Avoid Chemicals that Kill

Avoid using any chemical that ends in ‘cide’ – as that suffix that means killing. Replace those for products with ‘Organically Certified’ signs on their package. That means that the contents comply with Australian 2022 standards for organic and biodynamic production. The need for protection will reduce as your soil biology gets healthier, and with complete plant nutrition, will almost completely disappear, see the Plant Health Pyramid for an explanation.

Feed Your Plants with Biology-friendly Products

Artificial fertilisers are highly concentrated simple salts that kill or interfere with soil biology. Use natural fertilisers such as kelp oil, fish oil, molasses, blood and bone, soft rock phosphate, rock dust, chook pellets, manure, compost and so on.

Feed Your Soil Biology with Sea Minerals

The tens of thousands different species in soil biology have their own needs for minerals, and Sea Minerals have the widest range of minerals of supplementary fertilisers. The case studies show improvements in yields and quality from applying it to crops and orchards, while applying pastures with Sea Minerals has produced substantial increases in Dry Matter and the benefits of using Sea Minerals in Pasture.

Keep the Soil Covered where Possible

Where possible, use cover crops, crop residue or stubble mulch. They protect the soil biology and when they decay, they feed it in the next season. In gardens, use the ‘Chop and Drop’ method: all parts of the plant that are not used by us get cut up and left on the bed where it grew to build up the soil biology.

Leave Plenty of Leaves when Grazing

In pastures, use short grazing/long spelling rotations, which leave a far larger surface area of leaves to catch the sun’s energy. This allows for faster re-growth and yields more Dry Matter per year than overgrazing.

Encourage Diversity

In pasture, short term rotational grazing also reduces the selective grazing of plants favoured by cattle. This helps to maintain diversity in plant species and thus a more diverse soil biology, leading to better overall nutritional quality of the pasture.

In crops and orchards, encourage diversity in the soil biology by crop rotation, multi-species cover crops, or using a diverse mix of different crops grown between rows when and where possible.

The post Looking After Your Soil Biology appeared first on Healthy Plants - Healthy People.

It highlights that a plant needs minerals from the soil and complex compounds from the soil biology to be healthy. In this context, healthy means to have natural and almost complete resistance to diseases and insects. Those same minerals and compounds are vital for human health.

Levels 1 and 2 of the Plant Health Pyramid rely mainly on mineral nutrition, which is relatively straightforward to manage using tools like sap analysis to identify and apply the needed nutrients. By contrast, Levels 3 and 4 highlight why fostering healthy soil biology is critical for resilient, nutrient-dense crops. Here, the focus shifts from simply adding minerals to supporting the microbial community that feeds and protects plants.

In practice, Levels 3 and 4 move us from just growing plants to growing the living system that sustains them. For more on nurturing this symbiotic soil life, check out our introduction to Soil Biology.

Four levels of plant health

The plant health pyramid consists of four levels. Each level requires a set of inputs needed to get certain outcomes and represents essential key processes for good plant health. Any shortcoming in the lower levels reduces the processes in the higher levels.

Unfortunately, most commercial growers and most crops are not even at level one of plant health care on the plant health pyramid – John Kempf

Even when commercially grown plants don’t reach level one, they can still grow and produce by relying on artificial chemicals. However, these worsen the problem over time by killing the microbiology in the soil and on the plant, and so diminish the processes in the top levels. This increases the amounts of chemicals that need to be used and severely reduces the plant’s nutritional value to us. And that has serious health consequences for us.

Level 1. Complete photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is the process in which the plant uses the blue and red rays from the sun to combine carbon dioxide from the air with water and minerals from the soil to make sugars. Photosynthesis requires magnesium, iron, manganese, nitrogen and phosphorus.

It is complete when each of these are sufficiently available and there is enough water, sunlight and carbon dioxide for the plant to make enough diverse sugars to grow itself and for exchange with the soil biology. The plant then becomes resistant to soil-borne fungi, increases its leaf size and leaf thickness, and can look quite different from what we are used to.

Level 2. Complete protein synthesis

The simple sugars from level one are then combined in the leaves with minerals and each other through a process called Protein synthesis into very large molecules. This process creates 10s of thousands different protein molecules needed for its DNA and other functions that include protecting itself against insects and diseases. In addition to the above-mentioned minerals, protein synthesis requires a wide range of minerals in small amounts such as cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, selenium, zinc, manganese, copper and many more.

When complete protein synthesis is reached, plants become resistant to insects with a simple digestive system while they are larvae and to sap sucking species by disturbing their digestive systems.

