Early Research Into Biological Agents

In 1987 I moved to Ferndale, Washington to manage a United Agri Products fertilizer plant, interpreting soil samples and formulating fertilizer programs for a diverse array of small fruit and agricultural crops in Whatcom County. I had graduated with a B.S. in Horticulture from Washington State University and was a few credits short of a second major in Soil Science. I had always been fascinated with how plants grow and the affects of different types of fertilizers have on plant growth, so by the time I graduated in 1984, I had ten years of experience in formulating fertilizers I attended regular training seminars offered by all the different chemical and fertilizer suppliers and learned a great deal about soil science and cutting edge agricultural practices.

In July of 1989, U.A.P. merged with another company, which brought an end to my job. That summer I started Windy Meadow Nursery, which sits on five acres of sandy loam that I had purchased the year before. My first crop that summer turned out to be the largest ornamental cabbage and kale I had ever seen. I pioneered the practice of using modern microbiology in the production of commercial nursery crops by using two new samples of biological inoculants in the soil mix that resulted in huge, strong and healthy plants. I had discovered a new way to grow exceptionally healthy and vigorous plants without typical chemical treatments.

Problems With Chemical Fungicides

General horticultural practices typically call for transplanting young plants into clean (sterile) potting soil followed by a fungicide treatment to “protect” the young plant from disease. The problems associated with treating young plants with chemical fungicides are:

• Parts of the root system of young plants can be damaged by the simple nature of the chemical. If a chemical fungicide is toxic enough to damage fungal pathogens then it can also damage young roots. I have seen this in crop after crop in the greenhouse, contributing to transplant shock where the young plant is slow to root out and grow into the new container.
• Chemical fungicides are water-soluble and contribute to ground water contamination in most agricultural areas in the country.

Natural Alternatives to Chemicals

The ground water under Windy Meadow is only five to fifteen feet below the surface depending on the time of year, so I started to research biological alternatives. At that time there were only a few biological agents, specifically targeted at the golf course market, and one or two that were being sold as seed treatments to help check disease as early plantings of corn and soy beans struggled to germinate in cold ground.

Using my contacts from U.A.P. I called several laboratories that were conducting state of the art research into isolating specific strains of naturally occurring microbes. I read all the literature I could find on the different biological products available and spoke to people with PhD’s in an effort to learn what I could. When I inquired about using these agents in a greenhouse soil, they all said that no one had ever tried it; the cost of registering the biological inoculants was too high for such a small market. Their goal was to target the much larger agricultural markets of corn and soybeans.

Applications For Greenhouses & Nurseries

I knew that there was an application for these biological inoculants in the greenhouse and nursery based on the sample inoculants I used to grow the fantastic cabbage and kale crop. I purchased as many biological products that were available, sometimes paying up to $100 a pound for them.

Over the years I used Windy Meadow Nursery as the laboratory to evaluate the effectiveness of 18 different inoculants and to develop an integrated system of sustainable nursery practices. Today all our products are enhanced with specific species of microorganisms that have been documented to give growth responses to plants.

How Biological Agents Work

During the lifecycle of these specially selected natural soil microorganisms, they absorb nutrients through their cell walls while simultaneously exuding waste bi-products in the form of enzymes.

These metabolites are also plant auxins (hormones) that are produced in minute amounts by plants themselves. When additional concentrations of these powerful plant growth regulators are introduced by large populations of beneficial microbes in close proximity to the root, they are adsorbed and utilized by the plant. The microbes produce indole acetic acid, alpha amylase, cytokinins, gibberellins, and chitinace. The immediate affect on the root is enhanced permeability resulting in an increase in nutrient uptake.

Longer-term physiological changes occur including elongation of the apical meristem and lateral root initials. This results in fast root out and eliminates transplant shock. The above ground portion of the plant will exhibit lateral branching and develop a heavily branched habit with strong thick caliper stems that support many flowers and fruit on mature plants. Other modes of action protect plants with enzymes that naturally dissolve the cell walls of invading disease fungal organisms.

M.S.W. (Multiple Strains Working) Biodynamics

I created M.S.W. (Multiple Strains Working) Biodynamics by combining the independent work of different laboratories with sustainable growing practices that creates an ideal soil matrix for optimum growing results. I have coined the phrase CHAOS to mean several things; in this case it refers to:

Chelating

Humic

Acid

Optimizing

Substrate

By carefully selecting several different classes of microbes that colonize roots, live freely in the soil, parasitize and become parasitized, a self sustaining food chain that cycles nutrients, suppresses disease, and creates an ideal ecosystem for plant growth is easily and naturally created.

When I started Windy Meadow Nursery in 1989, all of my production was in used containers that were collected in the parking lots of several of my local retail customers. Rather than wash each possibly disease infected pot, I relied on the natural disease suppression that these biological inoculants provided to control soil borne diseases.

