

Where do these Fertilizers come from?

Today many farmers and gardeners say that they prefer to use only “natural” organic fertilizers such as manure, sewerage, sludge and compost to provide needed soil nourishment. The use of these products has long been recognized as a fundamental way of returning nutrients to the soil while at the same time adding humus. It is still a very common way of fertilizing soil in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

But much fertilizing done in the Western world today is on a very large scale. It is not possible to provide enough organic fertilizer for these gigantic operations. Fertilizing just one acre of land can require fifteen tons of animal manure. Obtaining such amounts is virtually out of the question for most farming operations today. So what is their current alternative? “Chemical fertilizers.” (PlantChow Organic Plant Food is an organic plant food that CAN be obtained in quantities for "gigantic operation" applications, reducing the reliance on chemical fertilizers!)

Some persons claim that chemical fertilizers are harmful if used to promote growth of food for humans. But a report by the U.S. House of Representatives notes: “No reliable evidence was presented that the use of chemical fertilizers has had a harmful or detrimental effect on the health of man or animals.” Nor has it definitely been proved that such chemicals, if used properly, harm soil life. Even “organic” gardeners use some rock powder, including rock phosphate, potash rock and crushed limestone, to build up the soils.

One farmer who has relied on chemical fertilizers for many years reasons: “The plants do not care where the nutrients come from, just as long as they get them.” Similarly, honest “organic” gardeners know too that a balanced view toward plant nutrition must be maintained. Says Organic Gardening and Farming: “There’s little agreement among soils experts on the comparative merits of natural fertilizers (nor on chemical fertilizers either, if the truth be known). Natural fertilizer makers call university agronomists lackeys of the petro-chemical industry . . . University scientists retaliate by labeling soil-conditioning salesmen as hucksters selling bags full of magic and hot air. There is no doubt some truth in both criticisms . . . Honest men stand on both sides of the fence.”

But how do men produce the “primary elements,” nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, in chemical fertilizers?

Their main source of nitrogen is synthetic ammonia. This comes as a result of combining nitrogen and hydrogen. Pure gaseous nitrogen can be obtained with relative ease by removing from the air oxygen and other gases. Hydrogen is a byproduct of petroleum. Synthesizing the two results in the needed ammonia. Some ammonia is put directly into the soil as a watery solution. However, most is converted into a solid and used by farmers and gardeners in that form. Most phosphates and potassium come from mineral deposits that are ground to the proper consistency. 

Is Restoring Nutrients to Farmland with Fertilizers Harmful?

........Initially, fertilizers and pesticides were foisted upon innocent farmers to provide an agricultural boost to their harvests for a few short years! But such a short term goal leaves an eroded soil, contaminated groundwater and a weakened crop resistance to pests and disease as a result! But before the 1st widely used synthetic pesticide DDT hit the market in 1946, American farmers lost about a third of their crops each year to insects, weeds and disease. Today, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides exceed a cost of $4 billion a year, and farmers still lose the same one-third amount of crops (U.S. News & World Report, 9/14/92)! Obviously, chemicals waste money and destroy the environment, so how long will it take to wake farmers up? Every year modern agricultural methods are destroying the long-term ability of American farms to produce decent food, because about 98% of American farmers are farming with chemical pesticides and fertilizers. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that approximately 845 million pounds of pesticides and herbicides are used on American farmlands each year. The U.S.D.A.'s Economic Research Service calculates that about 45 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers are also dumped on U.S. farms each year.  (PlantChow Organic Plant Food is healthy for the environment and promotes nutritious plant growth, this in turn allows plants to develop natural defenses against pests for a more harmonious existence between plants AND animals!)

........As of 1990, only about 2% of U.S. produce was organically grown. Yet, organic farmers are on the rise, and they aren't going out of business like conventional farmers! Is organic farming more or less profitable than chemical farming? In years past, official government reports have continually convinced gullible farmers that organic farming ranked behind chemical farming in crop production. In Sept. 1989, the National Academy of Sciences' Board on Agriculture released a massive report to back up the view that farmers who use little or no chemicals are usually just as productive as those who pour chemicals on by the ton! The 448-page document goes on to praise biologically sound farming practices and recommends that federal policy be changed so that it supports rather than discourages such techniques. In informed circles, this kind of review about organic farming came as no surprise, but instead of being life-saving, headline news, hardly any farmers ever even heard about the findings! (PlantChow Organic Plant Food is healthy for the environment and promotes nutritious plant growth WITHOUT harmful chemicals, at a fraction of the expense!)

........With an insidious big business attitude, chemical companies often sell toxic pesticides banned in the U.S. to other countries that have no such agricultural ban. In fact, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) allows companies to continue manufacturing banned pesticides as long as they are exported out of the U.S. Foreign buyers of such chemicals either ignorantly or knowledgeably poison their own populations and in some cases sell their harvests back to the U.S. for consumption, thus completing the circle of poison! In 1988, the EPA banned all domestic sales of chlordane and heptachlor, but Greenpeace reports that between 1987 and mid-1989, Velsicol, the manufacturer of the pesticides, exported more than 5 million pounds to at least 25 countries! Greenpeace further cites that 2 shipments of Honduran beef which were imported and distributed in the U.S. in 1991 with 8 times the allowable level of chlordane and heptachlor. Heptachlor contamination has also been detected on imported garbanzo beans, carrots, pineapples and cheese! FIFRA must be amended to stop such madness!