Level 3. Increased lipid synthesis

Lipids are fats and oils that all plants produce for their own basic needs. When plants have sufficient of these, they cover on their leaves with them, which can be seen as a glossy, waxy sheen on their surface. The lipids work as a shield against all the airborne bacterial and fungal pathogens. Many of the compounds or parts thereof needed to make lipids are made by the bacteria living on and around their roots and are exchanged for sugars made by the plants.

Level 4. Increased secondary metabolite synthesis

Further to those fats and oils, secondary metabolites refer to essential oils such as aromatic compounds, flavonoids, carotids and many more. These protect the plants from ultraviolet radiation and overgrazing and ward off diseases and insects by killing viruses, bacteria and insects outright. Many of the compounds or their components are made by beneficial microbes on the plant’s roots and leaves and exchanged for the plant’s sugars. As a result, plants become resistant to beetles, nematodes and viruses. Some compounds give plants their unique, individual taste, and many compounds are essential for human health.

Getting to levels three and four requires a robust and diverse biology. How to foster that is a main focus of this website.

A summarised extract of John Kempf’s talk that includes many other observations and ideas is in Building Crop Immunity: Understanding the Plant Heath Pyramid.

The post An Introduction to the Plant Health Pyramid appeared first on Healthy Plants - Healthy People.

To function correctly, a wicking bed requires:

• A 90 mm PVC pipe to hold about half of the plant-available water below the level of the overflow pipe and the bottom of the bed. The other half is held in the open spaces between the soil particles – water that would normally drain away. 
  As the pipe fills up quickly but the open spaces only slowly, filling up a bed with an open tap to get it fully filled means coming back once or twice after water comes out of the overflow; with the tap only partly open it takes a bit more time.
• A fill pipe: from the surface into the reservoir pipe for refilling.
• An overflow pipe: An overflow pipe from the top of the reservoir pipe through the wall to the outside, to prevent beds and boxes from becoming a swamp during heavy rain or over-watering.

Common Wicking Containers

Styrofoam Boxes

Styrofoam wicking boxes can be placed on tables for easy access. They are portable, durable (lasting over ten years), and help regulate soil temperature. They are also easy to make and often available for free from greengrocers or vegetable wholesalers. (See making a Styrofoam wicking box)

Wicking Tubs

Larger pots and tubs can be converted into wicking containers by adding a plastic liner (if necessary), a 90 mm PVC reservoir pipe, a fill pipe, and an overflow. Black tubs may overheat, so surrounding them with shade cloth can help regulate temperature. Tubs can also be moved easily using a trolley.

Wicking Beds

Wicking beds are permanent structures that come in various shapes, sizes, and materials. (See the countless ways to make wicking beds for examples.)

Key Guidelines

• When building your wicking bed, it is important to keep the following essential requirements in mind.
• An overflow pipe should be fitted 100 mm from the bottom to prevent the box from swamping from excess water.
• Soil and mulch should not exceed 400 mm above the water reservoir.
• No plant should be more than 350 mm from an outlet hole in the reservoir pipe.
• A U-shaped reservoir is required for beds wider than 800 mm to ensure even water distribution.

The post The Basics of Building your own Wicking Beds appeared first on Healthy Plants - Healthy People.

Materials

Two posts are needed: one for the treated area and one for the control area. They consist of:

• a 1.8 m star picket
• a length of 1.2m 90mm PVC storm drain pipe. (This prevents cattle from rubbing against the pickets and knocking them over as the pipe rolls and does not scratch.)
• Glue-on figures from 1 to 10, plus one extra 1. Size: 70mm x 43mm (Make sure they are flexible, stiff ones can’t be attached to a pipe.) (The shop ran out, hence no 11.)
• 2 rolls of cloth tape, black and red, shows-up best. (Rolls are 4.5m long and 48mm wide. Cut a snip at 2cm and tear it from there.)

Getting started

Gather all the materials before you start.

Marking the Pipe

Draw a straight line across the length from end to end on the pipe. (To make sure the numbers in a straight vertical line.)

Mark the 100mm distances by drawing lines 100mm apart around the pipe. (Use a piece of lino as shown.)

Tear a strip of black cloth tape and stick it below the bottom line, with the top touching the line. Next a strip of red on the next line and so on.

The Numbers

Place the first number above the strip, just touching it. Starting at 10cm from the bottom.

Use even numbers on one post and uneven ones for the other. (We use the uneven numbers for the treated areas and the even numbers for controls. There will be less chance of mix-ups when we compare photos across various sites if we all do that. Or when looking at them in future years.)

