The plant-energy cost of synthetic fertilizers is large; fermented plant juices provide plant-available energy at low/no cost
The energy responsible for the food we eat, the oxygen we breathe, the topsoil we plant in, and the fossil-fuel energy that runs our economy originates in plant leaves via photosynthesis. From leaves, this energy flows throughout the plant and into the soil, distributing needed resources to the entire plant-soil ecosystem.
Energy flow disruptions alter conditions within the plant-soil ecosystem, allowing pathogens and insects to take hold. Natural and human interventions — drought, high radiation, extreme temperatures, fertilizers, “-cides,” plowing, harvest — all disrupt these energy flows. Plants expend considerable amounts of photosynthetic energy to counter these interventions and to maintain plant-friendly conditions in their leaves, stems, roots and soils. This most efficient system of energy distribution establishes the world we live in.
Figure 1 defines ranges of electric potential (Eh) and acidity (pH) where plant parts, bacteria, fungi and virus species, as well as insects, thrive. (For a deeper explanation of this chart, see my article in Acres U.S.A. from December 2024, “The Soil Electric.”) Notice that conditions that are optimal for healthy plants are not acceptable conditions for insects and pathogens. This is the science behind the notion that healthy plants will not succumb to insect or pathogen pressures. Pathogens and insects simply don’t exist at healthy plant conditions! This is one reason plants expend energy to maintain these conditions.
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