Defense Brew

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772. Nitrogen is an essential macronutrient for plant function and is a key component of amino acids, which form the building blocks of plant proteins and enzymes. Proteins make up the structural materials of all living matters and enzymes facilitate the vast array of biochemical reactions within a plant. Also Nitrogen is very vital because it is a major component of chlorophyll, the compound by which plants use sunlight energy to produce sugars from water and carbon dioxide (i.e., photosynthesis). It is also a major component of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. Without proteins, plants wither and die.

Phosphorus

Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus.Phosphorus is essential for photosynthesis – the process by which plants trap the sun’s energy. It also plays a part in the healthy working of the plant cell nucleus and in control processes. It stimulates root development and is important in energy storage. Phosphorus occurs naturally.

Potassium

Potassium is a chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Potassium is associated with the movement of water, nutrients and carbohydrates in plant tissue. It’s involved with enzyme activation within the plant, which affects protein, starch and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. The production of ATP can regulate the rate of photosynthesis.

Trace minerals 

Trace minerals are called trace nutrients, or micronutrients. Some of these trace minerals are very important and provide essential elements for different proteins, hormones, or other processes. boron, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, molybdenum, manganese, selenium, zinc, silicon, nickel and chlorine as fertilizer micronutrients.

There are five different types of soil microbes: bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. Each of these microbe types has a different job to boost soil and plant health.

Bacteria benefit from the plant nutrients provided by the roots, but plants can benefit from their rhizobacteria as well. Bacteria known as Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) are diverse and represent a wide range of phyla. They also perform a wide variety of growth-promoting functions.

Fungi are helpful to trees and other plants for growth. The fine threads have the ability to make fungal mycelium spread over long distances, fungi can capture water and nutrients from far away and bring them back along the fine threads and close to plant roots. The plants take release oxgyen and take in carbon dioxide C02.

Protozoa play an important role in mineralizing nutrients, making them available for use by plants and other soil organisms. Protozoa (and nematodes) have a lower concentration of nitrogen in their cells than the bacteria they eat.

Nematodes enhance soil quality in four major areas: regulate the populations of other soil organisms, mineralize nutrients into plant-available forms, provide a food source for other soil organisms and consume disease-causing organisms. Nematodes are important nutrient mineralizers.

The benefit to growing in Living Soil is to improve soil structure, nutrient recycling and improve water availability for trees and plants. Soil organisms supply the resources that help trees and plants grow healthy and strong. It is all about building the Rhizosphere. 

The Rhizosphere is the part of the soil surrounding the plant roots or being influenced by the plant roots. The exudates released from roots make it a site for complex biochemical activity. Microorganisms make up one of the dynamic parts of this rhizosphere, and affect soil and plant growth by various means.