Skip the next strip and place the next number.

Placing the post and Taking Photos

Place the post 5m from the fixed point from where you’ll take photos such as a fence post and clearly mark that post.

Tips:

• Avoid intruding objects such as branches and shadows.
• When taking photos, keep the top of the marking post at the top of the picture, see the photo at the top. (That provides details, such as grass height and flower spikes on grass, needed to make decisions and comparisons.)
• Try and take photos at the same time of day.

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Healthy Soil-Biology is Essential for Healthy Plants

Soil-Biology refers to the viruses, bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, slime moulds, protozoa, and nematodes which feed the plants and create many compounds the plants require for healthy growth.

Stones lack the large surface area needed by the soil-biology

The Soil-Biology needs surfaces to attach themselves to and countless hidey-holes for protection. Stones are solid without hidey-holes and provide a very limited surface area. A spoonful of clay when spread out has far greater surface —equivalent to the size of a tennis court. Because of this, using stones in a wicking bed is a waste of space that should instead be occupied by nutrient-rich soil, home to a vibrant soil biology.

Cloth Will Create Airlocks and Stop Wicking

Some people add cloth to cover the reservoir and stones to prevent soil from washing into the reservoir pipe. This is not an issue in properly made wicking beds, where the holes on the reservoir pipes point downwards.

The fine roots can penetrate the cloth and larger roots grow around it to reach the water. As the water level drops, this space is filled with air as it moves in to replace the water. Air does not wick water, and this creates an airlock between the cloth and the water.

The bed above the cloth ends up like a reduced regular garden bed. It has a permanent water supply at the bottom, rather than wicking soil, and the space below the cloth has no soil biology.
As the water becomes permanent, it can become a haven for mosquito larvae. In a wicking bed the reservoir pipe is surrounded by soil and there is no permanent water as it gets used within days.

In the photos below, we show a simple demonstration of the wicking effect on the left and the lack of it on the right.

The pipe with only soil (left) was able to wick water up 35cm in 24 hours (and further) but the pipe with stones and cloth (right) failed to wick. In the photo above, it is clear how the air gap caused by using cloth and stones prevents wicking.

Soil Holds More Water than Sand or Stones

A good soil mix retains more water than the same volume of stones, coarse sand, pebbles, or fine sand. To demonstrate this, one-litre samples of soil, stones, and sand were dried in the hot sun, weighed, soaked, and then measured again to determine how much water they held.

Since a gram of water is equal to one millilitre, the difference tells us how much water there is in each litre of soil. In the tables below, ‘Inert material’ refers to rocks, stones, sand, loam, and clay.

As the soils in our beds vary a lot, we first took one litre of soil from three beds, filled each container with water, drained the free water out and weighed it wet. We then spread the soil out on a table, let it dry in the sun and weighed it again in the container.

Average Soil Mix

We used the average of those three samples from the table above in the table below. We then filled four containers, with respectively stones, coarse sand, pebbles and fine sand. As with the soils, we filled them with water, drained that, spread the content out to dry in the hot sun, put it back into their containers and weighed those again.

Comparison of the Five Materials

Conclusion

Our soil mix held more water than stones, which held more than pebbles or sand. Much of that water is normally held in the bodies of the soil biology. For suggestions to improve your soils and stimulate your soil biology to grow, see our guide to create and improve your own soil.

The post The Hidden Costs of Using Cloth and Stones in Wicking Boxes and Beds appeared first on Healthy Plants - Healthy People.

Styrofoam Boxes

Styrofoam boxes of all sizes can be turned into wicking beds, from 50-litre boxes to 13-litre mini versions using 40 mm PVC pipe as a reservoir. These can be decorated and placed on tables for convenience.

If you want to make your own, check out our guide on making a Styrofoam Wicking Box.

Commercial Wicking Beds

Some commercial wicking beds suffer from the two common misconceptions of wicking bed designs and isolate the soil from the water reservoir. Luckily, many of these beds can be converted to fully functioning beds simply by removing the plastic or fabric separator and stones. Designs that use Wicking Cells as above (where soil is allowed to reach down into the water reservoir) are acceptable.

Designs that separate the soil and the water, typically using stones or plastic risers, are not true wicking beds.

Drums

Metal and plastic drums (876 mm high, 597 mm diameter) can be cut to 400 mm high to match the maximum wicking height of 350 mm. Use food-grade barrels or thoroughly clean them.

A proper setup includes the drum, a fill pipe, a reservoir, and a 12 mm poly overflow pipe sealed into the wall with silicone. Avoid vertical cuts across the diameter, as they reduce soil space and require extra support structures.