My goal was to produce the highest quality plants using natural and sustainable nursery practices of my own design. One way to accomplish this was to make the plants able to survive even if they were not planted in the best situation. The soil in my major market area is clay. With all the rain we get in the Pacific Northwest, I knew that biological disease suppression in the soil would ensure that all my plants would at least survive in any garden.

What actually happened is that our plants grew exceptionally well under all conditions. Annuals planted in the spring developed into large mounds of color by fall. In the case of perennials, the second year growth is extraordinary. I often say that quality is difficult to define but we all know it when we see it. In the process of developing the nursery soil, I wanted to ensure that the final customer, the home gardener would have a successful gardening experience no matter what.

Fertilization

In 1989 I experimented with combining various animal manures, organics, and chemical fertilizers in the soil mix until I noticed some tip burn on the leaves of Asiatic Lilies that I started breeding as a hobby several years before. The super phosphate I was using is commonly contaminated with fluoride and was causing the tip burn.

In 1990, I switched to bone meal and started conducting analytical testing on every twenty-yard load of potting soil used in the nursery. After eight years of exhaustive trials in the nursery and fine-tuning the mix, we started producing and growing in a potting soil that is registered for use in organic food production by the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Plants produced in INTREPID Coco-Coir® Premium Potting Soil does not require the use of additional inputs of phosphorous in the feed water for up to three years. We have eliminated any phosphorous from leaching into the ground water.

Many bagged, organic soils on the market today rely on only one source of fertilizer for the nutrient charge. Some list poultry litter, or steer manure as the main ingredient. These inexpensive bulky fillers give an initial quick release of nitrogen, but after a couple of weeks, a nitrogen draw occurs when the sawdust or straw in the manure begins to break down. Without heavy inputs of fertilizer, the plants growing in these mixes start a steady state of decline due to nitrogen starvation.

Integrated Fertility Management

I created M.S.W.I.N. (Multiple Sources of Water Insoluble Nutrition) as an integrated approach to fertility management. I have found the best way to insure the steady growth of plants in an organic soil is by using multiple fertilizer sources to supply each and every nutrient needed by developing plants.

M.S.W.I.N. derives all essential nutrients from sustainable organic fertilizer sources with different rates of solubility and availability. A natural and balanced supply of nutrients are made available to the plant based on the nutrient cycling that the soil microbes effect. Maximum growth occurs when both temperature and moisture levels increase the nutrients supplied by the corresponding biological activity of the microbes. When either temperatures or moisture levels decline, nutrient availability also declines and is retained in the immediate root zone, available for the plant when favorable growing conditions return.

• Immediately available nitrogen is supplied by an O.M.R.I. certified compost, and blood meal, while fishmeal, and feather meal supplies very slowly available nitrogen.

• Phosphorous comes from fishmeal, and micronized bone that is fractured with sonic sound waves to the consistency of cake flour. Phosphorus availability is a function of particle size so even though we never use phosphoric acid in the liquid feed we get superior root development without the problem of phosphorus leaching into the ground water.

• Potassium comes from wood ash, kelp meal and the coconut pith. The pith from the seed of Coconut Palms has very high concentrations of plant nutrients especially potassium. Since the potassium is part of the fiber it is available to the plant over a long period of time.

• Calcium is supplied by carbonate lime, dolomite lime, wood ash, fishmeal, and bone meal.

• Magnesium is supplied by dolomite lime and olivine flour. Olivine is magnesium iron silicate that supplies the slow release of iron, while blood meal supplies the more soluble form of iron. The silica in the olivine is an essential nutrient for some plants, most notably cucurbits. Silica has also been shown to increase the brix of hothouse grown vegetables. Brix is the measurement of total dissolved solids (carbohydrates) in the cytoplasm. Higher brix readings correlate to higher blossom number, fruit set and final fruit weight. In ornamentals a higher brix means that the higher carbohydrate levels in the plant allow it to form strong thick stems with many flowers and more lateral branches from the base of the plant. This physiological trait is facilitated by the metabolites that the microbes make available to the plants as well as the cytokinin that is supplied by the kelp meal.

• The micronutrients are also supplied by the coconut pith, kelp meal, and wood ash.

The Birth of INTREPID

Our soil contains water insoluble forms of organic nutrients that will never leach away from the root system. Plants grown in our soil are robust, healthy and able to thrive in harsh conditions. They are undisturbed in environments where others weaken or perish altogether. The INTREPID brand name was born because of this. The word ‘intrepid’ means undaunted courage.

The following is a short list of recommended reading for the serious professional grower: 

Modern Soil Microbiology; Second Edition; Van Elsas, Jansson, and Trevors; 2007

The Rhizosphere Biochemistry and Organic Substances at the Soil Plant Interface;Second Edition; Pinton, Varanini, Nannipieri; 2007

Handbook of Plant Nutrition; Barker Pilbeam; 2007

Humic Matter in Soil and the Environment; Tan; 2003