........In China's Jiangsu province alone, about 27,000 people are severely poisoned each year by pesticides, 10% of them fatally. A 1987 National Academy of Sciences report estimated that pesticides may be the cause of an extra 1.4 million cancer cases among Americans over their lifetimes, while pesticide poisoning among farm workers in California ranks as the highest rate of occupational illness in the state. World practice has shown that chemical pesticides non-toxic to man simply do not exist!

U.S. New World Report says: "Nearly half of China's seven river systems are severely polluted! An estimated 80 percent of the country's industrial and domestic waste is discharged, untreated, into rivers. According to a top Chinese environmental official, no more than five of China's more than 500 cities have clean air. Respiratory disease occurs at five times the rate in the United States and is the leading cause of death in China's urban areas. Such grim statistics would be alarming in any country, but in vast China, they portend a potential disaster of global proportions."

U.S. New World Report also says: "The Chinese economy has quadrupled in size since 1980. If that pace continues, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2010. China already consumes more grain, red meat and fertilizer and produces more steel than the United States! But the rapid loss of croplands due to urbanization, just as China's increasingly well paid populace is gaining an appetite for more consumer goods and a richer diet, already is straining the country's ability to feed itself!"

........There's simply no way that the planet can sustain chemical farming for too many more years! When you consider a mere 1% of the pesticides applied to crops ever reaches the insects they are designed to kill, you can readily understand how the other 99% can so easily pollute our air, soil, water and food. Chemicals spewed over farms are polluting groundwater, increasing erosion, depleting soil vitality and killing our wildlife. But thus far, it has been far easier for simple farmers to buy and spread chemicals over their crops than to bother understanding the mechanism of organic farming, and most farmers will simply take the easier road. Obviously, better farmer education is needed before organic farming can be fully realized. Over 600,000 farmers left their farms between 1981 - 1988, so the urgency is real! Ideally of course, as consumers demand safe, non-polluted foods at economical prices, more farmers will eliminate the use of carcinogenic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, livestock food additives and growth regulators. Since both farmers and consumers must become aware of the toxicity of such chemicals, a re-educational process must be implemented. Laws to regulate and reduce chemicals in the food production industry are unacceptable. They must be totally eliminated. Unfortunately, chemical companies have literally gone to political war to protect their right to poison America, and many of them have joined to form the Coalition for Sensible Pesticide Policy (CSPP), a powerful lobbying group to keep pesticide use active. A counter lobbying group, called the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP), was formed to stop the chemical industry's efforts in this direction.

........Plant pests don't occur because of a lack of pesticides on your vegetables anymore than headaches occur because of a lack of aspirin. If the vitality and health of crops are improved, they become naturally resistant to pests and disease just like a healthy human mind/body will resist affliction. Sensible farming practices like contour farming, crop rotation, avenues of trees to serve as wind breaks and moisture retainers all help to establish a better utilization of the land for agriculture. (PlantChow Organic Plant Food is healthy for the environment and promotes nutritious plant growth, this in turn allows plants to develop natural defenses against pests for a more harmonious existence between plants AND animals!)

 Can Organic Farming Be Profitable?

........ There are only about 31,000 major farms in the U.S. that are NOT using chemical fertilizers or pesticides! Yet, organic farmers are on the rise, and they aren't going out of business like conventional farmers! Organic farming coupled with one of the many methods to increase crop production (electrical, magnetic, radionic, vortexian, biodynamic, etc.) can make resultant veggies not only tastier but actually more profitable for the farmer to grow. For instance, organic wheat can achieve up to 70¢ per bushel more. Since production per acre is comparable or better than chemical farming, the higher prices obtained for organic crops make profitability far higher for organic farming, especially when the cost of chemicals can be avoided! (PlantChow Organic Plant Food is quite affordable compared to chemical fertilizers!)

........The participation of several supermarket chains in the National Toxics Campaign Fund program to stop the sale of produce grown with pesticides is a good sign of the growing sensitivity among businessmen to the shifting attitudes of consumers. Produce distributors, the EPA, the FDA and the Agriculture Dept. condemn such supermarket participation as infringing upon the government's responsibility for food safety. There's no surprise there, since the official position is that pesticides on food are not harmful to your health. Don't Believe it! (Click here to see U.S. News 1/15/2001 article)

........More and more consumers are demanding organically grown fruits and vegetables, and are willing to pay the higher prices. As a consumer, the only way to be certain that your produce is pesticide-free is to buy fruits and vegetables from certified organic growers! According to the Organic Foods Production Association, organic foods are grown, processed, packaged, transported and stored to retain maximum nutritional value "without the use of artificial preservatives, coloring or additives, irradiation or synthetic pesticides." Since many states are now creating programs to certify when food is truly organically grown, ask your grocery store manager to show you documentation proving his produce is organic, if he advertises it is. For information on how to certify that food is organically grown, see National Organic Program (NOP) or   California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) or  The Organic Trade Association (OTA). 

........If more farmers raised organic foods around cities in a diversified way, their roadside stands could be relied upon to provide those same products to nearby urbanites at a reasonable price.

Future of the Soil

Men have made and continue to make some very foolish mistakes in the way they deal with the earth! But, if properly cared for, the soil can produce crops indefinitely, even as noted in a Farm Journal editorial: “Soil that is properly fertilized and managed is not being used up. It is a renewable resource, as proved by the lands in Europe and Asia which have been cultivated continuously for thousands of years.”

Yes, this valuable “resource”—a few inches of soil—must be kept healthy to grant its greatest yield!  

(PlantChow Organic Plant Food helps to do just that!) 

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Last modified: April 28, 2001