| Stirring “preps” for sequence spray. |
If you do only two practices to begin Biodynamic gardening, do a sequence spray and start a compost pile. As time goes by, you can adapt the use of the sprays to your own land’s needs, but the sequence is the ground work. This week we will explain the “sequence.”
You will be doing four sprays in all, and you can do it over a two day period. The late afternoon of the first day is the time to spray the two “earth” preps. We stir 1/3 cup of “BC Prep” (Barrel Compost Preparation) into 3 gallons of “sun soaked” or pond water to spray on each acre. This is stirred for 20 minutes, then strained into a sprayer. (We will describe the practicalities of stirring and spraying in coming weeks.)
While one of us is spraying the “BC prep,” another stirs the “500,” 1/4 cup to 5 gallons of water per acre. This is stirred for a full hour. (JPI has some now that can be stirred for 20 minutes.) Both the earth preps are sprayed on the ground in the evening.
Always in using a spray, one polarity is balanced with another. So the next morning, 1/2 hour before sunrise, we stir 1/4 teaspoon of the “501,” a mineral source of silica, into 5 gallons of water, again for the full hour. This is a solar, cosmic spray, to help plants use the sunlight. It is sprayed above the foliage, up, into the air. That late afternoon, a fermented tea of equisetum, a plant source of silica, is stirred for 20 minutes and applied as a ground spray. You may also use a fresh tea applied in the morning and above the leaves, immediately after the “501.” We use the fermented version as we use a lot of “508” to control mildew in the grapes, and it is more thrifty to ferment it. We will describe the tea-making processes in a later blog.
Josephine Porter Institute posts opportune dates for sequence sprays to either increase or decrease moisture, depending on your situation. In California we almost always spray to increase moisture. This spring opportune dates are: Saturday, March 5- Tuesday, March 8 (noon); Thursday, March 24-Friday, March 25 (3 pm); Friday, April 1 (9 am)- Monday, April 4; Thursday, April 28 (2 pm) through Sunday, May 1.
For those with too much moisture:
Tuesday, March 8 (4 pm)- Thursday, March 10 (10 am); Saturday, March 26-Monday, March 28 (7 am); Wednesday, April 13 (10 am)- Friday, April 15 (5 pm).