FERTILITY PROGRAM FAQ

No. We help growers from farm scale down to garderns and people with a container on their patio. The strategies are different, but the principles are the same.

The garden is a place where people can grow their own high quality nutrition. Food in this class, will grade in the Good and Excellent range for nutritional density as measured with a refractometer.

It is possible to produce some High Brix crops in the first year. Each year on the Fix My Soil Fertility Program the soil continues to improve, as does the quality. By the third year most of the crops grown should be in the Good and Excellent range.

Fix My Soil offers a comprehensive soil test, custom fertility recommendations and follow up consulting. We also offer a mineral blending service to ship the needed soil amendments pre-blended or we can help you locate minerals locally or have them shipped to you thru a bulk program. We offer the right tools to the farmer and a complete program for the gardener. Additionally we provide full spectrum starter inoculants, nutrient drenches and a complete foliar spray program.

Yes. The soil report is sent along with the fertility recommendations outlining exactly what is needed and what to do.

FEED THE PLANT - Nutrient drenches are used primarily for gardens, but the principle applies on a commercial scale as well. Nutrient drenches are liquid, organic based fertilizer solutions. Most have a nutrient base of liquid fish. They are applied with water at the base of the plants every 1-4 weeks based on the soil test.

Nutrient drenches in the Fix My Soil Fertility Program perform two improvement functions. First they help the soil maintain its electrical conductance. This provides the soil with plenty of energy to keep the plants growing at full speed. Secondly, nutrient drenches can supply extra nutrients to plants that have special requirements. As an example, pumpkins and squash have a high requirement for potassium. This is supplied with a nutrient drench. You can only "front load" so much in the beginning of the growing season.

FEED THE LEAF - Foliar sprays are nutrient solutions that are highly diluted and lightly sprayed on the foliage as a fine mist. Plants are able to take in these nutrients through the leaves. Foliar feeding of plants is the frosting on the High Brix Growing cake. Well made foliar sprays can have a tremendous impact in raising brix readings in plants. Foliar sprays are also used to direct a plant in which way it should grow. Plants can be told to grow vegetatively or to grow reproductively. A foliar spray that makes vegetative growth (new leaves) is great for spinach but entirely unsuited for tomatoes.

A good foliar spray will include phosphate in its nutrient package. Phosphates are the energy source in ATP. ATP drives the Krebs cycle in plants. Increasing phosphates in the plant through foliar spraying allows the Krebs cycle to transfer more energy within the plants. This allows the plant to be more efficient in storing energy as sugars from the process of photosynthesis. Some of these additional sugars are sent down to the roots and excreted out of the roots as exudates. Root exudates are a food source for bacterial colonies around the roots. The bacteria respond to the extra food from the plant by making more minerals available to the plant. The additional minerals are taken up into the plant and increase the total dissolved solids in the plant. This registers as a rise in brix.

No. Pesticides destroy microbial balance and make it very difficult to achieve High Brix. As the soil improves the plants will become healthier and we find that many of the "problems" growers run into seem to just go away, thus eliminating the need to spray for bugs and weeds.

The Fix My Soil Garden program is organic based, but not strictly certified organic. Our primary focus is quality in the soil and in plant health.

The best time to start is right now! The only poor time is in the dead of winter when the ground is frozen and a soil sample cannot be taken. If beginning too late for the current growing season just apply the broadcast and grow a cover crop. Hold the drenches and foliar sprays until the next spring then follow the schedule. Then sample annually from fall to fall as the ideal timing.

While we can reasonably expect cumulative increases in crop quality we do not promise a specific yield or Brix reading. There are other factors that add or detract from the desired results... no rain or too much rain, for example.

We have many people ask this question and have, therefore, created a special page called... you guessed it, "Getting Started." (Pretty creative, huh?)