Why is it important to optimize soil structure? How can Natural Growth help with this?

Soil structure plays a crucial role in agriculture and the environment. A healthy soil structure is essential for plant growth, water permeability and nutrient availability. It contributes to soil health and the preservation of ecosystems. Poor soil structure can lead to erosion, water loss and crop failure. Therefore, it is of great importance to improve soil structure to promote sustainable agricultural practices and protect the environment. With its innovative solution “Natural Growth”, WTZ GmbH offers a groundbreaking approach to soil regeneration and plant growth promotion. By integrating this solution, farmers can improve soil structure and increase yields. Dive into the world of soil improvement and discover how small changes can have a big impact.

The importance of healthy soil structure

Soil is generally defined as the top layer of the earth's crust, consisting of mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms. Soil texture describes particle size. In soils it consists of sand, silt and clay. Soils are created from their raw material. Feldspars, for example, undergo a chemical process that converts them into clay. But if you have granite with feldspar, clay and sand can form. When plants die, small organisms break down the material and break down into organic matter. During this process, bacteria and plants produce a type of acid. This acid contributes significantly to the decomposition of soil particles. Next, soil with organic matter is most important to humans because it supports plant biomass and agricultural crops. This is the topsoil that takes hundreds of thousands of years to form. If enough time passes under stable, biophysical conditions, the soils reach a stable state (equilibrium). The production of humus from decaying organic matter corresponds to the consumption by soil microorganisms, fauna and flora. Keeping pace with the transformation of rock minerals into soil minerals. Soils provide nutrients and water that are vital to plants and harbor organisms that interact with plants for better or worse. In the natural environment, plants form relationships with soil microbes to obtain water, nutrients, and protection from certain pathogens. In return, the plants provide food. Therefore, the correct cycle and maintaining the correct soil balance is essential for maintaining healthy soil and determines not only the yield but also the resilience of the plants.

Revitalization or repair of the soil

Soil regeneration, as a special form of ecological regeneration within restoration ecology, aims to restore soil health by minimizing topsoil loss, retaining more carbon than is consumed, promoting biodiversity and proper water and nutrient cycling maintained. The aim is to optimize the soil's own balance without introducing foreign substances into the microbiome. Soil repair, on the other hand, can lead to a different type of recovery that also eliminates the soil's own antagonists, so the recovery can be short-lived and trigger other long-term soil problems. The optimization of the soil's own biome must therefore take place above all by optimizing the symbiosis between the microbial life present in the soil and the exudate excreted by the plant via its roots. The lack of carbon in the soil and the frequent use of mineral fertilizers have, among other things, resulted in many fungi and bacteria being inactive. Activating them is the key to healthy soil. It is important to maintain what the soil itself has developed as optimal over the millennia. A healthy soil structure is therefore essential for sustainable agriculture and the long-term protection of natural resources.

How does Natural Growth affect soil life and why does it work like this?

Natural Growth's unique and versatile mode of action improves and optimizes the biome through various interactions.

1. Strengthening symbiotic cooperation

It has been scientifically proven that root exudates nourish microbial life in the soil through their secretions, so that organic matter can, among other things, be effectively converted into nutrients that are available to the plant again. Root exudates are also able to target certain fungi and bacteria, which ensure the targeted availability of certain nutrients.

2. More efficient conversion of organic material

By using Natural Growth, we measure up to 20% higher nutrient values in plant sap analysis, while the EC value of drip and drainage water is the same in treated and untreated cultivation plots. Tests both in the field and in the substrate have shown that all plant stimulating nutrients in the leaves increase in value when Natural Growth is applied biweekly and that fiber absorption is significantly lower. Antagonistic effects between different nutrients also appear to be much less pronounced than in untreated plots.

3. Improving soil structure and drainage capacity of the soil

By stimulating microbial life, Natural Growth leads to a noticeable improvement in soil structure and makes the soil more crumbly. In addition, the pore volume of the soil is increased, which increases the drainage capacity of the soil and makes the soil richer in oxygen.

4. Increase water buffer capacity

The increased microbial activity of the soil means that the water adheres better to the soil particles, meaning that the soil can buffer visibly more soil moisture for the plant.

5. Reducing soil-borne diseases and soil-borne nematodes

Science tells us that every pathogen has its own enemy, which means that diseases rarely develop explosively in healthy natural soil. Soil rich in fungi often suppresses infection pressure from soil nematodes because the fungi feed on proteins that largely make up the nematodes.

What does Natural Growth do in your soil to reduce the need for nitrogen in stock fertilization?

1. More efficient conversion of organic material, with significantly more nitrogen being released in the form of amine

2. Due to a much lower EC value in the soil, the mycorrhiza remain active and ensure better absorption of nutrients, allowing amine to be used by the plant in its growth process as a ready-to-use protein. The conversion of nitrate via ammonium into amine costs the plant a lot of energy, so that it has less energy available for the production of its seeds and fruits.

3. By developing more active microbial life, the plant is suddenly able to absorb at least 17 different nutrients, resulting in a lower requirement per element.

The need to fertilize crops with synthetic fertilizers can thus be greatly reduced and the risk of leaching is significantly reduced. In short: lower use but better utilization of nitrogen reduces the overall requirement.