Avoid vertical cuts across the diameter, as shown in the photo below. This requires extra support structures and thus cost. The ones on the photo have no overflow to drain excess watering and heavy rain. They are a swamp waiting to happen.

When cut to 400 mm high, all they need is the fill pipe, the reservoir and a 12 mm poly overflow from the reservoir through the wall, with the joint sealed with silicone.

Wire Mesh and Weed Mat

Inexpensive wicking beds can be made using wire mesh and weed mat, requiring minimal tools: a wire cutter, C-clips, and scissors. The example below is made with 80 mm x 50 mm mesh and 1m wide weed mat. They can be made to almost any size and shape.

Plastic Containers and Tubs

Plastic containers and tubs work well as wicking beds. If you are using black containers, cover the outside with double shade cloth to keep them cool.

Cut a reservoir pipe to fit the tub, a fill pipe and a short length of poly pipe for the overflow, as shown in making a Styrofoam wicking box. Place the reservoir in the tub, drill a 12mm hole 85mm from the bottom and press the 12mm Poly overflow through the wall into the reservoir pipe. Then silica it in place. (The photo shows no overflow, which could lead to turning into a swamp during heavy rain or accidental over-watering.)

Concrete Tubs and Bathtubs

Concrete tubs and old bathtubs can be easily converted into wicking beds. An 80 mm outlet of 40 mm PVC pipe is sealed into the plug hole using silicone. A corresponding hole in the reservoir pipe is to be positioned over it.

One key difference when making them in this manner, is that your overflow is inside the reservoir pipe and one outlet hole in the reservoir hole is placed exactly over the drainage hole of the concrete tub. The other end of the reservoir pipe is sealed with an end cap or duct tape. In Bathtubs the overflow is the same, but the reservoir pipe is the length of the bath with several outlet holes no more than 70cm apart.

Galvanised Iron

Large galvanised iron containers make great wicking beds. A poly overflow pipe in a U-shape runs between the liner and the wall, then under the wall and back up to100mm above ground level.

In a round bed, the reservoir is made in a U-shape to ensure that no plant is more than 35cm from an outlet hole

Sleepers

When using sleepers, reinforcement should be on the outside to keep the inside smooth and prevent damage to the liner.

See our guide on Building Wicking Beds for Schools for more details.

1,000 Litre Pods Cut in Half

Large 1,000-litre water pods can be cut in half and placed under shade for efficient wicking beds. Make sure to only use pods that have not been used for dangerous chemicals.

To store more water and ensure no plant is more than 35cm from an outlet, the reservoir pipe can be made in a U-shape.

Even Old Leaky Boats

An old boat can be converted into a mobile wicking bed. The bow is lowered, the stern raised, and the bungs removed to allow excess water drainage when it rains. This setup is ideal for renters who want to take their wicking bed with them when they move.

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Misconception 1: Soil Filling the Reservoir

Some believe that rain or excess surface watering will cause soil to fill the water reservoir. This only happens if the outlet holes of the reservoir pipe face upwards. When properly positioned downward, water moves through soil too slowly to carry soil particles into the reservoir.

Through years of testing and examining dozens of wicking boxes—some exposed to heavy rain and the floods in 2011 and 2013—only a few contained small amounts of soil in the reservoir pipe, and even then, just a handful.

While some designs use cloth to separate the soil from the reservoir, this disrupts the wicking process. Plant roots can still grow between the bed walls and the lining to access water, which lowers the water table and creates an air gap. Since air does not wick, the wicking action stops entirely.

Misconception 2: Water-Logging

There is a common but unfounded fear that wicking beds will become waterlogged. However, water in the bottom layer (below the overflow level) does not remain stagnant for long. Transpiration from plants and evaporation from the surface quickly draw water up, allowing air with oxygen to return to the lower layers. Even in the absence of plants, natural evaporation is sufficient to prevent water logging.

Many designs incorporate stones in the bottom layer, but in addition to creating an airlock this is ineffective for two more reasons:

• Stones do not store water, and the open spaces between them lack capillaries, meaning they do not wick.
• This wasted space should instead be filled with soil, which holds more water and supports beneficial soil biology. While this may sound counter-intuitive, we have tested this, and you can check the results in our article on the real costs of using cloth and stones in wicking boxes and beds.

We hope by understanding these design flaws and avoiding common misconceptions, you can create a truly effective wicking bed that functions as intended. If you want to learn about how to improve your soil (particularly in cases of sandy soil), read our guide to making your own healthy soil.

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